IMDB’s fresh update lets you swipe both ways

IMDB 4.0 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 001)IMDB 4.0 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 002)

IMDb (abbreviated from Internet Movie Database) is my go-to source for information related to films, television programs and video games. The service is reliable and accurate so I can safely rely on their data.

The Amazon-owned company (they bought IMDb outright in 1998 and attached it to Amazon.com as a subsidiary, private company) has a pretty nice iPhone and iPad application, available free in the App Store.

We haven’t seen a major update since last December’s refresh brought out iOS 7-friendly look, plus a brand new Road to the Oscars section, among other features. Today, IMDb got bumped to version 4.1. This new edition of the software sports a few cosmetic changes, but that’s not what captured my imagination.

My interest was piqued by a cool design choice which makes it possible to use both left and right swiping to navigate through the app. Can we have this in all iOS 7 apps, please?

My instant reaction to left-to-right swiping to go back a level in iOS 7 apps was swiping in the opposite direction to get back to where I navigated away from.

Even though left-swiping seems natural, Apple unfortunately hasn’t implemented it as a system-wide navigational gesture in iOS 7 or its own stock apps, with the exception of Safari.

In the new IMDb 4.1, you can swipe both ways – how cool is that?

“Like always, you can use left to right swipe to go back,” notes the company. “But if you made a mistake, you can now swipe right to left to go forward a page.

Moreover, iPad users can now see descriptions on list items by tapping on the ‘i’ symbol. The app’s image gallery has been reworked to show full images without crops.

Another nice-to-have: navigating through episodes now slides the animation in the correct direction.

Finally – and you guessed right – this edition of IMDb has squashed a number of known bugs (and likely introduced new ones).

Go ahead, download IMDb 4.1 free in the App Store.