Never run short of inspiration with Motivate, a smart app that’ll give you the boost you need
Developer: Brave New Logic
Price: Free
Size: 39.8 MB
Version: 2.02
Platform: iPhone
There are times when a little motivation goes a long way. It might be a pep talk from a friend, a pat on the back from a colleague, or – you guessed it – a motivational video from the web. Motivate is a recently updated app that brings a daily delivery of hand-picked motivational content right to your iPhone. Its video curation works a little like the late Hyper app (R.I.P.) but with a skew towards the inspirational.
The main interface in Motivate, where all of your video content is stacked.
The idea in Motivate is simple: in the app, users can browse through a wide range of motivational video content in order to give themselves an on-demand inspiration boost. Videos are stacked and titled, with the titles designed to give users an idea of the style of video itself. You can then swipe down on the screen to scroll through a rolling list of motivational videos. Usefully, video can also be previewed in this main interface, it can be marked as a favorite, and duration in minutes and seconds is shown.
Useful virtual controls help users interact with the video they’re currently viewing.
This is a simple but well-thought-out interface, and like the best UI it feels natural and second-nature. Viewing videos is much the same. When you tap on a video, it begins to play in full-screen mode, but a second tap will then bring up a range of overlayed buttons. These include three particularly handy buttons for video playback: a button for “play video once,” another for “repeat video,” and finally one for “autoplay next video.” When configured, users can have Motivate run on its own, playing through video content on a rolling basis for users to occasionally check in on or watch en masse.
Your favorites are collected in a dedicated pane, which you can access with a simple swipe to the right.
Most importantly, the actual content in Motivate is really good. Each day, five new videos are added into the app, meaning it always feels fresh and up-to-date. And the topics – which range from personal motivation to global change – are all interesting. Some of the videos are a few minutes, while others can be as long as 10 minutes or more.
Thanks to sharing controls, sending videos on to family or friends is easy.
All this great content means you’ll probably want to share a video or two, and Motivate has users covered here. A share button allows users to send the video on via Messages, Mail, or any other connected iOS app; a link to the video at Motivate’s website will be generated.
But for the best motivational experience, you’re going to want to get hold of the Motivate app. The good news is that it’s available free of charge on the App Store.