It seems like Craigslist has been a cornerstone of the Internet for practically forever. The site pretty much single-handedly killed white pages during the rise of the world wide web, but for some reason, it took until the end of 2019 for Craigslist to finally create its own iPhone app.
As you’d expect, it’s totally basic.
The Craigslist app looks a lot like the website. Everything feels pretty familiar if you’ve ever tried to buy or sell something through the website. The UI is mostly just a white background with simple text so it loads really quick. You can search for items for sale in your area or set your location for other places.
Craigslist app vs the competition
Even though Craigslist has a lot of mindshare when it comes to providing a free marketplace to buy and sell goods, it’s lost a bit of its lead to apps like OfferUp. I’ve switched to using OfferUp over Craigslist because the latter isn’t that convenient to use in the Safari. OfferUp also lets you communicate with buyers and sellers completely in the app. With Craigslist you still have to haggle and arrange a meetup through email, text or voice calls. Hopefully, Craigslist adds similar features in the future.
Finding Craigslist through the App Store could be another challenge for the app’s launch. It’s currently ranked #10 in the Shopping category. But if you search for “Craigslist” you’ll have to scroll past more than 20 third-party Craigslist apps along with eBay and Pernals before you finally see the official Craigslist app. You might just want to use this direct link to it instead.
Craigslist for iOS can be used on any iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running iOS 9.0 or later. There’s an Android app too but its still in beta.
