It’s been just over a week since WordPress for iPhone 2 was released on the App Store. In that time, you’ve downloaded the app onto over 20,000 iPhones and iPods. We’re really pleased to see how many people are interested in the app, especially those who are able to use it for the first time with version 2.0. To mark the occasion, we wanted to show you our new video introduction for the app, take the time to share some data with you, and answer a few questions we’ve been seeing.

We’re also keeping track of downloads by country and by iPhone OS version. This helps us identify the languages to focus on once we begin translating the app, and helps us plan for which new OS features we can count on our users having available.

As happy as we are with the reception for 2.0, we continue working hard to make it even better. We’ve identified a few recurring questions that we’d like to answer for everyone.

Q. Why is this a new app? I don’t want to re-enter my blog settings.
A. Previous versions of WordPress for iPhone were uploaded to the App Store by a contracted developer. To make it easier for us to test new features, fix bugs, and update the app more often, that task will now be handled by those of us developing the app at Automattic. Apple’s only method for changing the “ownership” of an app in the store is to release a completely new version, as we’ve done here. It’s a bit painful, we know, but we should be set now for all future releases.

Q. Why did you remove landscape mode?
A. It’s still there. Bring up the on-screen keyboard to start editing a post, then rotate the device. Apple doesn’t support landscape mode in some areas, particularly the photo picker and the date selection wheel. Having landscape mode turned on for every section was causing bugs that were impossible to fix (while still using Apple’s standard user interface elements).  So we’ve removed it from the areas of the app where it didn’t work well, and kept it in the writing interface, where it’s really useful.

Q. I can’t log in!
A. Ok, not quite a question, but we’ve seen this one a few times on iTunes. However, we haven’t yet had a report of this in the forums, the only place we’re able to provide hands-on assistance with the app. If you’re sure that you’re entering your URL, username, and password correctly and are still unable to connect, please let us know in the forums. (A quick hint for connection issues: Make sure you’re using the latest version of WordPress, 2.8.5, and try temporarily disabling any plugins you have installed). We’ve done lots of work in version 2.0 to eliminate connection problems for the vast majority of blog setups. We’d like to make it work for everyone, but can only help when you work with us to troubleshoot the problem you’re having.

We’ve already begun working on issues identified since the release of 2.0, and are looking forward to being able to provide more timely updates for you going forward. You can track the progress of the project’s development in Trac.

Once again, if you need help using the app or would just like to offer a suggestion, please visit the WordPress for iPhone forums. You can stay up to date with our progress by visiting our development blog, Making WordPress for iPhone. And of course, if you’re thrilled with the app, we’d love for you to review it on the App Store.

We’ve just received word that WordPress for iPhone 2 is now available on the App Store. Woohoo!

A quick note about installation: WordPress for iPhone 2 is a new app, and the previous version won’t automatically update to 2.0. Installing it won’t overwrite any previous version you have installed. When you launch the new app, you’ll immediately see “Version 2.0″ at the bottom of the screen. When you’re no longer using it, you can safely remove the previous version from your device.

Our efforts were focused on creating a better user experience — the beginnings of a user interface overhaul that we’ll continue with the next version, and eliminating the bugs and incompatibilities with some self-hosted WordPress setups that was the source of the majority of the support requests we see in the forum.

So, what’s new in version 2?

• A new, more efficient user interface that makes it faster to switch between comments, posts, and pages.
• Various user interface refinements and bug fixes
• New Comments interface, with Gravatars and the author URL shown in the comment list
• Passwords are now stored in the keychain
• Posts are now automatically saved and restored if network connection is lost during publishing
• Added persistence, so the app re-opens in the blog you last used
• Added an interface for manually entering the XMLRPC endpoint for non-standard setups
• Fixed rotation-related visual glitches
• Fixed errors where malformed XML prevented access to XMLRPC endpoint
• Fixed edge case where local drafts were sometimes not saved
• Fixed the order of photos so that they’re displayed in the order they’re uploaded

WordPress for iPhone, just like WordPress itself, is an Open Source app. Our source code is publicly available, and anyone can contribute to it. On behalf of all the developers, thank you to everyone who wrote code, submitted their ideas or bug reports, built and tested new features with the iPhone Simulator, and installed our beta releases. They helped bring you this app, and we’re excited to have you all start using it!

Just a reminder: we’ve started a new blog called Making WordPress for iPhone, where we’ll talk about the features we’re tackling for the next version of the app, and keep you up to date on our progress. We’re soliciting your ideas and feedback there, so if you’d like to help guide the direction of WordPress for iPhone, that’s the place to be.

In the interest of keeping comments on topic, please don’t post support requests here—instead, we ask that you post them in the WordPress for iPhone forums.

This week I’m in beautiful Quebec with the staff of Automattic for our yearly company meeting. While my coworkers are celebrating fall birthdays, I’ve been working on uploading the final build of WordPress for iPhone 2.0. I can’t say for certain that ours is the first iPhone app submitted to Apple while drinking champagne in a former rectory, but I’m definitely not complaining.

The result of months of effort by a team of designers, developers, and everyday WordPress users serving as testers, WordPress 2 is a remarkable leap for those who blog with their mobile device. Sure, we’ve got a great new UI and some handy new features. But we’ve also made the app work with more setups than ever before, eliminating dreaded errors for many of you who might have had trouble before.

Our many thanks go out to the nearly 100 people who helped create version 2.0 by testing and reviewing the app. Your feedback and bug reports were invaluable — several of the most important things that we’ve done in version 2.0 are the direct result of tester feedback.

We’ll be waiting for the official word from Apple on availability, but we’re also happy to announce that we’ve set up a public P2 development blog to document the progress of the app. Making WordPress for iPhone will be the official source for the very latest news on the design, development, and future direction of our app — and you’re invited to join the discussion there. We’ll continue to post the most important announcements here — but the development blog will be the source for not only the future of the project, but the place where you can help guide it.

Thanks again for all the help and guidance you’ve given us during this process. We can’t wait to let you know just as soon as WordPress 2 is available in the App Store.

We are in need of beta testers for the upcoming WordPress iPhone application release version 1.4!  If you’d like to be part of the fun and excitement and test the latest release on your device, please go and fill out a brief survey! (See update below.)

Please note that this release only supports OS 3.0 and higher, and we have limited spots as Apple restricts these beta tests to a max of 100 people. We’ll be picking the beta testers at random — and if chosen, you’ll receive an email with instructions.

Why do a beta test ? We would like to get your feedback on the new user interface we’ve built. We like it and we hope you do too! We are also interested in hearing about how you use the application, and what workflow changes would make the application more useful to you.

Of course, if you should happen to find a bug, please let us know the exact steps to reproduce it, and post that info to the forums. If we can reproduce the bug, we can squish it!

Thanks — and have fun!

Update: We appreciate the many responses we received! All the available spaces are full, but we’re working hard to have the next version available on the App Store as soon as we can. The app has been sent to testers who are putting it through the paces right now.

We’ve decided to standardize the WordPress For iPhone application on the new OS 3.0 going forward.  We’ve seen a large percentage of users upgrading to 3.0, as have other apps, and there are new features we want to focus on which are OS 3.0 specific.  Overall, it seems like a good time to make the switch.

For those of you who wish to stay on an earlier version of the OS, be sure to grab a copy of the current version in the app store (1.3) and you’ll be able to continue using that version on early OS versions for you iPhone or iPod Touch.

We’ll also be posting details about an upcoming beta test of 1.4 this week with the updated UI and a slew of behind the scenes updates that should greatly improve the app in terms of speed and compatibility.

Thanks for all your support and we look forward to bringing you some of those new features soon!

This weekend there is a WordCamp happening in Wellington, New Zealand.

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WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

I will be there, speaking on Saturday afternoon about the changes we’ve been making to the WordPress for iPhone application, along with some of the plans for the future. If you’re attending, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. I won’t bite

Also, for those of your who are not developers and have not had the pleasure of pouring through the latest commits to trunk, here is a sneak peak (although we may be tweaking this a bit before the next release):

So here’s a question for the mobile bloggers out there.  What has been your most unique, or most memorable mobile post?  Whether it was posting from Kazakhstan while riding steppe ponies, from under your car while changing your oil, or the best prose you’ve written while blogging from your iPhone — add a comment and let us know.

Keep it G-rated and come back from time to time to see what others have shared.

I’ll start off by sharing a not-very exciting example.  Recently I took the family to Zion’s National Park and we were briefly rained “in” at the main building.  Being the OCD developer that I am, I turned my wife and kids loose in the souvenir store and began testing some code I had recently written by posting several brief entries to my blog.  They consisted mostly of “test 1″ and “test 1″ but hey – that’s the kind of exciting life I live…  So, the location was a bit interesting, the prose – not.

I’m sure many of you can top that (not hard!) so drop a comment and get the ball rolling!

As you may have seen in a recent post, I asked for volunteers to help me test my code fix for the issue where the iPhone app couldn’t find the XMLRPC endpoint for a blog.  Around 15 l brave volunteers stepped forward and I’m glad to report that in those cases where that specific problem was the issue, the new code allowed the app to get to the endpoint successfully.

Many thanks to the volunteers for answering e-mails and changing settings etc.  This fix will be going into the next release.

For those who enjoy detail – the new code avoids using an XML parse to find the information and instead goes after it directly with a couple of regular expressions.  In the rare case where this does not find the endpoint, the application gives the user an opportunity to enter the XML-RPC endpoint directly via a new screen in the application.

We’ve implemented a fix in trunk for the XML RPC issue some WordPress app users have experienced. I’m looking for volunteers who have had that problem.  The error you see begins:

“We could not find the XML-RPC service for your blog”.

What I need to do is test the fix to be sure I’ve caught any edge cases. This means either A) temporary access to your blog with at least Author-level permission, or B) for you to run the simulator with the latest code.

If you’ve got an iPhone dev environment and prefer to run tests yourself, the expected behavior is that if all else fails, the application will bring up a view and ask for the user to input the xmlrpc endpoint URL manually.  If the endpoint is available, the blog should successfully load.  The new code tries some other things first, so if your blog loads without this manual input view, so much the better.

This input view should appear after saying “OK” to the error message about the endpoint.  Let me know if the new version of the app gives you the error above but does not bring up a view to add the XMLRPC endpoint manually.

Since this resolves mostly to a support issue, please read my post and add your responses on the support site here: http://iphone.forums.wordpress.org/topic/xml-rpc-service-for-you-blog-cannot-be-found/page/2?replies=32

Thank you,

John Bickerstaff

Version 1.3 is now live. This version addresses a few OS 3.0 compatibility issues that popped up. You can grab it now from the iTunes store.

Please note: Due to a strange glitch when submitting the app, the About page of the “1.3″ version will say version “1.21.1″. If you see that, you are running the correct version. We are working with Apple to understand why it would not accept “1.3″ as a valid version, yet displays that version in the iTunes store just fine.