The Daily Skimm is basically a fit and trim newsletter of sorts. Yep, it’s another news app, but this one promises a minimal look and feel that is less busy than most of the other choices on the storefront, including Apple’s own built in UI. It basically sticks to white and teal tones throughout, which are not only pleasing, but easy to read.
I particularly like the “Daily Skimm” section, where it breaks down the biggest news of the day and provides a quote. It’s far from personalized but it’s a nice thing to check in the morning, especially since it updates at 6AM ET, when most people in the US are up and about.
The team also breaks down why news stories are important, with headers like “Don’t Live There. Why Do I Care?” and other attention grabbing phrases. It’s not too sensational and it works without bombarding me with sponsored content.
Users can also browse previous Daily Skimms with an easy to use menu option. A big draw is definitely the calendar interaction though, and if you don’t use one (hello, me), then you’re not going to be utilizing a huge chunk of the app’s functionality.
It basically serves as a way to deliver you more news (or events, as the app puts it, like “Adele tickets” that will probably sell out before you can read the notification), and even has a series of options (with or without alerts for instance) to choose from, including a complete nuke option to remove the calendar altogether.
So how does it make money? Well, it’s a subscription service that will run you $2.99 a month. Is it worth it? That depends on how much you intend to consume the content (read: daily would probably get you your money’s worth), but there’s a free month long trial involved if you’re so inclined. Given how easy it is to cancel subscriptions on iOS as of late (just find it in your App Store settings after logging in), it’s a painless process, just like the one I went through to cancel my Tidal sub after listening to The Life of Pablo.
theSkimm is an iOS app that can be downloaded for free in the iTunes App Store.