(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)
After Thursday night’s two-hour MobileMe scheduled maintenance, the Me.com website is back and has a fresh new look, as seen in the screenshot above. But the changes go deeper than a pretty homepage, and also include a new free Find My iPhone app.
9to5Mac is reporting that Apple’s MobileMe makeover is now complete and ready for consumption by new or existing members. Sadly, the rumors about the service going free still haven’t come true, but if you’re already paying for the service or considering the free 60-day trial, it looks like an even better deal now -- at least cosmetically.
The first change users will see is from the Me.com homepage, which shows the newly-refreshed icons for the service. Once you log in, you’ll see that the formerly in-beta Mail web application is now live for everyone -- but when you click on the cloud icon in the upper-left corner, instead of going to the old interface, you’ll now get a pop-up application switcher (shown below) that lets you switch between your Me.com web apps even quicker than before, all of which have been given a makeover in the same manner as the Mail web app.
MacRumors notes that the Mail web app has gotten the most attention; the new feature include a couple additions even since the beta version:
- Widescreen and compact views.
- Rules to keep your email organized everywhere.
- Single-click archiving.
- Formatting toolbar.
- Faster performance.
- Increased security with SSL.
- Support for external email addresses (new since the beta)
- Improved junk mail filtering (new since the beta)
Me.com isn’t the only thing about MobileMe that’s been updated, either. Apple now has available a free, universal Find My iPhone app (works on iPhone, iPod touch or iPad) to help locate a lost device:
“If you lose your iPhone or iPad while on the go, simply install this free app on any other iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to find it,” the App Store description reads. “Sign in with your member name and password (MobileMe subscription required) to locate your missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. You can even remotely lock the device to protect your privacy, or wipe it to permanently delete all of your data if you think that it won't be returned.”
There had been rumors that Apple was working on an all-encompassing MobileMe app, which would be welcome… but we guess that after Monday it won’t matter, since we can collapse all of Apple-themed apps into a Folder to save screen space anyway.
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