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Relaunched phone and tablet apps offer tailor-made homepage

Two sister dailies have relaunched their iPhone and iPad apps, allowing readers to tailor the newspapers’ homepage to show news from the area they live.

The Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News have announced the redesign, which is part of a company-wide project by publisher Trinity Mirror.

New features include readers being able to select which topics they want to see on the homepage, including stories specifically relating to the area of the newspaper’s patch where they live.

A new intuitive menu structure, articles which are easier to read and share on social media, and slicker image galleries also feature.

Screenshots of the MEN's relaunched app

Screenshots of the MEN’s relaunched app

The app remains free to users and will be also be made available to people with Android phones in the near future.

The Daily Mirror’s app has also been relaunched in the latest move, with The Birmingham Mail, Wales Online and the Daily Record set to be the next to follow suit.

Chris Russell, product director for Trinity Mirror, said: “Our app users typically access around 40 more pages than our website users per month so they are a hugely important audience to us.

“We’ve completely rebuilt the new app from the bottom up, focussing at every stage on how these users will want to interact with it.

“As a result, we think we’ve developed something unique in the way it adapts to users’ browsing habits, helping them access more news, more quickly and personalised to their individual interests.”