Wikipedia goes big on photos with its updated mobile app

The Wikimedia Foundation is rolling out an update to Wikipedia on Android today — with iOS following shortly after — and the focus of the refresh is firmly on imagery.

Now when you search for any article, a large, prominent image will appear across the top of each one, though only if the article in question has a suitable snap included in the piece already. Additionally, a new image viewer enables you to click to view a larger version of the photo, and lets you swipe through a slideshow of all the images on the page.

The Wikimedia Foundation says this is designed to “create a more immersive reading experience that pulls the reader in.”

Other new features include a “Read More” section at the bottom of each entry, designed to guide readers to further related reading, much in the same way you’ll find in many online articles and blog posts. Finally, the search function now sports a list of recently searched articles.

With more than 33 million articles across 287 languages, and 500 million monthly readers notching up 20 billion page views, there’s little question Wikipedia has emerged as one of the web’s biggest success stories. But many argue that the general browsing experience belongs to a bygone age.

However, this update gives the interface a little more visual zing, and it reminds us a lot of Wikiwand, a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari, that spruces up the Wikipedia browsing experience on desktop.