Wikipedia has today made a significant update to its iOS application, which most noticeably features a cleaner, “distraction-free” design, as well as the ability to edit Wikipedia articles from your smartphone or tablet device. Under the hood, the app received a number of other improvements as well, including speed increases, offline access, a reading history, and more.
The changes on iOS follow the launch of a similarly revamped Android app, which rolled out last month.
Today, some users don’t think of accessing Wikipedia via a native application on their iOS device, especially because Apple’s mobile operating system includes integrations with the online encyclopedia that allow users to search and read article snippets directly from the iOS interface itself. Meanwhile, the Apple App Store offers a large number of third-party Wikipedia clients, many of which include offline access as their differentiating feature.
With the revamped app, however, readers may see less need for those third-party experiences, it…