Earlier today, Relay FM launched its native iOS app to stream episodes from the network’s roster of shows. You can check out the blog post at Relay FM, and this article on TechCrunch about it.

Needless to say, I’m proud of the work and passion Myke and Stephen put into Relay FM every day. Relay is a product of love and hard work, and it shows. And I may be biased, but from a mere professional standpoint, I think the app is a great idea to make it easy for people to tune into live episodes and stream older ones quickly.

The app shows you a list of the most recent episodes from Relay FM. You can tap on a show’s logo to view and stream past episodes, or tap on the ‘Notify’ button to subscribe to a show so you’ll get a notification the next time it’s live. Visually, the app doesn’t look like a hastily modified Tapjet template (the app is built with the engine formerly known as Glide) – there are some terrific animations, color choices, and icons throughout the UI.

There are two details I appreciate. On the iPad, the app supports Slide Over and Split View, so you can put it next to other apps and, say, copy links back and forth. And, links open in Safari View Controller on both the iPhone and iPad, so you’ll have a consistent experience with the system browser.

In future updates, I’d like to see support for actionable notifications to start streaming a show directly from a notification, Spotlight search, and the ability to interact with the Relay FM chat room from the app. I know that Myke and Stephen are already considering these improvements, but I’m sure they will appreciate my honesty.

I’m thrilled with the results of Relay’s first year, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. The app is useful, and while it was possible to stream shows via Safari before, it wasn’t a good experience as you could accidentally close the tab or it could be purged from memory by the system.

You can get the Relay FM app for free here.