Quick Review: Swirl your hashtagged images from Instagram and Twitter

Swirl by Betaworks One for iOS, free in the App Store

Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

We had to give Swirl a whirl and were quite pleased with the new app from Betaworks One released yesterday for iOS. 

Images are displayed according to hashtags Instagram and Twitter users chose when posting their images. Some hashtags are featured, as noted by the star next to movember, a hashtag used in conjunction with the annual fundraiser for men's health issues.	Slide a photo for a quick peek at who posted it, tap for more images with that hashtag.

The concept is really simple, but playing with the app will truly give you an appreciation for how well-executed Swirl is. After logging in with your Instagram and Twitter accounts, you'll see images that you've posted and those you follow (and those you don't) have posted, arranged according to hashtag. The interface is smooth and intuitive: scroll to see a leading image for each hashtag, tap it for more that use that hashtag and tap an indivual image to see the full Instagram or Twitter post with captions, Instagram likes and comments and Twitter retweet, favorite and reply functions.

And while fun for quickly seeing social trends or monitoring a hashtag you and a group of friends agree upon, we're also interested in the app's potential for tracking news stories quickly and easily.

Swirl also includes easy sharing capabilities to Facebook, Twitter or email ...	a map view of images according to location ...
a people view of those who've posted pics ...	and an option for just viewing tweets.

What we like: Intuitive interface, easy to follow your favorite hashtags.

What we don't like: We wish we could choose to only see swirls from friends or filter swirls as we wish.

What do you think? Have you tried Swirl yet?