How many times have you found yourself browsing on the iTunes Store or anywhere on the web for new music releases? I'm looking for the latest releases all the time and it's often only by coincidence that I find something from a favourite artist of mine, which makes me think about all the music I must be missing out on. Apple itself has tried to fix this in the past with their own “My Alerts” feature in the iTunes Store, but isn't particularly prominent or intuitive. Nomis is the latest solution, and may well be the greatest too.

As soon as you open Nomis you know this is an app where its developer knows interface counts for everything. I've chosen to mention this first because the app is probably better defined as a widget – much like Apple's own Stocks or Weather apps, Nomis has two main navigation and one information screen, so if your interface sucks it's going to become very apparent, very quickly. Nomis is based on your library, and like many library-based apps it employs a wood panel design. New releases are accompanied by glossy artwork on the left side of the screen and a subtle “NEW” banner across the top, arranged by date of release.

An album overview fills your screen when you tap on any listed album. It has a ...