News International has launched an iPhone app for The Sun that focuses on the lighter side of its news coverage.
The Sun Smile is a free download for iPhone promising readers "a selection of the day's funniest stories, giving you that feel good factor everyday for free".
The app ties into The Sun's Big Smile Giveaway marketing campaign, with its App Store listing implying that it will only be available to download until the promotion ends on 31 March.
Readers are invited to shake their iPhone or tap the app's smile logo to get a new batch of stories, with sport and showbiz news included, as well as photos and videos. Everything can be shared to Twitter and Facebook, too.
The Sun Smile joins News International's fully-fledged iPhone and iPad apps for The Sun, which offer the print edition's full contents for a monthly subscription – £0.69 a month on iPhone and £4.99 a month on iPad.
The new app is the second iOS spin-off from The Sun, following an app for the newspaper's Dream Team fantasy football competition, which was first released in November 2009, and has been regularly updated since, including for the 2012/13 season.
Rival publishers have also explored the idea of spin-off apps. Trinity Mirror has Mirror Football and Ian Rush mobile scrAppbook on iPhone, as well as a series of one-shot apps for iPad including Titanic 100, Elizabeth: A Personal Portrait and Chelsea: European Champions.
Daily Mail publisher Associated Northcliffe has also published royal-focused one-shot apps for iPad like Kate: A Royal Odyssey and Mail on Sunday Royal Wedding, as well as crossword, fantasy football and sudoku apps based on its newspaper brands. It's also behind the Wowcher digital coupons app.
Telegraph Media Group, meanwhile, has experimented with e-books through Apple's iBookstore: The Telegraph Guide to the iPad and One Golden Summer – The Telegraph at the London Games.
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