Why is it so important for companies to continually update and re-design their apps with the latest look and new features? realestate.com.au answered that one when they revealed that with more than 5.4 million downloads a simple thing like push notifications can be attributed to more than 1 million visits to the app each month.

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Today realestate.com.au released new iOS and Android apps with updated design and a four-tab approach to separating out the key app tasks.

From Search, to Saved, Notifications and “Me” the tabs separate out the things you’ve seen from that which you are looking for and the things the app and realestate.com.au might think you want to see.

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Notifications is a simple thing – anyone who’s been in the market for a home would know that getting easy access to a list of properties you’d looked at and if they are sold, new information or photos have been added can make life rather easy.

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There’s an algorithmic approach to suggested properties based on others you’ve liked so you’re likely to see more properties that might have been hard to discover through simple searches.

Steve Caddy, realestate.com.au’s Senior Manager for Mobile Apps, said “Design refinements and introducing contextual awareness in our apps has really driven the growth of visits. The app now learns which types of properties a user is interested in based on their interactions with properties on realestate.com.au.

“When a user is highly engaged with a property, the app will look out for them by notifying them if something important happens to the listing – for example if there is a change in inspection or auction time, if new photos are added, or if the property sells or comes back on the market,”

It’s available now for iOS and Android – check your UPDATES folder if you’ve already got the app.