Apps keep track of conclave while the Vatican's under a tech lockdown

Rosa Golijan , NBC News ? ? ? 1 hr.

The Vatican's denizens may be under a security lockdown? there's ban on social media use and cellphone signal jammers are strategically installed? but there are still plenty of apps to help the rest of us keep track of the papal conclave.

Conclave Alert, an iPad-only app which'll set you back a buck, is a reasonably popular choice. The app helps keep track of tweets related to the conclave, leaving you in the loop on all the gossip.There's also basic information on the voting process, a list of the cardinal electors, and more.

Conclave, a free app available for both iOS and Android, compiles the latest posts from news sites and blogs. It offers a review of the history of the conclave, details on how the voting process works, info on the cardinals electors, and various resource texts. Oh, and it also keeps track of tweets, albeit it doesn't present them as nicely as Conclave Alert.

If you're mainly interested in the front runners in the papal election, then Pope Election 2013, a one-dollar iOS app, might be your best bet. It offers detailed biographies, claims it has "live odds on the candidates," and includes plenty of history about the papacy.

The Pope App ? yes, that's really what it's called ? is a free iOS app that's "focused on the figure of the pope." During the conclave, it helps keep track of events (you can set alerts to notify you when something's happening), news straight from the Vatican, and images from webcams distributed throughout the Vatican.

For general news, Vatican Radio, available as a free iOS or Android app, will help you stay on track.

And if all the gadgets and apps fail? Well, then you'll just have to watch out for those smoke signals.

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/apps-keep-track-conclave-while-vaticans-under-tech-lockdown-1C8780236

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