It uses push notifications to notify you of any operations you are subscribed to (configurable in the app itself) in real-time. Also you can view a list of notifications received in the past. We're trying to focus on one thing and make it as good as we possibly can.
Please drop an e-mail at steemify@blockbrothers.io if you'd be interested in beta testing Steemify (as soon as we get approval from Apple that is).