beazley.org

Must-have iPhone Apps

Posted August 27, 2009

Over the past several months, I've played around with hundreds of apps for every imaginable purpose. Most were either shortly forgotten or removed, but here are the ones that remain. My favorite and most used apps:

Apps from the Apple App Store

  • AccuWeather (free) – this Weather replacement is very handy and provides way more information than the default app
  • Amazon Mobile (free) – if you use and love Amazon as much as I do, this is invaluable
  • America Deluxe ($1.99) – a thorough, one-stop shop for all information on the US and it's government
  • AppSniper ($0.99) – helps you keep track of new app releases and price changes
  • Awesome Facts ($1.99) – this seemingly endless supply of random facts and trivia is a great way to kill a few minutes when you’re not in the mood for or unable to play a game
  • Bejeweled 2 ($2.99) – fantastic and addicting game that I've loved for years
  • Birdbrain ($1.99) – awesome app to keep track of your Twitter follower/following gain/loss statistics
  • BofA (free) – if you're a Bank of America customer, this is a wonderful portal into your accounts
  • Convertbot ($0.99) – an amazing little conversion widget looks great, too
  • Darkslide (free/$3.99) – a great way to access and browse Flickr
  • Evernote (free) – I love having my notes available anywhere, so this quickly replaced the built-in Notes app
  • Facebook (free) – impressively powerful and handy Facebook interface with a major update soon to be released
  • Feeds ($2.99) – as an avid Google Reader user, this clean and functional reader on-the-go is the best I've come across
  • feX ($1.99) – if you use Facebook, this handy tool with sync your contacts' Facebook pictures with your iPhone Contacts (also their birthday and location)
  • Fieldrunners ($2.99) & TapDefense (free) – nice Tower Defense implementations for killing a little time here and there
  • Flixter Movies (free) – best all-around movie app, also integrates with Netflix and Facebook
  • Howcast (free) – need to know how to do something, there’s probably a video for it here
  • iheart radio (free) – streaming radio
  • Labyrinth (free/$2.99) – amazing marble board-tilting game, very impressive
  • LinkedIn (free) – useful for maintaining business and professional relationships
  • Pandora Radio (free) – if you like music, especially finding new music, you need this
  • Shazam (free) – this amazing app will recognize just about any song playing
  • Simplify Music 2 ($5.99) – a great way to completely eliminate the need for syncing music to your iPhone
  • SmartShop ($0.99) – the best shopping list app that I could find, fits my absent-minded brain perfectly
  • SnapTell (free) – sounds great in theory, but I’ve never had the occasion to use this IRL
  • StickWars (free/$0.99) – very cute and addictive little game, you’ll be swiping like a crazy person but it’s good fun
  • Texts From Last Night ($0.99) – Fed from the site, Txts Frm Lst Nght, this will keep you entertained and in stitches every day
  • TweetDeck (free) – Definitely a must have if you use Twitter.
  • Yelp (free) – if you’re out and about and want to know where a gas station, restaurant or other Point of Interest is, Yelp will show you the way

Apps from Cydia

These apps require a jailbroken iPhone.

  • PrivaCy (free) – a new Settings panel that allows you to selectively opt-out of sending anonymous usage statistics to providers who could possibly abuse it
  • Cycorder (free) – video capture
  • Cyntact ($1.00) – adds little thumbnails of your contacts (with pictures) in your contact list
  • Five Icon Dock (free) – adds another icon down there
  • PushMod (free) – allows more frequent mail checking for non-push accounts such as GMail

Apps that had potential but didn’t quite make it...

  • CardStar (free) – I gave this a shot at several stores and couldn't get it to work, which was unfortunate!
  • Tweetie ($2.99) – I used this until recently when I switched to TweetDeck. It’s still good, I just use TweetDeck on the PC, too.

Apps that just didn’t work out or got old quickly include AnnoyATeen, Backgrounds, Flashlight, G-Park, G-Spot, Grenade, Health Cubby, iChalky, iTalk, Joost, Lightsaber, Lose It!, MySpace, Night Stand, Now Playing, Pull, StunOMatic, Topple, Weightbot and Whip.

So, there you go! I'd love to see what you're using and can't live without on a day-to-day basis. Please share below.