Friday, December 16, 2011

iPhone apps every iPhone user should have installed.

** NOTE: I periodically update this list, if I happen to find any new apps or there is newer information about apps listed. They'll be marked with a next to the name. Check back often! **

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm an iPhone hacker, and I stay pretty much up-to-date on the scene. Seeing as there are a lot of new iPhone users, and several people I know keep asking me "What apps should I install on my iPhone?", I thought I'd put together a list of iPhone apps I think every user should have installed. Sure, everyone knows about Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, even Google+ (does anyone actually /use/ Google+?), but what else should you install?

The majority of these are free, but there are a few paid apps I recommend as well; thus I broke this list into three categories: Free, Free with Paid versions, and Paid-only apps. Many of these apps work on the iPad as well, and the majority of them work on the iPod Touch, so you can use them on pretty much any iOS device. Links included (shortened by is.gd!) - just copy the links to your web browser, and you can open it directly in iTunes for easy install.

NEW! Since some of these apps will/would use a LOT of data, and most people will have the 2GB data plan on AT&T, I've decided to mark apps with a symbol in brackets (with color) to indicate certain things, like:

[*] WARNING! Apps marked with this WILL use a lot of data - you can easily exceed your monthly data cap (most people are typically on the 2gb/month plan), which means you'll end up paying $10 for each additional gigabyte, and that can rack up the charges. Use these apps on WiFi, or sparingly on 3G (unless, like me, you have the old grandfathered-in Unlimited Data Plan.)

[-] Portions of this app contain streaming video or other high-bandwidth features that can use a lot of data, and using these features can cause you to easily exceed your monthly data cap. Use these features sparingly on 3G, or go wild on WiFi.

Also, I've shortened all the "official" iTunes links with is.gd, just to clean things up a bit. Don't worry, each link will take you to the official iTunes link, not some malicious website or anything. Please note that is.gd links ARE case-sensitive! (You can just click the name of the app if you don't want to copy & paste the URL.)

FREE APPS:
  1. Adobe Photoshop Express - edit and share photos directly from your device. http://is.gd/pRQorn 
  2. AroundMe - Surprisingly useful to find many things around and near where you're at, you'll use it more than you think. And it integrates to the built-in Maps program to provide directions very well - or NAVIGON (or TomTom GPS, if you went with that app instead.) http://is.gd/aJhQ4W
    • Ad-supported, but has an option to purchase the "No Ads" version for $2.49 via an In-App Purchase. If your device is jailbroken, iAP Cracker [in-app cracker] works to give you the full, no-ads version for free.
  3. Bump - just start the app on two iPhones (or iPod Touch!), start the app, then "bump" them together to share each others contact details. Easy! (Also has an Android version, so iPhone-to-Android works as well.) http://is.gd/hPVX1F
  4. Cell Minute Tracker for AT&T - a better version of the stock AT&T app. http://is.gd/qeyncZ
  5. CNN [*] [-]- Cable News Network, 'nuff said. http://is.gd/EAbVw5
  6. Contacts Sync - Backup ALL your contacts to the cloud, and restore them with ease - even across different platforms (they make this for ALL smartphone platforms, so you can manage your contacts cross-platform!) I've used this, and it is literally a snap, totally easy to use!
  7. Crackle - Movies & TV [*] - free, full-length TV shows & movies. http://is.gd/elBtYR
  8. Data Usage Defender -  Unless you have the unlimited plan (only older AT&T users who are grandfathered in, and Sprint users), you have a monthly cap. Exceed that cap, and you pay; for example, on AT&T, it's $10 for every 1gb you go over. That can add up quickly! Especially if you use streaming services, such as Pandora, Spotify, et. al. Data Usage Defender is totally free, has a slick interface, and tracks your data usage, quickly alerting you when you approach your limit, and if/when you exceed it.
  9. Dropbox [-] - share files, pictures, and videos between your phone and any computer
    • Get the Dropbox iOS app here: http://is.gd/7AZlHz
    • Sign up for Dropbox, it's free. If you do this, please use this link; yes, it's my referral link, but we both get extra space for free: http://db.tt/nf8GeN8
    • I also recommend that you install the Dropbox app on your computer, so that you can easily drag-'n-drop documents to your Dropbox folder, and have access to them anywhere.
  10. Emojii Free! - enables cute Japanese image emoticons to your texts and emails. There are many paid apps that this; don't fall for that trap - this free app needs only to be installed once, which enables Emojii, and then you can delete it from your phone (Emjoii stays enabled.) http://is.gd/1JgJDh
    • NOTE FOR iPHONE 4S and any device with iOS 5 USERS: You do NOT need to install any apps to enable Emojii. Apple finally included it by default. Just go in SETTINGS, then GENERAL, then KEYBOARD, choose INTERNATIONAL KEYBOARDS, choose ADD NEW KEYBOARD, and scroll down until you see the one that is named EMOJII (they're sorted alphabetically, so look for the E's.) Choose Emojii, and you're done - it's enabled instantly.
    • To use Emojii icons, on your iPhone's keyboard, look for the world symbol directly to the left of the space bar (the 123 key is there as well, lower left-hand corner.) Touch the world key, and you'll see the Emojii icons you can use.
    • Also note that people who do *not* have Emojii enabled-devices typically CAN see the icon displayed properly, but if not, it'll look like gibberish to them (like if they have an el-cheapo cel phone.) You can't post Emojii to Facebook or Twitter, for example, but an Emojii-enabled iPhone can send Emojii icons properly to an iPhone that doesn't have Emojii enabled.
  11. Find My Friends - Great for families, kids, good friends, or stalking that special someone.
  12. GasBuddy - find the cheapest gas around. http://is.gd/aHRVL2
  13. Google Earth [*]- it's just plain fun, and you can pretend you're Jack Bauer, especially if you tell Siri to "get you the satellite photos." :D http://is.gd/B9k2rE
  14. Meebo - Remember chatting on your computer with your friends? Do it on the go with Meebo, the free integrated all-in-one instant messaging client that supports ALL major IM networks (even Facebook and Gmail chat!) http://is.gd/KckgO5
    • Sadly, Google has acquired Meebo, and it shut down on July 11, 2012. Will it come back? We can only hope.
  15. offGRID™ BatStat Battery Monitor - the best battery monitoring app out there, from the makers of the best cases - Incipio. Designed to work with the Incipio® offGRID™ case (http://is.gd/8mDeJy), it works well without it, too. http://is.gd/2E2yii
  16. Onavo - if you don't have the unlimited data plan (which is no longer offered by AT&T), Onavo will compress your data and let you do more. http://is.gd/4DvNVU
  17. Pandora Radio [*] - If you haven't heard of this already, well, get with the century. 'nuff said. http://is.gd/E3qK28
  18. RedLaser Barcode SCanner & QR Code Reader - scan *any* barcode, compare prices locally AND online. Way useful!
    • This has been updated to include a new version: http://is.gd/aatNDS (linked above)
    • The "old" version is now called RL Classic, and is available at http://is.gd/RfkK0G
    •  Reason for the change? It looks like eBay has purchased Red Laser from Occipital. The new version appears to integrate bar code scanning with eBay look-ups.
  19. Square - Accept credit and debit card payments using your phone! Free to sign up, they even send (at no cost to you!) a small card reader that plugs into the headphone jack. Sign up on their website at http://www.squareup.com - from the man who created Twitter, you might have seen Stephen Colbert using his Square to accept donations from a crowd earlier this year. Even if you think you'll never use this, it's free - so what have you got to lose? Perfect for those garage and/or yard sales you hold, now you can advertise that you accept credit & debit cards as well as cash.
  20. Skype [*] [-] - Everyone knows what Skype is. 'nuff said. [1]  http://is.gd/aqaCdS
  21. Talkatone - free incoming and outgoing phone calls over VoIP. The *biggest* reason for this is to allow you to use Google Voice - a feature-rich, fully-functional, FREE VoIP service that has features that no cell phone provider provides (or if they do, they charge a hefty fee for it), which work on any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.) The biggest advantage is that even devices that DON'T have cellular services - like the WiFi-only iPad and the iPod Touch - becomes full-fledged phones. You can even have MULTIPLE numbers enabled! (Requires the paid version for this.)
    • Get the Talkatone iOS app here: http://is.gd/qqZgQW
    • Sign up for Google Voice here: http://voice.google.com/
    • Google Voice is FREE - and you can select your own phone number, though many area codes - like 813, here in Tampa - are unavailable since they're all taken. Hint: you can make your Google Voice number *spell* something, so think of interesting phrases to make your number! Try to spell your name or something!
    • Also note: the basic Talkatone app has ads, and have a yearly fee to remove them. Jailbreak your device, and use iAP Cracker [in-app cracker] to get the full-fledged, premium, no-ads version for free.
    • Lastly, Talkatone with Google Voice is the simplest way to turn your iPad or iPod Touch into a real, feature-laden phone. I'll do a separate blog post on that later. 
    • UPDATE: See my blog post: Turn your iPad or iPod Touch into a phone - for free!
  22. Trapster - Speed Trap Alert. Useful if you drive a lot. http://is.gd/4Pq7gq
  23. UScape.it [-] - create 3D 360° panoramic views from your camera. http://is.gd/zK4Z3T
  24. VEVO [*] - YouTube's "official" artist release platform for music & videos. http://is.gd/EMJasd
PAID apps with a FREE version:
  1. Music identification apps: there are two major players: Shazam and Soundhound. Both have their pros and cons, both have free and paid versions. (For those who've asked: I prefer SoundHound over Shazam, but that's just me.) Check out the free versions, decide if you want to pay for the "full" version.
  2. Panoramatic photos: there's a few apps that do this, which are really cool and fun. 
    • PanoMinute: completely free, it's part of the Gyrorama app as well (below.) http://is.gd/QRFV2v 
    • Gyrorama [-] : comes in two flavors, Lite (free - http://is.gd/97NBgC) and Pro (paid - http://is.gd/97NBgC). What Gyrorama does is convert ANY panoramic photo (such as those taken with PanoMinute) into an interactive Gyrorama photo that users can scroll, pan, zoom, and more.
    • Panoramatic 360 [-] : It's a paid app - http://is.gd/YqFUc3 - but there is a free viewer-only app called Panoramatic World, so you can see the potential of the paid app: http://is.gd/yt86rT
  3. myTunz+ - iPod, the way Apple *should* have made it. Has a few drawbacks, IMO, but includes features such as gesture controls, a sleep/playback timer (including volume fade-out!), YouTube videos related to the currently playing song, and Twitter and Facebook integration, and more.
  4. The Weather Channel® [-] - Sure, the iPhone comes with a basic weather app - "basic" being the key word. If you want more, The Weather Channel® has both a free and a paid version (called Max.) Both have interactive maps, severe weather alerts, hourly & 10-day forecasts, uses GPS for exact location, access to videos for breaking news &weather coverage, and a Hurricane Central within the Maps section. The major difference between the free vs. the paid version is the lack of ads displayed in The Weather Channel® Max (paid) version, which the free version has as banners across the top of the screen.
PAID APPS:
  1. NAVIGON MobileNavigator [*] [-] - simply the best GPS app for the iPhone, and rivals or beats many stand-alone GPS units. Full turn-by-turn voice instructions, which READS the street name (as opposed to many other GPS apps that just say "make a left"), it's worth every penny. I highly recommend the Panoramic View in-app purchase for an additional $9.99, though it's not necessary. MAKE SURE YOU UPDATE THIS APP OVER WIFI! It's a very large update after installing the latest version of the app, and WILL cause you to exceed your data plan if you try to download it over 3G!
    • The newest version, 2.0 (now owned by Garmin - you should recognize that name, as they're huge in the GPS world), is a very small app initially - 34.9MB - because, on the first launch, it has to download both the required core files (203.6mb; ostensibly core files removed to make the .ipa smaller; the previous version, 1.8.2, was ~1.68GB in size) for the app, plus whatever maps the user wants to download (various sizes; the full North America map load brings it back up to 1.72GB.) NAVIGON has several options (aka "flavors"), including:
      • NAVIGON US MyRegion: the cheapest option at $29.99, it only covers certain states. Useful if you don't travel much, and only want to pay for the area you use. Search for your area if you want this
      • NAVIGON MobileNavigator USA: Covers all 50 states, for $49.99 http://is.gd/y8aPQY
      • NAVIGON MobileNavigator USA & Canada (also includes Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands): $59.99, this is the "North America" version. http://is.gd/HLpEb8
      • NAVIGON MobileNavigator is also available for Europe, and many other countries. Just search for NAVIGON in the iTunes Store and find your location.
  2. Another GPS app to consider is Sygic: GPS Navigation. Main advantage to the Sygic GPS app is that it includes Live Traffic for free (which is a $19.99 in-app purchase in NAVIGON); however, to make this app look really good, I recommend purchasing the 3D Cities and Landscape in-app option, which is an additional $19.99. There are other GPS apps, such as TomTom, et. al, some of which are considerably cheaper, but the reviews have NAVIGON beating the others every single time. You'll stop using your stand-alone GPS in favor of NAVIGON! (I know I did.)
  3. Groups: SMS, Mail and Manage Contacts - iOS by default comes with two groups for your contacts, but doesn't let you create any more. Why not? No clue. But Groups by Guided Ways Technologies Ltd is the best app to do this with; so good, in fact, that it was featured in Apple's official "iPhone Quick Tips" podcasts as contacts manager of choice. Relatively expensive at $4.99, it's worth it if you have a lot of contacts to work with - this creates a virtual Rolodex that makes managing your contacts much easier.
This is by no means an exhaustive list; as Apple said, if there's something you do (online OR offline), no matter how important nor how trivial:

__________________________________________________________________

 Coming Soon: Top 10 reasons to jailbreak your iPhone - and the tweaks that you should have installed when you jailbreak.

Don't forget to check out the rest of my blog for other useful posts and information! http://thehomelesshacker.blogspot.com
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