With more than 700,000 apps available for download through iTunes, it can be a challenge determining which ones are worth your time and money. For every killer app there are numerous pointless ones, from an entertainment and utilitarian point of view. That's true even of the many free apps available for iPhone. Even if you're not paying, you'll still spend time downloading and trying out new software, endeavoring to find the best fit for you.
Verdict: Found something interesting to read online but need to focus on other things like work? This might be a good fit for you.
Verdict: Onavo is a great way to keep an eye on and reduce your data usuage, perfect for budget data caps or roaming.
Verdict: It's far too clunky for anything like learned discourse, but for short, utilitarian translations, this app is a brilliant piece of work.
Verdict: A great note-taking application. If you focus on taking text snippets and notes, then you won't have any trouble staying under the 60MB storage cap of a free account, though that will quickly shrink if you take a lot of image snippets or audio. If you need more space, you can sign up for a paid account that provides 1 GB of storage upload space as well as other premium features.
Verdict: A photo and contacts sharing app with amusing mechanics. The cross-platform utility is a big plus, along with desktop sharing. Great for family gatherings and meetings alike!
Verdict: Paid apps might be able to do more but Documents Free does okay as a free document viewer and editor on the iPhone.
Verdict: If you don't have a head for figures and unit conversion, well this app is perfect for you.
Verdict: The IMDb app can be a neat "second screen" app for when you're watching a movie or TV series, and is a great app for film geeks and casual viewers alike.
Verdict: Photoshop Express fills your basic photo-editing needs on a handheld device. It doesn't do everything but it can do a fair amount to clean up photos on your iPhone. If you want more functionality, in-app purchases are available to add more options.
Verdict: Smooth, polished and responsive. If you're a Facebook user with a brand new iPhone, you need this app.
Magisto
Magisto is a popular free video editor for iOS and Android devices that focuses on ease of use and is ideal for users without a great deal of technical know-how. Users take photos and videos, and then choose which ones to use as raw material for the video. Afterwards, you input a title and choose from a selection of audio tracks to accompany your video. Then you upload the clips and wait for it to process. Once that's done, voila! The app presents you with a video highlight real thanks to an algorithm that chooses the best snaps and video clips and incorporates cuts and effects to match the music and material. You won't ever get to the nitty gritty of the editing and effects yourself, but that's sort of the point.
Verdict: The app sacrifices control for excellent user-friendliness with automatic video editing that's great for the everyday user without a lot of editing know-how. Excellent for stitching together holiday snapshots and short videos.
NPR News
The NPR News app lets you tap in to the wealth of material that NPR offers up for free. Follow the local or international news with NPR's hourly news broadcasts, listen in on your favorite NPR programs and stations, read up on various articles, create story playlists for a customized queue of material, and even cache articles and photos for offline viewing.
Verdict: The NPR News app puts a rich variety of listening and reading material in the palm of your hand, ready to be consumed on demand!
TuneIn Radio
TuneIn Radio puts thousands of radio stations in the palm of your hand. Featuring a massive selection of radio stations from across the world, TuneIn Radio brings you an incredible variety of content, from the top international stations to your favorite local radio and the best music. You can search by location, station, artist, or song, or, alternatively, browse by categories such as talk, sports, musical genre, and more. You can save your favorite stations for future viewing, or check out recommended stations based on your previous listening. You can even pause and rewind to skip back to a part you missed or a point that you want to listen to again!
Verdict: An excellent way to get even more radio goodness, with international reach.
Drafts
Drafts is an interesting little note taking app by Agile Tortoise that doesn't aim to replace your favorites such as Evernote, Keep, or Simplenote. Instead, Drafts provides a quick text interface for writing quick notes, fragments, or what have you, and then swiftly sends the resulting text to just about any app that accepts text input such as your favorite email client, notetaking app, Twitter, calendar app, Dropbox, Facebook, and more (or you can just save the draft note for use later). While the app comes with 35 predefined actions, this is further expandable via an action library loaded with more options and crazy things you can do with the text.
Verdict: A handy notewriting app that can function as a launcher for a variety of apps.
Pocket
Pocket, the rebranded version of the venerable Read It Later service, is a great offline reading tool that allows you to select and save articles, pictures, and videos for later viewing. Its trimmed down, cleaner format means you can enjoy content without a lot of the side clutter on the web. Tagging, cross-device and platform syncing, and many other features make this a total electronic device experience rather than just locking you to a particular device, computer, or browser.
Verdict: Found something interesting to read online but need to focus on other things like work? This might be a good fit for you.
DuoLingo
DuoLingo is a neat free app that turns the process of learning a totally new language, as well as translations of web texts, into a game. DuoLingo offers courses in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian in a gamified manner, with timed quizzes, listening and speaking exercises, and other activities presented in a series of short minigames. These come complete with achievements, skill levels, and other tools to keep the exercises fun and interesting. In addition to the language learning exercises, DuoLingo also includes text translation exercises that challenge users to translate short texts taken from the web that match their approximate skill level, which is then used as part of DuoLingo's web translation objective.
Verdict: A great idea for picking up a new language and an interesting way to crowdsource translations.
RunKeeper
Runkeeper is a perennial favorite among running apps, using your phone's GPS to track your running, cycling, hiking, and other distance activities. The app records your pace, distance, total exercise time, calories burned, and other useful metrics, while also allowing you to take and tag pictures on the go. You can measure your progress and workout history, as well as sync with numerous other apps and services, and receive detailed reports of your tracked activity.
Verdict: An excellent run tracking app to record your progress and share online, while also integrating with numerous other devices and services.
Yahoo! Weather
A winner of Apple's 2013 Design Awards, the Yahoo! Weather app boasts a gorgeous interface that is simultaneously informative and beautiful to look at and use. The app displays images of your location, complete with matching time of day, as well as weather conditions, with the option to view detailed 5-day forecast as well as interactive radar, heat, and satellite maps, sunrise & sunset times.
Verdict: Yahoo! Weather's iOS app is a visual design treat that also comes packed with functionality.
XE Currency
XE Currency handles all your currency conversion needs with ease, with live currency rates and charts for every world currency as well as precious metals. A perfect companion for frequent travelers and tourists as well as financial professionals, XE Currency's free app can track up to 10 currencies simultaneously and updates its rates every minute (customizable), or when you shake your device. Additionally, XE Currency stores its last updated rates on your device, allowing you to view rates and do conversions even when away from a mobile or WiFi connection.
Verdict: A great, easy to use app for the currency conversion needs of the world traveler or financial professional.
Onavo Extend
Onavo Extend is a data compression app that helps users with a capped data plan to extend their data usage by compressing incoming images, texts, and other information before sending it to their iPhone. It also offers a break down that shows each of your apps' data useage so you can track how you spend your monthly data allowance (which can be further augmented with the Onavo Count app). It's equally good at helping you slash roaming charges by reducing the volume of incoming data, saving you a mint in roaming data charges.
Verdict: Onavo is a great way to keep an eye on and reduce your data usuage, perfect for budget data caps or roaming.
Google Translate
Google Translate allows users to type in or dictate short sentences from one language to another. Simply select an input language and an output language and then either type in or dictate your message. The app does its thing, presenting you with a translated text, or a short synthesized voice message. The software currently translate text between 64 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, and more. It can support dictated messages for 17 languages and can 'speak' translations from 24 languages.
Verdict: It's far too clunky for anything like learned discourse, but for short, utilitarian translations, this app is a brilliant piece of work.
ESPN Score Center
Sports fans are sure to have a field day with ESPN's Score Center app, which brings you scores, standings, and news from your favorite sporting leagues and teams. Choose your favorite teams and then have a blast with scores, news, and video highlights. Video highlights include integrated Gamecasts and links to WatchESPN to help you keep tabs on the action.
Verdict: If you've got a bad case of sports on the brain, ESPN's Score Center is going to be right up your alley.
Evernote
Whether you're in a meeting, in the classroom, or just have a sudden bright idea that you need to write down, you can turn to Evernote, one of the web's premiere cross-platform note-taking apps. Jot down notes or images and immediately sync them across all your devices, share the minutes of a meeting through email, or straight to a printer, or upload your ruminations to Twitter or Facebook. Tag-support and notebook sorting make managing your notes a breeze.
Verdict: A great note-taking application. If you focus on taking text snippets and notes, then you won't have any trouble staying under the 60MB storage cap of a free account, though that will quickly shrink if you take a lot of image snippets or audio. If you need more space, you can sign up for a paid account that provides 1 GB of storage upload space as well as other premium features.
Cue: Know What's Next
Cue: Know What's Next is a personal assistant and organizer app that helps you make sense of your day by syncing and combining data from your iPhone calendar, social networks, contacts, and emails. The app uses that data to attempt to summarize a timeline of the day ahead, showing you your calendar events as well as related e-mails, social media messages, and contacts. Cue greatly benefits users that are very connected with social media and calendars, as more data allows it to build more intelligent summaries, but it does occasionally lead to false connections if you have contacts with similar names.
Verdict: An interesting concept, even with the occasional hiccups. It's a great augmentation to your calendar, helping you organize your day in conjunction with it.
Bump!
Tired of passing around your phone to show off pictures or copy contact details? Bump is a surprisingly useful photo and contact sharing app that allows users to "bump" two devices together in order to share contact info from the address book, your Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, as well as photos from your device's gallery. You can also use the app to find mutual friends through your social network and phone contacts. Surprisingly, this app works cross-platform between iOS and Android. A new feature even allows you to share files between your iPhone and desktop provided you're on WiFi.
Verdict: A photo and contacts sharing app with amusing mechanics. The cross-platform utility is a big plus, along with desktop sharing. Great for family gatherings and meetings alike!
RedLaser
eBay's RedLaser app is a comparison shopper's dream. RedLaser allows you to turn your iPhone's camera into a portable barcode and QR code scanner. Snap a shot of a product's barcode and the app will search online for the best local prices, product details, nutritional information, product reviews, and more. RedLaser also functions as a discount and coupon management platform, allowing you to look up discounts, bargains, and coupons provided by retailers.
Verdict: You don't need to be an obsessive bargain hunter to get mileage out of this useful shopping application.
Documents Free
Documents Free by Savy Soda is a free, lightweight office suite for the iPhone and iPad. Documents Free allows users to open and create Word, Excel, and Open Office files, and comes with the ability to sync with Google Docs, uploading your files to the cloud. The iPhone's small screen is really a major hindrance when it comes to heavy word processing. Still, light edits and document viewing is entirely possible with an app like this one.
Verdict: Paid apps might be able to do more but Documents Free does okay as a free document viewer and editor on the iPhone.
Converter Plus
Converter Plus is a free and simple unit convertion app for a variety of units of measurement and currencies. It's also got a calculator feature for basic operations. Convert currencies, distances, units of mass or volume, and more.
Verdict: If you don't have a head for figures and unit conversion, well this app is perfect for you.
IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
The official IMDb Movies & TV app provides users with a comprehensive database of information on movies, TV series, actors and actresses, directors, production credits and more. Whether you're a movie geek who needs to look up the details of an obscure film, or a casual movie-goer looking up screen times and trailers for the latest blockbuster, you'll be able to get some serious mileage out of this app.
Verdict: The IMDb app can be a neat "second screen" app for when you're watching a movie or TV series, and is a great app for film geeks and casual viewers alike.
Comics by Comixology
Comics by Comixology is a combined marketplace and comic reader application. Backed by the largest digital comics marketplace online, it features big name publishers like Marvel, DC, Image and IDW. Purchase the titles you want and then read within the app or online.
Verdict: If you're looking for a place to buy and read high quality digital comics legally, then this is probably the app for you. If you already have a digital comic collection and aren't as interested in the integrated marketplace, you might want to try out ComicRack or Perfect Viewer instead.
Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express gives you a bevy of useful photo-editing features packed into one free app. More advanced filters, additional features, and image utilities can also be tacked on with in-app purchases, but the stock package is already a great, scaled-down version with basic editing like red-eye correction, cropping, etc.
Verdict: Photoshop Express fills your basic photo-editing needs on a handheld device. It doesn't do everything but it can do a fair amount to clean up photos on your iPhone. If you want more functionality, in-app purchases are available to add more options.
Skype
This popular service allows for free video and voice calls to and from other Skype users, regardless of their platform, and cheap long-distance calls to mobile phones and landlines.
Verdict: Skype is a good, free option for video calls and catching up with friends you are separated from by distance. While there are many other competing video call services and apps out there, Skype still wins out for its ubiquity.
AppShopper
Save money on any kind of iOS app with this bargain hunting app. AppShopper keeps tab on the prices of all iPhone, iPod touch, and iOS software. Get popular games and useful apps at a much lower price, or even for free. You can apply a variety of filters to your AppShopper searches, letting you zero in on the app you're looking for at your desired price point.
Facebook
While you could access Facebook from the Safari browser (or any of these alternative mobile browsers), there's nothing like the slick experience offered by a dedicated app. The official Facebook app for iPhone gives you all the functionality of the mobile version with an interface designed for smartphone displays. Keep in touch with friends and family, send chat messages, and share your status and photo updates with the world.
Verdict: Smooth, polished and responsive. If you're a Facebook user with a brand new iPhone, you need this app.
Instagram
Instagram lets users take pictures and apply instant filters that give even the most boring images a little visual kick. Users can then share their creations through social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It's also very easy to use thanks to a straightforward interface. If you want to roll back a few decades of improvements in camera technology and make your images look blurred, grainy, and otherwise arsty, well, this app's for you.
PayPal
Manage your PayPal account with this app. The popular online payment service lets you purchase from a wide variety of online and offline suppliers, and the official iPhone app will let you send or receive money, kick off fundraising initiatives, and even split a bill right down to the last cent. Of course, you can also use it to review your transaction history.
BloomBerg
Keep track of your investments and stock portfolio with this portable market and fund tracker. The official BloomBerg app also provides the latest financial news, which may prove helpful when making your buying and selling decisions.
Mint.com Personal Finance
Mint.com provides one of the most popular personal finance tracking solutions online and you can take it to the iPad with this dedicated app. Track, budget, and manage your finances all in one place so you can see where you're spending and where you can save. Keep track of your savings, checking accounts, and credit or debit cards, input transactions, and set reminders for things like bill payments to avoid late fees. It might feel a little dry and dull itemizing and tracking your expenses and purchases, but it canmake a real difference in your budgeting, and the Mint.com app helps by putting your budget and spending information in clear and readable graphs and charts.
Verdict: In an economy like today's, penny-pinching isn't something to be mocked. It's a survival skill. Mint.com's app is a handy supplement to your personal finance toolkit.
