It occurs to me that I’ve had an iPhone for 6 months already, and still not done the obligatory ‘Apps I Love’ blog post.
My friend Dave Harte got himself one today, and I was about to recommend him a couple – but I thought this would be a good opportunity to fulfill my blogging requirements. Kill two birds with one enormous stone.
You’ll note that there are apps that you can’t delete – like Mail and Clock, Calendar and (inexplicably) Stocks. And then there are the apps you add yourself.
Here are the apps I use. You don’t need squillions of them, despite what will probably be an overwhelming desire to try as many as you can. I have downloaded, and over time, have deleted far more apps off my phone than I currently have on it. Right now, it’s pretty much trimmed to the bone. These, to me, are the essentials.
Some of them are the most useful tools of any kind I’ve ever owned – and some are just really nice to have. Hope this is helpful and/or interesting.
Tweetie2
My Twitter client. Best of the bunch, as far as I’m concerned. I’m always on this.
Things
I live my life out of this app, and the desktop software that it syncs to. The only reason I ever get anything done is because of this particular GTD implementation.
PicPosterous
Take a photo, upload it to a Posterous blog. Take more than one photo, it turns into a photo album. Super-simple photoblogging. Even easier than email. I use this every day for my food blog project.
Dropbox
The single best way to have files available in multiple places. And the file reader on the iPhone app’s pretty great too. Put Dropbox on every computer you own – and have it on your iPhone.
Remote
Control your desktop iTunes library from another room. As long as you’re on the same wifi network, you’re good to go.
National Rail App
More than just train timetables. The ‘Next Train Home’ button works out where you are, and lets you know where and when to catch the train back to your home station. I use this almost daily.
FiRe
Short for Field Recorder – this is a serious audio recorder for the iPhone. Amazing quality.
ShoveBox
Take quick and easy notes on your computer, then file them how you like and sync them with your iPhone. Or vice versa. Really handy.
NetNewsWire
The best RSS reader out there. Syncs with your Google Reader account. It’s my daily paper. Highly recommended.
SmartGo Pro
I like to play Go. I don’t know anyone else who plays it, so I play it on my iPhone. The Pro version has every grand master game, play-by-play, dating back to the year 1800, if you’re interested (I’m not). The tutorials and problems are superb. It’s pricier than most, but it’s my one iPhone game. There’s a cheap, light version too, which I can recommend.
Speedtest
Figures out how fast the internet connection is wherever you happen to be. I find that useful – especially if I’m about to commit myself to a project where I’m going to be uploading lots of video…
iTranslate
I have used this a couple of times while travelling, but I’m sure I could use it more. Translate between dozens of languages with an amazingly comprehensive vocabulary. And free.
Skype
Occasionally, I use Skype on the iPhone. If it could run in the background so people could actually call me on it, it’d be even more helpful.
Instapaper
Save webpages for reading later. This works well with NetNewsWire. If you come across a long article that you want to sit down with at some point in the future, then just add it to Instapaper, and then when you’re on the bus and have a bit of time, you can read it at your leisure.
RedLaser
A barcode scanner, linked to Amazon and other online stores. See a book at Waterstones or a DVD at a friend’s house you like the look of? Scan the barcode, read reviews, check price comparisons and save it on a want list. Guarantee you’ll find whatever it is cheaper on the internet.
Shazam
What’s that song playing? Hold up your phone, press the button, and Shazam will tell you what it is and who it’s by. You can also save where you were when you heard it and take a picture, but I don’t know why you would.
Spotify
As a Spotify subscriber, the app is a must-have. Save playlists and listen to pretty much any music anywhere. Again, it would be great to have this work in the background so I can check messages while I listen to music (rather than instead of), but it’s just one more reason to give Spotify your money.
MiniBooks
If you’re a Freshbooks user, Minibooks is superb for invoicing on the go. If you’re not a Freshbooks user and you invoice people for stuff ever, you should start.
LinkedIn
An amazingly useful and intuitive app – especially when you consider how ridiculous and unhelpful the actual website is.
Facebook
When you run out of things to read or things to do on your iPhone, you can always check Facebook. Once you work out how the ‘multiple pages of 3×3 grids’ system thing works, it’s quite good.
Hipstamatic
It’s a camera that emulates old analogue photography and makes the pictures look like they came from cheap, 1970s cameras. Which is way cooler than it sounds.
…and that’s pretty much my full list.
There are people out there that will tell you all about the cool games and productivity applications they use – and I know people with pages and pages of apps. I’m sure I’ll find more over time, but for now, these are the ones I wouldn’t be without.
Hope there’s something useful in there for you.