Got my iphone, finally, after three years of suffering with this POS samsung. For the last year, the right side of the screen on my samsung has not worked, meaning when I wanted to call any number with a 3,6,9 I had to slide the thing open and use the mini keyboard with my fat fingers. It sucked. So as soon as my contract allowed me to get a new phone, I got one.
So, since I am new to this iphone stuff, any essential apps I need?
joes527
According to the thread yesterday, Angry Birds seems to be a must have for this productivity tool.
cathyx
GPS
Ricky Roma
Since you might be into blogs Reeder.
Since you seem to like reading long form Instapaper
Since you use Twitter, Tweetbot.
Also are far and away better than any free options. You won’t regret spending cash on any of them. Frankly, I am pissed that the developers charged so little for these.
cathyx
As soon as the battery on my droid no longer holds a charge, I’m getting an iphone also.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Hipstamatic for pictures of El Gato LOS Grande!
George E. Marcus
if you travel: GateGuru, Hipmunk, Flightboard.
for note taking (cloud linking with other devices): Evernote
Music: RadioParadise, Shazam
For food: Epicurious, OpenTable
For cross device storage: Box
For To do: cross devices: DropKick
International travel – TruPhone
Larryb
You seem to travel a lot, so get Cheap Gas. I would also recommend the Starbucks app, but now I guess you just ask Siri.
MikeJ
@Ricky Roma:
Cole doesn’t even read *this* blog (note how often he posts the same story somebody else has all ready front paged). What makes you think he reads others?
Moonbatting Average
Yahoo Sportacular
Atomic web browser
a flashlight app
Tunein radio
AroundMe & GasBuddy, for finding businesses and cheap gas
Redlaser
Reuters, McClatchy, and Propublica news apps
Wikipanion, for Wikipedia searching
geg6
Cheap Gas is very good.
And John, if you download that stupid Angry Birds shit that Sullivan is always going on about, I will disown you.
ETA: Get GPS, too. I find it essential.
Walker
My iPhone is primarily games (including student projects). Productivity apps often go better on the iPad (iAnnotate FTW). But the Dark Horse comics reader works well on iPhone.
Dave
I second Epicurious. Lots of recipes. And it will generate a shopping list based on the recipes you tag. Which is great for forgetful old guys like me.
cathyx
@Larryb: You must be new here. John thinks Starbucks sucks.
Legalize
Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Zombieville, Fantasy Monster (fantasy football app), Weather Channel, IMDB, MLB At Bat, Amazon, Flixter, Pandora, Instagram, NPR music, Urbanspoon ….
Mrs. Legalize has a bunch of nutrition, cooking, frugal shopping, and fitness apps that get a lot of use in our house.
EDIT: If you have Direct TV, the corresponding app is critical to making sure that The Walking Dead gets recorded.
Doc Sportello
Evernote, a free database and web clipping app.
Dropbox, for free cloud storage.
1Password, for password management (this one costs money)
All thee have desktop versions as well.
allan
Be sure to get one of the flashlight apps that turns the camera flash into a flashlight. Super useful, and free.
Star Walk is awesome. Your phone is a personal, portable planetarium!
I use Reeder many, many times a day.
Shazam and WordLens are spooky.
jpeg
WeatherBug – Hyper-local weather
Michael
Convert – the unit calculator. (No, not that unit.)
Barcode Scanner
Google Shopper
Shazam (song identifier)
Kick Flick (soccer)
Hipstamatic
ruemara
Congrats on your newfangled things! Plants vs Zombies is a must have.
kg
you don’t need a specific GPS app, just use Google Maps, its awesome.
Pulse is a great news aggregator.
Install the Dolphin browser.
dmsilev
I believe Congress passed a bill legally mandating installation of Angry Birds on all smartphones. It’s been appealed to the Supreme Court, though, so you might want to hold off until Scalia weighs in.
Apple just updated GarageBand to work on the iPhone as well as the iPad; if playing around with music-making is your thing, it’s well worth a look.
Epicurious, as others have said, is a pretty nice recipe collection.
Kindle.app and iBooks for your reading enjoyment.
For gaming, this is a pretty good list of suggestions:
http://toucharcade.com/2011/10/14/iphone-4s-gaming-guide/
Painlord
Civ Revolutions. I played the heck out of that game.
Orions 2. Stupidly fun card based geek game.
Plants v. Zombies. Really perfect for the iPhone.
Fieldrunners. Best defense game out there.
GoldRush 1 & 2. Dang fun games and a bit different.
Angry Birds is fine, but John Cole you need something with a bit more thought behind it.
dopealope
simplenote
spotify
pandora
around me
red laser
Sarah in Brooklyn
I love the Koi Pond. Very relaxing.
If you like to take pictures, Hipstamatic is a lot of fun.
Lolis
I am jealous of the iphone Yelp app. I have a Nokia smart phone that is compatible with very little.
Mary
Angry Birds Rio, all the Mighty Eagle “Apps within apps,” etc. Those people at Rovio really know how to feed an addiction.
AnnaN
Yes to Angry Birds.
If you bank with USAA – they have an awesome app, I love it.
The Weather Channel.
Kindle/iBooks
tag by Microsoft
I am STILL looking for a great app for cooking that will have recipes which converts to a shopping list.
kindness
I use Starmap. Others here felt another was better though.
The Zippo lighter is good if you still go to concerts. I also got the flashlight & have used it. I doubt you can use the Harborside app.
dlw32
You guys stole most of my thunder (though I’ve been using AllRecipies… will have to look for Epicurious.
I still find UrbanSpoon amusing. Also Speed Test. I also like Carpenter, but my wife is always asking me to change up the artwork at home!
I also do Netflix streaming on my iDevices but we’ll see how much longer that will last… 8)
For games, take a look at DungeonRaid, Muddled, and Card Shark. Also too, Elder Signs: Omens if you’re a Lovecraftian bent…
AnnaN
Oh, and be prepared to spend your … ahem … bathroom time with your iPhone playing Angry Birds.
DMcK
Dictionary.com
Wikipanion
Flashlight
Convertbot
Shazam
IMDB
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide
USA Manual
The Weather Channel
QR app (or something similar)
There may be an app with maps, schedules, etc. for whatever local municipal transit services you would use (these are usually third party, though, so YMMV).
Also, your bank may have an app (the Chase app is pretty cool).
Also, if you have a wireless printer, the manufacturer may have an app that allows you to print photos & such directly from your iPhone.
Also, Angry Birds.
Dave
@AnnaN: Epicurious does it.
debit
I don’t use this, even though I truly have unlimited streaming (grandfathered in) but say you’re streaming a movie on Netflix and pause it because you have to go somewhere. The iPhone app will let you pick up right where you paused it. I know it’s not really a big deal, but I just find it ridiculously awesome.
Also, too, I downloaded the Apple Store App Tim mentioned below.
Larryb
This is slightly off-topic, but CNET did a tear-down of the new Motorola Razr (sorry,it was on their Crave blog, but I lost the link). I was pretty blown away by the list of sensors this thing has. I guess smartphones aren’t just for cyberspace anymore.
Now, if they’d only make a chem-lab-on-a-chip in SD format!
Larryb
@cathyx: Any port in a storm when traveling. It beats Denny’s.
dmsilev
@AnnaN:
Epicurious does this, as does ‘How to Cook Everything’ (an adaptation of Mark Bittman’s cookbook of the same name). I’m sure there are other recipe apps that have that functionality as well, but those are the two I use.
DMcK
@kindness: I think Star Walk is pretty damn neat.
Amanda in the South Bay
Jailbreak it.
geg6
Wow. Too many Angry Birds people here.
Can’t imagine why anyone would waste two seconds on that shit. But then, I don’t understand why anyone would ever waste time on computer games of any sort.
And Google Maps is in no way comparable to GPS. Google Maps is why I finally decided to download GPS.
Amanda in the South Bay
Also, pTerm for your remote SSH needs.
daveNYC
Yelp is awesome. Get whatever app your bank provides. I use Chase, and theirs saved me some pain when it politely told me that I had just purchased 200 bucks worth of something at a Walmart when I was sitting at a friends apartment.
Couldn’t stop the purchase, but I was able to phone in and kill the card within ten minutes of the purchase happening.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
Second Orions2, and the first Orions as games.
If you do a search on “Orion”, there’s also an app that’s a clone of Master of Orion 2. It’s a major time sink.
Lots of good games. Most of the RPG’s on the iPhone are unfortunately Jap RPG’s, but Aralon, Infinity Blade, Dungeon Hunter 1 & 2, Undercroft, The Quest, and Avadon are good Western-style RPGs, albeit some are very retro. Puzzle Quest is also worth a look, as is Sword & Poker.
Susan Kitchens
Is your money in a credit union? Then you need to have the co-op network atm finder app. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atm-locator/id357604351?mt=8
pragmatism
word lens, shazam, pandora, spotify (all mentioned above). urban spoon is helpful for a situation where you want to see which restaurants are nearby and ratings. the app i use the most is the one my cable provider put out so i can program dvr remotely. also, too, using the level app to see if a picture is level may result in cracking the gorilla glass when it falls.
Keith
For essential apps I recommend Brostache and one or more of the fart apps.
Larryb
@Larryb: FYWP
JustPete
This has been most edifying. I have an iPad that I got as a bonus last year and it has mostly been a toy for email reading, web surfing (really too slow), and Angry Birds. For instance, I didn’t know Epicurios had an app. Time to get installing.
AnnaN
@Dave #32 and dmsilev #36
I was just scrolling up and saw that. Thanks!
Herbal Infusion Bagger
I’ll second Elder Signs: Omens. Other good board games that have made the transition to iPhone are Ascension, Ticket to Ride, Kingsburg, Settlers of Catan, Carcasonne, Neuroshima Hex, Smallworld, and almost a dozen Reiner Knizia games. Sadly Dominion hasn’t yet made the transition over.
Another strategy game that you should absolutely get if you’re a fantasy geek is King of Dragon Pass. It’s an awesomely deep mixture of a strategy game, gamebook, & RPG.
Mark B.
Zombie Highway is great fun.
Studly Pantload, Boy King of Ubekibekibekistanstan
Seconded! Your
long-sufferingvery loyal readers deserves HipstaTunch posts!kindness
@DMcK: Yea I think that’s the one others said. I’ll give it a try.
All you AngryBirds people….Don’t you know that’s what you use on your i-Pad so you get the bigger screen?
dmsilev
@Herbal Infusion Bagger:
Seconded. I played the heck out of this when it was released for the PC umpteen years ago, and from all reports, the iOS port was very well done.
Also for board games, Puerto Rico has a nice iOS version. Boardgames do, I think, work better on the iPad with the bigger screen rather than the phone.
Mike
Get our your wallet. Most of the equivalent apps you could get for free on Android will cost you $$$ in Appleworld, sometimes big $$$. That’s one of the advantages of running an open system, you get a lot more diversity of choices.
Comrade Javamanphil
Seconding 1Password, Shazam and a flashlight app. Weather Channel app is getting better but still crashes way too much. Also love Accounts for managing bank accounts. I can now happily refuse receipts for every debit I do.
a.j.
I used to use Shazam on my Fandroid but now I love SoundHound. Reviews seemed to favor it when I was comparison shopping and I’m very happy with it.
Comrade Mary
Yes to the flashlight app and Plants vs Zombies (SO good! Excellent, addictive tower defense with some real strategy, killer boss levels, and totally engaging characters.)
Also: Tiny Wings. Because you want that fat little bird to fly, John.
Catsy
Alright, well. If you do tabletop gaming, or any other activity that requires the use of dice, MachDice is awesome, if a bit resource-hoggy. You won’t want to leave it running in the background when you’re not using it.
The Paypal app is pretty darn good.
There are a series of tools from iHandy; I use the level a lot in projects.
I’ll echo the recommendation of Epicurious.
And Flickit is pretty good for uploading to a Flickr account on the fly.
Flashlight apps come in handy, but honestly when I only need to shine some light on something for a few moments so I can see what I’m doing, I’ll just unlock the phone and hit the mail app; the screen is mostly white and it provides plenty of light.
Keith G
7 Words – a very fun word game
Pandora Premium
Evernote
Google Docs Widget – accessing my docs on the fly is priceless
Bunny Shooter – don’t tell PETA
Grocery iQ – the best groc shopping app
Run Keeper – great walk/run timer, gps tracker
TBogg
iDeathray. Very handy.
gbear
I’m still using a Nokia 6010. I’ve been using it forever. It works perfectly for everything that I need it to do. When communications companies tell me my life won’t be complete until I have all of the features that their new phone delivers, I don’t believe them. They are lying.
And I am completely sick of everyone having a phone glued to their face while driving. Especially the ones who are texting. Get the heck off my lawn.
EIGRP
The Dilbert App. It’s free too.
I also use GasBuddy to find cheap gas.
Eric
El Cruzado
Scribblenauts!
Although the iPad is probably its optimal platform.
That said, I fully stand behind anything that will make you spend more money on Apple products.
Gozer
May I humbly suggest:
Frogger
DigDug Remix
Galaga Remix
Pac Man
and, of course, Tetris
Also, too Paypal, Wikipanion, Pandora, App Sniper, Urbanspoon.
Warren Terra
Kindle and Netflix work well, if you use either service.
The pre-installed calculator is ludicrous, but there are a bunch of free scientific calculators.
I have a (pre-camera) iTouch, not an iPhone, but does the iPhone really lack a free turn-by-turn voice navigation GPS system? My old Samsung not-really-a-smartphone has that …
Games:
Not really a big fan of Angry Birds. Tiny Wings is good fun until the challenges get impossible. Zombie Highway is oddly satisfying, and uses the accelerometers about as well as anything does. Anything put out by Popcap will be a sterling example of its sort of game, if you like that sort of game. There are some good Sodoku and the like apps for free, though I’d be interested in a decent crossword (won’t pay the New York Times monthly rate).
Adam Hyland
I’ll second the recommendation for instapaper. One of the best designed apps out there, perfect for reading on the iPad and iPhone.
GoodReader is nice too, if you like to read PDFs. The rendering engine on goodreader is MUCH better than Safari’s for long PDFs–books whitepapers and the like.
Many games are better on the iPad, but TinyWings (mentioned above) is great for the iPhone. Simple, charming and one button.
burnspbesq
TuneIn Radio.
Watch ESPN.
Kindle.
I also use, and am very happy with, Keeper, an app that stores logins and passwords securely (with cloud backup for a small annual fee).
Also too, if you’re planning to use Dropbox on your iPhone, keep in mind that it is inherently not all that secure, and consider encrypting anything sensitive that you might keep in there. At a minimum, set a password to access Dropbox on your iPhone.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
“Other good board games that have made the transition to iPhone are Ascension, Ticket to Ride, Kingsburg, Settlers of Catan, Carcasonne, Neuroshima Hex, Smallworld,”
Sorry ’bout that. Smallworld and Ticket to Ride are iPad only.
Studly Pantload, Boy King of Ubekibekibekistanstan
@gbear:
(smacking lips) Needs more, “Get off my lawn!”
My land line worked fine, too, but it wasn’t nearly as handy and fun. Although I’m 100% certain you pay less in monthly data fees than I do (as in, $0).
Joel
1) Pandora
2) Yelp and/or Urbanspoon
That’s pretty much it. Everything else is just noise/toys.
Bill E Pilgrim
Second the flashlight recommendation, you’ll be amazed how useful that is.
Shazaam and SoundHound are essential to know what song that is in the cafe or whatever.
GroceryIQ is probably in the top five most often used for me. Shopping used to be pretty much hit and miss affair, make list, forget to bring the paper with me– this thing has transformed the whole thing, I actually end up back home with what I needed.
Oh and possibly the best one of all: Fake Call. I have two different ones, I forget why. “FakeCaller” seems to be the name of one. I’ll leave it to your imagination when and why you might welcome a pretend call, gets you out of a jam, I guess, without using a little too much force.
You probably don’t use public transport much but anyone who does, the metro/subway/bus etc apps are great.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@joes527: Love it. First comment too! Better on the iPad though. I have over 20 golden eggs so far. I am a dork. Let’s just move on…
Froley
Most of my use of apps is on the iPad, but my favorites are all on the iPhone too:
Netflix (despite stupid management, their app is great)
NPR
HBO Go (need an HBO subscription)
Evernote
Rdio (my favorite music subscription service)
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@Warren Terra: Arctic Escape (ipad version) is pretty good.
Brachiator
Great list.
You might check out Camera Plus.
If you are into podcasts at all, Instacast or iCatcher are great alternatives to iTunes.
ESPN Score Center is good for sports updates.
I would check out (as apps or Websites) AppAdvice and TipB for good info on current apps (and sales specials)
Roger Ebert’s Great Movies
Bill E Pilgrim
Oh and Kindle.
That’s how I started using Kindle, on the phone, train rides, etc. Then got it for the PC, now it’s usually where I read everything.
I had a longish trip today today and reread parts of David Graeber’s debt book I had wanted to go back to, on the iPhone. It syncs them up to the last page you read on either one, if you want.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Brachiator:
Great app.
kindness
@Mike: Big bucks….Ha! Most apps are free to $2. The most expensive one I’ve bought $11.99. You are ignoring that the iphone is really a very nice phone too. Best one I’ve had so far.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
“Seconded. I played the heck out of this when it was released for the PC umpteen years ago, and from all reports, the iOS port was very well done.”
Full disclosure: I was a beta tester on the iOS port, and the first or second to finish the Long Game in testing. We found bugs dating back to the 1999 version.
Bill E Pilgrim
@kindness: Going to agree with that. I’ve never spent $11.99, almost all were free, a handful were nominal like $.99, maybe one or two I remember cost a couple bucks.
Froley
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Right, and the developers have sales sometimes. EA had one in the spring and I picked up Scrabble and Risk for $0.99 each.
Sasha
Concierge Car Finder (free!)
Dee Loralei
Yelp. netflix, flashlight, epicurious.Findiphone, in case you misplace it or it gets stolen. Imdb. Wikipedia, dictionary, flixster DamnYouAutoCorrect, keeps me in giggles, xkcd,hubblesite, nasa doodlecam, warholdiy, color effects, urbanspoon, pandora, disaster alert, Al Jazeera nglish, MSNBC.there’s an app called booktrack that has sound effects that play as you read each page.I’ve got Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the speckled band, dragon dictation,facebook and twitter, PMosaica, takes your pics from iphone and trns them into a photo mosaic.British Library Treasures is coolhad British Museum books art and treeasures so you can “be there”Google Translate, U-verse so I can program my dvr from phone. Kindle, IBooks a bunch of word games and other things. Yes, I am an APP whore!
WaterGirl
Not an app, but in case you don’t know already…
The open apps that you’re not using use up your battery like crazy. (true for the iPhone and the iPad)
When you press the little button toward the bottom of the phone – twice in quick succession, like a double click – it brings up all the open apps. You press on one of them until the minus signs appear on each app – tap the minus sign to close the apps that don’t need to be open.
mellowjohn
late to the conversation, but gotta add my 2 cents:
AccuFuel – for tracking mileage
Grocery IQ – grocery list
Key Ring – scans all the barcodes on various store reward/discount programs
Flashlight – cool, but i’ve never had to really use it
ProLeft – driftglass and bluegal
Dand
Tour wrist – cool app
Dand
Tour wrist – cool app
DMcK
Another tip: go into settings and disable AutoCorrect. Unless you want to tell someone to duck off.
Also, if your phone is asleep and you hit the home key twice in quick succession, you get both the slider bar AND the camera icon; just tap that to take a quick photo.
flounder
I think you would really like the Battle for Westeros game. Fantasy strategy game that started as an open-source game for PC.
I like WordFeud (Scrabble-type) game. If anyone else plays this, and wants a game, add me to friends: PJH307.
Cris (without an H)
NetPortal, if you want to access your network storage drives. (Very nice for getting to your iPhone-compatible movies, music, and photos without syncing them onto your device †)
Ookla’s speed test app, for checking the down/up on WiFi networks you hop onto
Accuweather > Apple’s native weather app
Chess with Friends and then post your username
†not porn
pseudonymous in nc
I really like the network-in-an-app for foreign news services: Al-Jazeera English, France24, NHK World, BBC News. That’s may be the way Jobs thought he’d ‘cracked’ the TV thing.
Radio stuff: PublicRadio, TuneInRadio, WunderRadio, Pandora, Spotify (if you’re a Premium subscriber), the This American Life app, the CBC app.
Airfoil Speakers turns your iOS device into an AirPlay client, which is cool if you hook it up to a pair of speakers.
PCalc. Echofon. WhiteNoise. Moog’s Filtatron.
Games: Papa Sangre (audio only, and really well done); Shibuya (Tetrissy); Linkem; Tiny Wings.
Bruce Webb
Don’t forget the pure non-Internet utilities.
There are a variety of beautiful Compass Apps, you may never need to use it but cool to look at. Similarly with Level apps, there are free and functional Apps that mimic Stanley and Bostich levels. While you probably wouldn’t want to use them to build something complex, perfect enough for hanging pictures. Lots of cool geeky free Calculator and Astro apps that maybe don’t do anything for you on a daily basis if you aren’t an engineer but don’t take up much room yet score high on the ‘Look at This!’ scale.
Do you NEED an interactive Periodic Table of the Elements App? Mostly not for most of us, but over WiFi mostly free and unlike PC programs easy to offload without leaving scraps behind.
So I suggest AppTracker and regular visits to the various Top Free lists on the App store. And remember that you can group Apps into windows just by pushing and holding any icon until all start jiggling then dragging on icon onto another. There is little practical limit as to how many free micro Apps your phone can support.
First listen to the smart people up the thread as to GoodReader, InstaPaper, Evernote, Dropbox, Box (at least yesterday coming with 50 gb of free cloud storage). Then set up Social Media Apps tht will push your various accounts seamlesslly from device to device. Then learn the possibilities of your included iCloud Account (5gb of storage not including Apple Store purchases, free e-Mail account , unlimited free messaging to other users of iOS5 devices through iMessge).
And then just start having fun with game and hobby Apps. I suggest AppTracker which allows you to find Apps with price drops, often to zero, sometimes in anticipation of updates but for all kinds of reasons. Plus many pay apps have free versions for you to try out before you buy the pay with the difference being the free come with ads, often as not for other Apps by the developer.
It kind of builds, and disconstructs itself. With WiFi or unlimited data plans and sales resistance to impulse purchases over 99 cents. A cheap and geeky hobby. Kind of like me.
Michael
For all you concert-goers, Songkick will scan your music library and then update you on when bands you like are in town, where they are currently touring, or you can look at nearby theaters and see who is playing. Really nice app.
I love Tiny Wings also (almost meditative) but I find it much better on the iPad…
Steve
Surprised no one mentioned the MapQuest app, which is free, for GPS and directions. Blows google away by a mile. Has voice commands (unlike Google) and in 6 months, has never steered me wrong. pun intended.
mikefromArlington
I use Aroundme the most. I love how when you tilt it on your phone you see the locations on a compass like thingy.
too cool
Viber is a great talk/text app that is free and uses your contacts list and doesn’t really require an account. You just gotta get all your friends onto it too. voice quality is better than skype imho.
BethanyAnne
I love Zite. It’s a web-reading magazine thingy. Great way to read stuff, it’s recommended stories I’d have otherwise missed.
hilzoy
Wundermap is fun if you like radar weather maps.
I really love the concept of Abandoned; it just needs a bigger user base to come into its own.
And if you’re into birding, which I suspect you (John) aren’t, but someone else might be, the various iBirds are good, and iBird Explorer Pro, the best of all, is on sale, which makes it almost affordable. (This is my one actual expensive app.)
You can also get workable (though not dazzling) substitutes for bike computers. I forget which one I have, but it’s a reasonable substitute for a real bike computer if you’re not training for the Tour de France, much cheaper, and doesn’t require installation.
vtr
Sword and Sworcery.
navigator
Games:
Dark Harvest
Skee-Ball
Boooly
N.O.V.A. (fps)
I Love Katamari (just weird enough)
Dirt Moto
iBomber and iBomber 2
and the TV Guide app (actually really useful)
leinie
Been having fun with Waze since I installed it last week. Does navigation, but also crowd sources traffic reports, etc. it’s got silly social components built into it as well. Otherwise, my fans have been mentioned – Evernote, Dropbox, Netflix, scanner Pro.
HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist
Congrats on the iPhone, I’ve found it to be the essential device of modern living, and I mean that with total sincerity. My favorite apps:
-United: If you’re a frequent flier with United (as I am), the United app is really quite good for checking in, checking flight status, and getting mobile boarding passes.
-Pocket Tunes: Stream all sorts of radio programs from all over the world. I mainly use this in the morning when I’m getting ready for work.
-Pocket Universe: Use your phone to identify stars/constellations by pointing your phone at objects in the sky. It’s gee-whiz but educational.
-The most useful apps (IMO) come built in already, namely Maps and the Alarm Clock. I don’t know how many times I’ve been traveling in a foreign city and have spent the entire day navigating on foot with the built-in GPS. This ALONE has been worth the price of admission, and I have no idea how I traveled 40+ years without it. And the clock I wake up to every morning — no more setting wake up calls at hotels (which don’t have a snooze) or trying to figure out the alarm clock in the hotel room (none of which are reliable).
-MobileTrans: Translate words and phrases from one language to another.
-BTW, not an app, but I recommend getting an alarm clock that is also an iPhone recharge station. I love mine — I just plug it in at night and every morning it’s ready to go with a full charge. Power management is the biggest limitation to these devices.
Comrade Mary
@WaterGirl:
I.Did.Not.Know.That. Thanks!
Rathskeller
If you travel more than four times in a year, then get TripIt for organizing your info.
ameziah
Do not buy a flashlight app!!! Open the camera app, switch the camera to video, then turn the flash on. Boom. Flashlight.
Petorado
A couple other ones:
8mm – takes old-looking videos in a bunch of different formats
Google translate – pretty remarkable language translation tool
iRecycle – lets you know where to get rid of hard to recycle stuff in your area
360 – enables camera to take 360 panoramic shots
North Face snow report – great for skiers
IBA cocktails – say no more
iSamJackson – one liner retorts spoken by Sam Jackson. Stupid but fun
Kayak – pretty thorough traveler’s app
BH rig count – perfect for shutting up the drill baby drill crowd
Park Finder – locates state and national parks nearest you
RGuy
Apple’s own Remote app is a must if you use iTunes from your Mac. You can remote control the whole thing. Also, Trailer, Apple’s Movie trailer/listings is good if you want to check movie trailers and movie times and even buy tickets.
Pandora
Oh, and Bump, it’s free but it allows you to bump your contact info, pictures or even Facebook friend requests with other iPhone users by just fist bumping your phones together.
All of the above mentioned are free too.
MaxB
Late to the game, but after reading through the above I’d add these:
I like a To-Do app on my iTouch; after looking at several I settled on 2Do as having the best interface for my tastes, and it allowed synching with Outlook. Recently I needed cloud synching capability, so I went over to Toodledo to take advantage of the Toodledo net server (now syncing to-do’s between desktop Outlook, Android Xoom, and iTouch).
Someone mentioned a mileage logger; I didn’t look extensively but I’ve been satisfied with Trip Cubby.
My preferred iphone game is sudoku; I think the best is Soduko Joy.
Nazgul35
Fat cat finder?