That’s right, by purchasing apps that give back, you will obtain that immeasurable sense of fulfillment that can only come from helping the world around you, a sense of well-being that transcends finding free Wi-Fi wherever you go.

Sadly, to help support a particular charity through the App Store, you will have to do a bit of digging to find out which apps give back. Apple has recently banned the practice of developers mentioning anything beyond what the app can do in their App Store description--which explains why we didn’t readily find zillions of charitable apps. And while we understand that supporting charities is subjective and inherently political, this new rule seems to defeat the purpose of a developer’s good intentions, as the reason we would buy the app would be to support the causes that inspire us... There is still good work being done out there, you will just have to go to the individual developer’s websites to see if/how they donate. Here are just a few, to get you started:

Brighten a terminally ill child’s day with music.
Songs of Love Foundation (free, Songs of Love Foundation), the first app to be released by a national charity, provides personalized songs to children and teens facing life-altering diseases or physical or emotional challenges. At press time,  the foundation had sent the “medicine of music” to over 18,000 children in need.

Repopulate the forest with the touch of a finger.
iPhorest ($4.99, 100MC LLC) is an app that lets you plant a virtual tree, while the Conservation Fund plants a real one on your behalf. As you watch your tree grow on your iPhone, the fund will help restore vulnerable wildlife habitats along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Illuminate your life—and those of others.

Phospho ($0.99, Deep Prose Software) is simple in its presentation: It turns your iPhone into a flashlight that will illuminate your immediate surroundings. And it gives 100 percent of its proceeds to charities dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of blindness.

Play a game, save a habitiat.
United Lemur’s Puzzllotto ($0.99, United Lemur Inc.) is a logic-puzzle game that transports you into the jungles of Madagascar. United Lemur donates 10 percent of App Store revenue to the Madagascar Fauna Group, and according to their website,“takes the principles of engineering and empathy and relentlessly applies them everywhere.”