Your iPhone or iPod touch is an entertainer, communicator, and some might even say friend. And while it’s OK to harbor such warm and fuzzy feelings--as long as you don’t try to make out with it--your device can also crack its virtual whip to, well, make you a better person. With the right apps, you can turn it into a drill sergeant, teacher, and personal assistant. Whether you’re expanding your horizons for New Year’s resolutions or just catching up on old goals, the iPhone can be your guide.
We’ve picked our favorite apps to help improve your health and organization. Be a better biker, task manager, and more. We’ve also selected great apps to teach you new things and introduce hobbies. Pick and choose apps of interest, or just dive into our full list. Whatever your approach, we have a new title for the iPhone: Life Coach.
Skip, jump, and run into shape. These apps improve your workouts and track your health along the way.
Runners have good reason to hop on the Nike + iPod bandwagon. The iPhone 3GS and the second- and third-gen iPod touch can receive data from the wireless Nike + iPod Sensor ($19, www.apple.com) in your supported Nike shoes. A helpful voice interrupts your workout music to give progress updates, and after you connect your iPhone 3GS or iPod touch to iTunes again, the details of your run (distance, time, and so on) are uploaded to nikerunning.com.
The iPhone 3GS and second- and third-gen iPod touch can interface with the Nike+ sensor.
Get started by calibrating your sensor to take your stride into account. If you live near a running track, football field, or some other environment where run-length is easy to figure out, you’re all set. Just enter the distance you’ll run in the calibration area, and the Nike+ pedometer will divide your total strides by its length. Run at your regular pace, and keep in mind that longer total distances produce better calibration than short ones.
If you don’t have running distances available beforehand, just visit gmap-pedometer.com and zoom into your location. Click Start Recording, and double-click each point along a several-block route. Aim for a distance of about half a mile. When your route is plotted, enter the specific distance into the Nike+ calibration prompt on your device, and then head out to run your route and calibrate your pedometer.
The sensor costs $19 at the Apple Online Store.
While Nike’s system is strong, a few third parties have added improvements. If you don’t wear Nikes, for example, the Shoe Pouch ($9.99, www.grantwoodtechnology.com) will attach your Nike+ sensor to any pair of running shoes. And you can delve deeper into your stats with the free, donation-supported Running Tracker (runningtracker.tuxfamily.org) and Neki++ (neki.sourceforge.net), alternatives to the Nike+ website.
Tracking your heart rate during workouts can lead to better cardiovascular training and a more accurate idea of calories burned. iTMP’s Digifit Connect ($79.95, www.digifit.me) bridges the signal from any off-the-shelf heart monitor chest straps that support the ANT+ (www.thisisant.com) wireless signal. It’ll even work with scales, blood pressure monitors, and other ANT+ devices.
This tiny box bridges an off-the-shelf chest strap to your iPhone. Yes, now your phone can monitor your heart rate.
Once you’re all equipped, the system can interface with free iPhone apps tailored to biking (iBiker), spinning indoors (iSpinner), running (iRunner), and general exercise (iCardio). You can push yourself to keep your heart in a certain target zone, knowing that you’re improving your health. Or use it to avoid training too hard.
You’ll need a kit to mount the iPhone to your bike’s handlebars before you can safely ride. We found a couple flimsier-looking options online, but we’re holding out for the BikeLogic Bike Mount from Dahon ($59, www.dahon.com), which should be out about the time you read this. Its weatherproof seal will keep out rain and any other debris.
The weatherproof BioLogic keeps your iPhone mounted, protected, but still usable.
One of our favorite bike-related iPhone apps, the Bike Computer (free, www.everytrail.com) tracks your speed, altitude, distance, and more, thanks to the GPS built into the iPhone 3G and 3GS. If you have a phone signal, you can view your progress on a map. Or just wait until you get home and sync your ride data to EveryTrail online.
Sure, we've just begun riding, but we're already moving quickly.
MotionX GPS Sport ($2.99, gps.motionx.com) also lets you map your ride, track your distance and speed, consult topographic maps for nasty hills, and email your favorite routes to your friends.
The WiFi Body Scale ($159, www.withings.com) makes weighing in an interesting, simple process. First you’ll set up the Wi-Fi scale with its free WiScale iPhone app or with your Mac. Then step on to see your weight in pounds or kilograms. If you enter your age and height, the scale also tracks your body mass index. Even better, it can estimate your total body fat when you stand on the conductive glass surface with your bare feet.
Smarter than your average bathroom scale.
All of these details hold our interest on their own, but the WiScale app graphs your data over time. You can track goals in any of the scale’s measurements or just look back to see how Thanksgiving affected your physique. The scale’s accuracy can vary based on the time of day and other conditions--it scored us leaner when our feet were damp after a shower. But the general trends can help you keep a grip on your love handles.
While individual measurements vary by day, you can find trends over time.
Finish your workout with deep breathing, or use the technique to enhance your yoga and stretching. BreathPacer ($2.99, www.larvalabs.com) helps you get centered and could improve your lung capacity. Presets show you how long to breathe in and out based on your height; you just match the audio cues or simple onscreen animation. We felt more relaxed after just a minute. And you can increase breathing times--including how long to hold your breath--to improve your health from the inside out.
Breathe in, breathe out. Crank up the numbers to expand your lungs.
Next Page: Get Smart...
School is in. These apps help you smarten up for any situation, at any age.
The AccelaStudy apps ($4.99 and up each, www.accelastudy.com), available for 15 languages, each include more than 2,400 words and definitions, plus spoken pronunciation. You can study dozens of word categories, build your own groupings of words, take quizzes, and listen to audio clips.
The Visual Dictionary can quiz you on which phrases you actually learned.
Part travel–phrase book and part cram-session, the Visual Dictionary: ViDICTO+ Mytrip series ($5.99 each, www.cervomedia.com/il) helps you prepare for journeys abroad. It adds common survival phrases to a general vocabulary, and most words include a photo or graphic to help you learn.
The annual Technology, Entertainment, and Design conference draws incredibly interesting speakers and inventors from a wide range of professions. The TED app (free, www.ted.com) lets you view and search hundreds of videos of those sessions. The various subjects include the latest advances in science and medicine, anthropological research, artist profiles, and more. Take them as starting points for your own study, or just absorb as much inspiration as you can.
Video and audio streams present quick talks about things you probably didn't know.
Browse thousands of flash cards, or build your own on any subject with Mental Case ($2.99, www.maccoremac.com). Flash cards can include text and images, letting you snap a picture with the iPhone’s camera or dig through its photo library. The app can sync to the Mac version ($24.99), where you can prepare flash cards more quickly with a keyboard and mouse.
We pulled down these musical flash cards from a vast selection online.
Next Page: Get Organized...
A place for everything, and everything in its place. These tools help minimize the clutter and waste in your life.
Maintain your to-do lists your own way, whether or not you cling to the typical Getting Things Done method. Things ($9.99, www.culturedcode.com) neatly shows the tasks ahead of you, including multistep goals. Our productivity has risen by breaking down our projects into manageable chunks. Things can even schedule items to appear in the future--that reminder to “buy a Mother’s Day gift” won’t clutter up your list until you get closer to that day. Add the Mac version ($49.95), and the two can sync wirelessly over a local network.
The elegant overview page gives an impression of your tasks ahead.
Organize your digital life by storing files online. Dropbox (free, www.getdropbox.com) gives you 2GB for a free account, accessible from any Mac, PC, or iPhone. Sure, online storage is no big deal for a desktop computer, but the iPhone app enters new territory. Right from your device, you can stream or download a range of file types, including music, movies, PDFs, and Word docs. That way, you can view your important files anywhere or just take a break to stream some songs.
You can even stream--or download--iPhone-supported movies.
SplashID ($9.99, www.splashdata.com) encrypts your sensitive data so you can have it ready anywhere. You just enter a single password (make it a good one!) to unlock everything. Archive credit card numbers, web logins, bank account details, and anything else. Great-looking presets are included for most situations, and you can customize the layout for anything, such as those not-very-secure password reset questions. With SplashID, don’t type in your high school mascot; the software will remember any answer, such as “xS34_wwE.” We recommend adding the sold-separately Mac version ($19.95) for quicker entry and syncing. Or use the desktop version free for 30 days to build your database and decide whether or not to buy the license later.
Scroll through your dozens of passwords and bits of data, or just search for the right entry.
If your household has multiple people buying groceries or at least adding to the list, Grocery Gadget ($4.99, www.grocerygadgets.com) lets anyone make changes to the list and cross off purchases. You’ll create a group list on the website and log in from an iPhone, iPod touch, or Web browser. Then carry your list to the store. The software even learns the order in which you check off items, roughly organizing the next trip to match the store layout.
Sync lists between family members, then check off items in the store.
Next Page: Get Involved...
Anyone can find a hobby, but these apps make hobbies your own. Get tips and assistance with a subject close to your heart, or discover new worlds.
Plant a vegetable garden with guidance from Botanical Interests ($5.99, www.botanicalinterests.com). This app is affiliated with the online seed store, but never hard sells those products. Instead, it provides hundreds of entries, sorted by plant type, with climate-specific tips about how to get started and when to plant. For example, some entries suggest getting started indoors, while others tell you when to sow your seeds outside. Botanical Interests also explains how to prepare the garden soil, the best light for your plants, what to look for before harvesting, and more.
The seed-packet style of art hides all kinds of planting tips and details if you push the lower-right icon.
If you’re knitting a single pattern--or managing multiple projects--you’ll need to keep track of your progress between breaks. ForgetMeKnit ($2.99, sites.google.com/site/kromsware) serves as this reminder. To set up a project, you enter the number, type, and order of stitches. Then just tap the screen to count down each purl, knit, and other stitch for your pattern. You can even keep track of concurrent projects and save notes about needles and yarn with each project.
Some of us knit, and the rest of us are envious.
We were nervous to see a celebrity TV cook taking his show to an iPhone app (especially a 404MB one). But Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals ($7.99, www.jamieoliver.com/20-minute-meals) skillfully introduces fledgling cooks to their own kitchens. Just protect your iPhone from cooking splatter somehow, with a stand or even a clear plastic bag.
Instead of just giving recipes, the app teaches the basics so anyone can cook.
20 Minute Meals includes 50 recipes, but its success comes from many extra tips. For example, if your meal includes chopping and seafood, you’ll see videos about knife skills and how to buy fish. And the app can translate the recipe’s ingredients--and even kitchen equipment--into a shopping list.
Sure, Nikon is hoping that you’ll buy its cameras, but Nikon Learn & Explore (free, www.nikonusa.com) gives tips for any photographer. You’ll take better pictures with any brand of camera, be it point-and-shoot or DSLR.
Lessons range to all levels of photography, so even beginners can take better pictures.
Lessons range in difficulty, showing you how to improve zoomed photos, snap pictures at dusk, set the white balance, and more. A deep glossary explains hundreds of terms, and the image galleries provide inspiration as well as assistance: These professionally produced examples include details about when and how they were shot, so you can copy exposure settings in your own exploration.
