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With 185,000 apps and counting, the App Store is a vast warehouse of digital goodies for your iPhone (and now iPad too). But like most mega-marts, the sheer size of it all makes the good stuff harder to find. We’ve scoured the Store, and found the best apps to help you use your iPhone to it’s fullest potential. Whether it’s games you seek, or productivity tools, we’ve got you covered. As it turns out, there really is an app for that, no matter what that is.
The iPhone and iPod touch brought back fun to videogaming, with developers focussing on innovation, affordability, and novelty. Touchscreen and accelerometer controls also force designers to think different, resulting in games that are a glorious collision of classic and cutting-edge gameplay and technology. --Craig Grannell
Steph Thirion · $2.99
Eliss is the perfect game for the iPhone’s touch screen. The concept is simple--tear apart and combine planets and drop them into like-colored/sized “squeesars.” A successful drop sees a planet vanish in a cloud of stardust, which can be mopped up to replenish energy lost during collisions of differently colored planets. Requiring unique tactics for each level, Eliss is tough but rewarding, and has beautiful retro visuals and audio.
It might look old-school, but Eliss is a modern multitouch creation.
Arthur Ham · $0.99
We’ve no idea what the little guy in Run! is sprinting toward, but we hope it’s a great prize, because along the way he has to dodge or destroy numerous foes (zombies, walls, lethal giant saws) with the help of only his cunning and a giant bazooka. The superficially similar Canabalt may have more style, but Run! beats it on price, quirkiness, fun, variety, and the ability to flying-kick deadly leaping sharks in the head. Yeah, you read that right.
You know you've always wanted to kick a shark.
Drömsynt · $0.99
Imagine the mutant love child of Breakout, Pong, and a simplified Super Mario Bros. (or Pac-Land, if you’re old enough!) and you’ve got Squareball. Your ball constantly bounces and you swipe levels left and right, trying to collect green blocks and avoid hazards like holes and red blocks. It sounds simple, but the level design is devious, ensuring the game is both insanely frustrating and murderously addictive. Mini time-attack challenges add extra value.
Be prepared to die... a lot.
Rake in Grass · $0.99
First-person shooters rarely work well on the iPhone unless they’re simplified. Westbang is basic, but it’s also an addictive tap-to-shoot game that tasks you with defending banks from bandits. Since you’re a lawman, you must avoid blowing away innocents or killing bad guys before they draw. Westbang recalls Sega’s arcade classic Bank Panic, and it’s a steal for a buck. For fans, there’s also a free (and bizarre) festive version, Advent Annihilation.
The sheriff bucks convention by aiming at the innocent.
Cowboy Rodeo · $4.99
Pinball games have become surprisingly popular and numerous on the iPhone, with many offering dazzling 3D visuals (Zen Pinball) or a cartoon-like experience (Monster Pinball, Freeballin’). Cowboy Rodeo’s game lacks visual punch--it’s a conversion of a 1992 Commodore Amiga title, but it makes up for it with four of the best videogame pinball tables ever designed. So look past the dated visuals and enjoy the finest pinball available on the App Store.
This game doesn't look like a dream--but it plays like one.
Ponos · $0.99
You can’t really go wrong with hugely addictive one-thumb games—and the delightfully named, enjoyably bonkers Mr.AahH!! is one of the best. The aim of the game is to prod your device’s screen to make the swinging man let go of his rope and land in the center of the next platform. Fail and he falls to his doom, emitting a chilling ‘aaahhh!’ Succeed and you soon battle gravity, wind, and ever-narrower platforms.
The simplest swing game on the App Store--and the most addictive.
ustwo · $1.99
The second in a series of designer games by ustwo finds a white dot speeding through a minimal 3D landscape of blue balls and red triangles. The former are ‘food’; collide with the latter and your ball is damaged. It’s a simple, pretty game, if a little short-lived. If you’re a fan of survival racers of this type, you should also check out the more frenetic Vector Runner ($0.99) and the extensible Cube Runner (free).
Eat the blue balls and avoid the red triangles of death!
No Monkeys · $0.99
Every action-puzzler and its dog wants to be Bejeweled or Tetris, and so it’s great to see something fresh in Green Fingers. The game tests your dexterity every step of the way, tasking you with swiping flower pots into position to collect the next component and make your flowers grow. This might sound genteel, but it’s not long before the objects fall thick and fast, daring you to blink, miss one, and end your game.
Flower power to the max in Green Fingers!
MrFungFung · $0.99
At its heart, Fox Vs Duck is a simple escape game: tilt your device to help ducks escape from a pond strewn with rocks and lily pads, aiming to avoid a cunning fox and a ravenous carp. Touches of brilliance throughout lift the game above its peers, including beautiful graphics, haunting audio, and the surprising emotional clout of seeing one of your abstracted ducks killed by the fox, blood pooling around its lifeless form.
Minimal, beautiful, and with long-lasting high-score appeal.
Curious Bear Productions Pty Ltd · $0.99
Why did the chicken cross the road? To help all the little chicks cross a busy highway and get to school. That’s your task in this game that resembles Frogger but betters Konami’s iPhone disaster by miles. Cluck It! is also deceptively simple--a single prod moves your chicken onward, but timing is key and the game rapidly becomes a formidable opponent.
Cluck It! is a one-thumb classic with perfectly balanced gameplay.
j2sighte · $0.99
If you’re getting sick of ‘doodle’ games, Doodle Kart has what it takes to change your mind. Borrowing the Micro Machines overhead view and the weapons system from Mario Kart, this is the first racer of its kind that truly convinces on the iPhone. Along with computer opponents and 25 tracks, the game wisely provides handy control options (such as ‘auto gas’) and enables you to play in portrait or landscape--start your engines!
Micro Machines crashes into Mario Kart on a school-kid's notebook.
infinityK · $0.99
Breakout’s fine, but the game design’s 30 years old, and iPhone clones merely enable you to drag a bat with your finger. iPolygon reinvents the genre, placing the ball inside polygons. Twist your device to deflect the ball toward a weapon icon, turning it into a spiky orb of doom that can be used to smash shape faces. Three modes offer increasing challenges as you progress.
Micro Machines crashes into Mario Kart on a school-kid's notebook.
galcon.com · $2.99
If Risk was set in space and happened in realtime, it’d resemble Galcon. Like Risk, your aim in Galcon is to conquer all, and you do so by selecting planets and sending a share of their ships to do battle with an enemy world. Conquered planets continue churning out ships that can be used in further battles, and games are often over in seconds.
Galactic warfare at insane speeds!
Madgarden · $1.99
Take a trip into Apple’s patchy gaming history and a few de-facto classics emerge, one of the earliest being Dan Gorlin’s superb Apple II rescue game Choplifter. Saucelifter spruces up the concept and subverts it--you pilot a UFO and try to rescue alien pals from the clutches of evil humans. The game’s controls take time to master, but a tutorial eases your way, and throughout you’ll be dazzled by the game’s crisp, gorgeous graphics.
Dave the alien clearly decided ET's peaceful approach was for wusses.
John Kooistra · $1.99
There are numerous retro-oriented shoot ’em ups for iPhone, but many suffer from a lack of precision control. Blue Defense! goes back to basics, riffing off Space Invaders and Galaxian, but utilizing the iPhone’s power and features. The glowing graphics are beautiful, and the controls are extremely straightforward: “Tilt to aim. Bullets shoot straight up,” the game helpfully states as it launches--but regular screen orientation shifts will keep you on your toes.
Twisty, glowing Space Invaders for the modern gamer.
The iPhone’s touchscreen is one of the best around when it comes to responsiveness, and this has given rise to great sketching apps and products for designers and artists. Here are five of the best you’ve never heard of. --Craig Grannell
Yu Nejigane · $1.99
Pixel art remains charming and popular, and creating delicate artwork of this kind seems suited to an iPhone’s small screen. Tiny Pixels enables you to pick a canvas size, draw and undo, and export, email, or tweet finished art. Pan/zoom is a little awkward and there’s no flood fill, but this app’s otherwise first-rate. Pixel art fans should also grab Minipops ($.99) for celeb-based pixel-art fun.
Once, most digital artwork was created pixel by pixel!
Code Line · $9.99
Designers tend to have an eye for color, but having a color wheel handy makes it much easier to create exciting and interesting color schemes. Color Expert is a versatile and feature-packed digital color wheel that rivals desktop-based apps that are priced significantly higher. The app includes a swatch library, and you can make schemes using a photo or the interactive color wheel. When you’re done, the app exports your palette in various formats.
If you think the app looks great, wait until you see the beautiful emails it sends.
Hansol Huh · $1.99
There are plenty of sketching apps available for your device, such as Layers and Brushes, famously used for New Yorker covers. While impressive, they’re also much like any desktop drawing tool. By contrast, Type Drawing is original and very slightly bonkers. Type a sentence and then drag to draw with your chosen letters. Faster drags enlarge the size of the letters, and you can also adjust the background, font, and type color.
Draw with letters and make typographers cry out in pain.
Shawn Roske · Free
Saturation is both an art toy and a great inspirational tool for anyone who works with color and graphics. The app draws themes from the online Adobe Kuler project; select a theme and then pick a visualizer to see how the colors interact. Two are available in the initial release (more are promised): one provides a grid of dots that divide when tapped and the other is a trippy and hypnotic 3D lightshow.
The second of Saturation's visualizers is excitingly hypnotic.
Büro Destruct · $0.99
If you’ve ever felt the urge to become a Swiss designer, this odd little art toy might satisfy your appetite. Using a set of rules and a bunch of circles and squares you can create limitless sleek designs that can subsequently be saved and shared by email. Manipulation of your creations is done by gestures and tools--shake to randomize everything, or fine-tune the grid, shapes, colors, transparency, and harmonization to your heart’s content.
Uniqure drawing with circles and squares from the Swiss.
The original iPhone’s camera was rubbish, and the one in the 3GS is hardly industry-leading. But install a few apps and your device suddenly becomes a creative powerhouse. Our selection unearths the best little-known ‘toy camera’ apps, editors, and image enhancers. --Craig Grannell
Appvale · $0.99
The iPhone 3GS camera can record video in portrait or landscape, and the orientation is locked depending on how you’re holding your iPhone when you hit record. Should you discover on saving your masterpiece that it’s the wrong way up, load your video into Rotate Video. You can then rotate it in 90 degree increments, play back a preview, and save the video back to your Camera Roll without any loss of quality.
Rotate Video. It, um--rotates your videos.
Synthetic Corp · $1.99
There are a bunch of iPhone apps that emulate the output of plastic toy cameras, but Hipstamatic is the most tactile. The app enables you to change your lens, film, and flash type, and while it clearly just applies filters to your photos, Hipstamatic nonetheless feels more ‘real’ and fun than competing products. A number of add-ons are available via in-app purchase, but even the default kit produces great results.
Filters are applied by switching virtual lenses, film, and flashes.
Michael Krause · $1.99
Tilt-shift photography can be used to make standard photographs resemble miniature scenes, and the same effect can be done using digital post-processing on your own photos. TiltShift is a highly usable app that enables you to do this by taking an image, defining a blur area and shape, and amending contrast and other settings. Usefully, example images are included to practice on, including night shots to which you can apply a slick bokeh effect.
Make miniature scenes with your photos and your iPhone.
GhostBird Software · $2.99
Although Adobe’s Photoshop.com app finally made it to the iPhone, it’s pretty basic. By contrast, the surprisingly overlooked PhotoForge almost resembles Adobe’s desktop apps--but on your phone, and for three bucks. Images can be adjusted, cropped, cloned, and filtered, or you can use the brush tools to create a new image from scratch. The lack of a marquee tool and layers is a pity, but the number of options elsewhere makes up for such shortcomings.
PhotoForge is like a mini Photoshop Elements.
Cowboy Rodeo · Free
Created by award-winning visual effects gurus The Mill, this app may not have the range of filters in competing apps, but it provides a level of professionalism, control, and usability for working with color that few rivals can match. Snap a picture or load one from your Camera Roll, then you can apply one of ten built-in “looks” (such as Noir or Cross-processed) and then manipulate and fine-tune the result to your liking.
Fine-tune the color in your photos using Mill Colour.
Cloudburst Research · $2.99
If you’ve ever taken a bunch of photos and attempted to stitch them together yourself to make a panorama, you know how much of a headache such a task is. With AutoStitch, the process is almost effortless—select images from your Camera Roll, tap Stitch, and watch the app weave its magic. And magic is an appropriate word, because even with mediocre photographs AutoStitch produces highly impressive results--and all for just three bucks.
AutoStitch creates panoramas from a bunch of images in a few seconds.
MacPhun LLC · $1.99
Vintage Video Maker enables you to add character to videos from your iPhone 3GS Camera Roll (you can also upload videos via an FTP client over Wi-Fi), enabling you to apply effects that resemble 1920s films or home videos from the 1960s. Due to the processing grunt required to render video, the app isn’t fast (our 30-second movies took up to five minutes to be reworked), but the end results are pretty good.
Make old-style movies using your cutting-edge iPhone.
Art & Mobile · $1.99
If you only buy one camera app, make sure you choose QuadCamera. Two bucks gets you a configurable multi-shot that outputs grid-like images that often provide a better sense of time than video. You can adjust timing between shots, output layout, and the color filter (using ‘Vivid’ or ‘Hi-Con’ gets really good results even on pre-3GS iPhones), and there’s also a built-in animator so you can see your images moving.
If you don't own it, buy QuadCamera right now, before reading any further. It's that good.
Nexvio Inc. · $1.99
People are suckers for video with crazy time signatures, especially those that use slow-motion and time-lapse. The latter technique shoots frames at lengthy intervals but plays back the resulting video at standard speed, potentially compressing hours into seconds. ReelMoments is an app dedicated to this task. It offers interval and record-time settings, a handy digital zoom, and can be optionally set to cease filming if your iPhone’s battery level falls too low.
Create great-looking time-lapse video on your iPhone.
dw-c · $1.99
If you own an old iPhone, you might be feeling a bit jealous of the iPhone 3GS and its video-shooting capabilities. iCamcorder lets you record up to 15fps from an iPhone 3G, and there are several built-in effects, an interactive digital zoom, and the ability to share your movies online.
Record video and apply effects with your iPhone 3G.
With the original iPod being a music player, it’s fitting that many great apps now exist that enable you to create audio on your device. Our selection includes tools for musicians and the best little-known musical toys. --Craig Grannell
LoftLab · $0.99
Yamaha’s stunning Tenori-on has influenced a number of iPhone apps, the best of which is TonePad Pro. While LoftLab’s creation doesn’t offer the scope of Yamaha’s instrument, it does provide you with an extremely fun and usable grid-based synth where your input almost always results in harmonious audio. Dig deeper and you’ll discover handy editing and sharing features--compositions can be flipped, randomized, saved, uploaded, and also exported for use as ringtones.
Get sucked into TonePad Pro and never leave the house again.
Normalware · $1.99
On the surface, it’s a toy: tap your screen and a cartoon robot makes electronic farting noises--which is amusing for about a minute. But double-tap the tiny settings button at the bottom-right of the screen and you unleash a powerful and configurable synth. These settings, combined with the app’s multitouch abilities, ensure that a burping robot can be transformed into a tool for serious musicians, as shown in Jordan Rudess’s video on the Bebot website.
Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, one!
Newforestar Co,Ltd · $1.99
Rather like Bebot, NESynth hides a synth with some serious clout under a toy-like exterior. Depending on your chosen level of ‘geek’, you can play using a standard piano keyboard or a virtual NES controller. A number of NES-like sounds (including effects) are on offer, pitch-bend can be activated by tilting your device, and an optional arpeggiator is also included. Again, check out the website to see what’s possible when the app’s mastered.
Perfect for the retro-gaming music geek.
Hopefully Useful Software · $4.99
Most iPhone drum machines are throwaway efforts, but EasyBeats provides a welcome balance of fun, usability, depth, and extensibility. You can bash pads to play ‘live’, lay down steps over four loopable bars, and tweak the velocity of each step. There’s a free version, but Pro’s save support, WAV loop export, and the ability to import samples to create your own unique drumkits are well worth the cash. There’s even a built-in three-minute video demo.
EasyBeats Pro is a great drum machine--usable, fun, and extensible.
SID Player Pro · $1.99
Your device happily plays modern computer audio formats such as MP3, but back in the day, systems had proprietary sound chips and formats, used to create chip-tunes. SID Player Pro brings the Commodore 64’s catalogue of 37800 SID tunes to your device, and enables you to ‘favorite’ those compositions that give you a fuzzy, nostalgic glow. The same developer also created Pokey Player (for Atari 8-bit tunes) and Module Player (for Amiga music).
SID maestros Hubbard, Galway, Brennan, Huelsbeck--we salute you!
Bjango · $1.99
Although primarily designed as a tool for DJs, Beats has the potential to assist any musician. The app has three distinct sections: Tempo enables you to tap out a beat to discover a tune’s tempo; Metronome provides a looping clicker, controlled via a great-looking scrollwheel; and Key is a useful piano-based mixing aid. The app’s settings enable you to amend the metronome’s time signature and sound, and to disable your device’s screen lock to keep the beat going.
Tap out a tempo with Beats--an invaluable tool for musicians.
Sound Trends LLC · Free
Looptastic Gold is an entry point into the Looptastic world, a place of drag-and-drop DJ larks. Select a loop set and drag loops to a zone to play them. The higher the loop, the louder it plays, and a crossfader enables you to disable one of the side zones for transitions. In-app purchases provide access to more loops than you could ever need, but the 60 built-in ones should satisfy most people.
Want to DJ? Lack talent/decks/records? Looptastic's the app for you!
Zach Gage · $1.99
Zach Gage’s synthPond is a spatial synth--rather than prod a virtual keyboard, you place nodes in a ‘pond’ that affect other nodes as audio is generated. Press-holding a node provides access to settings, enabling you to amend the node’s properties. The game-like nature of synthPond and its ambient, generative audio is reminiscent of Eno’s Bloom app, but Gage’s creation is cheaper, more directly controllable, and tends to produce more pleasing results.
Generate unique ambient music with synthPond.
Yanez · Free
TweakyBeat is a cheeky, fun, utterly old-school app for sketching beats. The interface is clearly modeled on the Mac OS from many years ago, and the synth itself is purely monophonic. As with the best iPhone musical apps, you can get up and running with TweakyBeat in seconds, but there’s depth for those who want it: sounds can be er—tweaked, eight patterns can be laid down and switched between, and entire sessions can be saved.
TweakyBeat: iPhone drum-machine app meets Mac OS 7.
Glu · $2.99
Although the App Store lists it as a game, Beat It! is in fact a hybrid app. Over the course of many levels, you listen to drum patterns and replicate them as quickly as possible using an on-screen sequencer. Complete a level set and its kit is opened for ‘free play’, akin to a simplified EasyBeats. Beat It!, then, is a game, drum-machine teaching aid, and a performance tool--and the graphic design is wonderful.
Our top tip for Beat It!: wear headphones, or you've no chance.
The iPhone is good at all sorts of things, from keeping in touch, to keeping up with the news. But sometimes, you just want to have a little fun. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite apps for keeping ourselves entertained, and they run the gamut from tools for reading PDFs like magazines and books, to radio, and a slang dictionary to bridge the generation gap. --Leslie Ayers
Good.iWare Ltd · $0.99
The reason you’ve never heard of GoodReader is because you probably never realized you needed it. But trust us, if you ever--and we do mean ever, even just one time--need to view a long, large, or detailed PDF file on your iPhone, The 99-cent investment in GoodReader is totally worth it. It hooks into iDisk, DropBox, or any WebDAV server for transferring files, and offers a ton of features for viewing them.
Looking at a PDF of a two-page magazine spread on our iPhone? We'd never even consider it before discovering GoodReader.
SchroederDev LLC · $1.99
Having trouble understanding the teenager who sells you your daily cuppa at Dunkin Donuts? Slango can act as a translator, bridging the gap between worlds--or at least making it possible to communicate with the kid. Search terms, scroll through words of the day or tap Random Word to see definitions of terms like “game goofy” (someone who lacks street smarts) and “hipster garbage” (something that someone does just to look cool or fit in). Warning: Lots of adult content.
Are you and your S.O. "Facebook-official"?
Feedburst · $0.99
This one’s worth it as a pure nostalgia play. And--since it shows a video of each show’s opener--it’s also handy if you ever get into an argument with a buddy about which one of the Dukes drove the General Lee in the “Dukes of Hazzard” intro (it was Bo).TV Tunes covers popular shows from the ‘50s to the ‘90s--in other words, everything from “Get Smart” to “Ally McBeal.”
Ride along with Ponch and Jon--TV Tunes takes you back to "CHiPs" other TV classics.
Handcast Media Labs · $1.99
Anyone looking for a way to get all their favorite stations’ live streams and explore uncharted programming territory--German goth anyone?--needs Spark Radio. It finds local frequencies instantly with a tap of the Local button, and you can also search by keyword or browse by musical genre, talk radio, or sports. Save your faves in your Favorites to tune in whenever the mood strikes.
Break out of your radio rut by discovering new and unusual sounds with Spark Radio.
Syntonic · Free
iTunes’ Genius Playlist feature is pretty cool, but MoodAgent does it one better, letting you fine-tune playlist criteria by moving color-coded sliders denoting your mood and/or the type of music you want to hear: sensual, tender, joyful, aggressive, and/or up-tempo. Combining different levels of each slider results in some, well, interesting, playlists, which you can save to listen to later. The app does a better job creating playlists that match your chosen criteria if you first download the free MoodAgent Profiler and run it on your Mac.
Tap Save Playlist to keep any playlist and play it later.
MoodAgent creates more spot-on playlists if you run your music collection through its free MoodAgent Profiler app, available for OS X and Windows.
Encyclopedias and other reference materials are heavy, but your iPhone fits nicely in the palm of your hand. Luckily, there are plenty of iPhone apps chock full of the stuff you need to know--everything from the secret to perfect pie crust, to the day’s news, and maps of Mars. Everybody needs that, right? --Ray Aguilera
Ruhlman Enterprises, Inc. · $4.99
Foodies know Michael Ruhlman from his excellent series of books on the craft of professional cooking. Ratio is adapted from his new book of the same name, offering up the secrets to great cooking in the form of 32 magic ingredient ratios that cover everything from pizza dough to Hollandaise. From there, you can craft your own recipes, use the calculator to determine precise measurements, and of course post your culinary triumphs to Facebook and Twitter.
Everything you need to know to kill on Iron Chef.
Omz:software · $4.99
Newsrack offers all the benefits of desktop RSS readers in a portable package. Even better, the app offers Google Reader integration for easy setup and portability of your feeds. It also downloads images for offline viewing. And, best of all, a single app is optimized for both the iPhone and iPad, so you’ll never be without a news fix.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Midnight Martian · $0.99
Sure, Google Earth is cool, but Mars is the future. Mars Globe offers a 3D, rotatable view of the red planet, in your choice of either natural colors, or a color-coded elevation map based on laser altimeter data. And what’s cooler than Mars and lasers? Landmarks are labeled, and offer links to additional information online.
When you get abducted, at least you'll have a map.
Sophiestacation Software · $2.99
The mobile version of everyone’s favorite crowd-sourced reference website is OK, but Articles presents Wikipedia in an interface optimized for your iPhone. You can easily send article links via email, and the app stores recent articles for offline reading. The Safari-style multi-page browser makes it easy to switch between multiple pages.
A portable Wikipedia can turn you into a bar-bet champion.
Sharpest Cookie · $1.99
If a full-on RSS reader seems like a bit too much commitment, but you still like to keep an eye on what people are buzzing about online, check out Daily Zeitgeist. The app plugs into Google News, Digg, and other services, presenting popular stories in a visual manner. More popular links occupy more screen space, and as links get older, they darken to help you stay on top of breaking news.
News + a cool mod vibe.
It turns out that iPhone is great for a lot more than updating your Facebook status. With the right apps, you can turn your iPhone into the perfect travel companion, personal trainer, and more. --Michael Simon
GymFu.com · $0.99 each
Who needs a pricey monthly membership when you’ve got four bucks and an iPhone? GymFu.com’s suite of exercise apps--CrunchFu, PushupFu, SquatFu, PullupFu--puts the personal in personal trainer, deftly utilizing iPhone’s accelerometer to evaluate your form and count your reps (so no cheating) as you unlock training stages and challenge people around the world to workout battles in the comfort (and privacy) of your own home. Just the way we like it.
Cheaper than a Wii Fit.
TapBots · $1.99
We certainly don’t expect to find an app that makes dieting fun, but Weightbot takes at least some of the dread out of our daily weigh-ins. You’ll need your own scale (we’re pretty sure Apple doesn’t want us standing on our phones), but Weightbot does the rest, tracking your progress and measuring your BMI with its classy, passcode-protected interface filled with elegant graphs and charts. Like Weight Watchers, but without all those prying eyes.
Making weight just got a little bit easier.
Splended Things · $1.99
Even if you hate running as much as we do, you’ll appreciate Get Running’s slow-and-steady approach that promises to get you off your couch and into 5K shape in just two months. With a strict regimen limited to three manageable workouts per week, Get Running’s training program strikes a perfect balance between racing and resting, with a run clock, encouragement cues and a rolling progress log.
Energy bars not included.
Inari Mobile Technologies · $2.99
Most casual collectors have probably already carved out a permanent spot on their iPhones for the NIKEiD app. But no self-respecting sneakerhead can live without Kicktionary’s ever-growing database of shoes. More than just a dictionary devoted to footwear, Kicktionary’s library provides a veritable encyclopedia of sole, broken down by sport, model and colorway, and packs each entry with enough information and pics to soothe the savagest of hypebeasts.
Bone up on the history of kicks.
Quinn Genzel · $2.99
Before any well-deserved week of rest and relaxation comes a few days of frantic scrambling as we try to boil our life down to a single suitcase, only to find out we’ve forgotten toothpaste, socks and our iPhone charger. Lots of packing aids populate the App Store, but none are as useful as Packing Pro, with its clean, customizable interface, collapsable categories, easy exporting and everything else to make sure clean underwear makes it in on the plane with you.
Just don't forget your iPhone charger.
EpicTilt · Free
Since we can’t afford to hop on a flight to Vegas every time we get bit by the gambling bug, we’ll have to settle for Sportsbook, an all-in-good-fun betting app that lets us place realistic wagers on the day’s sporting contests. With a revolving leaderboard and in-app purchases to replenish your account up to a million dollars, SportsBook is the next best thing to a cigar-smoking bookie. And it won’t threaten to break your legs.
Cheaper than a trip to Vegas.
IQapps · $0.99
It used to be that you needed to bring a still camera, video camera, film, notepads, pens and maps if you wanted to seriously document a destination. Trip Journal not only cuts down on your gear considerably, it uses iPhone’s GPS to track your route and waypoints, geo-tags your photos and movies, and integrates seamlessly with Google Earth, all while neatly packaging everything in a sophisticated digital log that fits right in your pocket.
Document your travels with Trip Journal.
Splended Things · $7.99
If you’re a frequent flyer having trouble keeping track of all your flights and hotel transfers, TripDeck may be the next best thing to hiring a personal assistant. With automatic TripIt syncing and airline push alerts, TripDeck collects all of your info and displays it in a sophisticated, clean interface that leaves little to chance; it’ll even help you find an alternate flight in the event of a delay, and it won’t give you any attitude for working overtime.
Essential for road warriors.
Neil Harris · $0.99
Who says your local gym has to be a stop on the path to enlightenment? Yoga Stetch packs 35 poses in your pocket without getting all pretentious about it--each move is accompanied by a detailed, illustrated description that even clues you in to the intended physical and mental effect. Once you’ve studies the poses, you can customize your own session to fit your schedule--like when you need a quickie Downward Dog to tackle a case of writer’s block.
Perfect your form.
Collectorz.com · $9.99 each
If you always have your eyes peeled for a trove of comics--or just like bragging to co-workers about your record collection--you know the importance of keeping an up-to-date catalog. Unless you happen to have a freaky memory, Collectorz.com has you covered with a series of iTuneslike apps--Clz Movies, Books, Music, Comics and Video Games--that perfectly complement its desktop database software. Twelve thousand comic in your basement? There’s an app for that.
With the right apps, you can manage all sorts of social data, everything from business cards (the original social networking) to the visitor stats to your faithfully-maintained blog of puppy pictures. --Ray Aguilera
Blackout Labs · $0.99
Duo only does two things, but it does them reliably and quickly. When you just want to dash off a status update, fire up Duo to ping Twitter or Facebook (or both) with your latest witticism. You can’t read posts on either service, but for sheer speed, Duo can’t be beat.
Update your status with lightning speed.
Gorlock Interactive, LLC · Free
We’ve said we’re quitting Foursquare at least a dozen times. And yet the addictive social networking game always seems to drag us back into the fold (usually when someone steals one of our mayorships). KickBall offers a new interface to the Foursquare service we love to hate, and it simplifies check-ins, and offers new features like a map view for quickly finding nearby peeps.
Map view helps you find local peeps.
Garrett Murray · $1.99
Stats nerds and data hounds take note. Ego helps you track traffic to your various web properties in one simple app. Track your Feedburner subscribers, Google Analytics traffic, Twitter followers and other web traffic statistics at a glance. Ego is well-designed, and looks fantastic. It doesn’t deep-dive into your stats, but offers a quick peek at crucial numbers.
Track your Internet celebrity status in real-time.
Christian Sigritz · $1.99
One of the things the Palm Pilot did well back in its heyday was share contacts. The iPhone lacks the Palm’s infared beaming, of course, but Air Contacts brings back some of that magic with the help of Wi-Fi. As a bonus, you can also access contacts from a desktop computer via a web browser for easy sharing or backup.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Zap contacts back and forth.
SHAPE services · $5.99
Despite all the technology in our pockets, the business card is still the primary way of trading contact information in many circumstances. Business Card Reader uses your iPhone’s camera and OCR technology to capture information from business cards and add it to your Contacts. The recognition isn’t perfect, but you can edit as you go if needed. If you collect lots of cards, Reader is well worth the money.
Perfect for the card-carrying masses.
When it comes to getting down to work, the iPhone is an indispensable tool. Whether you’re a creative-type in need of inspiration, or an overscheduled exec in need of organization, these apps can help you bring home the bacon. --Ray Aguilera
Nasda Studios · $1.99
Clearly inspired by Brian Eno’s famous “Oblique Strategies” card decks, Methodology stimulates creative thinking by offering 100 flash cards that each offer a creative prompt. You can swipe your way through the deck, or shake to re-shuffle Methodology’s advice.
Think different.
Marco Ament · Free
Instapaper is one of those apps that’s so useful, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it. After installing a bookmarklet in your web browser, you can quickly tag articles and web pages for reading later in Instapaper. Even better, Instapaper offers a simplified, text-focused layout that loads quickly and eliminates web clutter. The iPhone app syncs stories to your iPhone, for offline reading when you have time to dig in to stories you’ve marked.
Build your own newspaper.
Hog Bay Software · $4.99
TaskPaper is a simple to-do list that offers online syncing, as well as sharing via Wi-Fi. The app skips elaborate features in favor of a clean, streamlined interface that compliments the desktop Mac version. And for ultimate portability, all your TaskPaper data is stored in plain-text files for use on practically any device.
Stop fiddling with your to do list and start doing.
Headlight Software, Inc. · $6.99
Forget your important presentation in the office, or just need to quickly fix an error on your website? FTP On The Go is a full-featured File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client in the palm of your hand. The built-in text editor lets you tweak code from road, and you can even resize images, right on your phone.
Be the master of your own domain.
The Omni Group · $19.99
The App Store is full of cheapo task managers for the iPhone, and most are fine if you only have a few grocery items to remember. But for heavy-duty task management, OmniFocus is the way to go. It syncs with the desktop Mac version, and can keep you on top of even the most complex task list.
Don't tell the boss about our 15 overdue items.
IDEO · Free
Method Cards started out as a physical deck of cards intended to inspire designers and creative pros. The app gives you eight free cards, which have ideas and excercises for improving designs and sparking creativity. The entire 51-card deck can be purchased in-app for $4.99, a small price to pay for creative sparks to inspire your next project.
Don't tell the boss about our 15 overdue items.
Marco Ament · Free
Who needs a fax machine when you can complete forms and sign documents right on your iPhone? Once you set up a free Zosh account, you can email documents to yourself for editing in Zosh. Easily fill in text, and even sign forms on your iPhone screen. Once you’re done, Zosh sends out a PDF of your edited form. Nice!
Fax machines are so 1990s.
Dropbox · Free
If you use a computer and an iPhone, you need Dropbox. The cross-platform desktop application keeps files in your Dropbox synchronized across all your machines, and online. It’s a great way to have instant access to current projects, and the iPhone app lets you access your files from anywhere you can get a Wi-Fi or 3G signal. A 2 GB Dropbox is free, and for power-users, storage upgrades are available.
iDisk totally wishes it was Dropbox.
Anagram Technologies · $4.99
Copy2Contact Pro is so great, Apple ought to buy them and incorporate their functionality into the iPhone OS. Rather than tediously copying and pasting contact information from emails, web pages or practically any other source, just copy the text to your clipboard and launch Copy2Contact. The app parses contact data, and can create new records in Contacts, or add information to existing ones. There’s also a free, ad-supported version for infrequent users.
New contacts in a few taps. Sweet!
Pixoft · $1.99
Go paperless with TurboScan. The app turns your iPhone into a scanner, for capturing receipts and notes. Take a shot with your camera, and editing tools let you crop out extraneous information and create JPEGs or PDFs that can be emailed, or saved to your library. The SureScan 3X mode combines three images, to give your docs the best possible clarity. It’s like carrying a copy machine in your pocket.
Digitize docs with your iPhone.
With all this talk of apps, we couldn’t resist diving into some of our favorite iPad apps. While the iPad is still in its infancy when compared to the iPhone, it’s clear that developers are committed to building quality apps that take full advantage of the larger form-factor. --Ray Aguilera
Free
Tap Tap isn’t merely a port of the iPhone standard. The new game takes full advantage of the iPad’s larger form-factor, and offers 30 tracks, plus premium tracks you can purchase in-app.
Free
Harbor Master is one of our favorite time management games. Guide ships in and out of port by drawing lines with your finger, but watch out for collisions.
$7.99
Zen Bound 2 is the sequel to Zen Bound, and it’s optimized for both iPhone and iPad. The minimal soundtrack is mesmerizing, and the 3D puzzles can be diabolically difficult.
$1.99
Strategery is a Risk-style war game that works on your iPhone or iPad. Different game modes enhance re-playability, and you can do battle with a friend head-to-head, or online.
$0.99
Camera-A works in tandem with the free Camera B iPhone app to solve the problem of the iPad’s lack of a camera. Your iPhone 3G or 3GS becomes your iPad’s camera, transmitting images via Bluetooth.
$9.99
Rosie 4i turns your iPad into a contol center for your Savant home automation system. Control your lights, A/V equipment, and security system, all from your iPad’s 9.7-inch screen.
Free
Wink Target Clock is styled after the Wink watch of the same name. A sleep override lets you use the app as an always-on clock while your iPad is charging.
Free
Ruina for iPad is a browser, with a twist. Load a second site in another pane for side-by-side browsing of two sites. It’s quicker than swapping pages in Safari.
$1.99
WolframAlpha is a search engine on steroids. Whether you need to do some trigonometry, or just find out how many calories are in a shot of Bourbon, WolframAlpha knows the answer.
$8.99
Notability is everything that Apple’s Notes app is not. Include drawings, web clippings, and audio--and share notes easily via Wi-Fi.
Free
Newsrack works on both your iPhone & iPad, bringing you RSS feeds in a clean, easy-to-navigate interface. Best of all, it syncs with your existing Google Reader account, for seamless access to your feeds.
$0.99
Chirp Frame offers one-at-a-time display of tweets in three different themes. Who needs photos when you can stare at your friends’ tweets all day?
Free
Zinio is a newsstand in your pocket. Choose from a wide variety of digital magazines, and you can purchase both single copies, as well as subscriptions via in-app purchase.
$1.99
Wwrite is a text-only editor for iPad. The template feature makes quick work of commonly-used documents such as blog posts.
$3.99
TouchPad uses your iPad or iPhone as an input device for your Mac. It’s perfect for media center setups, allowing you to control you machine from the comfort of the sofa.
Free
TableCheckers HD is a simple checkers game, but it’s a natural fit for the iPad. Play head-to-head against your friends, and finally not have to worry about losing game pieces.
Free
Fluent News Reader lets you keep up with the news, without needing a full-fledged RSS reader. Choose from sources like the New York Times, CNN, and more.
Free
0'Clock is a sleek, beautiful binary clock. Prove your nerd-cred by easily reading the time, and if you aren’t up to speed just yet, you can toggle on a the 24-hour time while you’re still learning.
Free
Pad Info gives you detailed iPad stats at a glance. The app shows your storage usage, memory stats, and battery state with just one tap.
$9.99
Geometry Wars offers shoot-em-up action and old-school vector graphics. The gameplay is quick, and the bright colors remind us of dropping quarters in the arcade in the 80s.
$8.99
Alice is an amazing stand-alone electronic book incorporating lush moving graphics into an abridged version of the children’s classic.
$2.99
Penultimate is a simple app note-taking & sketching app that closely mimics the look of real ink on paper. The app creates smooth lines that look like actual penmanship, and you can easily email individual pages or entire notebooks.
$2.99
AirVideo frees you from your iPad’s storage constraints. Run the companion server app on your Mac & use Air Video to stream your entire movie collection to your iPad (or even your iPhone).
$9.99
Enigmo Deluxe is a fantastic adaptation of the classic Mac puzzle game. A built-in level editor lets you make your own diabolical challenges, and you can share & play new levels on iPhones and iPads.
