Bought an iPhone? Here are the Apps You Need!

Posted on 28. Feb, 2011 by in iPhone, Mobile, Software, Tech

By: Hillel Fuld

It is the same story every time. Another friend of mine goes over to the dark side, gets rid of his/her BlackBerry and buys an iPhone. Then the questions start pouring in. “How do I delete a song from my iPhone? What do you mean I can’t do it from the device?” “How do I create a ringtone?” Then there is the question that every single new iPhone owner asks: “What apps should I download?”

Every time I am asked that question, I start going through old blog posts I have written on the topic with a list of good iPhone apps. That takes me a good twenty minutes every time, and this is a scenario that happens almost daily. For this reason, I decided to compile an organized list of iPhone apps that I use and love. It is important to take into account that this is very much a personal preference and everyone is different. In fact, when I tweeted the question this morning (with a picture of my new twin boys) asking my followers what their favorite iPhone apps were, the answers I got were all very different than the following list.

Having said that, I tried to include apps that anyone would find useful or entertaining and not apps that I use just because they work with my personal daily workflow. When I first got the iPhone, like many other people I started going on an app shopping spree just to see what was out there. Now, after several months, I have gotten rid of the so called “junk” and have left the apps I enjoy using most. I hope you find some gems here that you did not know about.

The following is a list of my personal favorite iPhone apps based on different categories:

Social Apps

1: Echofon Pro: After testing over 50 Twitter apps, this is the best Twitter iPhone app, hands down!

2: Facebook: One of the best iPhone app designs out there, and some might say the app works even better than the site.

3: Meebo: All your IM networks in one and compared to the many other options, this is the best IM app.

4: Viber: Free high quality calls to your friends who have the app installed. A great Skype competitor. My review here.

5: Skype: Still the Voip industry leader and with video calling supported, this is really a killer app. My review here.

6: Vonage: Call any of your Facebook friends who have this app for free.

7: Whatsapp/Kik: Has been called BBM for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry (not Kik). Both very good free messaging apps. My review here.

Utilities

1: iLlumination: Just the best free flashlight app, nothing else to it.

2: Bump: Very futuristic app that enables you to transfer data by bumping phones. My review here and here.

3: LogMeIn: Remotely access your computer from your iPhone. A little pricey, but worth it. My review here.

4: QuickInput: Simply the best and fastest QR Code reader available.

5: VLC: I have been a fan of VLC on PC and Mac for years. Now you can play any video on iPhone with this app. My review here. Update: The app was pulled by Apple. Thanks Ari.

6: Boxcar: Probably my favorite app. Gives you notifications for almost all your services such as email, Facebook, Twitter, and much more. My review here.

7: Dropbox: One of the very few services that I use personally and professionally. Keep all your devices in sync. My review here and here.

Photography

1: Instagram: A nicely designed photo sharing app with the ability to add filters to your pictures. My review here.

2: Camera+: Widely accepted as the most professional photography app on iPhone. I do not disagree.

3: 360: Easily take a 360 degree picture of your location and share it with your friends. A very cool app.

4: Burstn: Another photo sharing app with some major advantages over the competition. My review here.

5: ClearCam: An app that enhances your photos and improves their resolution. My review here.

Games

1: Angry Birds: Widely and accurately regarded as the most addictive game in history.

2: Cut the Rope: The only iPhone game that can even dream of competing with the birds.

3: Rocket Bird: A great flying game with really nice graphics.

4: Paper Toss: Another very addictive game in which you have to throw a piece of paper into a garbage bin. My review here.

5: Talking Tom: If you have kids or are a kid yourself, a must have app. My review here.

6: MultiPong: An engaging game with graphics that you can only find on the iPhone.

7: TinyWings: Had not known about this game till a friend told me about it in a tweet. Seems pretty awesome to me.

Others/General

1: WordLens: This app shows me that the future is here. As my title here states, you gotta see it to believe it.

2: Flyscreen: The app I use daily to read the news. My review here.

3: Pulse News: Another beautifully designed app for reading your content.

4: Ocarina: How could I leave this out? Just watch this video!

5: FlightTrack Pro: The best way to track your flights.

6: BaldBooth: Allows you to take a picture of anyone and make them bald. Just very entertaining.

That’s all folks. Just to emphasize again, I am sure if you use an iPhone, there are apps that you love that do not appear on this list. Apps such as Instapaper (which I use on the Web daily, just less on iPhone), Reeder, Evernote, Waze, and Airplay. All these are great apps that I have used, but did not include in the list because they did not make the cut. I hope this list helped you and of course, feel free to share your favorite iPhone apps in the comments below or on Twitter. You can find me here.

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  • Cmalyak

    Late response but I came across this post when searching if you had posted something on an app I was about to purchase. Firstly, I want to point out that while I’ve tried out whatsapp and kik, none of my bbm’ing friends would join. I have been using pingchat the past few months and have found it to be a great bridge between BBMers and other iPhone/Android users.

    Back to the original reason for my looking up this post, I was wondering if you tried Pushmail for push notifications. I used to use E-lert on my jailbroken iPhone 3G and really liked the benefit of not having to open my mail app to see who sent me a new email. While Pushmail is not a free app, the preview option would be worth it. So I thought I’d check with you first before purchasing!

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