With the App Store, Apple has mastered the art of the impulse purchase. Much like the candy that’s displayed at a toddler’s eye level at the supermarket checkout counter, those shiny iPhone apps are right at your fingertips whenever you have a spare moment to flick around. “Only a dollar … why not?”
Last summer I listed the apps I’ve paid for but don’t use, and today I’m doing the opposite. Here are the 12 apps that I use every day without fail. Each has won a coveted spot on my iPhone’s home screen.
Messages (free, Apple, Inc.) From push notifications to quick chats with my sisters, text messaging has become a part of my life. At first I thought the notion was ridiculous. Sending text messages with a phone? It’s a phone. That’s like dipping a typewriter into an inkwell and using it as a quill. But now I get it. Some things are just faster and not worth the time or cost of a phone call. Call me a convert. 4real.
Calendar (free, Apple Inc.) My wife keeps this updated with our family schedules and MobileMe syncs it to all of our devices flawlessly. It’s a must in our family.
Photos (free, Apple, Inc). I mentioned the kids, right? That means ridiculous amounts of photos and video. But that’s not all. I’ve used it and Camera, my next selection, to remember where I’ve parked in a large garage, send photos of business cards to myself, send photos of receipts and ask, “Is this the [product photo here] I’m supposed to buy?” via SMS.
Outside ($2.99 with optional in-app purchases, Robocat) As a New Englander, I’m obsessed with driving directions and weather. Outside runs laps around Apple’s Weather app with a beautiful UI, push notifications, great-looking animations and an overall sense of fun. A blizzard? Yippee! Look at how cute that animation is!
Maps (free, Apple, Inc.) This is the iPhone’s wonder app. Let’s say you’re in the middle of Nowhere, Maine and you want to find some coffee. Open maps, locate yourself with GPS, enter “Coffee” into the search field you’re on the phone and driving to a great little shop that you didn’t know existed 20 seconds prior. I recently drove from Boston to Valley Forge, Pa using only the Maps app and it was flawless. I think it’s powered by magic. Or GPS. Either one.
Birdhouse ($1.99, Adam Lisagor & Cameron Hunt) In all honesty, when this app was released I thought it was a practical joke. “A Twitter app for writers? They’re kidding, right?” Now I get it. I tend to be a bit verbose on Twitter, and posting every random thought that my brain fires up into Birdhouse before inflicting it upon my followers is a handy little buffer. Plus, it does offer a chance to re-write something that frankly could use it. My Birdhouse is always packed with several chambered tweets, ready to fire.
Twitterrific Premium ($4.99, The Iconfactory) Still my iPhone Twitter app of choice. It’s beautiful, well-executed, supports multiple accounts and frankly does everything I need in a manner that I enjoy. Use it, love it.
Billings Touch (Free or $15 for invoicing and syncw/the desktop app, Marketcircle) I recently reviewed Billings Touch so for now I’ll just say it was able to lure me away from Freshbooks.
Daylite Touch ($49.99 per year, Marketcircle) The mobile companion to the powerful Daylite for the Mac is the one app out of all of these that I couldn’t go a day without. Between TUAW and my other gigs I have a lot going on and Daylite Touch lets me manage all of them elegantly. It’s very powerful and the back end server app runs beautifully on a G4 iMac in my basement. Before you balk at the price know that I was paying that in two months time with Basecamp. Just like its sibling Billings Touch, Daylite touch is fantastic. I can’t say enough good about it.
iTunes and App Store (Free, Apple, Inc.) are self-explanatory and got me into this mess to begin with.
CNN Mobile (Free, CNN) Regardless of your opinion of the Cable News Network, you must admit that this app is very well done. The news is timely, navigation is clear, the app is snappy and the streaming video is the clincher. I actually watched the balloon boy saga unfold on my iPhone. Plus you can sign up for keyword alerts, push notifications and even submit your own photos, videos and stories. I love it.
Facebook (Free, Facebook) Yeah, it’s Facebook. But this app is well done.
Pastebot ($2.99, Tapbots) It’s a clipboard manager for the iPhone but so much more. Enable wireless sync with a Mac and you’ve got super-easy photo transfer, a clipboard history from your Mac and more. I use it to hold boilerplate text that’s now a tap away. Want to insert it into an email message? Click “Send to Mac” and you’re done. Like all of the Tapbot apps, Pastebot is gorgeous and downright useful. You need to own it.
Trip Cubby ($6.99, App Cubby) My job (and Uncle Sam) requires me to keep close tabs on mileage. Trip Cubby makes recording my trips simple and fun, and version 2 improves upon a winner.
To get started, add a new trip and fill in your destination, purpose, any tags you’d like and so on. Designate a vehicle and its starting odometer reading. You can also categorize a trip (business, charity, etc.) and add relevant notes (tip: Add frequent trips to favorites for future reference).
From there, click done and you’re off! Once you arrive, select your trip again, enter the final odometer reading and click Done. Trip Cubby assumes a mileage rate of $0.550, but you’re free to change that if need be.
Here’s where it gets good. You can sync all of your data online at App Cubby, should you lose anything. Also, you can mail all of your data to yourself from within the app as a CSV (a HUGE time saver at tax time). Typically I’m a pen-and-paper guy, but Trip Cubby has replaced the notebook in my glovebox. I absolutely rely on it.
I would say a good fourth of the apps I own are things I see you talk about! lol
When I first downloaded Outside, I thought to myself, now why did I do that? This is so simple. But I love it because it is simple and beautiful and gives me all the information I need to know in a beautiful way.
Dave,
Unless I’m missing something, Outside costs $2.99.
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