Whenever I find an iPhone app that I think is just the most amazing thing since sliced bread, I shortly find out that everyone else already has it and I, apparently, am the last one to know. Why aren’t we all sharing these great finds with one another? So I figured that I would start by laying out all my apps and thoughts on them and maybe you’ll discover a thing or two and maybe, just maybe, if you think you’ve found the next sliced bread, you’ll let me know in the comments.
Evernote: This app is a lifesaver. Basically, it can keep track of anything you might ever want to remember or reference… Getting rid of annoying scraps of paper once and for all! When you see something you want to remember—your parking space, a movie you want to add to your Netflix queue, a cute sweater you want to find elsewhere, a great bottle of wine, whatever—just add it to Evernote by text, snapshot, camera roll, or voice and save it, label it, and later you’ll be able to find it.
Shake It Photo, Camera Bag, Photo Filters, Hipstamatic, and Polarize: My myriad of photo filter apps have accumulated over the year plus I’ve had my iPhone. The ones I find myself using most often are Shake It Photo and Hipstamatic, but they each have unique enough features that I can’t seem to pick one to get rid of.
FatBooth, Aging Booth, and Fantasy Lens: Fantasy Lens is a little different in that instead of taking your photo and turning it into a Polaroid or whatever, it takes photos of faces and puts them in great works of art, holiday or season-appropriate scenes, and the like. And then there’s FatBooth and Aging Booth, which take your picture and make you either morbidly obese or seriously senior. Silly, but fun. Especially with friends.
I Am T-Pain: I read about this one here! You sing into it and it auto-tunes your pitchy mess into a hit made for Cher. A party favorite.
A Free Level: As its name suggests, it’s a free level. Just select the app and hold your iPhone horizontally to ensure your paintings are hanging straight. I’ve actually used this app more times than I expected to.
Google Earth: Thought it would be cool to access Google Earth from anywhere. Still haven’t used it once, but at least I know it’s on there…
FS5 Hockey, Scoops, Labyrinth LE, Morocco, and Hangman: Time-waster games I downloaded, the beau played on subway trips a few times until he got bored of them, and I’ve never opened since. I am on the look-out for games that are actually entertaining that I’ll want to play more than once, so let me know if you have an suggestions.
Pandora: Since I rarely use my iPhone for music, and when I do, I’m often on the subway with no signal, Pandora has not yet been used. Seemed like a good idea at the time…
Voice Memo: How cool is the idea of leaving yourself voice memos? “Tomatoes, tempeh, toilet paper, and toothpaste.” Except that you don’t and you won’t.
Remote: This is supposed to turn your iPhone into a remote for your computer. I wouldn’t know if it works because when I’ve wanted to use it it hadn’t been properly set up and I gave up and haven’t had the need for it since.
Drinks Free: A free library of cocktails… Why not? I’ve used it once or twice to come to the aid of a bartender, but have books at home that I would generally trust more.
FourSquare, Facebook, and Twitter: I’ll try any new techno-fad for a bit, especially if it might help my clients… Then I get completely addicted to it. So it has to be on my phone.
Color Snap (Sherwin Williams), Color Capture (Benjamin Moore): You’re supposed to be able to take a photo of something with your iPhone and then these apps will give you the corresponding paint color. Love the idea of this actually working, haven’t yet found anything to analyze and have no desire to take up any painting projects anytime soon. Oh, but when I do…
Shazam: Ever hear a song and you want to know what it’s called or who it’s by? Turn on this app and point it at your speaker and it’ll tell you… Or not. It’s never actually worked for me when I’ve wanted to know, only when I already knew and was testing it. Oh well.
Urban Spoon: A pretty good app for finding restaurants in the area. Have mostly used it when out-of-town and generally decided on going somewhere we passed that afternoon.
Wifi Track: Finds wifi signals and tells you which are password protected and which are the strongest. Helpful if you’re in a non-3G area.]
AG Wine Guide: Because as much as I enjoy wine, I don’t know nearly enough about it. This app helps find something to pair with a particular meal or something from a particular region.
NYTimes Crosswords: I love my crossword puzzles and was so excited at the idea of not having to carry my books on the train with me anymore… Happy camper.
Bump: Other people with this app and an iPhone should be able to “bump” iPhones with you to exchange contact information. Haven’t bumped yet (sniffle).
Yelp, Fandango, Wikipedia, The Weather Channel, Netflix, and eBay: Because it’s easier to access an app than to go to the webpage.
Chase, AmEx, and Mint.com: Because I’ve gotta keep track of those dolla bills on the go.
Kick Light: A totally non-interactive New York City subway map. Actually very useful for figuring out alternative routes when the conductor announces that there’s a police investigation at the next station. It’s just a map, but every New Yorker needs to have a subway map on them.
WordPress: I can write/edit posts like this on-the-go! And I have.
Kindle: If you have an iPhone, there’s no need to buy a Kindle—just download the (free) app and *viola* your iPhone’s a kindle (and back-lit at that)! Love the idea, just have never actually used it. I think I’ll probably stock up on Kindle books next time I travel so I don’t have to pack books to weigh me down. Although I’ll still need magazines for the beach!
Veggie Passport: As a frequently traveling vegan, having an app that literally spells out my diet restrictions in 33 different languages is a great idea! Again, I haven’t had the opportunity to use it (yet), but I have the feeling I will!
English-Italian Dictionary and French-Italian Dictionary: Left-overs from my travels last year and I can’t bring myself to delete them—because that would mean the vacation’s over.
Word Lens: Point it at a sign and it will translate it for you. I haven’t yet had the chance to use it while traveling yet, but I can’t wait… The fact that this exists makes me feel like I live in the future!
Okay, so now that I’ve showed you my apps, you show me yours: What’s on your iPhone? What life-changing app am I missing? What will keep me occupied and entertained on long cab rides home? I look forward to adding to the mess that is my iPhone. And maybe, just maybe, I’ve helped you add to yours.