My favorite iPhone apps

Just so you know I’ve never paid for an application for my iPhone. All the ones I have are free. That’s not to say I wouldn’t pay for one; I just haven’t found the need to yet. So for those of you who just bought an iPhone (Stephanie) and for anyone considering buying one, here’s part of why I’m always looking at this thing (Amy, I loved your post about it. I’m so glad I’m not the only one who gets teased about always looking at mine.) So, without further adieu, here are my favorite iPhone apps:

Things that came loaded onto my phone that I use a lot:

= iPod.Works just like any other iPod out there, except the nifty earbuds have a way to skip through and pause songs that are not on the other iPod earbuds (these earbuds also serve as a wireless headset for talking.) For the record, I’ve somehow managed to break 2 sets of these. Anyone know of more durable wireless earbuds for the iPhone?
= Phone. Speaking of talking, of course I use it for that too. I no longer have a home phone so this is my everything phone. Although, those of you who knew me as a teenager will not believe this, but: I’m not really a phone person anymore. I only enjoy talking on the phone in the car, and with my convertible top it makes it hard to hear so I rarely spend time on the phone anymore. If I don’t answer your call, don’t take it personally.
= Photos. I never understood camera phones in the past – but these pictures are not bad quality and I can email them, Twitter them, Facebook them, etc. I love the photos on the iPhone! I can’t text them and that sucks a little bit but I hear that’s changing.
= Calendar. Now that the iPhone calendar syncs with Google, I use it all the time.

= Weather. Like Amy, I check it all the time. Speaking of my convertible top, it’s broken right now so it’s always down – which means, if it’s raining, the car doesn’t leave the garage. Weather is suddenly very important to me.
= Texting. Of course.

Things I’ve downloaded that I use a lot (again, all of these are free):

= Facebook. I can do pretty much anything the web version can do from my phone. Keeps me connected.
= TwitterFon. There are a million Twitter apps out there, but from what I can tell this one does just as much as the one Chris and Amy use (Tweetie) and they paid for theirs. Guys, you’ll have to prove me wrong before I fork out the 99 cents or whatever it cost you 😉
= Loopt. Right now this is pure novelty. My friends that have it can “ping” me to find out where I am, and vice versa. Would be great trying to meet someone in a crowd. So far it’s just “fun” and I’ve never used it to actually find someone because I needed to. But the concept is great, especially if you live in a big city or you need to know exactly which bar your friend is in at a certain time. And you can put little pictures of what you’re doing and put status updates. My friend John posts a picture of himself drinking coffee every morning. I love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

= iMapMyRun. Until I just bought the Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS watch I used this app All. The. Time. It’s a free GPS tracker for the iPhone and it records your runs and posts them to Twitter and Facebook (which is a good motivation not to be lazy) and gives you a map of where you ran. It also tells you your pace, average pace, calories burned, etc. It’s wonderful. The only problems are as follows: It dies after a little more than an hour, so if you’re going on a long run you’re in trouble, especially if you’re listening to the iPod too. You can’t exit the app once you’ve started it or else it stops tracking the run. It sometimes has a hard time finding a GPS. Nothing beats the Garmin from what I can tell, but if you’re not ready to shell out the money for that, iMapMyRun is amazing. The web site even lets you track your gear – no more guessing how worn out those running shoes are. I bought mine on March 14 and I’ve put 153.05 miles on them. I only know that because of MapMyRun. If running isn’t your vice, they’ve also got iMapMyRide and iMapMyFitness and I think some others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

= Lose it.It’s by no means a comprehensive nutrition plan, but it’s not bad as a basic guide either. Tell it what you weigh and what you want to weigh, and it will tell you how many calories you should eat a day. If you exercise you get to eat those calories earned too. Nice to see exercising paying off in such a tangible way. It tracks calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, fiber and protein. Doesn’t track vitamins or potassium or other important things, but like I said, it’s basic. It also only helps with losing weight or maintaining, but if you’re trying to gain weight you suck anyway. 
= Flixster. I don’t use this too much (who can afford to go to the movies anymore?) but when Chris was in town and we wanted to go to a movie I used this on his phone and I had to get it for myself. It tells you what’s playing at all your surrounding theaters and even gives reviews of the movies. You can watch the previews, too! Awesome, awesome app.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

= Shazam.You’ve seen the commercials for this one. You hear a song you like and you want to remember to get it later. Or you don’t know who sings it. This app will listen to it and tell you. It tells you the album, lists the lyrics so you can sing along, gives a link to the youtube video, and of course a link to buy the song on iTunes.

 

 

= PhoneFlix. It’s the Netflix app, and it’s pretty basic, but an easy way to add movies to your queue.

Other free apps I use occasionally:

= AudioMemos (like a tape recorder)
= Flashlight (turns the phone into a flashlight)
= Google (I should use this one more, I always forget about it. But it’s pretty cool.)
= Pandora
= Taxi (finds taxi services near your GPS location; tells you which ones accept credit cards)
= WordPress
= YouTube
= iHandy Level (yep, it’s a level)
= eSleep Light (music and ocean noises and stuff to put you to sleep)
= Remote (change your iTunes on your computer from your iPhone)

Now you know why I’m always looking at that thing. And no, Amy and I are not texting each other across the room. Not usually, anyway.