More than a year after launch, there are 74,031 apps in the iPhone App store. Most of them are crap. Some of them aren’t. Here are the 50 iPhone apps you actually need, all in one place.
Well, OK, if you count the overlapping apps—paid and free Twitter clients, neck-and-neck navigation apps, the jailbreakers—it’s more like 56, but that’s not the point, people: The point is, since the last time we corralled all the best of the best (barring our weekly roundups, of course), the iPhone and App Store have changed immeasurably. In the last nine months we saw the release of the 3GS and iPhone OS 3.0, Apple loosening its grip on what kinds of apps people are allowed to create, and hundreds of fresh developers making genuinely new, genuinely impressive stuff. It was time for an update, and a big one.
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-iphone-apps-of-2008-5116433
So, hit the “iPhone Apps” link on the left sidebar, just above Bestmodo (Note: It’s split into two pages, so make sure to click through), or just scroll down—they’re all here too. We’ve got the best games, messaging apps, eBook readers, dictionaries, productivity software and timewasters. We’ve got apps to keep you up on current events, to keep your daily music intake interesting, to keep you entertained on the train, and to keep you on the right interstate. These are the essential iPhone apps—a list that’ll transform that shiny, boring brick you just bought into the device that everyone’s always raving about.
What counts as an essential iPhone app changes all the time, and so should our guide: If we’ve missed anything huge, or you’ve got a much better suggestion for a particular type of app, let us know, or say so in the comments. We’ll be updating this thing pretty frequently, and a million Gizmodo readers can do a better job at sorting through the app mess than a single Gizmodo editor. Enjoy!
Gizmodo’s Essential iPhone Apps
AirSharing: Our favorite file storage app-shoots files to the iPhone’s flash memory via Wi-Fi for storage, transport, and easy retrieval.
https://gizmodo.com/airsharing-5085695
Amazon: Amazon’s usually the first place I look during a fit of impulse buying, which their iPhone app now makes stupidly easy.
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-5351104
AOL Radio: More free radio content than any actual radio could ever have. Tailored radio stations are great, sure, but old-fashioned programmed stations-AOL Radio’s specialty-have their charms
https://gizmodo.com/aol-radio-5085709
BeejiveIM: Expensive? Sure. Totally essential for messaging hounds? Yup.
https://gizmodo.com/beejiveim-5351142
Bloom: Generative, ambient music by Brian Eno. If I need to say more, it’s also a mini-sequencer: Drop your finger on the liquidy pastel screen, play a note, make simple loops. Music For Airports that you can make yourself. In an airport, even.
https://gizmodo.com/bloom-5085750
Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima: A lot of people buy Nintendo DSes for the sole purpose of having those Dr. Kawashima-approved brain-training games at hand. With this app, you get the exact same mind-juicing benefits for a few bucks, on hardware you already carry.
https://gizmodo.com/brain-exercise-with-dr-kawashima-5351151
Brushes: If you’ve ever seen on of those spectacularly detailed “paintings” done on the iPhone, chances are it was created with this. This is fingerpainting in 2009.
https://gizmodo.com/brushes-5351164
CameraBag: Image processing apps tend to be gimmicky, but CameraBag’s got enough artistic effects and editing flexibility to make the crappiest iPhone camera photos look interesting at worst, and spectacular at best.
https://gizmodo.com/preview/camerabag-5351171
ConvertBot: Plenty of apps can technically deal with unit conversions as well as ConvertBot can, but none of them have its fantastic, super-fast interface.
https://gizmodo.com/convertbot-5351175
Epicurious: The only cooking app you really need. With its thousands of recipes, shopping list feature and meal suggestions, Epicurious will make you at least look like a passable cook.
https://gizmodo.com/epicurious-5351178
Evernote: Obsessive documenters, take note(s): This is the only scribbling app you need.
https://gizmodo.com/evernote-5351183
Facebook: This was an essential app from the get-go, and it’s been steadily evolving-like the site-for the last year. Version 3.0 was a total refresh, and supports nearly every one of Facebook’s sprawling features, sometimes better than the site itself.
https://gizmodo.com/facebook-5351202
Fring: Every major instant message protocol, comfortably crowded under one (free!) roof. The addition of push notifications notched this one up from great to, uh, greaterer.
https://gizmodo.com/fring-5351208
Frotz: Laugh all you want, jocks-us geeks know where it’s at: text gaming. Bringing virtually every text-based game you’ve ever heard of to the iPhone gives the genre a whole new lease on life, and you the most prodigious time-waster imaginable.
https://gizmodo.com/frotz-5351213
Google Mobile: Google Mobile was a solid app (but not particularly essential)-and then came voice search.
https://gizmodo.com/google-mobile-5116240
Google Earth: The same amazing Earth touring app found on the desktop, now spinnable via multitouch. Honestly if someone told me two years ago I would have a functional Google Earth app on my phone, I wouldn’t have believed them. This is now.
https://gizmodo.com/google-earth-5085812
i.TV: Once you’ve used a wonderful, full-featured TV guide app on your iPhone, reading one on paper-or even on your laptop-will feel stupid. iTV is that app. It also works as a remote for some TiVo boxes, with more DVRs to come.
https://gizmodo.com/i-tv-5085820
I Love Katamari: Mad genius designer Keita Takahashi left the series years ago, but Katamari is still among my favorite game franchises of all time (and I’m not alone), and it’s a natural fit for the iPhone’s tilt-controls.
https://gizmodo.com/i-love-katamari-5116257
Kindle: There are a pile of eBook readers for the iPhone, but only one connects to Amazon’s book store, and more importantly, your Kindle library.
https://gizmodo.com/kindle-5351242
Last.fm: Creates free, effectively endless custom radio stations, streams them over 3G and learns more about your musical tastes with time. There is literally no downside to this app.
https://gizmodo.com/last-fm-5351254
MLB At Bat: Live streaming MLB games, every day, over 3G. That is all.
https://gizmodo.com/mlb-at-bat-5351250
Motion X Poker Quest: Realistic dice physics meets ancient Egyptian gods in one of the more addicting iPhone games you’ll see.
https://gizmodo.com/motion-x-poker-quest-5116260
Mujik: Mujik is like Bloom in that it lets anyone make amazing music in the space of a few minutes. That’s where the similarities end.
https://gizmodo.com/mujik-5351263
Navigon: Hey, so, have you heard your iPhone is also a really, truly good turn-by-turn navigation device? Because with the pricey-but-probably-worth-it Navigon, it is.
https://gizmodo.com/navigon-5351268
Ninjawords: An intelligently pared-down dictionary and thesaurus app, Ninjawords will make you feel and seem slightly less dumb. It works offline, too.
https://gizmodo.com/ninjawords-5351279
NPR News: Comes with text news, offline reading and an endless (seriously!) supply of calming, androgynous voices, either live or on demand.
https://gizmodo.com/npr-news-5351285
Newsstand: One of the only RSS readers that isn’t slow, overcomplicated or missing something vital.
https://gizmodo.com/newsstand-5351264
Pageonce Personal Assistant: Are you a fancy businessperson, with “accounts” and “subscriptions” and, uh, “dollars?” Personal Assistant sucks your scattered financial, travel and leisure concerns all into one simple, unscary interface.
https://gizmodo.com/pageonce-personal-assistant-5351234
OpenTable: Actually talking to a maître d’ on the phone: Out. Tapping your iPhone a few times to get a dinner reservation at a veritable assload of restaurants: In.
https://gizmodo.com/opentable-5351243
Pandora: Best internet radio app, hands down. Smartly auto-suggests music based on other artists you like. Both on the go and while at home. Streams well over EDGE and 3G. Free. What more could you ask for?
https://gizmodo.com/pandora-5085843
PanoLab: Who knew multitouch is the perfect interface for stitching photos together into panoramas? It is. Plus if the photo you just took doesn’t work, toss it out and take another one immediately. A paid version adds even more features.
https://gizmodo.com/panolab-5085845
Prowl: Easily the most useful push app Apple’s let through the gates, Prowl lets you forward any Growl notifications from your Mac or PC-everything from Mail to IM to Torrent downloads to Tweets-directly to your phone.
https://gizmodo.com/prowl-5351210
QuickOffice: Gaping void in default iPhone functionality #123: Real document editing. Solution #123: QuickOffice
https://gizmodo.com/quickoffice-5351204
Remote: One of the first apps we saw, and still among the best in terms of usefulness. If you use iTunes frequently at home and especially if you listen away from your desk via a stereo hookup or Airport Express, you need the Remote.
https://gizmodo.com/remote-5085853
RjDj: A totally unique music application that processes sound from your environment and replays it according to a set program, creating a trippy, always-evolving soundscape.
https://gizmodo.com/rjdj-5116246
Run Pee: An app to tell you when the boring parts of movies are so you can go pee-or if you’re feeling daring, more-without missing much. It’s a brilliant concept, with unexpectedly good execution.
https://gizmodo.com/run-pee-5351184
Shazam: This just doesn’t get old: hold your phone to the air to grab the song playing at the supermarket (or being hummed by your friend), and have it identified in a few seconds. We live in a privileged age.
https://gizmodo.com/shazam-5085870
Simplify Media: Stream your home machine’s iTunes library and those of up to 30 friends to your phone. This app lives up to its name. Forget worries of filling up 8GB, or even 16.
https://gizmodo.com/simplify-media-5085889
Skype: On 3G, it’s perfect for Skype messaging and long distance texts; on Wi-Fi, it near-magically turns your iPhone into a VoIP handset.
https://gizmodo.com/skype-5351177
Star Defense: Tower Defense games are one of the few genres that the iPhone excels at, and Star Defense, with an entirely fresh 3D take on the concept, multitouch, varied levels and multiplayer, is about as good as they get.
https://gizmodo.com/star-defense-5351168
Slacker Radio: Yet another free, customizable radio app, but one that has a spectacularly huge music library, and that gives you fine control over the songs you hear.
https://gizmodo.com/slacker-radio-5351173
The Sims 3: An amazingly faithful adaptation of the 3D life simulator that you routinely ridicule others for playing, but secretly enjoy yourself, every night, with a bottle of extremely cheap wine.
https://gizmodo.com/the-sims-3-5351152
TomTom: If you’re used to TomTom’s standalone GPS units, their turn-by-turn navigation app will be a pleasant, familiar surprise. In some ways, it might even be better.
https://gizmodo.com/preview/tomtom-5351149
Tweetie: If you spend enough of your day on Twitter to consider paying for an app, Tweetie’s multiple account support, uncluttered interface and impressively broad feature set is about as close to a desktop Tweeting experience as you’ll get on the iPhone.
https://gizmodo.com/tweetie-2-5351139
TwitterFon: And if you’re not willing to pay for a Twitter app-understandable!-TwitterFon isn’t too shabby. It’s super-fast and stupid-simple, so it’ll do well by all but the most obnoxiously obsessed Twitterers.
https://gizmodo.com/echofon-5351133
VLC Remote: One of the first apps we loved was the iTunes Remote-now, the Swiss army knife of media players VLC has one of its very own.
https://gizmodo.com/vlc-remote-5116251
VNC Lite: View and fully control my computer from anywhere, as long as I am on the same network. So I can basically be at my computer without actually being at my computer.
https://gizmodo.com/vnc-lite-5085919
WeatherBug: On the desktop, it’s excessive. But on the iPhone, WeatherBug gives you much more-and much more useful-info than Apple’s default app. And in the paid version, hyperlocal, data-driven weather nerdery abounds.
https://gizmodo.com/weatherbug-5351106
Wikipanion: Why even carry an iPhone if you can’t use it to settle petty arguments about things that don’t matter?
https://gizmodo.com/wikipanion-5351096
Yelp: Yelp is built on the premise that people really, really love to review things, and that this bizarre impulse should be harnessed for good. With a massive database of food/drink/everything else reviews, easy navigation, inbuilt maps, and augmented reality, it’s tops.
https://gizmodo.com/yelp-5351081
Jailbreak Apps
Before you dive into these, here’s a quick guide for jailbreaking your phone.
https://gizmodo.com/jailbreak-and-unlock-iphone-3-0-5302123/
Jailbreak: AdBlock: Blacklist obnoxious ads, just like you do on your PC.
https://gizmodo.com/jailbreak-adblock-5352127
Jailbreak: Cycorder: Not everyone can upgrade to an iPhone 3GS. Everyone can, however, record video.
https://gizmodo.com/jailbreak-cycorder-5351294
Jailbreak: GV Mobile: Google’s official Google Voice app may never see the light of day, so GV Mobile is the only way to get your all-in-one telephony fix on the iPhone.
https://gizmodo.com/jailbreak-gv-mobile-5352151
Jailbreak: WinterBoard: If you’ve ever seen some guy on the internet proudly demonstrating his garishly skinned or themed iPhone, this is almost definitely what he was using. Note: It can be used for aesthetic good as well as evil.
https://gizmodo.com/jailbreak-winterboard-5352129
Jailbreak: Veency: Like every other iPhone VNC app, except totally in reverse: It’s a server.
https://gizmodo.com/jailbreak-veency-5352126
