The Best iPhone Apps

May 18, 2010

8-minute read

Learn about 32 of my favorite iPhone apps and how I use them to be more productive.

098 DM My 32 Most Favorite iPhone Apps

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This is the end of The Digital Marketer. Thank you so much for being a part of this series of articles and podcasts explaining digital tools and how to use them to do something useful in your work and life. I’ve made a lot of great friends along this journey and hope you’ll follow me to my new podcasts and projects.

But before I let you know where to find me, let me tell you about 32 of my favorite iPhone apps.

I know not everyone out there has an iPhone but some of the applications I’m going to mention here have a version for Blackberry, Android, Palm, and/or the iPad—and, in many cases, these other platforms also offer similar types of apps to serve your needs. Let’s dive right in.

The Best Communication Apps

1. Tweetie – If you know me, you know I love Twitter. I use Tweetie to manage both my own and my clients’ Twitter accounts. Though I’ve tried a lot of other iPhone apps for Twitter, I prefer Tweetie; I actually prefer the older version of Tweetie and not the new one. When I’m not on my iPhone, I access Twitter from the web at Twitter.com. I’m old school that way. Tweetie 2 is $2.99.

2. TweetMic – I just discovered this handy audio tweeting application. You can record a tweet as a short recording and then instantly upload it to your Twitter account. The tweet appears as a text intro with a link to an audio file. This one’s free.

3. Vlingo – I’m just starting to play around with voice recognition software, and Vlingo is set up to specifically let me record emails that are converted to text and then sent. You can also use Vlingo to send SMS, update social networks, search maps, and more. This one’s also free.

4. mailPro – I have a lot of extra email accounts for specific purposes and I like to keep my Hotmail accounts separate from my Gmail ones. MailPro let’s me download Hotmail emails and manage them from my iPhone. Free.

5. Skype – This free app lets me access my Skype account with call and text capabilities.

6. Audioboo – I love audio podcasting and this free app is another way I can easily record a podcast using my iPhone and upload it instantly to the Audioboo.fm site.

The Best Social Networking Apps

7. Gist – I’m still wrapping my head around Gist so I’m just adopting this free app to correspond with my Gist.com account. Think of Gist as a way to cultivate your network and build stronger ties with others by bringing together your contact list and your social networks. It’s powerful stuff.

8. Foursquare – I used to be on the fence but now I love , and I use the free app, Foursquare, to check in to various local establishments. Better yet, when I travel I can check into a location and my friends and colleagues in the area can see where I am and join me for a coffee or meal. Plus I can find tips and reviews of businesses near me based on what others who have visited post to Foursquare.

9. Whrrl – When I am anywhere taking a lot of pictures, I tend to “Whrrl” them or upload them to the free application for Whrrl.com and build an easy to view slideshow that I can share on Twitter, Facebook or on my blog. I can also check in and attribute the images to a particular location.

10. Facebook – I easily manage my Facebook personal account and my clients’ Facebook Pages using the free and handy Facebook app.

11. LinkedIn – There is no better business social network than LinkedIn, so it is helpful to be able to access my account from my phone with their free app. Plus, I just learned that you can beam your contact information from LinkedIn to someone else with the LinkedIn app on the iPhone as long as you both turn Bluetooth.

12. Bump – Another free and useful networking app is Bump. If you and someone else you know have iPhones and the Bump app, you can just fire it up and bump iPhones to instantly exchange contact information.

13. WorldCard – Going to a lot of conferences and collecting gobs of business cards? Take a few minutes to use the WorldCard app and take a photo of each business card. The app will convert the image via OCR to text and add it to your contact list. Pricey at $5.99, but entirely worth it.

The Best Productivity Apps

14. Google Apps – Because I use Google Apps at work, I downloaded Google’s free Apps app to access my Gmail, Docs, Gtalk and other Google applications that increase my productivity.

15. Remember The Milk – For free, I can use the Remember the Milk or RTM iPhone app to sync with my RTM Web account and keep tabs on my to-do lists. I can also share my to-do lists with others and embed RTM into my Gmail for easy access.

16. Where Is My Time – Are you wondering where the time goes during the day? Check in to Where Is My Time and begin to see how you spend your day; it’ll help you figure out how to make better use of your time. This is a free app.

17. Instapaper – I use the Instapaper.com bookmarklet on my Web browser to save articles I’d like to read later. I can then access these articles when standing in line at the bank, post office, or airport so I can catch up on my reading. It’s so easy. And free!

18. Wallet Zero – Is your wallet jammed with membership cards? Wallet Zero lets you enter your card data so you can show it later or have it scanned at the bookstore, grocery store, or anywhere else affiliate cards are given and accepted. This one is free.

19. Wikipedia – There is nothing better than being able to access Wikipedia easily and instantly when needing an answer to a question. This app comes in a mobile friendly format and is free.

The Best Travel Apps

20. AroundMe – When I arrive to a new place, I tap AroundMe and can find an affordable motel, a good restaurant, a gas station, a bank, or ATM,–you name it. It’s very handy and free.

21. TripIt – I use the free version of TripIt.com and their free app to access my travel itineraries (including flight, hotel, and rental car confirmation numbers) quickly when I travel.

22. iFly – Arriving at a new airport? Use the free iFly app to get airport maps to find your way.

23. Kayak – The more I travel, the more heavily I rely on Kayak.com to quickly search for very cheap flights. This free app lets me search for flights from my iPhone.

24. Take Me To My Car – I’m forgetful–so forgetful that I’ve been known to lose my car after parking it on city streets. Use this free app to mark your car’s location as you park; you can then tap into the app’s GPS system to give you walking directions back to your car.

25. Sit Or Squat – Are you in an unfamiliar place and have to pee? This free app tells you the conditions of the public bathrooms around you. You can even review and rate the ones you’ve used to help out a fellow traveler.

26. Taxi Magic – I haven’t tried this free app yet but a friend swears by it. It will let you reserve or order a taxi cab directly to your location. This app is especially useful when you are in a new place and don’t know what number to call for a cab.

The Best Money App

27. Mint.com – I’ve been discovering the wonders of Mint.com to manage my personal finances. Though I barely scratch the surface of money management features, I do love checking on my bank and credit card balances from my iPhone. This is a free app and syncs with your Mint.com free account.

The Best Entertainment Apps

28. Amazon Kindle – I wanted a Kindle until I got the Kindle iPhone app and realized I didn’t need one. This app makes reading on my iPhone surprisingly easy. The app is free and books are usually $9.99. I have over 18 books on my iPhone right now. Amazing.

29. Words with Friends – If you love Scrabble, you’ll really love Words with Friends. I play about 8-10 simultaneous games with friends and strangers around the world. You can get the free version with ads or pay $2.99 for the ad-free version. I had purchased the official Scrabble version for iPhone but it kept crashing, so I went for this scrappier version that actually works.

30. WineSnob – I love wine and have a bad memory. Oh, did I mention the memory thing already? I can’t remember. With the free app WineSnob, I can take photos of wine-bottle labels (while I drink the wine), upload, and then rate and review each wine.

31. HelloVino – I love wine. Oh, I guess I already mentioned that. With free app, HelloVino, the perfect wine pairings are at my fingertips.

32. Cookie Doodle – I don’t use Cookie Doodle, I swear. But my 3 year old does. She loves baking virtual cookies for her friends and family using this fun little app. And she’s a genius on the iPhone. This app is only one of the 50 plus apps I have downloaded for her.

Bottom Line: It may seem like so many mobile apps, so little time. But truth be told: I save so much time, headache, frustration and sometimes even money because of the iPhone apps I love and use almost every single day. What’s YOUR favorite iPhone or mobile app?

Contact Me

That’s all for The Digital Marketer. That’s it. The end. Kaput.

But don’t cry for me, Argentina. When one door closes, a whole slew of doors open.

I’m producing a lot of other podcasts including Woman at Work for WomenEntrepreneur.com where I interview women business owners and experts about business and work/life issues and Cybergrrl Oh: Living a 2^nd Life about the virtual world Second Life.

Plus I’m starting a new podcast called the Zen of Being Digital based on my upcoming book The Zen of Being Digital: Finding Peace in the Spaces Between. In this new podcast, I’ll share ideas about using technology in a more thoughtful, mindful manner with less stress. You can find more information about this project at zenofdigital.com or twitter.com/zenofdigital.

I’m also releasing a free audio course called Social Media Basics: Lessons in the New Ways of Communicating. You can find out about this and any of my projects and personal appearances on my Facebook Fan Page at facebook.com/alizapilarsherman.

Or follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/alizasherman.

Hey, you can hire me as a keynote speaker or seminar leader at your next event. I speak on topics ranging from Internet and Web, social media, business, marketing and PR, and other intersections of technology and life. Plus I wear a pink tiara and boa so you know you won’t be bored. I can also color coordinate for any occasion! For bookings, drop me a line at alizapilar@msn.comcreate new email.

The Digital Marketer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Building Your Business With Web Tools is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network at quickanddirtytips.com. I’m your host, Aliza Sherman, signing off for now.

I’ve been proud to be The Digital Marketer, the host who was never afraid to go under the Internet’s hood & get a little dirty!