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The 20 Best iPhone and iPod touch Applications
Posted by Adam Pash at 4:00 AM on January 4, 2008
Last week we showed you how to install third party apps on your iPhone or iPod touch, and since then a new firmware preview has leaked its way to the 'nets with saucy new features that—once released—may tempt you to abandon your jailbreak for the newly introduced features. Fact is, until the 1.1.3 firmware is successfully hacked by the resourceful iPhone hackers, you can still enjoy all of the features the update is bringing and more with your jailbroken iPhone. Today I'm taking a look at my 20 favorite (that's right, 20) third-party iPhone and iPod touch apps.
NOTE: Apologies for the gallery format on the screenshots, but I wanted to provide full-size screenshots (sometimes more than one) for every app. All of the applications below are available through Installer.app, which can be installed by jailbreaking your iPhone. For more details on each app, click through to the gallery page (again, sorry). Some of the apps will work perfectly on both the iPhone and iPod touch, while others are obviously a bit more iPhone-oriented. I've only tested these apps on the iPhone. Want to learn more about all things iPhone? Check out How to Do Everything with your iPhone, written by me and my pal Jason Chen from Gizmodo.
Apps that Cover Rumored 1.1.3 Features
In case you haven't seen it, here's a video highlighting the upcoming features in the 1.1.3 firmware release.First let's tackle the hot apps of the moment—those apps that can already bring you the features rumored to be in the 1.1.3 update. The major new features appear to be the faux-GPS in Google Maps, multi-recipient SMS, and re-ordering apps on the home screen. Two of the apps above have been covering those features for quite some time (Navizon for GPS and Customize for re-ordering apps), and the third, iSMS for mutli-recipient SMS, is a bit newer, but in addition to multi-recipient SMS, it offers quick-reply templates, emoticons, and a much more robust SMS management system. It does not currently offer MMS messaging, though there is an iPhone app (called SwirlyMMS) that is attempting the MMS road, though it's still a bit bumpy. MMS messages can be sent (though it requires a bit of setup), but so far not received.
The only major new feature that's been discovered in the 1.1.3 update that isn't easily available through Installer is the new web clip feature that allows the user to bookmark a web page directly on the home screen. There are hacks around that accomplish this, but they're not the kind of no-brainer installations as the above three apps. The WebSearch app described below, however, is arguably a good deal more useful for what I need than the web clips, so I can happily do without for the time being.
Now that I've covered the 1.1.3 features (I'll include in these apps in the sections below by category as well), lets move onto my twenty favorite iPhone apps.
Communication
Below we've got a more robust SMS client, a multi-protocol IM app, and a simple utility that adds push email capabilities to IMAP accounts—including Gmail.Multimedia
The multimedia list is a big one, so I'll just highlight a few. You've got a Last.fm client and scrobbler for your iPod, a feature-rich camera app, and a real-time lyrics app that automagically sucks lyrics for your music from the cloud.Productivity
One of my favorites, the WebSearch app adds one-click search to any site, while Sketches is a great whiteboard tool and drawing pad.Utilities
There are obviously quite a few great iPhone utilities, so to highlight just a few: OpenSSH is what I used to tether my iPhone data plan to my laptop; DropCopy is great for sharing files between your phone or iPod and your desktop; Installer, obviously, is the app that makes all of this third-party app business so easy; Navizon does the faux-GPS for Google Maps; and Customize covers app re-ordering and just about any other customization you'd want to make to your little iPod or iPhone.Games
There are actually tonnes of games available on the iPhone at this point, but these three stand out as favorites because of their impressive use of the iPhone's animation engine or for just being plain addictive.
Honorable Mention
For honorable mention purposes (I realize I already fudged a bit with 21 above), I wanted to point out FireflyMediaServer, an app that streams your iPod library to any iTunes library on a local network as a shared library (and which we showed you how to set up here). Dictionary is what it sounds like, a dictionary application that can search tons of installable dictionary databases (also available in Installer). Finally, for the students out there, iStudy is a simple flashcard app that also features downloadable content from Installer.
The obvious argument remains, though, that the 1.1.3 update provides a much better integration of the features listed in the 1.1.3, and that's valid. Keep in mind, though, that you also sacrifice the wealth of great third-party apps, like push email for your IMAP account. That said, kudos to Apple for continuing to innovate the iPhone and iTouch, and I think we're all eager to find out what kind of system they're planning to work out once the SDK is official in February (as well as what other announcements regarding these two devices might pop up at MacWorld).
Got a favorite iPhone or iPod touch app I missed? Let's hear it in the comments.
Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who likes the iPhone so much he wrote the best iPhone book on the block about it. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker AU.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
FEBEY
Posted June 22, 2008 1:55 PM
HOW R U SUPPOSED TO ADD EXTRA APPLICATIONS ON THE APPLE TOUCH IPOD WHEN UR FROM AUSTRALIA. ITS DIFFERENT TO USA.
Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor
Posted 10:30 AM 3/1/08
@metalhaze: I'm not sure when the last time you used iSMS was, but—as opposed to SMSD—iSMS supports multiple recipients, emoticons, pre-built and easily accessible templates, and search.
At best SMSD has a slightly better interface. Am I missing something?
Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor
zingbot
Posted 10:26 AM 3/1/08
@Jos:Hmm. There is nothing wrong with waiting, especially since we know those features are coming.
Instant gratification is so easy. Delayed gratification is more awesomerest.
zingbot
xxdesmus
Posted 10:22 AM 3/1/08
I haven't even upgraded to 1.1.2 yet ...no reason to. Until they come up with a compelling set of new features I won't be "upgrading" my iPod Touch any time soon.
xxdesmus
metalhaze
Posted 10:04 AM 3/1/08
ISMS sucks!!
How could you choose that over SMSD????!!!
metalhaze
Jos
Posted 9:48 AM 3/1/08
@davelawrence8: Just buy it now. Don't get caught in that "I'm waiting for x feature to upgrade" syndrome of the late 90's or you'll be waiting forever. Technology is growing too fast to hang around and wait for every feature you want.
Jos
Spyrojoe
Posted 9:31 AM 3/1/08
@davelawrence8:
Wait for it. I'm thinking 16gig model this month and 3G in the summer.
Actually, I'm sure a lot of people are thinking that.
Spyrojoe
davelawrence8
Posted 9:28 AM 3/1/08
Damn you Apple. I've been struggling with the decision to either buy an iPhone now, unlock it, and use all the above features - or wait until Macworld/February and see what develops. I've got the money ready to blow.
What are other I'm-going-to-buy-an-iPhone folks doing? Waiting for the SDK? Waiting for 3G? Waiting for rapture?
davelawrence8
rasbach
Posted 9:24 AM 3/1/08
Unless the 1.1.3 gives me mail, weather, stocks, and maps natively for my iPod touch- I'm sticking with Jailbreak.
rasbach
DarkJesus
Posted 12:07 PM 3/1/08
@radink: And the PSP isn't? Just to clarify, I hate apple and sony. However, the iphone is impressive, but way too overpriced to be worth any of these features.
DarkJesus
firesign
Posted 12:07 PM 3/1/08
@davelawrence8: waiting for the sdk and 3g. screw jailbreaking. i don't want to have to worry about my apps getting broken because i want to do an official firmware upgrade.
@radink: oh yeah, because sony is a company you can love. no rabid fanboyism with sony. no sir. good thinking there.
firesign
xpsirc
Posted 11:33 AM 3/1/08
All that's left now is a guide to install the apps on the bigger partition of the iPod/iPhone so that you don't get the "running out of app space" message every now and then.
xpsirc
radink
Posted 11:12 AM 3/1/08
I hate the iphone. I really do. Fanboyism has totally made me hate apple. I've even traded in my ipod for a psp. The iphone is an over priced, over hyped cell phone with a fancy screen.
radink
calebc
Posted 1:18 PM 3/1/08
As of now, I'm addicted to Backgammon. I have been previously addicted to iBlackjack and FiveDice. Labyrinth is also a neat demo of the accelerometer.
calebc
barrywe
Posted 12:54 PM 3/1/08
My favorite app right now is iRadio. Now I can listen to WWOZ (New Orleans) in my car in San Jose, CA!
barrywe
breals
Posted 12:45 PM 3/1/08
I love my Iphone but I'm not upgrading as I have to be able to switch between my Iphone and my Blackberry for now. If I upgrade, I think I would lose that functionality.
@radink: I dealt with the same problems on the PSP when it came out. Sony pushed a new firmware every month.
breals
TheVault
Posted 12:40 PM 3/1/08
Another great app is stumbler and it is a wifi scanner. This has proved
helpful in many ways and I don't have to go to settings eveytime I want to see a wireless network nearby.
TheVault
0x6772
Posted 2:31 PM 3/1/08
@Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor: Um, SMSD also supports multiple recipients, dude. I recall that I tried a couple of months ago and settled on SMSD for some reason that seemed valid then, but I've forgotten what I disliked about iSMS. (Personally, I couldn't care less about the other features you mention, but I see why some people might.)
0x6772
Scapegoat
Posted 2:28 PM 3/1/08
As was mentioned above, there are currently 2 different SMS applications, iSMS and SMSD. I think SMSD was originally just an app for deleting text messages individually from your phone (as opposed to deleting the entire thread via Apple's program). Now, however, it overlaps with iSMS extensively.
*Both applications allow for multiple recipients.
*Both applications allow for message templating; though iSMS comes with a lot of default templates, and SMSD allows for custom templates and also allows for recipients to be part of the template.
*iSMS has smileys.
*In my experience, SMSD saves the messages in such a way that they can be accessed via Apple's SMS app, while the stuff I send via iSMS isn't found there.
Both of them have different +/- regarding the GUI, imho.
It would be great of the two apps were merged (or one stole the other functionality, or however else these things are accomplished these days) as both of them have great features, and it sucks to have a total of 3 SMS apps on my iPhones main homescreen.
Scapegoat
metalhaze
Posted 3:31 PM 3/1/08
@Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor:
Unlike iSMS, SMSD supports the following:
Backup messages to mail
SMS Notifications
Forward SMS to email
Forward to an SMS template
And yes, SMSD DOES SUPPORT that ability to send SMS message to multiple recipients.
I also find that it takes less navigation to get to the options you want for the SMS message you are working with.
But you are right, iSMS HAS BEEN recently updated and is much different then when I first tried it. It is much better than the version I had used, so I can't say that it still sucks.
I like that it has pre-built templates, a word count on SMS messages when typing, and interface is much more "apple-looking"
metalhaze
xpsirc
Posted 3:26 PM 3/1/08
Would it be possible for an app to provide WPA auth. support (username/password) since it is lacking in the firmware?
Is anyone also missing this?
xpsirc
0x6772
Posted 2:56 PM 3/1/08
@Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor, Scapegoat's description of the situation is way better than mine...
0x6772
Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor
Posted 2:50 PM 3/1/08
@0x6772: Weird, thanks for the heads up. I swear that when I tried SMSD (and re-tried it after reading your post) that I couldn't get a second recipient, but sure enough, tried again and I could. In the end both are pretty good (SMSD needs a better description in Installer, though!) solutions, so I don't think you could go wrong either way. :)
Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor
CourtBowman
Posted 6:26 AM 4/1/08
I read and jailbroke my iPhone based off the aforementioned article and will never go back.
I'll do without the 1.3 features rather than give up my to-do list, voice notes, Blockbuster queue management and AIM. Thanks for the tip on CameraPro and the other apps as well.
Does anyone know of a good app or tips for uploading pics to Picasa rather than Flickr for those of us who use that site?
CourtBowman
dotconsole
Posted 9:31 PM 3/1/08
For the 1.1.2 Out of box Iphones get a Hyper Card v1 dual sims or v2 SIM card adapter and downgrade the phone to 1.1.1 Jail break it and upgrade it to 1.1.2 and use the hyper card. It will tell the iPhone any GSM sim card world wide is an AT&T sim card. Get them from dotconsole com
dotconsole
JohnAtkinson
Posted 7:17 PM 3/1/08
www.PimpMyNews.com is a killer "social news" app for iPhones and iPods that just launched.
PimpMyNews hunts down your text news and blogs and converts them to audio that you can listen to online, or on-the-go on your iPhone, iPod (or other MP3 players).
You can pick from 900 blogs(including LifeHacker)to personalize your account. They convert over 3,000 new stories per day to audio. The voices sound better than you'd think they would. It's free too.
JohnAtkinson
itszig
Posted 6:51 PM 3/1/08
No iPhysics for games?!
That has to be the best game developed for the iPod and iPhone.
That has to be close to the top of the list for games.
itszig
cphillips51
Posted 2:38 PM 4/1/08
I am actually amazed I didn't do this before I read this article. The wealth of third party apps is truly incredible, although it sucks that we have to pay for the (admittedly awesome) extra features of CameraPro.
cphillips51
Myles
Posted 6:15 AM 5/1/08
I'd have to agree, some native iPod Touch mail etc would be nice, so I wouldn't have to worry about wiping my iPod, or updating it.
Myles
ludo_s
Posted 2:48 PM 8/1/08
Hi guys, I'm an italian boy, so, sry for my bad english. However, can you give me some tips in order to unlock my iPhone? In particoular, i've got the model 1.1.2 native OOTB, and i've just unlocked it as iPod but I don't know how to unlock it as phone... I'd be very gratefull to u if u can suggest me some link when I can look for some news or istructions... Thx
ludo_s