Tracking your habits is a great way to keep an eye on your progress for a variety of self-improvement goals, and you have an incredible number of apps for doing so on the iPhone. However, when it comes to performance and ease of use, we like Productive, because it blends simplicity with the statistics you want to see.

At a glance, system monitors might not seem as useful on your iPhone as they are on a desktop computer, but they can pack in a lot of good data. This includes detailed battery life breakdowns, storage space and data speeds. For the average user, our favourite system monitor for the iPhone is Omnistat.

The iPhone doesn't support app launchers in the same way as OS X, but that doesn't mean app developers haven't come up with clever workarounds. Case in point, our pick for the best launcher, Launch Center Pro lets you launch not only apps, but specific actions within apps.

Managing a vast collection of recipes used to be as simple as pulling out a box of index cards. Now things are a little smarter, but that also means they're a bit more complicated. To wrangle all your recipes into a sensible order on your iPhone, we like Paprika.

The iPhone doesn't have a shortage of video editing apps. In fact, there're so many it's almost impossible to choose among them. But when it comes to the right combination of features and usability on the arguably too-tiny-for-video-editing iPhone screen, we like Splice.

Sharing great moments (or just snippets of your life) with friends or loved ones has never been easier, and a new class of live streaming app makes it possible for them to join you in real time. Of those apps, we think Periscope is the best today, and has the most potential for the near future.

You have an insane amount of choices for email clients on the iPhone, and each does something a little differently. Shockingly, our pick for the best of these options goes to Microsoft Outlook. Yep, we're surprised too.

Using your iPad as a "second screen" is a great way to boost your productivity by adding in a little extra screen real estate. Our favourite way to do this on iOS is Duet Display because it's lag-free, easy to set up, and has a good set of customisation options.

You have a lot of options for address books on the iPhone, but we like Contacts+ for being a solid option without a lot of bloat. It has heaps of features without being too overbearing or difficult to use.

Two-factor authentication is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself against getting your accounts hacked, and you should enable it now if you haven't already. Authy is our favourite two-factor app on the block.

Going by the number of calendar alternatives in the iTunes App Store, nobody seems satisfied with Apple's offering. Even with so many good choices, we feel Sunrise trumps them all thanks to its intuitive interface, great features and support for so many calendar services.

The iPhone offers up a handful of IM apps, but IM+ works best. It's easy to set up, has an intuitive interface, supports many chat protocols, offers encrypted chats, and it's available for free.

While mobile Safari does most of what you'd need from a smartphone web browser, and there are many alternatives that fill in the gaps, we prefer Chrome. Google's browser offers excellent features, synchronisation and simplicity at no cost.

The iPhone has a remarkable number of iPhone to-do app options, but one of them shines above the rest. Any.DO is our top pick, thanks to its ease of use and smart feature set.

If you've been looking to go digital with your comic book collection, you're probably overwhelmed with all the comic readers available on the iPhone and iPad. Fret no more: Comic Zeal is the app you want.

iOS has an incredible number of options when it comes to weather apps. For Australian users Pocket Weather remains the one to beat.

Despite some useful updates to Apple's stock Mail client in iOS 6, that app has lagged somewhat since we picked it as our App Directory selection back in June last year. From the moment Sparrow hit the iPhone, we've loved it more than any other mail client on iOS. Even though feature updates have ceased following its acquisition by Google and development will eventually wind down, Sparrow deserves its due and is our top pick among iOS email clients.

The iPhone's app selection is unparalleled, but it can be frustrating to sift through thousands of options to find the best. For our third annual Lifehacker Pack for iPhone, we're highlighting the apps that help you stay productive, connected, informed and entertained.

The iPhone isn't lacking in data usage trackers, but many of them offer few features or do little to ensure they're tracking your data accurately. We like Data Usage because it helps keep you on top of all the data you're using, alerts you as much or as little as you want, and provides in-depth statistics.