Every once in a while I like to do a post on the current apps I'm using on my iPhone. Generally they are posted to Google+ or a similar service but, since I have this site, these little write-ups will start residing here. I will probably do a subsequent piece for my current iPad homepage soon too.
Row One:
First up is 1Password. I was telling someone just today that I use 1Password all day long. I keep my credit card information in it, web logins, wifi passwords, bank account stuff... whatever. It's super secure and it's installed on all of my devices and Macs.
Agenda is a new addition which I'm not quite sold on yet. It shows your calendar in a list form and you can swipe to switch between a month, week, day, and meeting level view. I am using the Forecast mode in OmniFocus more often lately so Agenda my move to the back page in a week or so.
Awful is an app for viewing the somethingawful forums. Once a goon, always a goon, I guess. It's a great way to read the tons of traffic on the site and sometimes I prefer it to the website.
Camera is a staple. This slot used to be reserved for Camera+ but that moved to my Photography folder on page 2 when iOS5 came out. Getting to the camera app with a double tap from the lock screen changed the game for me. I still use Camera+ for editing photos but not as regularly as I used to.
Row Two:
Instacast is the best podcast app out there. I use this app on my daily commute. It has so many tweakable, configurable settings, you can set it up perfectly for your needs.
In addition to Clock, Calculator, Calendar and Settings in second row folder, TextExpander now finds itself as a first-page app. It took me a while to find a need for it, but once I did, it worked great. As I started finding more and more uses for it, the app is now something that sees constant daily use. I have markdown shortcuts, date and time stamp shortcuts, and email signature shortcuts set up and they're huge timesavers. Even though the snippets are a few characters in length, the Mac version of the software reports that I've saved over an hour of typing time since I bought the app which wasn't too long ago.
Pastebot is an app that lets you share your clipboard between your iPhone and your Mac. It's pretty fantastic to have an app like that when you need it.
Dragon Microphone is a app that serves as your microphone when using the Dragon Dictation application for your Mac. It's buggy but when writing long papers, it's a real life saver.
I downloaded Dragon Dictation when I started messing around with voice transcription. I have yet to open it and use it, but when I do... at least I'll know where to find it. This one might not stay on the front page.
I wrote about Soulver in a recent post. I use it way more than I ever thought I would.
Instagram is an incredible "social media" app. I check it twice a day just to see what new, creative things my friends have cooked up.
Row Three:
GV Mobile+ was the first iPhone app that supported GoogleVoice. When Apple pulled it from the App store, I was disappointed because I had just spent a few bucks on it. Once the application got reinstated, it came with a slew of new features and it is rock solid. Having GoogleVoice as my middleman cuts down on a lot of wasted time talking to people who I generally don't have time or use for.
Google+ is checked daily, sometimes several times a day. I follow a pretty neat mix of scientists, tech folks, friends from various forums etc. and it's a far better, Facebook-free way to do it. If there was a way to kill the red indicator number when people add me, that'd be just fine. As someone who can't stand when there are a lot of badges adorning my apps, having to open up Google+ just to clear that notification bugs me. That just might be a little neurotic.
Rdio, along with iTunes Match, (as previous posted about) is my go-to music application for the iPhone. I tend to cache music rather than stream it, but I noticed that Last.fm doesn't pick up my played music unless I'm in online mode. So now I play cached music in online mode and everything seems to be hunky dory.
Nebulous was recently moved to the first page while I deal with ironing out some problems with my favorite iPhone text editor, Notesy. Recently, I noticed that Notesy was having issues saving some of my changes. While I work out the problems with an extremely-responsive David Findlay, I have jumped back to Nebulous Notes. I've always found Nebulous' interface inscrutable and unintuitive but it supports TextExpander, markdown and Dropbox, which is pretty much the trifecta for me right now. With no ability to search all files in my Dropbox folder, it doesn't really fit in with my general workflow but I'll live with it until I can find a good workaround for my beloved Notesy.
Row Four:
Tweetbot is hand's down the best twitter client on any platform. The improvements since version 1 have been truly staggering and the functionality is first rate.
My favorite feature is how it handles time gaps in your twitter feed. It creates a gap with a button. You click this button to start fetching tweets and if you have the gap in the top half of the screen when the query resolves, the tweets will be added above your current spot and if you have the gap in the lower half of your screen, they will be added below it. The way I use Twitter is to go from the spot in the timeline at which I last read twitter to the most current but scrolling up. This is the first app (and only, that I'm aware of) that works the way, which is remarkable given how I'm sure the way I read Twitter is probably not that common.
I could write a whole post about Tweetbot. One day I'll pull all of the notes I have on it into something coherent (unlike this) where I will likely compare it to playing a video game on your phone, except you're just reading Twitter. Its really a fun app to use and it is one of the most favorite apps on my first page.
Goodreader is a solid PDF viewer, but just saying that is doing it a great injustice. It is basically the Swiss Army knife of the iPhone. It plays mp3 files, saves files locally, allows you to crop a page in a PDF and then read all pages with the same focused cropping, allows for granular security and PDF note-taking and highlighting. It's a remarkable app and a must-own for every iOS user.
Mail always stays on the front page, a necessary evil. I wish I could avoid it more.
Safari underwent some interesting changes in iOS5 but still gets constant use. It is still the best mobile browser out there, by a long stretch, although Android has made some great strides playing catch up (mainly by aping the Apple interface and gestures).
Home Row:
Phone remains front and center. Now if my calls could just stay connected I would be all set...
Messages (now with iMessage!) still gets heavy use. I use it less and less with the advent of good mobile IM clients but it's still a great app with a ton of functionality.
OmniFocus, oh OmniFocus. I'd be lost without you. Since writing my article about using Siri and OmniFocus a few weeks ago, the folks at Omnigroup have added the ability to use Siri and the Reminders app to transfer tasks into OmniFocus. It's a great workaround and I use it all the time. This is the app I use more than anything else on my phone because it's how I stay organized for work and at home.
I use the versions for iPad and my Macbook Air too. While some may find it overkill, it really changed how I did...well... everything. In fact, it's one of the inspirations for this website and its implementation of GTD is the closest to how I think. If you ever find yourself needing to get organized, look no further.
Since the iPhone launched, I've been using and recommending Beejive as the best IM client for iOS. Trillian has taken over that task recently however, which has come as quite a surprise to many of my friends. It came about mainly because I was having issues with my IM client on my Mac and someone recommended I try Trillian. I used to use Trillian on PC years ago and wasn't a huge fan of late, but it was free to download and try so I snagged it for my iPhone and my Macbook Air.
Where Trillian works is that it will sync my chats between devices. If I am talking to someone on my iPhone and leave the chat window open, when I open up my Macbook Air, the conversation will be there. I paid the $10 for the year for access to cloud saving of conversations. This allows me to open links from conversations on my iPhone when I get to my Mac, even if I close the window by accident. It has really proved its worth of late. Add to this the fact that it's stable and works as advertised and I have the feeling it will be on page 1 for a while.
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Apps rotate out and new apps take their place. As a designer and ex-developer, I love to see what others have done. If you have any suggestions for apps that I might liked based on what you read above, let me know on twitter. My username is "jeffhunsberger".