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The 73 best iPhone apps

Posted on 20 Apr 2010 at 16:44

64. OCADO (Free)

Powered by the online supermarket best-known for its Waitrose partnership, the Ocado app brings an end to Saturday morning queues in the supermarket. Once registered, the app downloads the site’s catalogue to your phone, allowing you to choose your groceries even if you can’t get a signal. The app keeps a running total of your shopping basket and, when you’re finished, will find a convenient delivery slot. Best of all: no more wobbly trolley wheels.

65. FANTASY FOOTBALL MANAGER (59p)

The official Barclays Fantasy Premier League is by far the most immersive of all the fantasy football competitions in the UK, and the best fantasy app out there has a wonderful graphical interface to it. As well as scores, transfers and results, this app aggregates countless news feeds, allows you to keep watch lists of players and trends, and even analyses fixture lists to help you decide which teams' players look good for forthcoming gameweeks. We’d still recommend using the website for big team changes, but for bragging in the pub on a Saturday afternoon the app is ideal.

66. 8,500+ DRINKS & COCKTAIL RECIPES (Free; 59p for ad-free version)

An app guaranteed to make you popular as the night draws on at a party, this encyclopaedia of drinks can turn practically any combination of half-empty bottles into a tasty cocktail. The vast list of ingredients are selected from a revolving fruit machine-like menu, and matching recipes appear within seconds. Favourite recipes can be added to a shortlist, should the alcohol cloud your memory. PC Pro accepts no responsibility for any resulting hangovers.

67. IFLIGHT (59p)

Most sane people would rather pass the time in a padded cell than an airport terminal; iFlight UK should help prevent bored strolls around Dixons Duty Free. It tracks departures and arrivals from nine UK airports, and allows you to hunt down your plane by airport or flight number. It’s even styled in that gaudy yellow interface airports use on their own departure screens.

68. DOCUMENTS TO GO (£5.99)

Documents To Go has been a smartphone staple for a decade. The software allows you to view and edit Office documents on the move, as well as read Adobe PDFs. While only a sadist would perform serious document edits, it’s an effective way to take key documents with you.

69. UK POSTAGE CALCULATOR (£1.19)

This handy app will save you from elbowing past pension-hungry OAPs in the Post Office queues. Enter the weight, value and destination of your package and this app will calculate the correct postage, allowing you to slap on the appropriate stamps. A blessed timesaver.

70. METER READ (59p)

Enter readings from your electricity, gas and water meters at regular intervals and this app will calculate how much you’re using and break it all down into pretty graphs. Better still, enter details of up to three competing tariffs and the app will work out if you could cut your bills by switching providers.

71. PAYPAL (Free)

The perfect companion for the eBay app (see entry 32), PayPal lets you access your accounts and check balances and transactions after you’ve completed an auction. Plus, if you have PayPal-linked email addresses associated with any of the contacts in your phone book, making individual payments is as simple as tapping their name and selecting an amount.

72. LINKEDIN (Free)

LinkedIn has an iPhone app that’s arguably friendlier than its website. Its best feature is rather hidden away: your business contacts can be imported directly into the iPhone’s address book, including phone numbers, email addresses and a photo. Status updates, discussions and private messages are also a finger-poke away.

73. GORILLACAM (Free)

All sorts of applications claim to improve the iPhone’s camera, but Gorillacam – from the makers of the brilliant bendy camera tripods – rolls more than most into one free app. Extras include digital zoom, a timer, a time-lapse option and a three-shot burst mode. It also offers three choices of resolution, as well as a grid overlay, spirit-level indicator and the ability to tap anywhere onscreen to take a shot. It will vastly increase your chances of taking a shot to remember.

Author: PC Pro staff

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User comments

I would replace tubemap with Tube Deluxe. It has the map, the status of each line with push notifications, the departure boards info and journey planner. All for 59p

By james016 on 22 Apr 2010

Some great apps, but some really poor ones

There are some great apps. Ebay is a favourite. But there are some pretty useless ones.

Without multi tasking, it really limits the use of these apps. Shame next OS (4?) will not be supported by iPHone 3g.

By SmartIT on 22 Apr 2010

Mobyko isn't free?

The iPhone app may be free, but the service costs £24.99 to use, a bit pricey just to get your contacts transferred from one phone to another....

By hickeypa1 on 23 Apr 2010

thetrainline

This is the second time you have recommended the £4.99 national rail enquiries app. Why? Thetrainline app is free and also contains features such as next train home and a full journey planner. I also know for a fact that thetrainline utilises the information feed from national rail enquiries so that won't be different either.

By ralphuk100 on 23 Apr 2010

Thanks for the comments

To answer a couple of your queries:

Mobyko was free when we tested the service at the time of review. We'll check exactly what the situation is with its fees.

The TrainLine doesn't have live departure times. It's next train home feeds are based on timetable data, so it's not as effective as National Rail. That said, we're not exactly delighted that you have to pay £5 for what we think should be free data for commuters.

Barry Collins
Online Editor

By Barry_Collins on 23 Apr 2010

Android?

I found the article in the magazine very useful and it gave me some great ideas for apps to add to my new Desire.
However there are quite a few Iphone apps recommended which don't appear in the android list, but which are available for android, Audioboo for instance, so it all winds up feeling a bit haphazard.
Anyhow thanks for the article, I'd like to see a regular slot in the magazine recommending any new gems which appear.

By roadshowuk on 24 Apr 2010

I own an iPhone first and foremost so I'm not biased in this respect but is there any real reason why you name 73 apps for the iPhone and only 30 odd for the android? I know there are more apps for the iPhone but I still think it looks like you're promoting the iPhone above the Android and I quite like the fact that you haven't got wrapped up in the We Love Apple brigade like two high profile gadget magazines I could mention. I mean why 73 anyway? Is that like the maximum number of apps that you could find useful? where did that number come from? Did you not try and match the same number of apps for the Android or were there simply not 73 Android apps that you like?

By TimoGunt on 28 Apr 2010

74. GOOD HOTEL GUIDE (£2.99)

This one is missing... I found the GHG app very useful indeed. Last week, when on a trip to Derbyshire, I used the feature 'find hotel near me' and here it was, a really nice hotel, in a close proximity. The same hotel has offered a discount when I mentioned the GHG when booking. Fully recommend this application.

By helga on 18 Jun 2010

75. FaceMix 2.0

Ever wondered how your eyes would fit in your friends' face? With FaceMix you can try this out. FaceMix lets you use your pictures from your photo library or take new pictures. The faces are split into six parts and shuffled to form a completely new face, that you have to remember and rebuild. You can also just shuffle or mix face features.
Watch the demo on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0bpXHsEif8

By dev2art on 24 Jun 2010

Guzzle

I use Guzzle every day as a press review, very good app! Should definitely check it out!

By JanelleD on 12 Jul 2010

This Day In Music

This new app is a must have for any music fan! Aside from the digital diary detailing what happened in musical history on any day of the year it has a quiz and a tool to tell you the number one song on your birthday!

check it out here...

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/this-day-in-music/i
d376644365?mt=8

By musicapps on 12 Aug 2010

the comments for MacUser app suggests it shouldn't have featured in the top 70. Most seem to claim it is awful

By TimoGunt on 30 Aug 2010

Live2support iPhone App

Live2support launched live chat software for iPhone users.

Live2Support's iPhone mobile app now makes it possible for a single chat operator to handle multiple chat requests concurrently while rendering live chat service over an iPhone. Chat operators can toggle between more than one operator chat window and engage in live chat with online customers without having to invoke a chat queue thereby significantly enhancing the user experience in the mobile space.

By Samjackson on 22 Nov 2010

Xmas PhotoBooth by AppCore (0.99$)

PhotoBooth is an entertaining application which you can use to apply hundreds of special effects on your portrait photo and obtain crazy pictures. You can also add text effects and speech bubbles and you can tag your photos, add dates or memos or just add funny speech bubbles, transforming your photos in one of the funniest photo albums. All you have to do is load a photo from your phone’s library and play with the special effects.
Application features include the following:
- Christmas Effects
- Speech Bubbles
- Evil Elf Effects
- Animal Effects
- Funny Faces Effects
- Clown Effects
- Zombie Effects
- Pirate Effects
- Crazy Looks Effects
- Horror Effects
- Style Effects (Glasses, Sunglasses, Hats, etc.)
- Venetian Effects (Venetian Mask, Feather Masks, etc.)
- Violent Effects (Bruises, Scars, Cuts)
- Body Effects (Mustaches, Beards, Eyes Mouths, Tattoos and Piercings)
You can add and delete the layers very easily, resize the special effects to fit perfectly and rotate the effects to the right angle so that your photo will be as real as possible. You can add as many effects as you want.
You can get it here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xmas-photobooth/id4
06159121?mt=8 .
AppCore develops software for mobile devices. This includes iPhone and iPad applications. The AppCore team mostly focuses on fun games or useful applications that fit into the next generation mobile lifestyle. AppCore’s applications are available in AppStore and many of them were really appreciated by the iTunes crew as well as by the users who downloaded them, having a lot of notable good reviews. AppCore develops applications covering sections as Books, Healthcare & Fitness, Sports, Medical, Lifestyle, Education, Utilities, Games, Entertainment, Travel, summing over 160 great apps for iPhone and iPad. The ones using iPad’s platform focus mostly on games and entertaining while the ones for iPhone have an informational utility as well as an enetrtaining one.
More info on AppCore’s creations you can find on the presentation site at http://www.app-core.net/ or directly at AppStore http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/appcore/id372798
923 .