The iPhone App Store has more than 500,000 applications today, ranging from the very ordinary to rated jaw dropping. Here I list some must have iPhone Apps from various categories, that score very high on the coolness quotient and are unarguably the best on offer.
The Apple iPhone brought in a revolution in cell phone technology. Riding on the 3G wave, it has transformed the ordinary cell phone from being just a phone to being your communication portal with the world that provides a rich multimedia experience. You can engage in a video chat through your phone, create, edit and share videos and photos, listen to the latest music, browse online and do hundreds of other things using installed apps. The iPhone is your truly ‘smart’ phone. Its utility can be enhanced by a range of applications that you can download and install on it. Out of more than 500,000 on offer, I have picked some of the best iPhone apps for your perusal. These apps can substantially enhance your iPhone’s utility and upgrade it from being just your phone to being your entertainment center plus office suite. Just check them out!
While people were coming to terms with the difference between iPhone 3G and 3GS, its 4G version was unveiled. With the Apple iPhone 4G and later the Siri powered iPhone 4S unveiled in the recent past, Apple’s smart phone just got even better with more versatility built into it. In what follows, you will find the most creative, entertaining and awesome apps launched on the App store.
Best iPhone Apps (2012)
There is a potpourri of applications available for your iPhone in the App Store. Of all the available applications, some are free while some come at a small price. Here are the must have iPhone apps, for people who want to harness the power that iPhone puts at their disposal. Most of these apps even work on the Apple iPad. I have sorted these best iPhone apps into categories based on their utility.
Apps For Music Lovers
Here are some of the best iPhone apps for music lovers.
Pandora Radio
Pandora Radio fetches the latest music from your favorite artists for you. You can have an endless stream of music through the Pandora radio station. It is music specially chosen for you, according to your choices. You can take your pick from genres, ranging from pop, to rock, jazz and classical. It is a personalized radio station for die-hard music lovers.
Shazam
Shazam identifies any song for you, if you hold the iPhone in front of the speaker and lets you download it from iTunes. You can capture any song you like, on your phone using Shazam. It is doing a great job of spreading ‘music literacy‘ around the globe, through its unique music recognition feature.
Guitar Toolkit 2.0
The Guitar Toolkit application lets you play over 2,000,000 chord variations and turn your iPhone into a virtual guitar! It can identify any chord for you when you touch the chord fretboard. It comes with a built in metronome and tuner. It’s one of the most useful iPhone applications for serious guitar learners.
SoundHound
A worthy competitor to Shazam, SoundHound can recognize a song for you in flat 4 seconds. It can even identify the songs that you sing, using its advanced speech recognition software. SoundHound does live up to its name. It even shows the lyrics of songs being played and provides social media connectivity with Facebook and Twitter.
Beat Maker
Beat Maker converts your Apple iPhone into a small music studio. Record, edit and compose your own music and share it with friends.
Magic Guitar
This app literally lives up to its name. Magic Guitar transforms your iPhone into a guitar instrument. Play your favorite songs, guided by on-screen light beams. Shake the phone for vibrato and pitch variations. You just have to check out this free application available on the App store. It is like your pocket guitar trainer, with a huge library of songs, ranging from artists like Lady Gaga to The Rolling Stones. You simply have to get this app on your iPhone.
Concert Vault
This application gives you access to a rich store of live concert recordings from the 1960s to the present day and that too for free! It is a treat for music lovers.
Karaoke Anywhere
The application you have always waited for is here. No need to carry a heap of discs and expensive equipment to get your own karaoke bar running! All you need to do is download and install this free app, which has a huge collection of karaoke songs for you to play, anywhere, anytime and sing along. If you subscribe to the developer’s paid service, you have a karaoke book of 14,000 songs at your disposal. What’s more, you can even record your performance on the phone and listen to it later. A must have for karaoke fans!
Navigation Apps
Here are some of the best apps on offer that are simply too good not to have.
Google Earth
Google Earth brings satellite imagery of any terrain in the world to your iPhone. It is a great application that can guide you in finding addresses around the city.
Around Me
What do you do when you want to find the nearest bank or mall around? You just turn to the Around Me iPhone application and enter your location. It does the job of pointing out all the closest shops, hospitals, air ports and other such places around you.
Where To?
Developed by FutureTap Gmbh, Where To is your ultimate navigation solution. You may be looking out for a restaurant, where you could hang out, a local business, a bank, a motel or a shop; be it any destination, Where To can guide you to any place around town. With driving directions, map and browser integration, it even provides reviews for restaurants. It even has an augmented reality add-on you could try out. You can forget getting lost anywhere, once you install this application on your iPhone!
MapQuest 4 Mobile
Convert your iPhone into your personal navigator around town. Get detailed driving directions when traveling using MapQuest 4 Mobile, a free app available on the App Store. Another application which will precisely navigate you from point to point is GPS by TeleNav.
Social Networking Apps
Here are some great apps, which will help you stay connected with your social networking sphere.
Facebook
The app that needs no introduction. Launched by the creators of Facebook, this iPhone app provides access to your Facebook world. From reading the latest news feed, status updates, uploading pictures from your phone to chatting with your buddies, this application lets you do it all. It’s constantly updated with new features, to be in sync with the changes that are made in the Facebook website itself.
Twitter
Follow the most interesting tweeters on your iPhone and create waves in the Tweetosphere using this application, available for free on the App Store. If you ‘Tweet as you think’, this is a must have application.
Google+
Google’s approach to social networking, Google+ is fast catching attention all over the world. If you are a latest entrant, this Google+ app provides you access to this new social networking phenomenon. Start hangouts, message friends, view feeds and share your thoughts using this app.
Skype
Skype application for your Apple iPhone can do everything that its desktop counterpart does and lets you call anybody around the globe or sms them for free. Talk with fellow Skypers all around the world using this handy little application.
Vtok
Recognizing the need for a Google Talk equivalent on the iPhone platform, Vtok was created. Using this simple application, you can video call, voice call or chat with anybody in your Google contacts list. Having used it personally, it’s highly recommended.
Voxer Walkie-Talkie
This application effectively turns your iPhone into a Walkie-Talkie. Send an audio message, text, photo or location information to anyone of your connected friends. It is an iPhone alternative to voice mail service. Check it out.
Thumb
Need instant feedback from like-minded peers? Thumb is the app for you. Get an opinion from fellow users who share your interests. It’s a novel approach to gaining feedback on just about anything.
IntoNow
Dedicated to couch potatoes, IntoNow provides you with all the information you need from the TV world. Instantly share what you are watching on TV, with your Friends on Facebook and know what they are watching. It is like a personalized TV guide for you, providing recommendations according to your interest. It also provides live score updates of your favorite sport events.
Photo & Video Apps
Instagram
A delightful application for all photography lovers world over, Instagram lets you share and showcase your photos with people connected with you. With more than 15 millions regular users already, Instagram has become the hub for smart phone photographers. It provides special photography effects through the provision of filters and borders. Tilt your photos, blur them, tile them and use all sorts of tools to bring out the best out of your clicked photographs and share them easily with the world.
FX Photo Studio
Looking for a smart phone equivalent of desktop applications like Photoshop, to edit your phone clicked snaps? Then FX Photo Studio is just for you. With 194 high quality photo effects, a masking feature, facility to download photos and share photos on Instagram and popular social networking sites, FX Photo Studio is indeed your complete photo editing solution. Picture Effect Magic, Nostalgio and Vintage Camera are some of the other cool photo editing apps, you could check out.
Videolicious
Looking for an easy to use video editing app, are you? Then Videolicious is what you are looking for. This masterpiece of a free application lets you create professional looking videos. You can edit your phone recorded videos or create a picture slide show with chosen music of your choice, using Videolicious. Make delicious videos using Videolicious!
Great Utility Apps
Find My iPhone
This is a handy little app to have, which does exactly what its name suggests. It helps you find your misplaced iPhone easily. Integrated with your iCloud service, this software can help you locate your iPhone or any other Apple device on a map and lets you remotely lock and erase data from the device. This app can be a life saver!
iCam
Monitor and keep an eye on your home and office through your web cam and watch it through your iPhone! It converts your iPhone into a security camera. A very useful application for anybody who wants to keep an eye at home or elsewhere.
Remote
This iPhone application lets you convert your cell phone into a universal remote control. You can configure it to control music on your computer or apple TV.
Apps For Cooking Enthusiasts
Here are some of the best and latest iPhone apps for all those of you who are into cooking.
Kitchen Calculator Pro
Kitchen calculator Pro gives you the facility of customizing your serving size, and does all the conversion work from cups to grams and vice versa. It is designed to do all the ingredient math for you thus ensuring that you have just the right proportions for your recipe.
Jamie Oliver 20 Minute Meals
This application provides you step by step instructions on great recipes from none other than the star chef Jamie Oliver.
That completes this compendium of the best iPhone apps I came across. There are plenty of other awesome apps in the App Store, which cater to every other user requirement. Power up your iPhone with some of the must have apps listed here and unleash the true potential of technology to serve you.