# Favorite iPhone Apps? (Hopefully free)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 20, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302 "2009-11-20T17:27:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/1 "2009-11-20T17:27:11Z")
I got a refurbished 3G iPhone (16g) back in August and I love it. It’s been so handy to be able to check emails, look up places and map out directions, etc.
I also love apps - but only if they are free or relatively low-cost. Okay, to confess, I haven’t paid for one app yet.
But if you have a favorite app - can you tell me what it is and why you love it?
Here’s some of mine:
[ul]
[li]Cardstar - take all those little cards off your key ring and plug them in to your iPhone. I was able to remove 13 cards off mine![/li]
[li]Facebook - check status updates even while you are at work![/li]
[li]Livejournal - post on your blog from anywhere.[/li]
[li]Twitterrific - tweet on the street.[/li]
[li]Bump - share your contact information with another “Bumper” just by bumping knuckles while holding your iPhones. (wish more of my friends had it!!)[/li]
[li]iGlowStick - it’s like an instant lighter at a rock concert. Also works well as a flashlight when you get home late and don’t want to wake the roommate![/li]
[li]iHandy Level - turns your phone in to a level when you are trying to hang pictures or are just bored. . . [/li]
[li]Bank of America - I can check balances and transfer money while waiting in line at the drive-thru ATM . . .[/li][/ul]
And the games:
[ul]
[li]Scramble 2: like boggle, but you get little recognitions for reaching certain goals, even if you couldn’t find all 3,457 words in 60 seconds.[/li]
[li]TapWord: similar to Scramble 2, my bf just likes to play this one better.[/li]
[li]STPhaser: turn your iPhone in to a phaser from Star Trek [/li]
[li]Lightsaber: the force is with you.[/li]
[li]FSS Hockey: turn your iPhone in to an air hockey game. Great at restaurants while you are waiting for your food.[/li]
[li]Unblock: slide wooden blocks horizontally or vertically to release the red block and send it through the open door. (I can spend hours playing this and it has 2 modes - one where it counts how many moves it takes you, and one where it takes all that off so you can just relax and play with no pressure.)[/li]
[li]Bubblewrap: See how many bubbles you can pop in a certain amount of time. Again, my bf and I will play this at restaurants while waiting for our food.[/li][/ul]
---
### Author:  [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/2 "2009-11-20T17:30:31Z")
I’ve been hooked on Words with Friends (Scrabble knock-off) game lately. I really like that you can (as the name implies) play games against friends or have the app randomly find you an opponnet who uses the app. It also now does notifications when it is your turn so that is a nice new feature.
Now, if I could actually BEAT my girlfriend in this game I’d be really happy. She kicks my arse every time.
MeanJoe
---
### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/3 "2009-11-20T18:20:10Z")
I play a lot of Risk. A LOT of Risk. And by “Risk” I mean “ **Lux Touch** ”. There’s a Deluxe version available for like $6, and I’m thinking getting it.
I need to download **Metal Gear Solid** - it’s $0.99 today.
For Yahoo fantasy sports, I use **MyFanTeams** - it’s a great little app. I got the full version for free, but the demo version allows one team per sport. It’s solid.
\*\*Flixster \*\*- a great movie app. Tells you movie times, has videos of trailers of upcoming movies, and is linked to my Netflix account.
\*\*Urbanspoon \*\*is great for finding restaurant reviews or having a machine make your “no - you decide where we’ll go to dinner” decisions that much easier.
I used to track my mileage with **GasBag** , but I fell out of habit. Same goes for my spending habits with **[Mint.com](http://Mint.com)**’s app.
Another utility that I see a lot of people not aware of, is adding a favorite website as an icon to your iphone. Click on the “+” sign when at a webpage and select “Add to Home Screen”. I have links to **[NBC.com](http://NBC.com)**, \*\*Google Reader \*\*and \*\*Gmail \*\*(for when I want to search all my mail for something).
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/4 "2009-11-20T19:49:17Z")
Facebook app
Stanza: books to read on your iPhone
Frotz: Play Zork and Hitchhikers Guide
LED football: That old Mattel football game from the 80s.
PhoneFlicks: update your Netflix queue
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/5 "2009-11-20T19:52:42Z")
My top apps, by frequency of use:
Pocket God
MLB At-Bat
Star Defense
Vegas Mate
---
### Author:  [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/6 "2009-11-20T20:00:04Z")
Games:
Sol Free Solitaire
Mancala FS5 (free version)
Flood It
Imagine Poker (free version is still fun - Texas Hold Em game)
Four Free (free simple Connect Four game)
iBowl (you can even play online, I am pretty sure this was free)
Pay for:
Bejewled 2
Arcade Bowl (skee ball)
---
### Author:  [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/7 "2009-11-20T20:26:23Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> My top apps, by frequency of use:
>
> Pocket God
>
> MLB At-Bat
>
> Star Defense
>
> Vegas Mate
What is Pocket God?
---
### Author:  [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/8 "2009-11-20T20:28:59Z")
Best 5-10 minute game:
Airline Conqueror $.99 There is a free lite version.
Flight control is also good
Yelp is frequently used and
the weather channel and
TripIt for handling all of my itineraries and reservations
Evernote is also good for note taking and organization
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/9 "2009-11-20T20:35:45Z")
> [@melodyharmonius](#):
>
> What is Pocket God?
[Pocket God](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_God)
I am a vengeful God. 😃
---
### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/10 "2009-11-21T10:40:26Z")
**[TV.com](http://TV.com)** - a free app that lets you stream full episodes of CBS shows. They have current shows such as CSI and Survivor. There are classic shows such as MacGyver. You can catch up on David Letterman or Craig Ferguson. They even have some classic Star Trek. Many of the shows are wi-fi only, but many more can be streamed over 3G.
As **Munch** noted, you can add an icon for **[NBC.com](http://NBC.com)**. Same deal, but with NBC programs. And they’re not limited to wi-fi. You can stream them all over 3G.
There are quite a few free radio apps, also, such as AOL Radio, Pandora, Slacker, and Shoutcast.
---
### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/11 "2009-11-21T13:54:20Z")
[Layar](http://layar.com/). If you’re out and about, you can see who’s Twittering, you can point the phone at a funky looking place and see if has a Wikipedia entry etc.
---
### Author:  [@Bbusyb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bbusyb)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/12 "2009-11-21T14:37:53Z")
Lets See what do I have on my iPhone that I use regularly
- Convert - I Very Nice and Polished conversion app
- Google Earth
- Appsniper - To keep an eye out for new apps and sales
- Wikiamo - Wikipedia app that’s a lot better then the official one
- Tweetie - Best Twitter app i’ve used the new Tweetie2 is even better
- Facebook
- Skype - Good app, only wish it worked over 3G
- IRChon - IRC Client to access chat rooms
- Stanza - In combination with Calibre is a great eBook app
- eReader - Another Great eBook app which works with Ereader format books.
- Files - Good app to store and access your files on the go.
- Bookshelf - Another eBook app, which supports nondrmed Mobi books.
- Photogene - A great photo editing tool.
- TWIT - TWIT app which give access to the audio stream, schedule and chatroom.
- Al Jazeera Live - Gives streaming access to Al Jazeera english, good source of international news.
- FRance 24 live - Another good international news source.
- London Tube - Very useful map of the Londen Underground, with live updates.
- National Rail - Rail schedules and live status.
- Amazon UK
- Air Mouse - Remote control your PC
- VLC Remote - Control VLC on your PC or MAC
Games -
- Canabalt
- Fieldrunners
- Cop and Robber
- Glyder
- Chopper
- Geared
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/13 "2009-11-21T16:48:11Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#):
>
> [Layar](http://layar.com/). If you’re out and about, you can see who’s Twittering, you can point the phone at a funky looking place and see if has a Wikipedia entry etc.
Oh man, this is funny. I downloaded Layar just now, typed in “pizza” then showed my roomie that could locate three instances of pizza within 1km of the house. She replied “That’s a shit app - there’s pizza in the fridge.”
When I stopped laughing, she told me to search it for ‘best housemate in the world’. I pointed the camera at her and said “there must be something wrong with the settings - I can see you fine, but the label says ‘fucking idiot’.”
---
### Author:  [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/14 "2009-11-21T17:44:00Z")
Redlaser - see something in a store, scan the barcode using your cam and it’ll find you the best proces online with an option to buy online there and then (used to be US only but now there’s an UK version as well). I’ve saved quite a lot of money on books and dvds (yes you will lose the satisfaction of buying something right there and then). Not free but well worth the money…
Soosiz - best iphone game yet
Bejewelled 2 - now includes the Blitz version from Facebook
Nearest Tube - one of the latest augmented reality apps. They have developed for other cities as well now so not just for Londoners
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/15 "2009-11-21T17:57:35Z")
Eliminate Pro has been demanding my time. Free despite the name. Also fun is Tap Tap Revenge (Guitar Hero/Rock Band type game). The new version is pay, but there’s also a full-featured free version with maybe a hundred downloadable tracks.
Trace is also a fun game – it’s a stick figure based platformer, where you draw the platforms to jump on yourself.
Finally, most of the 5 billion ebook companies put up some public domain stuff for free so you can sample their ebook reading software. I remember lugging around my Complete Works to my Shakespeare course back in college and getting a trapezius sprain every time. Now the whole thing fits in my pocket.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/16 "2009-11-21T22:09:30Z")
> [@Future\_Londonite](#):
>
> Soosiz - best iphone game yet
Downloaded, played, love it. Thanks for the heads-up! (I don’t even like games, either.)
---
### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/17 "2009-11-22T02:40:40Z")
Recent thread:
[Cool iPhone Apps](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533130)
---
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/18 "2009-11-22T03:31:09Z")
My favourite app is the one we’re developing. 😃
---
### Author:  [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/19 "2009-11-22T05:43:08Z")
Some I use often (links go to iTunes):
**Free** :[ul][_][The New York Times](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nytimes/id284862083?mt=8): Pretty slick news application; presents the Times stories cleanly and free of charge[_][Yahoo!](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo/id304158842?mt=8): News stories and integration with Yahoo! Mail & Messenger, with links to other services (weather, stocks, etc.)[_][SportsTap](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sportstap/id284930451?mt=8): Sports scores, schedules, and news, customizable for your favorite teams and leagues[_][i.TV](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i-tv/id290338603?mt=8): Not just TV listings, but movies as well, with links to manage your Netflix queue, schedule TiVo recordings, and even remote-control some TiVo models[_][Dictionary.com](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dictionary-com-dictionary-thesaurus/id308750436?mt=8): Massive download (over 35 MB), but that’s because you have the whole dictionary on your device; no connection necessary[/ul] **99¢ Games** :[ul][_][DodgeDot](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dodgedot/id329466722?mt=8): Simple yet addictive game with online high scores and weekly randomization of levels[_][Flight Control](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flight-control/id306220440?mt=8): Another simple yet addictive game; developers occasionally add levels[_][Harbor Master](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/harbor-master/id313014213?mt=8): Similar to Flight Control with a nautical theme and somewhat more difficult play; has a free “lite” version[\*][The Moron Test](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-moron-test/id312343159?mt=8): Jokey IQ test kind of thing, some real tricks built in. Devs have just added a new series of questions, with promises of more to come[/ul]
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### Author:  [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-iphone-apps-hopefully-free/518302/20 "2009-11-22T06:31:02Z")
By the way, here’s a few sites that do all kinds of app reviews (most of the above were discovered through one or another of these):[ul][_][App Advice](http://appadvice.com/appnn/)[_][appolicious](http://www.appolicious.com/)[_][iLounge](http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/software/iphone/)[_][App Guide](http://www.macworld.com/appguide/index.html) (from Macworld)[/ul]
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