# What do you wish would become an iPhone application? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442 "2009-05-14T19:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/1 "2009-05-14T19:01:55Z")
Inspired by the ‘favourite free iPhone applications’ thread… Is there something you with whould be made available as an iPhone app? For me, it’s [Desktop Tower Defense](http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/Game.asp). This addictive little Flash game pits the player against a horde of oncoming ‘creeps’, which are to be destroyed before they reach their goal. Unlike many DTD games, Desktop Tower Defense lets players make their own mazes of towers to delay the creeps, block their path, and guide them into ambushes. The website mentioned that they were looking for an iPhone programmer, and there’s an ad for a version on the Nintendo DS, so there’s hope. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/2 "2009-05-14T19:59:11Z")
A version of Pocket Quicken for the iPhone. Or an Intuit-developed app that allows you to enter your transactions on the iPhone (or Touch) and get them to your desktop somehow. Yeah, Intuit has an app that is a front-end to their _online_ version of Quicken - but that doesn’t communicate with the desktop version. If you’ve got all your history on the desktop… well, too bad. And the online version isn’t as full-featured as the desktop version, as I understand it (I have not evaluated this myself). This is, seriously, one of the biggest reasons why I won’t even consider switching to an iPhone. Waaaah! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/3 "2009-05-14T20:14:11Z")
Why on earth is there not a real IMDB app? I don’t want showtimes, I want to know “who’s that guy, don’t we know him?” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/4 "2009-05-14T20:22:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Why on earth is there not a real IMDB app? I don’t want showtimes, I want to know “who’s that guy, don’t we know him?” God that’s a good one! There’s a wikipedia app, you would think it would be pretty easy to do an imdb one. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/5 "2009-05-14T22:26:49Z")
I’d like EarthDesk to magically “become” an iPhone app, but alas, I think I will have to actually write it myself in the normal way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/6 "2009-05-15T00:16:33Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Why on earth is there not a real IMDB app? I don’t want showtimes, I want to know “who’s that guy, don’t we know him?” Agreed. I got something called “Flickster”, but it’s lame. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/7 "2009-05-15T02:59:27Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Why on earth is there not a real IMDB app? I don’t want showtimes, I want to know “who’s that guy, don’t we know him?” Maybe because you can just easily go to imdb’s site with Safari? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/8 "2009-05-15T03:25:03Z")
I was just the other day thinking wouldn’t it be cool if someone sat down and started writing some kind of Star fleet battles or full thrust type game with ad hoc wireless network support so you could play with your friends. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/9 "2009-05-15T05:19:09Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Maybe because you can just easily go to imdb’s site with Safari? I could easily go to my ATT wireless account from Safari too, but it’s way better to have an app just for that site. When I want information quickly, it’s cumbersome to have to launch Safari, wait until the browser figures out where it was last, type in the address, and wait again. It would be best if I could just click on an IMDB app and be there already. The eBay app is another example. It’s great. Way better than the eBay mobile site, it’s slow and a drag. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/10 "2009-05-15T11:45:15Z")
I’m anxious for Adobe flash so I can play my Facebook chess games while I’m out and about. Supposedly they’re working on it. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/11 "2009-05-15T13:16:58Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > I was just the other day thinking wouldn’t it be cool if someone sat down and started writing some kind of Star fleet battles or full thrust type game with ad hoc wireless network support so you could play with your friends. The 3.0 release of the iPhone OS adds support for ad hoc bluetooth networks for applications. So you can quickly start playing a game with whoever happens to be around your phone. I’m sure people will start using it for some good games really soon. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/12 "2009-05-15T13:45:25Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Maybe because you can just easily go to imdb’s site with Safari? Yeah, but that’s a giant pain in the ass. The interface isn’t optimized for the iPhone like the Wikipedia app is, you have to do all that stupid typing and waiting, etc. A dedicated app is so much better. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/13 "2009-05-15T16:52:50Z")
More offline database apps. Like, I mean, more stuff like the dump of Wikipedia you can put on the device and browse offline. Man, text-based IMDB offline…that’d be great. And a Flash player, like **HongKongFooey** said. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/14 "2009-05-15T17:22:17Z")
Yeah, I’m waiting for Flash as well. Then, I could [del]play Desktop Tower Defense all day while riding the TTC[/del] look at more websites. Speaking of which, iPhone developers had better think long and hard about what parts of their apps are going to be online. I ran into a distressing tendency of Adobe CS4 last week: the help files are online. Not a problem, you say? I was in a location that didn’t even have dialup. I wanted to find out how to do something, and all I got as a help screen was “check out our online resources”. And I couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/15 "2009-05-15T17:55:35Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Inspired by the ‘favourite free iPhone applications’ thread… > > Is there something you with whould be made available as an iPhone app? I want an application where you can take a picture of food with the camera, send it to some server, and have it instantly give you a complete nutritional breakdown. Like shazam but with food not music. I know it’s not realistic. But I have no idea how Shazam works either and not knowing makes it seem like Star Trek style stuff to me. I want to scan my cheeseburger and see how many miles I have to run to work it off! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/16 "2009-05-15T18:02:58Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I want an application where you can take a picture of food with the camera, send it to some server, and have it instantly give you a complete nutritional breakdown. Like shazam but with food not music. Ha! For those that don’t know, the Amazon application lets you take a picture of something you want to buy, and they send you a listing suggestion. I really want to screw around with it and see what hijinks results (like, what happens if you take a picture of a piece of paper with the word “HAPPINESS” written on it?). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/17 "2009-05-15T22:10:03Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I want an application where you can take a picture of food with the camera, send it to some server, and have it instantly give you a complete nutritional breakdown. Like shazam but with food not music. Shazam is quite amazing, yes, but it just tells you what the song is, not how it was made. (Though if it can point you to the iTunes store oh so conveniently, I don’t see why it couldn’t also point you to lyrics, sheet music, etc…) I’ve heard rumours that the next-generation iPhone will have a magnetometer (i. e. ‘digital compass’) and position sensors as well as the accelerometer and GPS. This means that it would be able to tell what direction it was facing as well as where it was. People were talking about an app where you take a picture of a building, it works out where you were and what direction you were facing, queries a database, and tells you what the building is. I could see that getting a little creepy though depending on the depth of the database queried: who own the building, who owns the land, what liens are on it, what easements are there, who manages it, who’s living there, do they rent or own… good for municipal workers, right? Combine it with online mobile facial recognition just a bit more encompassing that the recognition that iPhoto uses (which is rather eye-opening when you see it). What a gift for secret police! Or stalkers! ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/18 "2009-05-15T22:25:26Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I want an application where you can take a picture of food with the camera, send it to some server, and have it instantly give you a complete nutritional breakdown. Like shazam but with food not music. > > I know it’s not realistic. But I have no idea how Shazam works either and not knowing makes it seem like Star Trek style stuff to me. I want to scan my cheeseburger and see how many miles I have to run to work it off! SnapTell is another application that works similarly to the Amazon functionality that **Munch** was describing. You take a picture of something (SnapTell right now only works on books, CDs, DVDs, and video games) and the app hops online to compare prices, get ratings, etc. I don’t see why this couldn’t be the front end of an application that then forwards its queries to a nutritional database that could instantly answer your questions. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/19 "2009-05-16T23:58:35Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Ha! > > For those that don’t know, the Amazon application lets you take a picture of something you want to buy, and they send you a listing suggestion. I really want to screw around with it and see what hijinks results (like, what happens if you take a picture of a piece of paper with the word “HAPPINESS” written on it?). I downloaded the Amazon application and took a picture of a product my company sells. It’s available on Amazon but generally speaking it’s not a well known product, isn’t easily identifiable as “what it is” unless you already know, and isn’t available through all that many channels. Within 12 hours they’d identified it and suggested I buy it from them. I’m really impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442/20 "2009-05-29T23:54:21Z")
Thinking of a link someone posted to another thread recently about a phone dialer app (complete with rotary dial that you have to drag around the complete circle): **Typo Knig** wants a slide-rule emulator app! Not quite enough to actually lay out the money for an iphone/touch and develop it himself though:p. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wish-would-become-an-iphone-application/496442.md?page=2)