A New Blog Category – Our Favorite iOS Apps

As of January 2012, Apple claims there are more than 500,000 apps in the Apple App Store.  There are apps just for the iPhone and iPod (Touch), apps designed to maximize the additional features and screen real estate of the iPad, and universal apps designed to work well on all three devices.  Definitions of “the best app” vary widely, and depend largely upon the user of the iOS device and their specific needs.  With more than half a million apps to choose from, finding great apps for your iOS device can be daunting.  Some apps catch the eye of both Apple and a large segment of the millions of users using iOS devices, either by “word of mouth”, a highly visible (and expensive) marketing campaign or inclusion in one of Apple’s own massive marketing campaigns.  These apps are pretty easy to find, but surprisingly a large number of iOS users fail to get these apps installed and put to use.  In addition, many apps fly completely under the radar and never get the massive exposure they deserve, which means a comparatively small number of users get to enjoy the benefits of some really cool apps.

In the spirit of helping iOS users find quality apps that they might actually enjoy and appreciate using on their device, and helping iOS developers of great apps get just a little more exposure so they can “keep doing what they do”, we have started a new category in our blog at WordPress just for reviews of “Our Favorite iOS Apps”.  At least once a week, hopefully more often, we will post a review of one of the apps installed on one of our team members iOS devices.  We will cover games, utilities, communication apps, and some of the downright silly apps that just might surprise you.  Free apps and apps that require a purchase will receive, hopefully, equal attention.  Many of the apps we review will be apps that experienced iOS users are likely to already have, in addition to more obscure apps that you have never heard of.  We will cover these apps because, believe it or not, there are many iOS users out there that are afraid to install apps or have installed apps but never put them to use.  Hopefully these reviews will help at least a few people get more from their iOS devices, and feel more comfortable using them.

Before we get started sharing our favorite apps, we will start by answering two common questions regarding iOS devices and apps:  Why you should be excited, not afraid, to install and use iOS apps from the Apple App Store, and why you should not automatically reject an iOS app because the app is not free.

Don’t be Afraid, the iOS Platform is Built for Running Apps!

Your iOS devices was built for running applications!  The iPod Touch is capable of much more than playing music.  The iPhone is capable of much more than making phone calls.  And the iPad is capable of much more than reading a book.  An iOS device without an assortment of apps is a wasted iOS device, it is that simple.

A common misconception regarding iOS devices is that installing apps on the device makes it run slower, and makes it more prone to lock-ups and crashing.  Both of these statements are inaccurate.  Installing apps on your device consumes physical storage space on your device.  If you have a 16 gigabyte iPhone 3GS, and you have 14 gigabytes free and unused, and you install a 500 megabyte app, your free storage space will be reduced to 13.5 gigabytes.  This alone will have no effect on the performance of your iPhone.  You’ll want to create a comfortable balance between photos, videos, music, books and apps on your iOS device, but feel free to download and install apps from the Apple App Store as much as you like without fear of making your device run slower.  Keep in mind, there aren’t many 500 megabyte apps out there.  In fact, apps over 20 megabytes cannot be downloaded or updated over a “cellular” connection and require a WiFi connection to install or update.  Most utilities and productivity apps are less than 20 megabytes, and even the most intense games are less than 50 or 60 megabytes.

Running apps on your iOS device is not quite as cut and dry as installing apps.  Just like your desktop PC or Macintosh, your iOS device has a fixed amount of memory available for running programs, or apps.  Unlike your PC or Macintosh, as of today multiple gigabytes of memory can not be stuffed inside your small, ultra-thin iOS device.  A much smaller amount of memory than what is available for the apps you’re used to using is available for your iOS apps.  There is a point at which your iOS device can not run any more apps and maintain the core processes and functions that keep the device running.  When your iOS device reaches this state, things can become unpredictable and a decrease in performance can occur.  iOS is designed to close apps that are consuming memory to prevent a device lock-up, which is often perceived as an application crash when in fact it is a device stability safety measure, so to speak.

In addition to working with a small amount of memory on mobile devices, sadly some apps are written better than others, and not every app the makes it into the Apple App Store is 100% bug and error free.  Some apps consume memory on your device rapidly, and do not play well with other apps and services running on the device.  These apps can crash, and in the worst cases can cause the actual device to crash and require a restart.  Compared to the number of quality apps available in the Apple App Store, these “nasty apps” are relatively rare.  But, if you’re going to be adventurous and try lots of apps on your iOS device, you are bound to run into one sooner or later.

The good news is two-fold:  you can uninstall a substandard app, and any other app you do not like or do not use at any time, and you can stop an app running on your iOS device at any time!

To see the apps currently running on your iOS device, just “double tap” the home button and a sliding list of apps running on your device will appear at the bottom of the screen.  Swipe left and right to scroll through the apps.  You can tap on an app icon to switch to that app immediately (handy for accessing recently or commonly used apps!) or hold your finger on an app you want to stop for a few seconds.  The icons for all of the currently running apps will start to shake.  Tap the red “X” on any app icon that you want to stop and the app will be removed from memory.  Close as many apps as you require and tap the home button to make everything go back to normal.

To remove an app from your device, hold your finger down on the icon for the app you want to remove for a few seconds until all of the icons on the screen start to shake.  Tap the red “X” on the app you want to remove from your device and confirm the message that appears.  The app will be deleted from your iOS device immediately, never to bother you again.  You can also remove the app in iTunes and perform a sync to delete an app from your device.  Any issues the app may have introduced to your device will be removed along with the app!

Following these two steps will allow you to try out any iOS app that catches your interest without fear of slowing down your iOS device or cluttering up your device with apps you do not need or apps that you feel affect the performance of your device.

Developers Drive Mobile Technology

Free apps are awesome, there is no doubt about that.  The only difference between the free and “paid” versions of many apps is the inclusion of an advertising system in the free version, which can easily be overlooked and ignored further reducing the incentive to pay for essentially the same app.  Some free apps have limited functionality until the app is upgraded to a “paid” version.  This is becoming less common as, with half a million apps and counting in the app store, a user can usually find a free version of a similar app with easy-to-ignore advertising and avoid the app with limited functionality all together.

Fall River Solutions is a custom software developer, and a custom iOS application developer.  So, we are a little biased on the subject of purchasing iOS applications.  Having said that, we’d like to share our thoughts on why it is worth your while to spend $.99 to upgrade the app you use regularly from the free version to the “paid” version, or to spend $3.99 on your favorite iOS game that you play multiple times every day.

In a nutshell, developers drive mobile technology and your Apple App Store purchases help support developers all over the world, and make it so they can keep pushing the limits of hardware technology to give you the best mobile experience possible.  We wouldn’t need faster, lighter and more powerful mobile devices if app and content developers were not constantly expanding the boundaries of possibilities.  There are many large/corporate development firms out there.  However, a large segment of the Apple development community is made up of independent developers and small development firms trying to keep their doors open long enough to compete with the App Store giants.  Your $.99, and the time you take to write an app review, go a long way to making sure app developers can keep delivering the games, utilities and other cutting-edge mobile apps that enhance your life daily.

More to Come

So, now that you’re not concerned about ruining your iPhone by installing apps, and you’re at least (hopefully) considering the concept that an app developer may be worth supporting with your app purchase, check back for our regular blog updates with our reviews and recommendations for great apps for your iOS device.

For now, if you are really excited and want to start looking for new apps for your iOS device right away, open the App Store on your iOS device and perform a search for “appminer” (without the quotes, and no spaces between words!) – the first app in the search results should be “AppMiner” by “Bitrino, Inc.”  It should be free.  Install it on your iOS device and give it a whirl! AppMiner makes it easy to find great “paid” apps that are on sale or free for a limited time, and can help you watch for your favorite apps to go on sale!