Since the year is coming to an end, I thought maybe you all would like a big list of the best apps that spreads across all genres. So I decided to do some research and put together a list of the apps I thought you all should check out. I have indeed tried all these apps so speaking from experience, they really are the best in my opinion. They aren’t all free but the ones that cost some dough are definitely worth it if the category fits your taste in productivity. So Without further adieu, here’s the rundown in no particular order!
Games:
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation ($6.99)
The best, most realistic smartphone FPS series returns with even higher intensity and an apocalyptic battle for the freedom of the United States, for one or more players.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies ($6.99)
Adapted from the best-selling console hit and built specifically for tablets and smartphones, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies delivers maps and weapons never before seen on mobile and 50 levels of “Dead-Ops Arcade,” providing the ultimate undead challenge for fans of Call of Duty’s signature zombie warfare.
Gangstar Rio: City of Saints ($0.99)
The acclaimed Gangstar series is back on iPhone and iPad to offer you a whole new place to have criminally good fun! You’ll never experience a better way to discover Rio de Janeiro!
Sonic CD ($2.99)
Sonic travels to the distant shores of Never Lake for the once-a-year appearance of Little Planet – a mysterious world where past, present, and future collide through the power of the Time Stones that lie hidden within it.
Social Networking:
Facebook For iPhone (Free)
Facebook for iPhone lets you stay connected and share with friends on the go. Start a chat, keep up with friends’ photos and status updates, look up a phone number, upload photos to Facebook and more—right from your iPhone.
Tweetbot ($2.99)
Tweetbot is a full-featured iPhone (and iPod touch) Twitter client with a lot of personality. Whether it’s the meticulously-crafted interface, sounds & animation, or features like multiple timelines & smart gestures, there’s a lot to love about Tweetbot.
Google+ (Free)
Real-life sharing rethought for the web, wherever you are. Google+ for mobile makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler.
LinkedIn (Free)
Get on-the-go access to your professional network with LinkedIn for iPhone. Find and connect with more than 135M members worldwide, read the latest industry news, keep up-to-date with your groups, and share content with your network from anywhere.
Foursquare (Free)
foursquare helps you explore the world around you. Keep up with friends, get insider tips, and unlock discounts and rewards. While on the go, you can easily tell friends where you are, share pictures, get their comments (“I’m right around the corner, I’ll stop by to say hello”), and get insider tips (“order the Lobster Ravioli; it’s the best dish by far.”). Tons of places offer discounts and freebies to foursquare users, and you earn points and badges for doing the things you love.
Skype (Free)
Call, video call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free with Skype for your iPhone or iPod touch. Plus call and text your Contacts (or any other number) at Skype’s low rates. It’s great value with Skype Credit.
Reading:
iBooks (Free)
iBooks is an amazing way to download and read books. iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest best-selling books or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages.
Reeder ($2.99)
Google Reader Client.
Zinio (Free)
Introducing Zinio, a better way than ever to explore, read and shop for the world’s best magazines on your iPad. Zinio now has more magazines than ever, and a new app built to make it easier to read your favorites anytime and anywhere. Zinio is the ultimate app for people who love magazines. Access thousands of titles, tens of thousands of issues, and millions of pages of the world’s best digital content. Read what you like!
PressReader (Free)
Over 2,000 full-content newspapers from 95 countries in 51 languages in just one app!
Flipboard (Free)
Named Apple’s iPad App of the year and one of TIME’s Top 50 Innovations, Flipboard creates a personalized magazine out of everything being shared with you, from Instagram photos and Facebook updates to Tumblr posts and articles from your favorite publications.
Zite (Free)
Zite is a free personalized magazine for your iPad that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter every time you use it. Zite delivers all the great news, articles, blogs, and videos you want – and helps you discover new stuff that you’ll love.
Instapaper ($4.99)
Save web pages for later offline reading, optimized for readability on your iPhone or iPod touch’s screen. Featured by Apple and critically acclaimed by top blogs, newspapers, and magazines!
Photo & Video:
Camera+ ($0.99)
Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or someone who’s barely touched a camera, Camera+ will make you love taking photos.
iMovie ($4.99)
Make beautiful HD movies anywhere with iMovie, the fast and fun moviemaking app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Designed for the Multi-Touch screen, iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips. Browse and play projects in the Marquee view. Make a movie in minutes by adding video, photos, music and sound effects. Then give it the Hollywood treatment by adding a theme, titles and transitions. And you can share share your movie with the world – right from iMovie.
Instagram (Free)
It’s a free, fun, and simple way to make and share gorgeous photos on your iPhone. Pick from one of several gorgeous filtered effects or tilt-shift blur to breathe a new life into your mobile photos. Transform everyday moments into works of art you’ll want to share with friends and family.
Music:
Shazam (Free)
Hear a song you don’t know? Shazam identifies it instantly.
iHeartRadio (Free)
The New iHeartRadio is creating the ultimate, all-in-one radio experience by combining the nation’s top radio stations with the world’s most advanced Custom Stations into a single, seamless experience. With the New iHeartRadio, you can tune in to real broadcast stations from across the country, from Z100 in New York to KIIS FM in L.A., and every station in between. Over 800 stations coast-to-coast available anytime and anywhere.
Music Studio ($14.99)
Get free access to Spotify Premium now! With Premium you’ll get access to 15 million tracks from thousands of albums and artists on your iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad. If you haven’t tried Premium before, you can try it on your mobile for 48-hours, completely free. You don’t even have to enter credit card details. Simply download this app and log in.
djay for iPhone & iPod touch ($0.99)
Ready to rock your next party? The premier DJ app and winner of the 2011 Apple Design Award for iPad now fits in your pocket: introducing djay for iPhone & iPod touch!
GarageBand ($4.99)
GarageBand turns your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play pianos, organs, guitars, drums, and basses. They sound and play like their counterparts, but let you do things you could never do on a real instrument. Enjoy a full range of Smart Instruments that make you sound like a pro — even if you’ve never played a note before. Plug an electric guitar into your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch and play through classic amps and stompbox effects. Use the built-in microphone or a guitar to record, or capture any performance. Then mix up to eight tracks to create a song you can share.
AudioTap ($3.99)
Audiotap is fully integrated with iTunes, provides a familiar user interface and, thanks to live bitrate conversion, it works over WiFi and 3G. Bookmarks and play counts will be updated instantly and you can even edit playlists and rate songs right on your device. Audiotap does not require a user account, nor will it upload anything to our servers.
Finance:
iXpenseIt ($1.99)
iXpenseIt simplifies daily expense tracking and monthly budgeting. With iXpenseIt, it’s never been easier to stay current on your personal budget or for business users, to get faster reimbursements. Store photo receipts is a snap. Enter expense data anywhere, anytime within seconds. Powerful reporting provides insight to where your money went and find new ways to save.
Lemon – Receipts Refreshed (Free)
Lemon.com is the best way to organize all your purchases into one simple place. Easily scan your paper receipts and we’ll turn the images into useful information that’s taggable and searchable so you can get organized and know where you’re spending your money.
Productivity:
Numbers ($9.99)
Numbers is the most innovative spreadsheet app ever designed for a mobile device. Built from the ground up for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, it lets you make compelling spreadsheets in minutes — with tables, charts, photos, and graphics — using just your fingers. Choose from over 250 easy-to-use functions. Enter data and explore results with sliders, steppers, pop-ups, and intelligent keyboards.
Pages ($9.99)
Pages is the most beautiful word processor you’ve ever seen on a mobile device. This powerful app has been exclusively designed for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Create, edit, and view documents wherever you are. Use dictation in iOS 5 on your iPhone 4S to easily create and edit documents.
Keynote ($9.99)
Keynote is the most powerful presentation app ever designed for a mobile device. Built from the ground up for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, it makes creating a world-class presentation — complete with animated charts and transitions — as simple as touching and tapping. Use full-screen view to present right on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Or use video mirroring to present it on an HDTV, and preview your slides and notes on your device using the presenter display.
Evernote (Free)
Evernote turns the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop.
Travel:
Google Translate (Free)
Translate words and phrases between more than 60 languages using Google Translate for iOS. For most languages, you can speak your phrases and hear the corresponding translations.
FlightTrack Pro ($9.99)
Import flight data automatically from any airline confirmation email and get push alerts with real-time changes to your flight. Get real-time flight itinerary updates, and beautiful, zoomable maps that even work offline. FlightTrack Pro has everything you need to stay on top of your trip.
Yelp (Free)
Looking for a burrito joint open now? An Irish pub nearby? A gas station you can drive to before your tank hits empty? Yelp for your iPhone is here to help. Use us to search for places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play then read reviews from an active community of locals in the know.
Urbanspoon (Free)
Can’t decide where to eat? Urbanspoon can help. SHAKE your iPhone and the Urbanspoon slot machine will suggest a restaurant. See what’s NEARBY in your ‘hood, or BROWSE a comprehensive list of restaurants. Make a RESERVATION, and expand your DINELINE by checking in. See what your FRIENDS like.
XE Currency (Free)
Convert every world currency on-the-go with the universally optimized XE Currency App for iPhone and iPad. It features live currency rates, charts, and even stores the last updated rates, so it works when the Internet doesn’t.
Entertainment:
Neflix (Free)
Just download this free app and you can instantly watch TV shows & movies streaming from Netflix.
Flixster (Free)
Movies by Flixster is the #1 movie app to watch movie trailers, find showtimes, get critics reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and share your movie ratings with your friends.
Backgrounds (Free)
10,000+ Backgrounds from 100+ Artists and our Design Team. New Backgrounds added daily – check back often.
Utilities:
Analytics Pro ($5.99)
Finally an App to access Google Analytics™ with all the features you want and need. Your data is presented in a useful and meaningful way rather than just listing the data like some other Apps.
LogMeIn (Free)
From your couch, on the train or in the air – get anytime, anywhere access to your PC or Mac. Remotely control your PCs and Macs over WiFi/3G with the free LogMeIn app on your iPad or iPhone. It works with LogMeIn’s free award-winning software installed on as many computers as you like. You can remotely access your files, run your applications and control your desktops from anywhere. With everything at your fingertips, you’re finally free to go.
Air Dictate ($0.99)
Like Speech Recognition on your iPhone 4S? You’ll like it even more on your Mac!
With Air Dictate, you can enter text on your Mac by talking into your iPhone 4S. It’s that simple.
Find My iPhone (Free)
If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device, open it, and sign in with your Apple ID. Find My iPhone will help you locate your missing device on a map.You can then choose to display a message or play a sound, remotely lock your device, or erase your data on it.
RedLaser Barcode Scanner and QR Code Reader (Free)
RedLaser – Impossibly accurate barcode scanning.
Onavo (Free)
Onavo’s app connects your iPhone to our cloud-based technology, dubbed the “magical shrinking machine”. It’s totally seamless – once you install it you can go back to using your phone as before. In the background, your data usage from all apps is compressed so that you get more bang for your buck, doubling and even tripling your data plan.
WorldCard Mobile ($6.99)
WorldCard Mobile, the leading business card scanning application for iPhone, uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to instantly transfer information from business cards to the user’s native contacts. With a simple click of the camera, you no longer have to manually input contact info from business cards or email signatures.
CamScanner Free (Free)
CamScanner is a must-have application for your iPhone. With CamScanner, your iPhone is actually a portable scanner, with which all your paper documents, receipts, notes, whiteboard discussions can be archived anywhere at anytime. Our Smart Image cropping and Image enhancement algorithm ensures the scanned images perfectly clear and recognizable. With OCR technology, text within PDF files will be searchable.
Convertbot ($1.99)
Convertbot is a unit conversion robot. Convert currency, length, mass, time and much more in an exciting new way! Converting numbers will never again be a mundane task. In addition to its innovative interface, our robot is smart enough to convert to and from mixed units. Are you 5 foot 9 inches tall? Other converters require you to convert that to 5.75 ft in your head before being able to enter it. Convertbot allows mixed units like Foot + Inches, Pounds + Ounces, and more!
Speedtest.net Mobile Speed Test (Free)
Use Speedtest.net for easy, one-tap connection testing in under 30 seconds—accurate anywhere thanks to our global network.
That’s it guys! Happy New Year! Hope you get some awesome apps for your new or current iPhone!
