But many of the iPhone applications that looked like they were going to make life a lot easier fell by the wayside, increasingly unused, and eventually, off the phone altogether.
I did a personal review of the apps I’m still using and those that I thought I’d use a lot but didn’t end up using much at all. Here are the apps that have stood the test of time:
1. Remote - As an Apple TV owner and an iTunes user, Apple’s own Remote application is probably the most used application on my entire phone. The small white remotes Apple ships with some of their devices are flimsy and prone to an eventual lack of responsiveness, but more than that, navigating and typing with it can be frustrating, especially if your iTunes Store password or Wi-Fi key is as long as mine.
I use Remote several times a day, and it is only rivaled in constant use by those apps that shipped with the phone itself.
2. Twinkle - I have been a Twitter user for quite some time, and before I bought an iPhone I had no idea what people meant when they said the service was best enjoyed while mobile. Twinkle let me experience that and admittedly got me even further hooked, and while many original Twinkle users have said that better apps have come along and taken up its space on their home screen, I’ve stuck with it ever since. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
3. GuitarToolkit - As a musician I’ve never owned a tuner that also allowed me to look up the whole gamut of chords and alternate tunings, and GuitarToolkit’s tuner is as accurate as you’ll ever need for bass or guitar. The metronome is also very useful and makes it easier to practice to a click—an oft-overlooked part of the practice session that will make your playing infinitely better.
4. Things - I tried out OmniFocus for the iPhone for a while, but I soon after became a fan of Things for the desktop and tried Things for the iPhone. Its usefulness was seriously curtailed by the lack of any syncing mechanism for some time, so it lay dormant on my phone, but it became one of my favorite applications once sync was included.
Unfortunately, I had to spend some time with an 802.11n-only network soon after, bringing to light one of the obvious flaws of this sync system. But as long as you’re running a mixed network as I am now, or a g/b only network, this is a fantastic application to keep your tasks with you wherever you go.
5. BookShelf - Before the iPhone came out, I was a Windows Mobile user. Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the trouble—it’s not easy being an OS X user with a Windows Mobile device—but I loved having a handheld device to read full-length books on with Mobipocket. I didn’t even have a data plan; it was a glorified phone and book reader.
When I made the switch, one of the first apps that I looked for was a reader that could open Mobipocket files. BookShelf was the only one at the time, and though other cheaper options have since appeared, this app has served me well and I continue to use it.
6. BOMRadar - Of little interest to anyone outside Australia is the BOMRadar application, an application that lets me track the severity of oncoming storms in the region using data straight from the Bureau of Meteorology website. This application has saved me from being stuck outside in the rain on two occasions now—that’s two replacement iPhones I didn’t have to order!
7. Light - I never got the fuss about these simple flashlight applications until I started using one. Erica Sadun’s Light app gets me from the home office to the bedroom every night without tripping over furniture. Definitely useful in my books. While this particular app was pulled from the App Store some time ago, there are plenty of alternatives available. Too many, perhaps.
8. Evernote - The popular notetaking application’s iPhone-based sibling is a constant aide to my memory. In all honesty, I don’t use it to take notes very often, but I do use it on a daily basis to refer to data I’ve stored in the app from a desktop or laptop computer.
Apps I thought I’d use, but don’t
For every app I use, there’s a googol or two that I don’t, even if I thought they were going to make up part of my daily iPhone usage and make life easier.
1. Mocha VNC - If I’m too lazy to get up and go check on my iMac from wherever I am, I use Screen Sharing on my Macbook Pro. It’s much easier and much faster than trying to use OS X remotely on a tiny iPhone screen, a system simply not designed for your fingers.
2. NetNewsWire - I had some problems with getting NetNewsWire to sync my feeds properly, but the main reason I no longer use this app is that I became a Google Reader convert. There are no syncing oddities between computers (I used NNW’s desktop version on three Macs) and the interface is easy to use and doesn’t require installation when you’re hijacking someone’s computer.
3. Facebook - I’m an infrequent Facebook user. I log in to accept a friend request or ignore the ridiculous number of app invitations I’m sent each day. I have no idea why I thought the iPhone would get me using Facebook more frequently, nor what the benefits in more frequent Facebook use actually are.
4. BeatMaker and Band - I have sequencers and digital audio workstations at home for making music, and Pianist (from the makers of Band) on the iPhone is a nice way to capture a melody and is way better than Band’s built-in keyboard. In the end, BeatMaker and Band were novelties I spent too much money on.
5. WordPress - I was excited to hear that WordPress released an iPhone application. I used it about three times. You can’t even moderate comments and I certainly don’t see myself writing posts on that keyboard; I only keep it on my iPhone in case I’m told of a typo while I’m out and about. That has not happened yet, so effectively, I don’t use the app.
6. Palringo - I suppose you could call this statement a hypocrisy since I use Twinkle on the iPhone, but I don’t know why one would want to use instant messaging on a phone. Talk about useless distractions when you’re grocery shopping.
7. AirSharing - AirSharing is actually a fairly useful app, but I’ve never so far found a reason to use it. I’m sure plenty of people use it daily, especially if you’ve got nothing more than a home desktop computer and an iPhone. But for someone with a Macbook Pro and several hard drives AirSharing doesn’t do a whole lot for me.
