With an App Store of 1.5 million apps and growing, iOS users may find themselves paralyzed by the paradox of choice when it comes to choosing apps. It’s overwhelming when you find yourself looking for, say, a financial management app and are suddenly faced with hundreds of options.
Within the massive App Store, there are iOS offerings to help you lead a healthier lifestyle, be more productive during the workday, or squander hours pursuing an elusive goal in a mindless but addicting game.
There are also a few apps that cost more than your iPhone, but chances are you’ll have little need for those — unless you happen to be a veterinarian, or want to play with a $300 digital snow globe.
The popularity of iOS apps shows no sign of slowing. With the release of a new iPhone hovering on the horizon, there’s a strong chance Apple could see even more downloads from its App Store.
What will people be downloading? It seems like every day there’s a batch of new, more convenient apps for traveling, health, and productivity. While it’s tough to keep track of them all, we rounded up a batch of apps to help with different aspects of your daily life.
The best part? These apps will cost only a few minutes of your time.
What are some of your favorite, convenient iPhone apps? We’d love to see a few recommendations in the comments section below.
Dashlane
This password manager and digital wallet recently arrived on iPhone and Apple Watch. Dashlane helps you adhere to the widely known Internet rule of frequently changing your passwords. Its one-touch password changer automatically updates your password across a variety of online accounts. So next time you get an email about a potential hack, you can quickly change your password.
TripIt
Vacation coming up on your calendar? Booking a spontaneous weekend away? Regardless of where your travels are taking you, you’ll want TripIt. The app collects all your travel data and compiles it into an itinerary accessible via phone or Web browser.
As if organization isn’t enough, TripIt also scans your schedule and proposes suggestions for activities and sightseeing spots depending on where you’ll be. You can access local weather, maps, and directions within the app as well.
BillGuard
BillGuard offers money tracking with the added security of identity-theft protection. The financial management app lets you view how you’re spending money across a variety of categories. It learns more about your habits over time, so it can effectively detect fraudulent charges. You can also use the tool to connect online credit card statements; the app will highlight merchants that charge for services you may have forgotten or didn’t know you were paying for.
As a partner of US credit bureau Experian, BillGuard lets you receive credit and identity-theft alerts within the app if you’re an Experian ProtectMyID member.
CamScanner
This pocket scanner leverages your smartphone camera to scan key documents such as notes, receipts, meeting brainstorms, business cards, and invoices. You can crop and enhance images, share documents in PDF or JPEG files, and invite coworkers or friends to see or comment on documents you scan.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Looking for an image editor that’s not Instagram? Photoshop has arrived on mobile with Photoshop Express, a free editing app for iOS. It’s a reliable and handy tool for editing iPhone photos on the go, and addresses specific editing needs — like getting the glare out of your pet’s eyes.
Fresh Air
Weather apps are useful. Weather apps that integrate with your calendar are even better. Enter Fresh Air, which offers all the weather data of other apps (temperature, how warm/cold it feels, precipitation, wind, humidity) but also tells you how the forecast will affect your day. The app provides a weather graph, notifications, and calendar for the events you have planned so you can make adjustments if necessary.
Gogobot
Whether you’re traveling or spending a weekend in your hometown, Gogobot can provide a few helpful suggestions for places to go and sights to see. When you register with Gogobot, you join one or more “tribes" to receive recommendations that suit your interests. After you select your tribes, the app filters activity results based on suggestions from other people with the same interests as you.
Lingua.ly
This educational app has a different approach to helping you learn another language. You can use lingua.ly to read articles and tap on words you don’t know for instant translation, as well as reinforce your new knowledge with multimedia flashcards.
Prismatic
Prismatic helps you stay updated with news about your interests and hobbies. Simply choose the topics that interest you,and Prismatic will dig up content based on the popularity of relevant articles. When you’re not browsing content, you can chat with friends and share or comment on different stories.
Sleep Time
This smart alarm clock analyzes your sleep pattern and wakes you up at a time that’s best for your rest cycle. The app provides access to 20 different built-in alarms, the option to wake up to a song from iTunes, monthly and weekly graphs of your sleep cycle, and the option to fall asleep to soundscapes or white noise. Sleep Time is integrated with iOS 8 and Apple Health.
(Source: Informations week by Kelly Sheridan )