thecoffeehouse | smartphone apps

This post was mostly born out of selfishness as I am very interested in any make-your-life-easier kind of apps, so I want to hear what people use. :D

But here are my favorite apps and games (I use android but I'd be surprised if any of these aren't available for iphone):

task-oriented

Aldiko (great ebook reader)
ComicRack Free (comic book reader)
Easy Unrar, Unzip & Zip
Fitocracy (need an account at fitocracy.com, which is free, but it makes it easy to track your workouts)
TeslaLED Flashlight (my phone didn't come with a flashlight app so I had to get my own)
Zombies, Run! (this is pay; it turns out I can't stick to running so I don't use it anymore BUT for people who run you might be interested. While you listen, it plays your music interspersed with radio communications about how the zombies are chasing you and you have to runnnnnnn to not be eaten, and other fun stuff :D)

games

100 Doors 2013
100 Doors of Revenge
Can You Escape
Doors & Rooms (I realllllly love escape games! I'm working on these four)
Jewels Saga (so addictive, I just beat the game and needed more gem-related gameage, so..)
Gems Journey (from a different maker, not quuuite as awesome as Jewels Saga but still pretty good and challenging)

other

Goodreads (has a barcode scanner! it's been making it really easy for me to catalog my library)
Pinterest (I'm a casual pinterest-er but their app is pretty easy to use)

I love the Zombies, run app! (And jewels saga as well)

I use what's app which is basically chatting but i can use it to text people internationally. Its basically the greatest app everrrrrrrrrr.

and i used to play words with friends but it turns out my attention span is -2324% so i have ended all my games and play like 1 turn every 4 days or something.

that's it. the rest of the stuff i use came with the phone.

How does what's app work? You and all of your friends have to have it to use it? I'd really like something that allowed me to chat with my google chat friends (ok, mostly my sister). I read in the description that it costs a dollar to use after a year too?

Yeah i just add peoples numbers, and then they can "text" me while they are connected to the internet.

i've never had to pay to use it, they say that but its not really true. there are other similar apps

I love whatsapp! Talk to my buddy in Glasgow!

its so great!

I've been looking for an app for Android that would allow me to make a list of tasks and then pick a random one from the list. Anyone have any suggestions?

(what I need is a feature something like what the Unfuck Your Habitat app has, only for all all sorts of tasks)

Favorite apps (for iPhone)
Utilities- Coverter+
Books/Reading- iBooks
News- Racing Post
Retail- Amazon, Starbucks
Lists- ClassManager, Do!, List! Lite, ShopShop
Games- Candy Crush, The Chase, ColorMania, Jelly Splash
Finance/Money/Discounts- Spending, Weekly Spend, UniDays (for students- mostly online discounts)
Miscellaneous- NoMoreSocks (gift giving tracker,) Flashlight (in case of power blackouts,) Big Day Lite (countdown,) NYC Subway (plots trips between stations or points of interest,) Postale (for making postcards,) Google Earth, Cardiograph (monitor your heartrate!)

watsapp - this is my favourite because I can basically txt my friends for free outside of the uk as long as I'm online. Woop.

goodreads - the app is really good and easy enough to use. i like to update where i am on a book when i finish reading so that i know that is where i got to on that exact day...not just the day i get to my computer >__<

instagram, twitter and facebook - are pretty standard these days but the googlestore versions of them run far better than the blackberry ones ever did.

eljay - basic posting app that can post to lj, ij, dw and journalfen if I remember right and reading the old reading list isn't too bad on it too. no more waiting years for the mobile websites to load.

atp/wta live gives me the tennis scores in a nice no nonsense fashion. it runs better than tournament's official apps tbh.

on the games front. angry birds and angry birds star wars are fun cause my phone is all touch screen now. i use it on the trains a lot when i'm anxious and i need a simple distraction. my fave game app though is Jurassic park builder. You get to build your own dinosaur park! You have to collect food to feed the beasts, build roads, buildings and you get set tasked and have to manage finances and stuff. i get very excited when i get a new egg. it runs better on my friend's ipod than it does on my phone. it can get a bit slow but i still love it.

I'd like to know more about this eljay. I know there's an "official" LJ app but I've heard bad things about it.

The official one always crashes on me but the eljay one is really simple to use. you just pick your platform at the top, give it your username and password and away it goes. you can choose from your icons, add all your usual tags and it has never crashed on me. i'm a little in love with it.

It's Android only! Alas.

On Android I use a Scrabble app and ColorNotes (though I keep meaning to try to find a note-taking app with better features because the limitations of CN are really starting to annoy me), 1Weather (which is awesome and like the other apps I list can run off your SD card), and I like GO! apps for messaging and home screen management but they're battery-killers.

I use BigButtons keyboard (even though my smartphone is currently a slider) because I cannot navigate a native Android keyboard to save my life. I'm not used to having a slider at all (I just got my first one about two months ago to replace a phone I had a for a year that I broke, so it's identical to that one except it has a slider now) so I keep using the soft keyboard in spite of no longer having to.

Android keyboards - the buttons are too small and I can never find certain ones. With BB the keyboard buttons are big and can be made bigger, text area height can be adjusted, there's intuitive punctuation and numerical placement...and I'm so used to it after running it for a year that I can't use any other soft keyboard now without looking for buttons in the spots BB puts them in.

I do use Flashlight apps too but don't have one installed right now.

Edited 2013-08-31 20:28 (UTC)

Slightly O/T, but curious how many DW users use an LJ/DW app? As far as I know there is no app for DW-only and none in the works. Also curious if LJ apps actually work for posting to DW.

iOS user here. I can only recommend a couple of apps but I'm very much behind them.

Twitter - Janetter. Janetter is a Japanese Twitter app that comes in iOS, Android and standalone PC varieties (I can recommend the PC and iOS experiences). I used to use yellow bird Tweetdeck and this is the only app that comes close to the essential perfection of that experience. Free, but I'm strongly considering buying it just to support the devs.

Podcasts - Downcast. This is a $2.99 app, but if you are a heavy podcast listener, it will make life so much easier for you. Browse, discover, manage downloads, stream, play speeds from .5x to 3x, inline podcast notes that don't arrive broken by formatting differences, playlists, export to OPML, iCloud synching, and more. I listen to more podcasts because of this app.

Youtube - Jasmine. iOS Youtube access is a hot, hot mess. Jasmine is super clean and it works like you expect it to. Log in to your Youtube account and get access to all of your subscriptions and things too.

Grocery shopping - Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Sustainable Seafood Guide. If you eat seafood you need to know where it's coming from and how to make the most sustainable and environmentally friendly choices. Type in a fish or sushi name and get ready to learn! Works offline!

Wikipedia - Wikipanion. Quick access to all of Wikipedia (requires internet) without having to open a browser. To be any easier, you'd need a bigger screen and a full keyboard.

Password Vault - MiniKeePass. I use Keepass for password management and having my passwords available on my device (protected by my password of course) has been a lifesaver. Works with iTunes and Dropbox for import and export, or create your own databases. If you don't use a password manager, consider it!

Apps
1) Check (Used to be Pageonce)--great for tracking bills and financials
2) MyFitnessPal - workout and food tracker (helped me lose 30 pounds)
3) Bible App by YouVersion.com--Best Bible app out there!
4) WhatsApp - keep in touch with people outside the country for free (and 99cents a year after). Audio, pics, etc. Basically a messenger app.

Games - Candy Crush. Addicting.

Edited 2013-09-01 00:12 (UTC)

Apps!

My current favourite app is Llama, which lets users set actions to occur automatically at particular time and location combinations. I tend to forget to turn up the volume on my phone during the day, so being able to do that automatically is awesome. Plus it uses cell towers rather than GPS to determine locations, so it doesn't totally kill my batter.

I'm also experimenting with Google Keep for lists (I love lists) and Falcon for Twitter. Both good so far. I occasionally use the Songza app for music, when I remember.

Current games are Fishing Superstars and Candy Crush.

I couple of apps that's been mentioned , but bears seconding .
I love Llama, which changes the audio profile according to time and or location, so I never have to remember to turn off the sound during choir practise and stuff like that.
I also use Endomondo to track my workouts and Zombies, run to make them fun.
I also like the BeyondPod to listen to and download Podcasts, and am currently trying out Wunderlist for all my list needs.
TripIt is another handy app if you travel a lot, it shows time of the next flight so you don't have search (your inbox/purse/house/offfice) for the tickets).
I also like the Dictionary.com app and widget.

ANd since I'm a Scrabble fan I use Wordfeud a lot. IT has games in English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish , Danish and Norwegian.

I'm an Android user and love the Aix weather widget which gives a handy glance over predicted temperate and precipitation the next 24 hours (hmm, 11° C and rain....).

I have an iPhone but I think most of these would be available on any other platform.

WhatsApp is pretty handy as other people have mentioned. I also use IMO messenger to log on to Gtalk if I'm out and about or just outside.

I much prefer Google Maps to the Apple Maps app and The Weather Channel app to the standard Weather app.

I have quite a few exercise apps Nike Running, Zombies!Run (this one is pay but its fun), Gym Pact (You make a pact to go to the gym so many days a week for at least 30 minutes and how much you want to fork over if you miss. Minimum of 1 day a week/$5 stake. You miss a day, it uses GPS to see if you're at the gym, you get charged x amount per day the end of the week. You meet your pact you'll split the pot with everyone else who met their pact. You don't earn a lot of money weekly but it adds up and is good incentive, for me anyway. You connect it with your PayPal account and you can withdraw when it gets to $10.), Run Keeper (I use this in conjunction with Gym Pact when I run outside. It will sync your run to Gym Pact.)

I really like the Walgreens app because I can send pictures to be printed from my phone. Goodreads is really handy too. Great way to keep track of your books and where you are in a given book. Also barcode scanner! Pinterest is surprisingly addictive and a good way to bookmark recipes and random stuff I find on there.

Mixology has a bunch of different drink recipes. You can search by name, category & ingredient. Its fun if you're looking for a new drink to try/make. You can also use to to find bars/liquor stores. Dropbox is handy if you have a Dropbox account.

Oh, mixology sounds like something I should get.

I like it a lot. Haha. Plus it's also something to mess around with when I'm bored. Lol.

Music & video:
Pandora and Vimeo

Reading & stuff:
Wattpad, stanza (syncs with my calibre database), goodreads & audible

Lists:
ShopListFree for my thrilling and exciting grocery lists
Clear for to-do lists

FOOD:
starbucks, livestrong, CKP pizza dough

SOCIAL:
I use twitter on my phone a lot. Besides email it's probably my most often used app.
I even have a chatzy app for team enabler, but rarely use it on my phone.

Games:
candy crush (damnit!), PvZ, Uno, Stargate Unleashed (which I'm horrible at), Star Wars Angry Birds

smartphone apps

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