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Jul
09
2009

The 101 best iPhone apps in the world today

Absolutely, without doubt, the greatest 101 iPhone apps available now.

app-store-birthday.jpg

In celebration of the App Store turning one this weekend, and in an attempt to try to prove to Dan that it's not a load of novelty nonsense, I now present to you the 101 best iPhone apps in the world today.

Quite some claim, huh? I know that one of your favourites won't be listed here, and you'll be shocked, appalled or just mildly ticked off that I've dared to include X or Y by Company Z, but there you go -- that's lists for you.

Feel free to tell us what your favourite iPhone apps are. I've tried to include a cross-section of games, serious apps, productivity, lifestyle and other apps, but of course I'm biased. I'd be happy to have all of these on my iPhone. Some of them are free, some are rather pricey, but I believe they're worthy of the list.

Just don't blame me if you buy something from this list and don't like it. Deal?

Here we go. Hop over the jump to see the list.

1

Ocarina

Play a virtual ocarina by blowing into the iPhone's microphone and playing notes on the touchscreen.		Music Creation59pDownload

2

Wurdle

Addictive Boggle-style word game with loads of options, global high scores, word definitions.		Game£1.19Download

3

Bejeweled 2

The classic addictive puzzle on your iPhone. 		Game£1.79Download

4

Brothers in Arms

Play as a soldier of the 101st Airborne in intense WWII battles. 		Game£2.99Download

5

Bloom

Amazing sound generator devised by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers. Has to be played to be believed.		Music Creation£2.39Download

6

FerrariGT: Evolution

Realistic and immersive motor racing game featuring the world famous Italian cars		Game£2.99Download

7

Fring

Connect through multiple instant messaging clients from the same application.		CommunicationFreeDownload

8

Skype

Full-featured iPhone version of Skype, including voice calls, SMS and IM		CommunicationFreeDownload

9

Google Earth

Get the amazing Google Earth experience on your iPhone		EntertainmentFreeDownload

10

iBlueSky

Draw, store and export mind-maps on your iPhone. 		Productivity£5.99Download

11

TweetDeck

Portable version of the immensely popular Twitter client		CommunicationFreeDownload

12

Noise.io Pro

Incredible and fully-featured synthesizer with sound editing.		Music Creation£5.49Download

13

Platypus

The "squishy shoot 'em up", this sideways scrolling arcade game is great fun and a challenge at higher levels.		Game£2.99Download

14

Remote

Apple's own wireless iTunes controller. 		EntertainmentFreeDownload

15

Soundcurtain

If you struggle trying to concentrate with irritating noises going on all around you, try Soundcurtain which uses FutureAcoustic a3 technology to mask them.		Audio£2.39Download

16

Spore Origins

EA's classic game of evolution on your iPhone. Grow yourself a creature then help it survive its world.		Game£1.79Download

17

Stanza

EBook reader with support for thousands of titles from Lexcycle plus import of your own documentation.		EntertainmentFreeDownload

18

Star Guitar

Simulate different guitars simply by tapping a few buttons.		Music Creation£1.79Download

19

Synthpond

Amazing sound creation tool based on orbiting shapes, great visuals as well as sound. Loads of options.		Music Creation£1.19Download

20

TouchTerm Pro SSH

Connect securely to the command line interface of any Internet-connected computer/server.		Utilities£2.99Download

21

WordPress

Maintain your WordPress blog from this standalone application.		InternetFreeDownload

22

Sky News

Keep up-to-date with the latest news from one of its leading gatherers.		NewsFreeDownload

23

My Little Tank

Arcade style action on a miniature scale. Blast your tiny tanks into action.		Game£1.79Download

24

London Tube Deluxe

Never get lost in underground London again with this really useful map app.		Lifestyle59pDownload

25

Let's Golf!

Cutesy golfing game that's easy to play.		Game£1.19Download

26

Brushes

Cool finger drawing app that goes a bit beyond the standard.		Art£2.99Download

27

Peggle

iPhone version of this classic casual game with some nice touches.		Game£2.99Download

28

Air Mouse Pro

Control your computer from afar by using your iPhone as a wireless mouse		Utility£1.19Download

29

Facebook

Connect to your Facebook account anytime you want.		Social NetworkFreeDownload

30

Shazam

Find out what that song you've just heard is and then share it or buy it.		MusicFreeDownload

31

Tap Tap Revenge

Awesome music rhythm game, simply tap with your fingers and attain rock stardom.		Game59pDownload

32

PDF Reader Pro

Read and manage PDF files on your iPhone with ease		Utility59pDownload

33

Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy

Learn about the night sky and everything in it with this cool astronomy app.		Education£1.79Download

34

Kids Game Pack

Keep the children happy with this collection of nine simple games from Jirbo.		Game59pDownload

35

Koi Pond

Cool simulation of Koi in a river.		Entertainment59pDownload

36

Bento

Manage databases with ease with Filemaker's mobile app.		Utility£2.99Download

37

RunKeeper Pro

Track your running routines with ease.		Health & Fitness£5.99Download

38

iVideo Cocktails

Discover a whole world of cocktail mixing with this app.		Entertainment£1.19Download

39

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D

Awesome racing game.		Game£3.49Download

40

Virtual Pool Online

Ultra-realistic 3D pool gaming.		Game£1.79Download

41

Shanghai Mahjong

Enjoy this ancient strategy game on your iPhone		Game£2.99Download

42

Photogene

Awesome image manipulation tool with features you'd normally only get on the desktop		Photography£1.79Download

43

LinkedIn

Connect to your business pals wherever you are.		Social NetworkFreeDownload

44

Decibel

Find out just how loud your neighbours are with this handy noise meter.		Utility59pDownload

45

Sketch Pad - Unlimited Canvas

Draw, doodle, write notes on a huge canvas. Great for notes and scribbles.		Productivity59pDownload

46

Evernote

Keep track of your life with multimedia notes, voice recording, syncing and more.		ProductivityFreeDownload

47

ShapeWriter Pro

Interesting new method of inputting text by drawing over a virtual keyboard.		Utility£2.99Download

48

eBay Mobile

Check your eBay account wherever you are.		InternetFreeDownload

49

Drinks

Make a huge range of drinks with this recipe database.		Lifestyle£1.19Download

50

Mocha VNC

Connect to your PC or Mac and control it from your iPhone.		Utility£3.49Download

51

Radio

Listen to a huge range of Internet radio stations.		Entertainment59pDownload

52

BeatMaker

Awesome music creation studio featuring drum machines, sampling, audio effects and a lot more.		Music Creation£11.99Download

53

Midomi

Hum or whistle that irritating tune and Midomi will find out what it is.		Entertainment£2.99Download

54

Absolute Fitness

Track diet, exercise, weight, set goals and much more.		Health & Fitness£8.99Download

55

Crosswords

Addicts unite with this handy portable crossword game.		Game£5.99Download

56

Air Sharing

Share documents from your computer over Wi-Fi		Utility£2.99Download

57

PanoLab

Create panoramic stitching photos.		PhotographyFreeDownload

58

Simplify Media

Remotely access your computer's iTunes library from your iPhone.		Music£2.39Download

59

Tioti TV+

Get up-to-date listings for all major UK TV stations.		Entertainment£1.79Download

60

X2 Football 2009

Realistic arcade football simulation.		Game£3.99Download

61

Weight Tracker

Track weight, set goals, set up for multiple users.		Health & Fitness59pDownload

62

TypePad

Maintain your TypePad blog with this free software.		InternetFreeDownload

63

Keeper Password & Data Vault

If you have to store your passwords somewhere in order to remember them, Keeper is the place to do it.		UtilityFreeDownload

64

Wolfenstein 3D Classic

The classic first person shooter on your iPhone		Game£1.79Download

65

Movies

Get up-to-date information about films showing in your area.		EntertainmentFreeDownload

66

Urbanspoon

Find the best local places to eat out with just a shake.		LifestyleFreeDownload

67

Dictionary.com

Exactly what it says - find dictionary definitions without needing a Net connection.		UtilityFreeDownload

68

Etch-a-Sketch

Put a virtual Etch-a-Sketch on your iPhone.		Game£1.19Download

69

Vicinity

Find out what's around you.		Lifestyle£1.79Download

70

Currency

Quickly find exchange rate information and convert amounts.		UtilityFreeDownload

71

Astraware Board Games

A collection of classic board games for your iPhone including Chess, checkers, Ludo, Snakes & Ladders.		Game£1.79Download

72

Brain Challenge

Give your brain a serious workout with these training exercises.		Game£2.99Download

73

Guitar Rock Tour

Perfect your guitar and drumming technique to classic rock tracks.		Game£1.79Download

74

iBrainWave

Create binaural beats, white noise and other sounds.		Health & Fitness£2.39Download

75

Last.fm

Free streaming music tracks to your iPhone.		MusicFreeDownload

76

Kaleido

Turn your photos into kaleidoscopes.		Art£1.79Download

77

a2z Pro Unit Converter

Convert pretty much anything to anything else with this extensive conversion tool.		UtilityFreeDownload

78

Super Monkey Ball

One of Sega's first, and one of the best. Takes some getting used to but worth playing		Game£3.49Download

79

Palettes

Great for the mobile graphic designer or artist needing to work with colour palettes.		Productivity£5.99Download

80

WhatTheFont

Find out what any font is by taking a photo of it and then matching it to this font database.		ProductivityFreeDownload

81

WorkTimer

For the freelancer or contractor, or anyone who wants to know how much time they spend on various projects.		Productivity59pDownload

82

PhotoBucket

View and manage PhotoBucket photos.		ArtFreeDownload

83

iFirstAid Lite

Look up common first aid and health issues in this database.		Health & FitnessFreeDownload

84

Metal Gear Solid Touch

Explosive action comes to your iPhone with the hit MGS4: Guns of the Patriots		Game£4.99Download

85

Sketches

Nice little sketching/drawing app.		Art£2.99Download

86

GeoCaching

Take part in the GeoCaching craze with this app.		Lifestyle£5.99Download

87

CameraBag

Add new effects to your photos and enhance the iPhone's built-in camera abilities.		Photography£1.19Download

88

Night Stand

Turn your iPhone into a bedside alarm clock with this cool little app.		Utility59pDownload

89

OmniFocus

Extensive task management and productivity suite.		Productivity£11.99Download

90

KuGon

Improve critical thinking, speed and memory with these brain teasers.		Game£1.79Download

91

Trism

Cool matching game using iPhone's accelerometer to great effect.		Game£1.79Download

92

Rhapsolyric

Find lyrics to songs in your iTunes library.		MusicFreeDownload

93

GolfCard

Keep a track of your round with this handy golf app. Over 23,000 courses worldwide are in the database.		Lifestyle£4.99Download

94

RjDj

Download "musical worlds" from different artists. Needs to be heard to be believed.		MusicFreeDownload

95

Wiki Tap

Wikipedia on the iPhone with quick searching, saved viewing history and more.		ReferenceFreeDownload

96

Night Camera

Attempts to create better nighttime shots by only taking pictures when the iPhone is still, thus reducing motion shake.		Photography59pDownload

97

TappyTunes

Cute little music game ideal for young kids. Preloaded music is played simply by tapping the screen.		Music£1.19Download

98

BookWorm

Nice word-building puzzle game, aimed at kids but with enough options to keep adults entertained. 		Game£2.99Download

99

iFlashReady

Software-based flash manipulates and improves images. 		Photography59pDownload

100

Type Drawing

Fun drawing tool which lets you draw with letters.		Art59pDownload

101

Comic Touch

Add special effects and comic-like speech bubbles to your photos.		Art£1.79Download



Still want more apps?

Here's the top 10 iPhone gaming apps

Here's the top ten iPhone music apps

And here's ten really useful iPhone apps

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comments

I'm surprised that you haven't any of my Fave apps in the above list.

Games

1) Lux Touch - Free - This is basically High Speed RISK (board game), and its free

2) Parallel Kingdoms - Free - Online MMORPG using real locations on a google maps backdrop.

3) geodefence - £2.39 - in my mind this is the best tower defence game out there.

4) Galcon - £1.79 (lite version available) - This is basically a rts game. Single player is ok but where it shines is the online battles. This was one of the first multiplayer games for the iPhone and is still one of the best

Apps


1) TED - Free - This is instant access to all of the TED lectures. TED is an invitation only lecture series where guest speakers talk for max 15 mins on something amazing. Sounds dull but it isnt. The topics are so wide ranging that even one of my chav friends was impressed (hes normally only impressed by stella and 'birds')

2) Ifooty - Free - I know nothing about football. BUT at a press of an icon I can find out how any football game is going with live kick by kick.

3) Accuweather - Free - Much weather app than the standard one.

4) Last FM - Free - Last FM in your pocket. Every genre of music just a click away.

Stretchy | July 9, 2009 3:08 PM | Reply

apology - I accused you of not having last.fm in your list, yet its at 75. :)

Stretchy | July 9, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply

By the way, something at #75 is no less good than at #1 - these are all "cream of the crop" and aren't really ordered in any other way.

Andy Merrett replied to comment from Stretchy | July 9, 2009 5:38 PM | Reply

Nice list Stretchy. It's always going to be difficult picking 101 (or even 1001) from the myriad of apps in the store. About a quarter of the list I've created are games, and I've maybe over-represented some of the music creation apps as well (good though they are, and there were plenty more) as that's what I'm into.

Andy Merrett | July 9, 2009 3:50 PM | Reply

Interesting list - thanks for sharing! I don't know how you got your ranking scheme together - I put my hot apps on page 1 of my iPhone screen and everything else in the depths for occasional use with promotion to page 1 if they beat out a contender. My first page includes some you've missed:
Guitar Toolkit: tuner, chords and more - essential for budding musicians
At Bat Lite - only lite because MLB fumbled the ball last year by not making it clear we'd be charged every season for the full video clip version.
Kindle- without a doubt my favorite fun app on the phone
SenseApp - tracking Google AdSense revenue for my sites
AppSales - available for compilation only from google code allows you to track iPhone app downloads
Summizer - track twitter searches
Lose It! - calorie counting and weight tracking
Things - best TODO application ever - synchs to Mac desktop app
WalkJogRun - sure I'm biassed but my app is the only app to help you find exercise routes wherever you travel

Adam Howitt | July 9, 2009 5:19 PM | Reply

Hi Adam,

Combination of the apps I like, what I know other people like, other lists assembled over time, hot lists in various categories, and so on.

The guitar toolkit would defo be useful.

Andy Merrett replied to comment from Adam Howitt | July 9, 2009 5:36 PM | Reply

Nice list but you missed one of the great and important apps: i.TV - TV Listing based on location and service.

Jeremy Cronan | July 9, 2009 5:23 PM | Reply

Hadn't come across that Jeremy. I tried to limit my apps to ones that would be of most use to people in the UK, and Tioti does pretty well there, but I'll check out your suggestion.

Andy Merrett replied to comment from Jeremy Cronan | July 9, 2009 5:37 PM | Reply

CardStar, CardStar and of course, CardStar.

Libby | July 9, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply

Surprised not to see Rolando, Rolando 2, Star Defense and Real Racing up there.

LiamW | July 9, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply

Jaadu vnc???

Charles | July 9, 2009 5:56 PM | Reply

5 more that I'd include:

Tweetie
Zen Bound
Scramboni
Bebot
Convertbot

Ian | July 9, 2009 8:42 PM | Reply

What about:

Pandora
AOL Radio
3-tuple
Cube Runner
iChess

mick remondono | July 10, 2009 5:51 AM | Reply

#16 Spore Origins

REALLY?

where are great, innovative, award winning games like EDGE, ELISS and ROLANDO 2?

Instead you list the lazy Super Monkey Ball port with awful accelerometer support, and the absolutely uninspired Spore, which EA really should give away for free.

This list is a big disappointment and doesn't reflect real quality nor what the iPhone community truly loves.

Newjorg | July 10, 2009 6:02 AM | Reply

Great additional suggestions coming out.

@Newjorg: not sure which community you're talking to - I'd hate to think that I'm in the exact same homogenised community as EVERY other iPhone owner.

I quite liked SMB, and I'm not sure why EA should have to give its stuff away for free (appalling DRM issues on the PC version of Spore aside).

I'm hearing a lot of support for ROLANDO 2 which is great - I've not tried it myself but probably will give it a go.

Also, I didn't want to flood the list with games as they're not the only thing in the store. I suspect if I'd listed the 101 best iPhone games I still wouldn't have got it anywhere near right.

Andy Merrett | July 10, 2009 7:54 AM | Reply

I love the Amazon app - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000291661 - with free shipping from Amazon I end up saving money... I sent a photo from Best Buy and find out they're ripping me off LOL

spamgirl | July 13, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply

I love the Amazon app - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000291661 - with free shipping from Amazon I end up saving money... I sent a photo from Best Buy and find out they're ripping me off LOL

spamgirl | July 13, 2009 9:27 PM | Reply

if you run/bike, the best application ever is RunKeeper, a free app that uses the iphone's GPS to track your fitness activities on a map (and much more!!)

RunKeeper, free GPS tracking for iPhone

ruggero | July 27, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply

Hey what about an iPhone wiki which can store lots more and cross link everything, plus link out to the internet like the foks at http://www.mobilewikiserver.com offer.

john | August 15, 2009 11:45 PM | Reply

New - iPhone App - Meeting God - pass it on!

Paul Wareing | August 21, 2009 12:45 PM | Reply

You can't have a top iPhone app list without including a sexy screen wash app !!!

The best app by far is iControl Sexy Screen Wash. Mark up your screen - and a sexy girl teleports in to clean up after you. It's pure $0.99 awesomeness.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=317242751&mt=8&uo=6

Ajo | September 11, 2009 9:48 PM | Reply

One of the newest most fun apps is PUFF! from Japan, just don't let your girlfriend see it!
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/japanese-iphone-upskirt-panchira-app-puff/

ralph | October 5, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply

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KERRY | October 15, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply

Hey, you missed iJot!

www.itunes.com/app/ijot

Way cool...

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