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There are thousands of iOS apps to choose from - so many, in fact, that it can be hard to suss out which ones are worth downloading to try.
Whether you’re an experienced iPhone user or someone who has recently left Android foriOS, finding the perfect app for, say, sendingemail, checking the weather, jotting notes or playing a relaxinggameis no easy task. You have a multitude of options, and with the Apple App Store serving up ads in some search results, it’s even more difficult to discern which apps are the best. Luckily, we at Pocket-lint have tried more apps than you’re able to imagine and have been using the iPhone since it first released.
To help you out, we’ve made this ultimate guide to the bestiPhoneapps. Download any of these, and you won’t be disappointed. We ordered the apps by category to make it easy to digest.
Best iPhone audiobook and podcast apps
Audiobooks and podcasts are a great way to speed up a long drive or make a workout a little easier. Deciding on which app to use to listen to your podcasts can be as simple as using the built-in Apple Podcast app on your iPhone. However, there are some better options out there in our opinion.
Overcast is an app specifically designed for podcasts, with a host of cool features that similar apps lack. That includes a Smart Speed feature. It speeds up your podcast during pauses in speech or other lulls. Voice Boost is another feature that improves audio quality of Podcast speakers, making it so everyone’s voice hits your ears at the same volume.
Other top audiobooks and podcast app picks
Our other picks are all great options but are pretty interchangeable.
Best iPhone e-book and reading apps
Reading a book might be the one way you can stare at your phone for hours on end without feeling bad after. Of course, spending hours reading a book means picking an app. Apple offers its built-in Books app on your iPhone, but we went with another big-name book app for our No. 1 choice.
Kindle is the reading app from Amazon. It’s our No. 1 choice because the app turns your iPhone into a Kindle e-reader whenever you open it.You get the same great features from Kindle, like X-Ray reference tool or the WhisperSync feature that will read the book aloud while you read along.
Other top iPhone e-book and reading app picks
Our other top book picks each come from Apple and Google. They are fairly similar, but we would rank the Google Play Books and Audiobooks app ahead of Apple Books just because it’s a little more versatile by easily letting you open your books in other apps.
Best iPhone dating apps
If you’re single, dating apps can be a great way to meet that special someone. Of course, it may just take wading through a few thousand not-so-special someones in order to get to a person worth your time. To get that number down, here are our best dating apps for the iPhone.
Bumble works by giving women the power to make the first move, making like the Sadie Hawkins dance of dating apps.After a woman matches with a man, that guy will have 24 hours to respond. In same-gender matches, matches with two non-binary people, or matches between non-binary people and men, either side will be able to make the first move.
Other top dating app picks
Best iPhone finance apps
Finance apps can encompass many apps that all do different things. We led off our list with the built-in Apple Wallet mostly because of one feature, but each app we’ve included in our other top finance picks also contains really valuable tools to help you save money, purchase stocks, or just split a bill with friends.
Apple Wallet
Apple Wallet offers Apple Pay, which lets you pay with a tap at most stores using just your phone.You can also apply for Apple’s credit card or apply to get a new Apple device on credit within the Wallet app as well.
Other top iPhone finance apps
The App Store offers a ton of apps aimed at helping your finances in all sorts of ways, from investing to sending money to friends.
Best iPhone games
The best game for you will probably come down to what type of games you enjoy. Luckily, there’s a ton of options to choose from. If you’re interested in taking full advantage of what the iPhone can do gaming-wise, check out the Apple Arcade subscription. It’ll give you free access to over 200+ games in the App Store.
Despite being six years old, Fortnite is still one of the most popular console games, which makes it an easy choice for our top gaming app.Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite, has had problems with Apple in the past regarding splitting up profits from Fortnite, so you’ll have to download the game from the Epic Games store.
Best other iPhone games
Whether you’re into classic games like Oregon Trail or the newest indie developer titles, there is a never-ending list of options for gamers directly in the App Store. Here are some more of the best picks:
Best iPhone health and fitness apps
Tracking your health and fitness has never been easier with an iPhone. The top two iPhone Health and Fitness are, well, Apple’s Health and Fitness apps. It might seem obvious, but they offer great features and are free with the iPhone - while many of the other great health and fitness apps have subscription tiers. There are still many other awesome apps that offer specific benefits for tracking your diet and workouts, or monitoring how you sleep at night.
Apple Health and Fitness
The best options for health and fitness apps in an iPhone come straight from Apple.Apple’s HealthandFitnessapps let you monitor your steps, as well as your heart rate and other vitals if you have an Apple Watch. They also can track how you’re sleeping and the effectiveness of your workouts.
Other iPhone health and fitness app choices
While the Apple in-house apps do a great job giving you a little bit of everything, there are other apps that might be perfect for a more specific issue, like sleeping trouble or dieting help.
Best iPhone music app
Taking your music with you everywhere you go has always been one of the best parts of having an iPhone. Now the problem is just deciding which service you’d like to go with.
Spotify is our pick as the best music streaming app for iPhones. Spotify uses. the lossy Ogg Vorbis audio format for high-quality streaming 320kbps audio. That goes along with an ever-expanding list of features that include car mode, crossfading tracks, and remote group sessions.
Other top iPhone music apps
There are other great music streaming apps to pick from - depending on what you’re looking for and how you like to listen to your music. There’s also music editing apps, like Garageband, as well.
Best iPhone photo and video apps
One of the most impressive parts of every iPhone are its cameras and, of course, there are apps that give you access to new photo-editing tools to make those impressive pictures even better. There’s also a selection of apps that will supercharge the power of your iPhone camera. We went with Google Photos as our top photo and video app. The main difference between it and our second choice, Adobe Lightroom, is that Google Photos is free.
Google Photos
Google Photos is our choice for best photo and video app.Photos offers the obvious perks you’d expect like unlimited storage of all your pictures and videos. It also has easy to use editing features to help verify everyone looks great in all your pics.
Other top iPhone camera and photo apps
In addition to Google Photos, there are also more intensive photo editing apps, like Adobe Lightroom, as well as apps that improve your camera performance in the app store.
Best iPhone security apps
We most often think of security apps like Norton and McAfee as tools for our desktops and laptops. Our phones can be exposed to more viruses and malware than those devices, so it makes sense to protect our phones the same way.
Norton 360
Norton 360 offers antivirus and malware protection for your phone, as well as a password manager, a smart firewall, and 2GB of Cloud backup storage. There are more features, including NortonVPN, available for higher subscription tiers.
Other top iPhone security apps
The most important factor in choosing a security app is making sure you’re dealing with a reputable and trustworthy company. Cheaper security apps can just be fronts for harvesting your data. Here’s a couple more quality security apps.
Best iPhone shopping apps
Shopping is one of the best ways to pass the time on your phone. Which one you should go with is all dependent on what you’re looking for, and how fast you need it on your doorstep. For those two reasons, Amazon Shopping is our top pick for iPhone shopping apps.
Amazon offers two-day shipping to all Amazon Prime members. Their online shop allows users to find just about anything they’re looking to buy. Those two factors alone make it one of the iPhone shopping apps, before adding in exclusive sale events like Prime Day.
Other top iPhone shopping picks
Walmart offers the next best thing to the Amazon Shopping app, but if you’re looking for specific products, like furniture, clothing, or jewellery, there are tons of specialized retailers with great apps.
