The 100 Best iPhone Apps

What's an iPhone without apps? Here are 100 of the best apps of all time, apps that every iPhone owner should consider installing.

Contents

• The 100 Best iPhone Apps
• Browsers and Reference (1-10)
• Organization and Productivity (11-22)
• Utility (23-30)
• Communication and Social (31-40)
• Games (41-52)
• Music and Video (53-61)
• Photography, Hobbies, Finance (62-70)
• Health and Cooking (71-77)
• Reading (78-87)
• Shopping (88-95)
• Travel (96-100)

Need new iPhone apps? Maybe you're new to the iPhone, or perhaps you're a long-time iPhone owner who has too many apps and needs to find replacements that are more multi-purpose than the single-purpose apps currently cluttering your phone. In this article, we round up the best 100 iPhone apps we know of.
Before you start downloading more apps willy-nilly, make sure you've updated your operating system to the latest version (iOS 5.1 at the time of this writing). There are features in Apple's own mobile operating system that are as good and useful as any app on this list—especially true since iOS 5's release. For example, iMessage now bypasses SMS texting charges by using Wi-Fi when it's available for iOS-to-iOS messages. That helps you save money. Other Apple apps, like Find My iPhone, require iOS 5 to work.
Plenty of amazing apps can be found in the App Store. Word-of-mouth advice from friends is useful in helping you decide which ones you might like, but we at PCMag spend thousands of hours each year scouring iTunes, speaking with developers, reviewing the best apps we find, and hunting for hidden gems. If there's an app that makes owning the iPhone more worthwhile, we find out about it.

View Slideshow See all (100) slides

More

The 100 apps that made the cut for this list are the ones that have shown outstanding performance, have been almost universally liked by users young and old, or have had a solid history of being among the first apps we'd recommend new users download. Many of the apps listed here are free, a few cost a couple of dollars, and the priciest one on this list will only set you back about $10.
Missing from this list are apps that come pre-installed on the iPhone, although they are certainly not to be overlooked. The YouTube, Maps, and Clocks apps in particular should not be ignored, while the iTunes, iPod, and App Store apps typically see a fair share of well-deserved usage, too. iPhone 4S users may love (or loath) Siri, which is not on this list—but alternatives to Siri sure are.
The Apple App Store is expansive, and certainly, we don't know about every hidden gem of an app that's out there. If there's a great app you love, please tell us and other readers about it in the comments at the end of the article.—Next: Browsers and Reference (1-10) >

The 35 Best Mac Apps

Whether you're a Mac newcomer or seasoned veteran, these 35 apps will make your OS X experience more fun and productive.

Contents

• The 35 Best Mac Apps
• Creativity Apps
• Productivity Apps
• Utilities Apps
• Syncing Apps
• Browsers
• Audio and Video
• Communication

According to data analyst firm Gartner, the Mac's market share reached 11.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. In fact, Apple was the only personal computer vendor in the United States of America to see growth. The upshot of both these factoids is that there are more new people exploring the OS X platform than before. If you count yourself among the new Mac users group, you're probably wondering which apps are the ones you should check out. And, even if you're a longtime Mac user, you can always use a few helpful suggestions for improving your Mac experience. Regardless of your affiliation, we have a must-read list for you.
The 35 Best Mac Apps highlights the software that you should download to your OS X desktop or laptop right now. The apps will help you express your creativity, be more productive, browse the Web, communicate with others, and much more. Some of the apps are exclusive to the OS X platform; others are cross-platformers that you'll find on Windows and Linux. One of the apps even lets you run Windows and Linux within OS X, opening the door to even more apps than what the Mac natively supports. Note that there's one big category that we've left out here on purpose: games. We'll handle Mac games in their own story at a later date.

View Slideshow See all (35) slides

More

Click on the slideshow to get started or check out the category menu on the right to see the 35 best Mac apps indexed by category. Do you feel that there are some high quality Mac apps that we've missed? This is our first cut at a story that we plan to keep expanding, so we're very eager to hear your suggestions in the comment section below. Who knows? Maybe your suggestion may end up in the next version of this story.—Next: Creativity Apps >

10 iPad Apps Everyone Should Have

Own an iPad? Download these 10 essential iPad apps immediately

The first thing most people do after buying an Apple iPad is head to iTunes and start downloading apps. But with thousands to choose from, where do you start? Sure, Apple makes some recommendations, but who knows how they create their list. Apple also makes it pretty easy to see what is most popular, but does anyone really need three different versions of Angry Birds? If you want essential apps that improve almost everything you do with your iPad, start with this list of 10.
Before I continue, I should say that this is my personal list. Although I solicited suggestions from the PCMag staff, there was no way we could all agree on the same 10. To make it concise, I had to make it personal. So any omissions are my fault entirely. That said, I think the list is pretty killer. (If you're looking for the overall best iPad apps, check out our feature story.)
I had just a couple of requirements for this list. The apps had to have wide appeal among average users. Sketch for the iPad is certainly a killer app, but if your artistic abilities are like mine—the word "limited" comes to mind—it is useless to you. Likewise, the Bloomberg iPad App is the best way to track your investments, but, after a year with unemployment at over eight percent, precious few of us have those anymore. When I say these apps are essential for every man, woman and child, I mean it.
Before we get to the new winners, I should briefly mention the Apps that are getting bumped from the list. They are all still great apps, but they just can't keep their spots the top ten. Instapaper was simply replaced with a faster, more stable app that offers the same functionality. Others, like Angry Birds, just got old. But don't worry, change is good.
Of course, you are probably going to download and install a lot more than this, but consider these apps a great start. Click on the image below to start the slideshow and get all ten of my picks.

View Slideshow See all (10) slides

More