February 22nd, 2013Top StoryThe Best Alternatives for Every Pre-Loaded iPhone AppBy Leslie Horn
 Messages - GroupMe: This is hands down one of the best ways to text, especially amongst different groups of friends or colleagues. The best part is it's totally free, on any platform you can think of, and compatible with SMS. Free  Mail - Mailbox: Mailbox totally rethinks your relationship with email, teaching you better habits through its unique interface. The only catch? A waiting list before you get to try its wares. Free  iCal - Sunrise: Sunrise pulls in your Google and Facebook Calendars, shows you the weather for the day, and gives you directions to scheduled events using Google Maps. It even lets you wish someone a happy birthday via text without leaving the app. Also? It looks beautiful. $2  Camera - Camera+: Technically there's nothing wrong with the stock iOS Camera app. It's just that Camera+ will make your photos look so much better with lots of filters and more powerful editing tools. $1  Videos - GoodPlayer: Never run into a video format that your player won't support. GoodPlayer works with everything from AVI to Xvid to Dvix to FLV to pretty much anything else you can throw at it, so you can watch whatever you want without having to convert it first. $3  Notes - Evernote: Like Apple notes, Evernote syncs your jots across devices. But it also lets you do extra things like record audio, search for text in images, save tweets, and so forth, all across multiple platforms. Free  Weather - Weather Channel: Look, the Weather Channel is probably your default for checking conditions on the desktop already. It just gives you so much more information, like longer forecasts, severe weather alerts, radar maps, video, and social features. Free  Clock - Rise and Shine: Waking up to a harsh, incessant buzzing sucks. Instead, you can use an app that monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you naturally up to soft light or soothing sounds. $1  Reminders - Checkmark: This is a great alternative because of the location-based aspect. For example, when you pass by the dry cleaners, it will send you a notification reminding you to pick up your fresh slacks. In some ways, it's what Reminders would be if Reminders were Google Now. $5  Calculator - QuickGraph: Say for some reason you need to do some higher-level computations. No need to dig up your old, expensive TI-84—you get all of the same graphing calculator functions in QuickGraph. Free  Stocks - Stockwatch: This gives you more than just basic data. It pulls from more than 50 different exchanges. It's much more customizable in that it lets you make your own tickers, to see just how poorly each of your portfolios is performing. $2  iTunes - Spotify: I don't even use iTunes anymore. I just pay Spotify's flat $10 monthly fee to stream all the music I want from my iPhone. Trust me, it's worth it. Free download, $10/month subscription  App Store - App Shopper: The App Store is not so much good for discovering hidden gems, but App Shopper will keep you up on all the newest apps. It frequently features deals, and lets you know what's good and what's not with tons of third-party reviews. Free  Contacts - Brewster: There are about a dozen ways you can get ahold of someone, which makes for a messy address book. Organization on your own is tedious, but Brewster pulls together all of your contacts from Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, your address book, and more into one place. Free  iCloud - Dropbox: iCloud is an okay service, but Dropbox is much more user-friendly and works across all of your devices on every platform. Anything that's easier to use is always going to be better. Free  iBooks - Kindle: Amazon just has a better, cheaper book selection, plain and simple. And if you aren't exclusively using Apple devices, this reader app will work on whatever you're using. Free  Voice Memos - AudioMemos: This app is a little more advanced than what you get pre-loaded. You get more control over editing the audio and you can make longer recordings, among other bonus features you won't find in Apple's offering. Free  Maps - Google Maps: Here's an absolute no-brainer. Apple Maps sucks and will probably get you lost at some point. Google Maps is wonderful and reliable. Free  Browser - Dolphin Browser: Safari certainly leaves something to be desired, but Dolphin Browser is built especially for mobile. It's gesture-based, fast, and just an all-around good alternative for browsing the web on your phone. Free  Compass -Compass+: The regular compass is kind of pointless. Compass+, however, lets you choose different themes, and more importantly, is integrated with Google Maps. $1  Podcasts - Instacast: It's not quite as feature-packed as other alternatives like iCaster, but Instacast might just be the most user-friendly podcast app out there. And honestly, pretty much anything is better than Apple's halfhearted effort. $5 |
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