Which apps make you ‘appy?

It will be fascinating to see what additional facilities people are requiring from their smart phones and how much use they make of them. Apps seem to have a therapeutic value in enabling people to fill idle moments in the theatre and on the train thus avoiding the appearance of mental vacancy. Knowing you can catch up on missed television programmes does liberate people and allow them to participate in other things without worrying about missing an episode, so that is potentially life enhancing. And Skype is shrinking the globe, but I am not yet certain that is beneficial. I can’t contribute much to the fund of knowledge on this topic as I don’t yet have a smart phone but I might be tempted to get one if there were some really useful applications recommended by other users.

iPlayer and Skype are very useful for more recent phones, especially when a family member is living abroad for a spell, but apps from both UK and Parisian art galleries are a delight, and the permanent ones are free. Apps from special exhibitions, not unreasonably, do charge for them but give you the audio-guide together with images for keeps and usually for less than the cost of the hour’s hire of the audio equipment on site.
The modestly priced natural world reference apps for trees and birds of Britain and the (originally French) wild flower app makes an iPhone really useful on a walk, even if you don’t use it for navigation with rather more expensive but still comparatively cheap downloaded Ordnance Survey maps of your walking area available from another favourite walking app.

I have many favourites. Just a few of mine are:

The London Travel app, particularly as it tells me when buses are due. National Rail also good for checking train times, and deciding if it’s quicker to get the train or the bus (yes really!)

I have 2 banking apps, but one is far superior to the other. Good for checking my balance quickly when not near a cashmachine or I’m too lazy to turn my PC on.

Sky+ to set TV programmes to record when I’m not at home.

IMDB, as I’m always watching TV and wondering what I’ve seen someone in before!

The eBay app is great, especially for selling items. It’s a little dangerous as a buyer – far too easy to use! 😉

There are a lot of Android Apps that we just take for granted but which are extremely useful, e.g. Weather forcasts (I use AccuWeather), Facebook, Calender (I use Google’s calender which also synchronises with the Outlook Calender on my computer), Google Maps and Navigation (can be used in car provided a proper holder is used). I also like the internet radio app. ‘Tunein Radio’ and the music search app ‘Soundhound’

My best app is the metro ,one thing missing is a crossword. I don’t need to buy a newspaper so am able to avoid the boring 10pages of cruise and holiday ads.

I use a range of great apps: some of my favourites not already mentioned are:
Recce London, a fabulous interactive map of London, so impressive. Tube Map Pro, a comprehensive up to the minute guide with timetables, delays, planned shutdowns etc., a must when travelling around London. Plane Finder, keep track of every plane in the sky, including the one above your house right now, all in real time. Skyview Free, see every planet, star or satellite in the sky all named. Weather for golf, every golf course in the country listed with hour by hour forecasts which are very accurate. Of course there are also the Which? Apps too. One thing that does frustrate me with a lot of apps is that they are dominated with Americanisms, particularly children’s apps, Gee Whizz to our future vocabulary.

Using many websites and email with passwords I often forget which one I use as I try to keep them all different. I currently use a Mac, iPad, Windows Phone and Windows PC so would prefer to find one compatible with both IOS and Windows. Looking its a minefield. does anyone have any suggestions?

Using many websites and email with passwords I often forget which one I use as I try to keep them all different. I currently use a Mac, iPad, Windows Phone and Windows PC so would prefer to find one compatible with both IOS and Windows. Looking its a minefield. Does anyone have any sugestions?