After landing a big mobile app design project, we have been spending more time looking at this space and started to build out a few test projects that have been on the wish list for many years. As part of this new focus for our company, I decided to take a look at all the apps that I use and put some time into downloading and testing some new ones, and taking inventory of the ones that I have.
For a starting point, the categories of apps and stuff that most of us already use.
Banking and Cash Apps
I only have one banking app and have made the conscious decision not to put my brokerage account or any other bank account with serious money on my phone. It’s critical to be able to deposit checks from the phone, so the checking accounts that are used for the monthly bills and collection revenue for the company are on there, but not much else. Venmo is also there. But most of the banking software will not be installed on the phone any time soon.
Music Apps
I spend a lot of time listening to music on my phone. I have a premium Spotify account and listen to the public radio station WWOZ in New Orleans and KUTX in Austin. As part of the exercise, I have decided to download a few more indie station apps from other cities.
SoundHound – An app that will listen to what is playing around you and tell you what song it is. It doesn’t get everything, but it’s surprisingly good at this task.
Hunting and Fishing Licenses
Texas – I now have a totally digital Texas fishing and hunting license. It is even used to tag big game and your bull redfish. It also has a very handy map feature that shows you where you are on Texas public land.
New Orleans and Oklahoma – These are still in analog format, but on the short list to get in the app world. I do have pics of all my licenses from these two states saved in my wallet.
Social Media Apps
I have been trying my best not to pay attention to social media apps on my phone, but have put some time into trying to scroll through and pay attention to LinkedIn. This world is sort of getting old, and there is way too much doom and gloom these days.
The Apple News Feed
I have not paid for Apple News, but still spend way too much time on it, that and CNBC and ESPN. I don’t know what to do about this yet, but the status quo has grown very old, and I’m trying not to look at any of these, or at least keep it to a few times a day.
Drones
I have two drones now on my iPhone, probably not the last two either. These work pretty well, and I have to drive down the cost of buying the drones. It’s not all that easy to get everything to connect, but once you do, a $150 drone paired with a smartphone is pretty sweet.
Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, and a few other shitbox apps specific venues make me install. I still hate all of this so much in a grumpy old “get off my lawn” sort of way.
Airline Apps
Unlike the concert tickets, I have grown to love the airline apps. I have every single one of them and use them instead of paper tickets. If I fly on a new airline, I won’t hesitate to install the app.
Uber
I should probably also install Lyft, but Uber is one of the obvious must-have apps.
Weather Apps
I always think I’m going to find a better weather app than Weather.com. Yes, I could just give them money for a premium account, but since I’ve gone this long, it’s tough to give this one up. Every time I try another one that is supposed to be free, it isn’t free, and they have some sort of shady trial offer instead. I gave it one more shot this round of app review, and same old story. Weather.com free app for this guy.
Password Manager
I’m not going to say which password manager I have, but I have it on my phone now, and it doesn’t seem to work well with the phone, at least on autofill to log in to accounts.
Other Hardware Interaction Software
Heated socks and boots – Both apps say they connect, both say the boots and socks are set to high, but they don’t get hot. I bought the $80 heated socks instead of the $30 ones, but I didn’t buy the $450 pair. Maybe that’s the trick. I took the liner out of my heated ski boot, and they did indeed get warm, maybe sort of hot.
My fancy Bluetooth headset – I got better Bluetooth noise-canceling headsets, and the phone came with an app. Normally I wouldn’t install the app, but with this one you can change the settings for the noise cancellation, which is way easier than the physical button on the headset.
Car Scanning App
They have a few that connect via Bluetooth to a $30 device you can buy on Amazon to read car codes. Most of these are nice for the price, as they can harness the display and CPU power of a $500 phone. I ended up getting Forscan, and that is only available on a Windows PC.
Food Apps
Domino’s Pizza is the only food ordering app that I have. I should probably get DoorDash, but I try to eat as little fast food as possible, so holding off on this one.
Games
- Yahoo Fantasy Football – This is near the top of my home screen.
- Clash of Clans – I finally had to get rid of this one, too addictive and pointless.
- Chess with Friends – One of the first apps I ever installed, don’t play much anymore.
Other Apps I’m Forced to Use
“Welcome to the world of you don’t have a choice.”
Chirp and Parking Pass – Used for apartment parking and access.
Crunch Fitness – I don’t think there is a way to be a member of Crunch Fitness without the app. It’s what you use to check in and access the gym. It’s a pretty nice gym for under $20 a month, so they get a pass on making me use it.
Car Insurance – I got tired of printing out and worrying about the printout of my car insurance. I still print it out sometimes as a backup, but this has all the proof of insurance one needs. If the phone goes down, I’m pretty screwed in life anyway.
AI Tools – I have ChatGPT on my phone, but I’m just starting the process of integrations into apps and devices, and not just prompting away at everything.
Other Random Apps
HEB and Home Depot
I use both of these to look up and find stuff in the store.
Fish Deeper – This app connects to a little sonar/fish finder that you can either tow behind a yak, or hook up to a rod and reel and cast it. It’s pretty sweet.
Google Docs – I underestimated how well Google Docs works on a phone. If you’re tired of the endless social media scroll and want something to do on the phone during dead time, try some writing projects on Google Docs.
Slack – If you have to have Slack on your phone, I’m sorry. I’m going to keep it on here just in case. Hopefully, it won’t be required any day soon.
Upwork – I find this app too hard to use, too hard to read stuff, way too hard to type out a proposal, and I’m just not that into Upwork these days.
Ocarina – A digital flute-like instrument that plays sounds from the game Zelda. At one point, I knew how to play a few tunes. It was the first app that I ever purchased.
The New App Wishlist and Installs
OnX Hunting Map – This one is at the very top of the list of apps I want, but it’s $100 a year for all the US, $40 for a single state. The hunting season is sort of over now (it’s never really over in Texas), so pressure to make a decision will start September 1.
Waze – The other Google Maps alternative.
WhatsApp – One of the most popular messaging apps in the world. I miss out on networking opportunities because I don’t have this. For example, the local tennis group uses it.
TED Talks – I installed this in my quest to avoid the angry news.
Hole19 – New golf app to try out. I sort of like building my own golf helper “stuff,” which I should try to make into an app.
Measure App – This app is pretty cool and can take a measurement of two spots with your phone. I didn’t do a deep dive into how accurate it is, but it looks cool.
App Removed
GarageBand – I’m not going to even try to do any sound or video editing on my phone. That’s on the big Mac now.
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