Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2015

I have written about my favorite apps in the past, but I thought I would discuss my 10 most used iPhone apps over the last year.

1.  Apple Music

Apple Music was my app of the year.  With Siri integration on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and AppleTV, it is just more convenient than any other app.  If you haven't tried it, they have a 3 month free trial and it is easy to turn off auto-renewal.  

​I would just recommend making a copy of your iTunes library beforehand  (make sure you have a recent version of the iTunesLibrary.itl file) and also making a backup of your music.  I would also recommend those things even if you weren't trying out Apple Music.  When Apple updates iTunes, there is always a chance that something bad can happen.

NOTE:  iTunes generally makes a backup of your "iTunes Library.itl" file before it you upgrade iTunes. So navigate to ~/Music/iTunes.  Find the "iTunes Library.itl" and make a copy of the most recent file.  Rename the copy so that you can find it later if something goes wrong.  If all hell breaks loose and you lose everything, you can just go back to the Original iTunes file.  Just remember that you can leave "iCloud" off an use Apple Music without loading your files to the Cloud.  Personally, I didn't have any issue with Apple Music and turning on and off iCloud, but I was a Boy Scout, so I am always prepared for the worst.  

2.  Overcast/Downcast (tie)

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Overcast is my favorite podcast app, but until they support subscription services, I will also have a need for Downcast.   Overcast has some nifty features like "smart speed" that shortens silences, "vocal boost", adjustable speeds and now the nifty chapters so you can now skip over stuff you aren't interested (like coding talk in one of my favorite podcasts) and it also makes it easier to go right to something you want to hear or hear again.   One other upside to Downcast is that it works with Casting (for Chromecast) and Overcast doesn't.

 3. Twitteriffic/Twitter ​

I have Twitteriffic because they were the first to take advantage of landscape mode on the iPhone 6+.  It also looks great with larger photos.  I also use the main Twitter app because it has a bit more flexibility.  Luckily, it also works in landscape mode now.  

 4.  Arlo 

I have some wired cameras around my property, but I wanted to get cameras into places that I can't easily provide power.  These little Arlo cameras did the trick.  With the Arlo app, I can now jump to any of my cameras and see a live feed and it sends an alert when motion is detected in any of the zones around the property.  The app will also let you schedule events so certain cameras will only come on at certain times of the day.  I don't have a steady schedule from day to day, but they make it easy to create "modes" where you can group certain cameras together.   For example, when I get home, I don't want the Arlo in the kitchen to be on, so I can create a group that doesn't include that camera and easily select it when I walk in the door (or before).

Note:  I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post.

5.  Lastpass ​

I am still using the Lastpass app for passwords.  It has everything stored in the cloud, but you can setup multifactor authentication and/or easy access using TouchID.  The only caveat is that it was recently bought by Logmein, but so far, nothing has been changed for the worse.  I may look at Dashlane and 1Password this year, but Lastpass still works great, so I am hesitatant to change.  

6.  SimpleControl ( new name for Roomie Remote)

I use numerous remote apps (enough to have a top ten list), but SimpleControl is the best and controls everything in my media center like a much more expensive touch screen control panel.    For example, I have my main system feeding a receiver in my office via a long HDMI cable (the rooms share a wall).  The app will let me sit in my office and control everything in my living room at the touch of a button.    They have changed a few things since my Roomie Remote app review, but I am hoping SimpleControl doesn't set things back.

7.  Flickr

Flickr automatically loads up all my iOS photos to their server (up to a terabyte), allows me to view comments and favs on my photos, and allows me to comment and fav other photos.  I also loved Google photos for backups, but I just don't feel as compelled to visit it.

8.  Refine AdBlock

Refine kills off annoying ads and let's you keep a list of sites to whitelist.  For me, this is ideal.  I still want to support sites that I frequent that don't have hyper-annoying ads.  However, when they cross that line, I will just pull them from the whitelist.

9.  iDevice Connected

I have a couple “iDevices" that plug into the wall and then you plug a lamp or something you want to control wirelessly into the device.  They can work with Siri ( which is amazing) or you can set a schedule for the device to come on and go off.  We have a Himalayan Salt Lamp in our living room that I have scheduled to come on as a night light (a beautiful orange glowing night light), but I can also just say "Hey Siri, turn on light" and it just comes on.  I also know more iDevices are in my future, I just got something called an iGrill 2 that is an iDevices product that uses bluetooth to monitor the temperature of my Big Green Egg Smoker and food on the grill using probes.  ​

10.  Feedly

I use apps like Flipboard and News, but I ended up going back to Feedly this year.  I use a Gmail account to sign in and I can access the same feeds from my iPhone, iPad, Mac and it will even show recent articles on the Apple Watch.   It also has more flexibility about sites that you can add than apps like Apple News.

Wrap Up

Obviously, Apple native apps are always on my list of most used apps.  Safari, Mail, Phone, Messages, Camera, Photos, all get tons of use, but you knew that already.  I want to also mention that Siri has finally become much more usable this year since it added untethered "Hey Siri" control.  If it was an app, it would have topped my list.

Anyway, these were my most used apps this last year.  Hopefully, this article will introduce a few of these apps to people that aren't aware of them.  Have fun and have a great 2016!