Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with apps

Jumping ship to Android (Google's S4) and need a Mailbox equivalent

0bvious — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:25:26 -0800

I think the time has come for me to jump the iPhone ship. The announcement of the Google version of the Galaxy S4 at I/O was the clincher. But I am not 100% sold on the idea, mainly because the S4 is an ugly brute, but also because I fear for the apps and innovation I will miss. Help me out, specifically in finding a worthy replacement for my beloved Mailbox app. I waited. I pondered. I looked longingly at the horizon. Now it's time to go.

I am a concerned jumper for a few reasons:

1. I use an ipad extensively, and don't see this changing anytime soon. Iphone/Ipad integration is pretty solid.
2. My girlfriend and close friends will be sticking with Apple and iMessage will be missed
3. I recently started using Mailbox app and it has revolutionised the way I use email. I don't think I can go back to the old cluttered inbox, BUT, Mailbox's plans to make an app for Android look vague at best.
4. Related to this, it seems that the Apple app store is still the top of the list for developers, even though there are now more Android devices out there than Apple. I like innovation. Will I have to wait around a lot?

I am jumping because I am sick of having to jailbreak my phone to have it do what I want. I am a heavy HEAVY mobile internet user, I use a lot of apps for a variety of things. I reckon most can be replaced, and fed into Dropbox or something to take the place of iCloud, BUT, I'm not sure, and I am worried that once I jump I'll be stranded.

I really wanted Google to announce a new Nexus at I/O this week, but they failed. The current Nexus 4 looks lovely, but the lack of 4G put me off. The HTC One also is a sweet looking device, but with only 4MP of camera to play with it would've felt like a downgrade. Google announced a new partnership with the S4 at I/O, so I am hoping to get one now, and root it when the Google rich version gets released in June.

My contract has been up for renewal since February, so I have already lingered long enough. The battery in my trusty iPhone 4 is pretty crap these days. Time to move on. Please help me out here.

How can I switch from music to my audio book quickly on my iphone

photoexplorer — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:16:24 -0800

I listen to a lot of audio books on my iphone while driving and working. I also like listening to music in between for short periods, but still need to keep my place in the book. Right now I am using the bookmark app to keep track of the audio book, which seems to be the best app that I have tried so far. But the problem is that whenever I want to switch back to my playlist of music, the iphone music app defaults to the audio book that was last played. Is there any better way of switching back and forth so that the music app can remember that it is supposed to play a playlist and the audio book app remembers to start where I left off in the book? For some reason no matter what combination of apps I use this happens. Even in other music apps, if I open it after playing a book, or press play on my headphones, the book starts playing. It takes a few seconds for me to navigate back to the playlist I want, then pick shuffle all, like I always do several times a day. Then later I go back to the audio book app, and it has no problem remembering what book I was on, but why can't any music app seem to do this? I have tried a few others, such as "Groove" but the same problem exists, and I haven't found one I really like better than the original apple music app anyway.
I can't be the only one with this minor annoyance. Suggestions?

Looking for GPS-workout tracking app with many features

blub — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:35:46 -0800

I currently use Endomondo to track my skating workouts. I like it a lot, but miss two things: 1) I would love to be able to analyze part of the workout as if it was an entire workout. Say, if I skated from point A to Z, I want to see the average speed over part L to R. 2) I would love more personal bests. For skating, Endomondo starts the personal bests at 3 miles or 5 km. I want to see my personal best 1 km or mile too. With time, they track most kms in one hour, but I rarely skate one hour, I want to track half hours. I know that I could switch my activity type to a different one for which they do track other distances/times, but I don't want to do that. I am looking for either a web application that accepts .gpx files that I can export from Endomondo, or a new app (should work on both iOS and Android) that can also export to .gpx.

Best Fitness Apps

annabellee — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:12:42 -0800

Recommend the apps, websites, technological gadgets for exercise that you can't live without. I'm looking for amazing apps and sites that will help me stay fit. I'm a youngish woman and have found so many sites and apps (there are 64 from the past year on this site alone) but I am wondering which ones are actually good, that you'd recommend to a friend.

I know and like Couch to 5K and Nike Plus. I found some old posts where people suggested Gym Hero and Fitocracy but haven't tried either. I'm partial to fitness apps, but am also interested in goal-setting/healthy living websites, gadgets--whatever works.

App/site for making/navigating customized map

fingersandtoes — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:05:40 -0800

There are a bunch of trips I'd like to take. I read about these places for years. I want to be able to save the addresses of places I'm interested in, as I read about them. I want to, eventually, be able to create a customized map of my destination; and ideally have this map integrate with an iphone app that will display the map and help me navigate among my destinations. Is this a thing? Here's an example of the sort of thing I want. Say I want to plan a trip to Paris. Over the years, I will read a lot of articles about things to see and eat in Paris. When I read an article mentioning a place, I'd like to be able to save the location to this repository. (Or even better, say if a friend just tells me about it, I'd like to be able to enter it by name and have my tool find the address.) Then, when I'm ready to go, I want to be able to view a map of Paris with all my locations indicated on it, superimposed on a regular street map so it's navigable. Then, when I go to Paris. I'll look at my map in the morning to figure out an itinerary that integrates my locations. Then as I wander along, I can also use my phone to figure out what's nearest, like "here we are by Notre Dame, and just a block away is that chocolate place and also the brasserie, choose one and I'll navigate you there."

Is there a tool for this? Doesn't it seem like there should be?

How should I spend $50 at the iTunes store?

gladly — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:50:55 -0800

I've been given a $50 gift card to the iTunes store, and I'd like some help spending it. I will probably end up buying some music, but movies/TV or books are out, because I don't enjoy watching or reading for long periods on my phone. I have an iPhone 4S. I'd really like advice on buying apps that will:

- Help me shoot better video. I really enjoy shooting video on the iPhone, and I'm learning to edit in iMovie.
- Menu preparation and grocery shopping. I buy and cook the same things all the time, and I want to plan more interesting meals.
- Tower defense games. I discovered Kingdom Rush from an FPP, and I love PvZ.

I'd love to hear about apps that you love and depend on, even if they don't fit into any of the above categories.

Good Media Catalog App for Iphone

yankeefog — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:21:11 -0800

When I finish a book or a movie, I like to write down my thoughts about it, and I'm looking for an iPhone app to organize my reading and watching notes. My particular picky bookworm/filmgeek requirements inside. In particular, I'm looking for an app that:

1. Works offline. (It's fine if it needs to be online sometimes to download info, and in fact it's a bonus if my notes are kept synced between my phone and my desktop--but I do want to be able to use it in places where I don't have signal. So, it can't be purely web-based.)

2. My thoughts should be kept private, not posted on Facebook or any other website. (This rules out Goodreads, as far as I can tell.)

3. I should be able to export my notes in some widely readable format.

Ideally, I'd find a single app for both books and movies, but I'm open to having separate apps for both.

Any suggestions?

PS: I've read this thread from 2009 but I'm hoping there have been some new possibilities since then.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

Aubergine — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:17:35 -0800

I've been tasked for setting up my older friend's iPad with useful apps, and while I have some ideas, I also don't have an iPad myself.... Please advise! My friend recently bought an iPad and has asked me to help her set it up. She's a few decades older than me and extremely sharp, but doesn't have much experience with Apple devices and I'd like to make her iPad useful to her without too much of a learning curve. She's leaving on Monday to go to Amsterdam for a few weeks, so I'd also like it to be an asset to her on her travels- whether via flight-checking apps, city guides, or whatever. Can you recommend any great all-purpose iPad apps, and a few that might be good for a traveler? The only complication is that the iPad will not be on a data plan so it is wifi only.

Apps I have already planned to put on include Skype, Google Maps, Bank of America (her bank), a dictionary/translate app, but I don't have an iPad myself so I'm sure I'm missing some things! She will be using it as an all-purpose computing device, so she'd like to be able to watch movies and read books on it.

best iphone scanner apps?

nonasuch — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:20:39 -0800

I have a lot of vintage paper. Photo albums, fashion magazines, random ephemera-- and a lot of it can't go in a flatbed scanner. I found an iPhone app called SmartScan that lets me photograph pages and corrects for tilt, but the resulting scans aren't as high-quality as my iPhone 5 is capable of. There are a ton of scanner apps out there, but I want the one that lets you capture the highest-res images. Any recommendations?

Online Days Since counter for many recurring tasks?

Gordafarin — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:53:20 -0800

Before iGoogle disappears, I need to replace my 'Days Since' counter widget. Can you help me find one? For my work, I have a number of recurring tasks that I need to check on every so often (approximately once a week, approximately once a month, et cetera).

The perfect solution to this has been the Days Since widget on my iGoogle. It let me quickly and easily add/update/delete tasks, tracked the average length of time between each reset, and it even auto-sorted them by priority (how 'late' they were according to the average).

Of course, iGoogle will be gone before the end of the year, so I need to find a new solution. It's easy to find replacements for all my other widgets, but this one has been trickier. I do also use Calendar reminders, but this widget has been ideal for my workflow - being able to just click and tick something off my list for the day, or to look and see that I haven't done job X in Y days and that I should find some time for it.

I need something for my computer, not a phone or tablet app, and ideally something online rather than software, because it's a hassle to install programs on my work PC and I sometimes work from home.

Even better if it can plug into an online homepage/dashboard service - I've checked NetVibes and Protopage, and neither of them had a suitable widget that I could find.

Gramma's got a brand new tablet.

phunniemee — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:18:15 -0800

The family got my grandma a Kindle Fire HD for her birthday, and I have the weekend to load it up with apps before mailing it off to her. I know positively zip about the Kindle, and I'm looking for recommendations and tips. Gram is 89 and has been...um...using a computer for about a decade. By "using" I mean she knows that if she clicks on the FACEBOOK icon, it goes to facebook (which stops and ends for her at the news feed) and that if she clicks on the EMAIL icon, it goes to gmail. She knows how to click on a link. For a few weeks we had her up on Skype using a webcam, but then something happened (I suspect she unplugged the camera) and that doesn't work anymore. She has an old dumbphone and knows how to text. She has played Angry Birds on my mom's ipad. THAT IS OFFICIALLY ALL THE COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE SHE HAS.

So, what I want to do is set this Kindle Fire up to do the following:

1) Facebook, permanently signed in
2) Gmail, permanently signed in
3) Skype (or similar, something the rest of the family can use with her), permanently signed in
4) WiFi (she's got it at her house, 1200 miles away from me) already signed in, permanently signed in, and set up for multiple networks so she can use it when she goes to my Uncle's house.
5) Games that are set at her own pace that aren't terribly challenging. (Catapult games, word games, card games are all good.)
6) Some sort of unfuckupable protection over the whole thing so that she doesn't accidentally delete everything. (Is there a child lock or something?)

I'm pretty confident she won't be using it for reading, movie watching (for anything other than the occasional youtube clip), or music.

Can you guys point me to good apps and resources for this kind of thing?

Thanks!

Update apps on jailbroken iPhone 3GS

hollypolly — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:18:11 -0800

I have a jailbroken iPhone 3GS and the FB, Twitter and Instagram apps either keep crashing or malfunction. Cannot seem to update. Is there a way to revert to an older version of these apps compatible with this old model? I have a jailbroken iPhone 3GS and have been able to install the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram apps with success, and have been using them for the better part of a year. In the past month or so they all seem to crash upon opening, or in Instagram's case, simply will not allow me to post pictures. I have tried updating, to no avail. Is it that my phone does not support the latest versions of these apps, or does this have to do with its 'jailbroken' status? Is there a way to revert to an older version of these apps compatible with this old model?

Any and all tips greatly appreciated!

Help a team get some stuff done.

nosila — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:42:40 -0800

I need to find a to-do/productive/teamwork app with a fairly specific feature set. It has to be... * iOS compatible (preferably w/ a native app)
* collaborative
* priority-based (drag and drop in order of priority or at least a point system)

VERY nice to have:
* IE8 compatible (I know...ugh.)
* native Android app
* free

To give a little more context -- this is to organize features for a new web application w/ non-tech people. Ideally, anyone on the team would be able to add/edit features, add notes, etc., then anyone else would be able to prioritize. It's the IE8 part that makes this really difficult -- unfortunately, that's the browser the boss has access to, although he's willing to potentially use his iPhone/iPad.

We already have a Basecamp account, so if that's the answer, that's okay, but it's not really what I had in mind.

Thanks!

Android apps for a six-year-old?

Mo Nickels — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:04:22 -0800

I bought my son a low-end Android tablet and now I want to load it up with quality applications. I'm looking for equal parts entertainment, education, and beautiful UI. He likes drawing, art, nature, science, Pokémon, puppets, maps, animals, monsters, comics, making his own books, and I don't know what all. Something up to about age 10 would probably be fine for him

So, what apps would you recommend? Anything exceptional or particularly outstanding or unusual?

Or do you know a good, regularly updated list online? Nearly all the recommendations or articles I found online were shills, or filled with stupid apps no human child would use, or were filled with apps so ugly you'd have to put a paper bag over the tablet every time you turned it on.

Tracking iTunes Store prices on iOS?

jroybal — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:27:27 -0800

I use an app on my iPhone and iPad called AppShopper to keep a list of iOS apps I'd like to buy. It tracks them and sends a push notification when their price changes (or when there's an update to the app). Is there another app like that out there that tracks movies, music and TV shows (and maybe apps) on the iTunes Store? If there's no app, is there a website that does this?

Best combination food/exercise log app?

Halloween Jack — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:26:46 -0800

iPhone user; I've experimented with exercise logging apps such as MapMyRide+, Cyclemeter and Fitocracy (most of my exercise is cycling-oriented, but I'm also looking at Kinect exercise games and, potentially, weightlifting). Is there a good combo app that logs both exercise and food intake? Or one site that could possibly accept input/imports from both? Pluses include:

- Suggested calorie counts for relatively common prepared foods (e.g. pizza) so that I don't have to depend on stuff with nutrition labels

- iOS, although I do have an Android 7" tablet

- Either free or one-time fee; would look at subscription services if they're really good

Having Two Facebook Accounts on my Phone?

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:41:32 -0800

I have two Facebook accounts. I'd like to be able to use them both on my phone. One is sort-of professional (it's not a business account, but is tied to my work in the arts community, and I also interact with family there) and the other is just for friends. I'd like to be able to check both on my phone. I can have them both open on my laptop by logging in to one in IE and the other in Firefox. Is there a way to do that on my phone - say, with two different FB apps - or if I try to do that, will it alert FB that my real-name account is not my only account (which I understand they frown on)?

I have an iPhone 4S if that is relevant.

How Do I Upload a File from (iPad) Onlive Plus Back to Dropbox?

Short Attention Sp — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:35:23 -0800

I recently started using Onlive Plus and like it a lot. But I'm stuck on one thing. Once I have downloaded and edited a Dropbox file in Onlive, how do I get the file back to Dropbox? The Onlive FAQ says, "After you edit a file, save it and upload it to Dropbox," but I can't figure out how to accomplish the upload from within Onlive. And my google-fu is failing me. Thanks in advance.

No I don't want to install your app

cnanderson — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 05:40:29 -0800

I just got a new iOS device and web browsing is a bit different than browsing on my desktop. When I click on a link, I expect to be taken straight to a webpage, but instead I often get an advertisement to download an app for that websites' homepage. Example: Contra Costa times Is this just the way web browsing works in the mobile era? What are my options if I decide that I always don't want to install an app?

Visual (Dollars and Coins) Time and Money Tracking App

purefusion — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:53:54 -0800

There used to be a time tracking app for Android or iPhone which tracked time visually by displaying amount spent/earned in the form of US dollars and coins on the screen. What app was that? There used to be a time tracking app, but I don't remember if it was for Android or iPhone, which tracked time visually by displaying amount spent/earned in the form of dollars and coins on the screen. Every second or two the screen would update with an accurate representation of amount of money per hour spent/earned by showing stacks of dollars and various denominations of US coins (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters as appropriate).

Anyone know what app that was? I can't find it anymore, but I've only been looking through the App Store as I no longer use an Android device, so it could very likely have been an Android app. However, a quick Google didn't turn up any results with the search terms I was trying, so I figured I'd ask the hive. :)

Is there a shared expenses app that works across phones?

jtajta — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:33:11 -0800

There are lots of shared expenses apps out there, but I've had a hard time finding one that lets multiple people enter their expenses into the same group group. This is what I mean: several roommates share group expenses. On their respective phones, they have an app that lets them punch in any expense they've incurred. It goes to the same group, and then you can calculate who owes whom. This seems simple, but I'm having trouble finding this feature!

A website to extract prominent colours in images/webpages?

kansakwens — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 08:40:32 -0800

I seem to recall at one point finding a website where you could type in the URL of a webpage or image and it would give you the prominent colours, with hex codes, etc. Does this actually exist or was I dreaming?

The perfect App-set

kythuen — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:30:35 -0800

I've got a brand new (refurb) Retina MacBook Pro, fresh out of the cellophane wrapper. I've been eking out a slow and cluttered existence on a combination of my iPad mini, my oldish Mac Mini, my iPhone, and a desktop Windows machine (for gaming) for a couple of years. I haven't had a laptop in... I can't even remember if I have ever had a laptop. Help me find the perfect set of apps for it? Snowflake details inside. When I was in the decision phase of which laptop to buy, I struggled with defining myself. Am I a writer who sometimes plays games? Or a gamer who sometimes writes? Choosing a decently tricked-out refurb meant I didn't have to choose. Here are some of my laptoppy priorities:

1) Fiction writing. I've been using Byword, for the cloudsync/dropbox - is there something better out there? I used to use Scrivener, and would be willing to again.

2) Web surfing/email. I've always used Mail for, well, Mail, and some combination of Firefox/Chrome/Safari for surfing. I've read that Chrome and Firefox aren't yet Retina-ready; is that info out of date?

3) Chat. Right now, this is is handled with a combo of the built-in Message app (for syncing across iPhone and iPad) and Adium. Is there something awesome out there I'm missing? Must be able to handle IRC.

4) Random avi/mp4/mkv viewing for entertainment (also Hulu and Netflix)

5) World of Warcraft and Guild Wars (I have a desktop for raiding, if I ever raid again, but I can do random questing and such even on my old Mac Mini, so I think I should be good to go for light MMO gaming on the RMBP.)

6) Other random games - would welcome recs for things that would not set this laptop on fire; it's new. I like MMO's, but also other random adventury/puzzly games. Not a big FPS fan.

7) Image viewing/editing

I have a smallish (256 GB) flash storage hard drive, so my space is limited, and I'd like to keep my app set pretty streamlined. All recs welcome!

Recipe & shopping list app for Android

zixyer — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:53:51 -0800

I'm looking for a convenient app for Android that will build a shopping list from a list of ingredients. I love the allrecipes.com app where you can add an entire recipe to a shopping list and it will automatically do the conversions into buyable quantities. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of frozen peas, it will put "1 (10 ounce) package frozen green peas" in the shopping list. Or if the recipe uses "3/4 cup diced onion" it will be converted to "2 onions".

The only problem is you're limited to the sometimes low quality recipes on allrecipes.com. I'm moving to a more restrictive diet, so is there any app that does sort of the same thing but allows me to enter my own recipes?

How do I go about hiring someone to build a mobile app?

KimikoPi — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:39:23 -0800

Where and how can I hire someone in the U.S. (or India or any other country with these skills) to write a mobile app for me? I'm aware of websites like elance and odesk where programmers bid for work. What's the cost range for this type of quality work? I have an idea for an Android/iTunes type mobile app to be used by certain professionals (one myself I would use but is currently not on the market). But I have zero programming experience.
Also, assuming I can hire someone to write the app, how do I get copyright protection for it? Or is there absolutely no protection for mobile apps...everyone can just make their own version after the first guy comes out with one?