1 - Foodie
There are two types of people when it comes to photographing food - those who relish the opportunity to snap and share every meal, and those who eye anyone who does so with scorn and suspicion. If you're firmly in the former camp, try Foodie, a camera app designed to 'transform simple food photos into one-of-a-kind masterpieces'.
OK, so that's overplaying things a bit, but there's a lot to like here. Foodie's filters are designed to enhance the look of food, and they have amusing names like Yum, Fresh and Crispy. If you don't find that at least a little endearing (i.e. you're dead inside), there's an 'albums' button fashioned as a knife and fork, which might just be too much.
Post-snappage, the app offers basic editing tools, for adding blurry vignettes and mucking about with contrast. And here's the thing: although this one's designed for foodies, we reckon it's a pretty great free camera app for everyone.
2 - MSQRD
A while ago, we chanced upon an app that utilised your iPhone's camera in order to turn you into a zombie. This was, we decided, the pinnacle of modern technology, and far more important than using smartphones for trifling things like productivity, art, or music.
Imagine our joy, then, when setting eyes on MSQRD, which ramps up such camera-based magic to the max.
Peer into your iPhone's camera, and MSQRD quickly locates your head, before overlaying a mask. They range from cartoonish eyes that explode from your own when you perform a suitably over the top open-mouthed expression, to an amusingly grim armored Batman. (Sadly, after the app was bought by Facebook, a surprisingly vivid and fairly horrific take on The Joker vanished, along with a bunch of other masks.)
Naturally, this all falls apart a bit when you shoot a video with the app — you must take care not to move your head too much or cover it with a hand, although pulling stupid expressions is usually fine. (We checked.)
Stills tend to work better, although 'better' is often 'creepy as hell'. Like we said: the pinnacle of modern technology.
3 - Guides by Lonely Planet
In a sense, there's something of an old-school feel about Guides by Lonely Planet. Whereas some iPhone travel guides are desperate to funnel information into your eyes about even the most far-flung or obscure locations, Guides is more interested in covering a handful of famous cities: London, New York, Paris, Barcelona and the like. This might seem limited, but it gives the app a sense of focus, and also enables it to be blazing fast.
When we tapped Paris, we expected to be hanging around while information downloaded, but Guides is done in about a second. Almost instantly, a map appears, detailing where interesting things are located. Inviting icons provide quick access to sights, restaurants, shops, and so on, and popular interests for a given city sit behind buttons masquerading as photographs.
For tourists and day-trippers alike, there are overviews and basic budget planners, and you can bookmark any page. There's nothing like Triposo's city walks creator, nor even basic built-in routing, though, and the offline maps take an age to download. However, there is 'near me' functionality when you're online, and, most importantly, the guides appear to be written by people who genuinely love the cities in question.
4 - Klok
Although it won't satisfy anyone clamouring for an Android-like interface on iOS, Apple's take on widgets is quite elegant, shoving mini-apps into a scrolling page within the pull-down Notification Center. This provides fast access to important information, such as weather reports and, in the case of Klok, loads of clocks.
You fire up the Klok app to define up to five locations, which can be rearranged in 'west to east' order, or dragged about as you see fit. You then choose whether clocks appear in analogue or digital, before scooting across to Notification Center and seeing how everything looks.
Klok does the business admirably. In either form, the clocks are big enough to spot the time at a glance, and day markers are added when a location is, relative to you, enjoying 'tomorrow' or still mired in 'yesterday'.
Cleverly, you can also tap a clock to get a row of hours beneath. Tap one to temporarily set the clock to that time and the others change accordingly. This is great for sanity-checking international meeting times, or for when you just haveto know what time it is in Tokyo when it's 3pm in Madrid.
5 - Splice
We're big fans of iMovie. Apple's video editor for iPhone is usable and powerful. In our lazier moments, we also really like Replay, which takes a bunch of videos and edits them on your behalf. But there are times when you hanker for a middle ground, and that's where Splice fits in.
Getting started is simple — select some videos and photos to import (from your Camera Roll, or online sources like Facebook and Google Photos), along with, optionally, a soundtrack. Name your project, choose an orientation, and the app lays out your clips. These can be reordered by drag and drop, and transitions can be adjusted with a couple of taps.
If you want to delve deeper, individual clips can be trimmed and cut, and you can apply effects. Several filters are included, as is a speed setting, and the means to overlay text.
These tools perhaps won't worry the Spielbergs of this world, but a few minutes in Splice can transform a few random iPhone clips into something quite special — and all without a price-tag or even any advertising.
6 - WhatsApp
WhatsApp is one of the most essential apps you can install on your iOS device, especially if you have friends and family across the world.
Rather than using up your SMS allowance by sending text messages, WhatsApp lets you send messages over any Wi-Fi or mobile data connection instead. You can also send and receive photos with no size restrictions, and if you're using Wi-Fi (or you have unlimited mobile data) they won't cost you any extra to send.
7 - Strava
If you're serious about running or cycling then you should be serious about Strava. As smartphone fitness tools go it's one of the best, allowing you to track your performance, set goals and see daily progress updates.
There are leaderboards and challenges to give it a competitive edge and if you're ever not sure where to run or cycle you can find user created routes on the app, or share your own. All of that comes free of charge, while a premium version adds even more tools.
If you like this then make sure you read 10 best iPhone and iPad apps for keeping fit and 5 sports headphones for iPhone and iPod touch.
8 - Google Photos
There are probably hundreds of photo apps around, but Google Photos stands out as it gives you unlimited storage for photos and videos, all for free.
That's reason enough to jump on board, especially as it works not just on iOS but on Android and computers too.
But with basic editing tools and the ability to make collages and albums this is more than just photo and video storage, it aims to be your first and last stop after taking a picture. To achieve that it will need a few more features, but it's well on its way.
9 - Spotify
Spotify has been pretty quick to establish itself as the top music streaming service, and the Spotify Music app brings some great features to your iOS device, turning it in to a pocket jukebox that delivers your favourite tunes no matter where you are.
Even better, you can listen to Spotify's huge catalogue entirely for free on your iPhone, although there are some caveats: album tracks are shuffled, ads periodically play, and there's no offline listening. Naturally, a premium subscription removes all such limitations.
10 - Periscope
Periscope, Twitter's live video streaming app, is an essential download for anyone who likes the immediacy of Twitter but craves something more visual.
You can easily create your own live streams or watch other people's, send comments and hearts in real time and if you miss the action there's a 24 hour window with which to replay streams. In short it's simple enough to dive straight into but has enough to it that you'll keep coming back, whether you're more creator or viewer.
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