The mainstream new iPhones are here. And once you’ve done setting up your new iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus, your first order of business should be installing apps. And we’ve got the list of the best iPhone apps for your brand new iPhone. Everything for the essential social media apps to utilities and productivity apps that are unique to iOS.
If you’re looking to try out AR apps on your new iPhone (The A11 Bionic chip on the new iPhones is a beast), check out our list of favorite AR apps and AR games.
Here are the best iPhone apps that you must download on your new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
Social Apps
Social apps are one of the first apps that you download on any new iPhone. And you already know which ones they are. You’ll need Facebook to stay in touch with your friends and family. You’ll want to use Instagram because right now it’s the only social network what’s actually positive. You’ll want to see what’s the thing everyone is talking about on Twitter. And you’ll probably want to follow your friends on Snapchat.
Download: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat
Local apps
You’re going to use your iPhone to get around. Apps like Uber and Lyft will help you get a ride. Yelp will help you figure out where to eat.
Messenger apps
Depending on which country you’re in and which circles you travel in, you’ll at least need half a dozen messaging app. iMessage might be enough for your friends and family in the US but if you’re in Asia or Europe, you’ll need WhatsApp to communicate. For China, it’s going to be WeChat. If you’re a part of online groups, it’s going to be Telegram.
Download: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Skype, Slack
Entertainment apps
The iPhone 8 Plus’s 5.5 inch is a great screen for consuming video. And you’ll find apps for watching a quick video to a tv series. YouTube is great for watching short videos. Apple like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video are great for watching old tv shows and new original series alike.
Download: YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu
Snapseed
Snapseed is a free yet feature-rich photo editor for the iPhone. The best thing about the app is that it’s quite easy to manipulate images. Using the gesture-based interface, you simply swipe vertically to switch between different modes, and you swipe horizontally to change the intensity. The app is fast so there’s no lag in updating the live preview. And it comes with interesting filters (Drama and Noir filters being my favorites).
Download: Snapseed
Gboard
Gboard is the best alternative keyboard for the iPhone. Not only do you get gesture typing, emojis suggestions and GIF search, you get an honest to god Google search bar right in the keyboard. You’ll be able to search for things and paste in results directly to the chat conversations.
Download: Gboard
Google Photos
Google Photos is a free alternative to iCloud Photo Library. Google Photos will upload unlimited photos for you, for free (although they’ll be compressed). Plus, you’ll be able to use Google’s smarts when it comes to searching photos and having shared photo libraries with your family members.
Download: Google Photos
Dropbox
Dropbox is the most reliable third-party service for storing your files and documents. The Dropbox app on iPhone gives you easy access to all your files. You can open files from Dropbox in different apps and save edited copies back to Dropbox. You can save files offline as well. With iOS 11, Dropbox has full integration for the Files app. So you can interact with all your Dropbox documents directly from the new Files app.
Download: Dropbox
Spotify
If you don’t like Apple Music’s UI, Spotify is the best alternative. You’ll get a better UI, the similar song collection and awesome features like Discovery Weekly playlists.
Download: Spotify
Narwhal
If you like browsing Reddit, try the Narwhal app. It has an intuitive UI for browsing subreddits and viewing comments. There are lots of options for customizing the UI. If you’re a lurker you’ll really enjoy the app. But the app does fall apart when it comes to posting things to reddit or adding comments. For that, the official Reddit app is better.
Download: Narwhal
Google Maps
In most parts of the world, Apple Maps is still isn’t up to the mark. Especially in developing countries, Google Maps still has far more accurate data for maps and navigation. Depending on your city, you’ll also get far more accurate live traffic data.
Download: Google Maps
You can use Safari’s Reading List to save articles for offline viewing. But that’s not going to sync across your Android or Windows device. An app like Pocket will do just that.
Download: Pocket
Kindle
Right now, Amazon Kindle has won the ebook market. If you want to buy an ebook at the best rate and you want to read it on every device that you own, including your ebook reader, Kindle is the best place to go. The Kindle app on iPhone will sync progress between all your devices.
Download: Kindle
Strava
If you’re into biking, Starva is a must have app. The app has accurate tracking for bike rides and runs. Strava stands out in two ways. First, the app’s UI is simple and much better than the completion. Plus, there’s a huge community of bikers and runners on Strava. You’ll be able to connect with fellow runners and bikers, plus take part in challenges.
Download: Strava
Workflow
Workflow was the first automation app for iOS. It was so good that Apple actually acquired the app. We’re hoping we’ll see native automation features in iOS 12. But till then, there’s the Workflow app. You can browse through a gallery of workflows, import them and edit as you please. Or you can create your own workflows from scratch. You can use workflows to automate a series of actions from stock apps or third party apps. Things like attaching two images together, resizing them and saving to a particular album can all be done in one tap once the workflow has been configured.
Download: Workflow
Spark
Spark is the best free intelligent email app for iOS. Not only does the app have a smart inbox feature and intelligent notifications support, the app itself is a joy to use. There’s full-featured search, swipe gestures, multiple signature support and more. It’s fast, feature rich and pleasant.
Download: Spark
Overcast
Overcast is the best third party podcasting app for iOS. It’s free to use, with non-intrusive ads. You get an easy to use playlist feature, as well as features like smart speed with silence remover and volume boost. Managing the queue using Overcast is as easy as moving the episodes up and down on the list.
Download: Overcast
1Password
You should be using a password manager and it probably should be 1Password. 1Password stores all your passwords in a vault which is synced using Dropbox or iCloud. The vault is of course encrypted. Once you start using 1Password, you can assign complicated and long passwords to all your services. All you’ll need to remember is your 1Password master password.
Download: 1Password
Waze
Google Maps is good, by depending on where you live, Waze can be a lot more useful. Waze has user submitted live data for where you’re traveling. Thanks to this crowd-sourced data, Waze will give you intelligent suggestions and tips. You’ll know which road to avoid, which route to take, based on live data provided by other Waze users. The app also has other features like Spotify integration.
Download: Waze
Carrot Weather
You’ll find plenty of weather apps for iPhone. Too many of them. And that’s fine because everyone’s needs and taste for weather app differs. We’d recommend that you check out Carrot Weather. After the iOS 11 update, it’s now become the most feature rich and customizable weather app. You can lot of detail to the app’s home screen. Plus, Carrot Weather can integrate to your local weather station using Weather Underground so you’ll always have detailed and relevant weather information not for your city but for the specific area that you’re in.
Download: Carrot Weather
Evernote
You should probably just be using the Apple Notes app for all your note taking needs on iPhone. It has the basic features that you need – formatting support, files and images integrations. But if you need pro features like tagging, projects, and cross-platform support, Evernote is still the king.
Download: Evernote
Venmo
Venmo is the preferred app for peer to peer payments. When you need to pay a couple of dollars to your friend, this is probably the app you’ll end up using (because your friends already are).
Download: Venmo
Xe Currency
If you’re looking for a feature-rich currency converter with live reliable conversion rates, Xe is the app you should be using.
Download: Xe Currency
Pcalc Lite
Pcalc Lite is our favorite calculator apps for the iPhone. Using the in-app purchases, you can unlock awesome new themes, app icons, and even an AR mode.
Download: Pcalc Lite
Due
Due is an annoying timer app and that’s by design. Due’s best quality is that it will keep reminding you about a task until you absolutely shut it down. And for things that are really important, that’s a useful feature to have. Due will keep bugging you about getting it done every 60 seconds (if you set it up that way).
Download: Due
MusixMatch
Apple Music now has a lyrics feature but the MusixMatch app is so much better. First of all, it actually syncs the lyrics with the song, live. Second, it has an awesome widget so you can look up song lyrics for the current song without even unlocking your iPhone.
Download: MusixMatch
Coinbase
Blockchain’s main rival and also well worth downloading, Coinbase is another major ‘name’ in Bitcoin. You get the same wallet functionality, plus analysis and alerts – rather than show you more wallet examples, I’ve done screenshots for the latter here:
As with Blockchain, you use a traditional source of funds to shore up your Coinbase account with Bitcoins and then you trade them from there. And, as shown, Coinbase takes its cut from the initial transfers, 1.5% minimum, plus it takes a small amount from the natural Bitcoin trading process too. It’s worth emphasising this as, like standard stock trading, the very act of being in the marketplace costs money. So you should only make moves in or out when you’re completely confident that it’s ‘worth it’.
Part of knowing when to strike is being alerted when a coin you’re interested in crosses a certain threshold and Coinbase has an excellent alert system in place:
You can thus have multiple alerts on multiple coins and you can just sit back and wait for the market to move far enough so as to need your attention.
With detailed charts, great alerts and a fully working wallet system in place, this is another top (and yet again free) download for the iPhone.
Editor Note: Use this link to signup for Coinbase. Once you buy or sell $100 of digital currency or more, we both will get $10 of free bitcoin.
Download: Coinbase
Your Favorite Apps?
What are your must-have apps for a new iPhone? Share with us in the comments below.
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