Over a year ago, I gave in and bought my first iPhone – a huge adjustment after using my old smartphone brand consistently for four years.  As a PC user, I was concerned not only with the learning curve, but also had no idea which apps were important to download right away.

In order to ease myself into this slightly scary new smartphone situation, I downloaded 10 apps (after some research and a lot of recommendations from friends and family) that helped me to adapt and fall in love with the iPhone app experience almost immediately. Here’s my list:

  1. Find My iPhone – This is a MAJOR necessity for your phone. You do need to install it on another device to track down your missing cell. However, download it on your phone so you can also help others who are cellphoneless. As they say, where would we be without our devices?

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  1. Songza – A music lover’s dream. This app streams music for free and creates tons of playlists, offering a little something for everyone. From Motown Hits to 90s Bachelor Pad tunes to a 2000s High School Dance Mix, you will certainly find your own desired sound.

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  1. AP Mobile – Associated Press in mobile form? I’ll take it! Whether you are an avid news follower or an individual who checks into current events once in a while, this app makes it easy to get informed and stay on top of things happening around the world.

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  1. PicStitch – Whether you are picture-picky or snap photos every minute of your day, it’s fun to organize and display your pictures in a cool way. PicStitch provides tons of photo collage layouts and can export your collages to all of your social media outlets (P.S. This is how people do those 2-pictures-in-1 instagrams!)

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  1. Waze – This handy little app analyzes traffic patterns and selects the best route for you based on user-provided, minute-to-minute traffic data. Perfect for commuters who take a different route home every day depending on traffic.

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  1. Sudoku – Good for two reasons. 1) To kill some time while waiting in long lines or commutes and 2) to wake up your brain when in-between tasks and hard deadlines.

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  1. App Free – To get freebies on paid apps on a regular basis and keep up-to-date on the best apps to download, App Free is a wonderful one to have.

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  1. WhatsApp – Just because you have an iPhone doesn’t mean your Android, Blackberry, and Windows friends should be blacklisted from your contact list forever! Keep in touch with them with WhatsApp. Also awesome to text while traveling abroad.

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  1. Weather + – Way quicker than turning on the Weather Channel or searching through the newspaper for current weather updates. Click into Weather + first thing in the morning and get information on temperatures, precipitation and other acts of Mother Nature.

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  1. Simplenote – Instead of carrying around different lists and reminders and little slips of paper, keep it all on your phone. Simplenote makes it easy to jot down notes, thoughts or anything else that comes to mind.

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What did I miss? Post your must-have app in the comments.

Posted on 10/24/2013

Melissa Grosser 3Written by Melissa Grosser

Melissa Grosser is a Canadian PR professional and freelance writer, based out of Toronto. In the field of public relations for the last five years, Melissa has worked in the areas of beauty, entertainment, government, lifestyle and technology communications. She is the blogger behind The Domestic Peach – a lifestyle forum, and a regular contributor to Remark Magazine – one of Canada’s lifestyle magazines. You can follow Melissa on Twitter at @melgrosser or subscribe to her blog at www.thedomesticpeach.com.

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