App-ease Me

BroodsSexton

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Feb 4, 2006
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It's been a while since we had a "your favorite apps" thread. I've got a new iphone, and a long vacation coming up. Thrill me. what are you packing? Games, stupid stuff, distractions, efficiency...what's your joint?

I've burned out on Tetris and Kingdoms. Need some new games.

Power using Clio for billing and timekeeping, 1Password for passwords and secure notes, and Google Office suite. Tell me more.
 

Dollar

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May 5, 2006
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With regards to the long vacation, Google Trips has been a revelation for me recently. It compiles details of all your travel reservations, sorts them by date and location, and lets you download info and maps for anywhere you're traveling and stores it all in an easy to use format, accessible offline.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Jul 12, 2008
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New England
This is hardly a new thought, but: apps are dead, aren't they? Some of my best friends are software developers and I'm happy to pay for quality software, I just can't think of the last time that I downloaded an app that made a material improvement on my life.

Don't get me wrong. Ubiquitous email and texting have fundamentally changed communication. I'd be lost without my calendar in my pocket. Everyone should use a password manager. And internet everywhere is the cause of and solution to all of our problems. But outside of a few games, it's been years since I downloaded an app that's held my attention. I went from "an app for everything" to, slowly down to about 2 dozen apps, to:

Safari
Messages
Mail
Videos
Calendar
Spotify
Amazon Music
Amazon Video
Netflix (so much more useful now that you can download shows on the go)
Tweetbot
Facebook and Messenger
Dark Sky ("hyperlocal weather" -- it's surprisingly accurate with its "expect rain in 20 minutes, stopping in 45") alerts.
PlayStation Vue (to watch the Sox outside on the iPad)
A remote for my in-home speakers
A remote for a recently-acquired GoPro camera
Kindle
A podcast client
A password manager.
Like Dollar mentioned, something to track trips/expenses (when on business trips).
Untapped (see the Beer Douches thread).

Anyway, those games I mentioned:

  • FTL: A "roguelike" (randomly generated levels). Essentially a "battles as Bridge Captain of the Enterprise" simulator. Direct crew and ship power to maintain critical systems. It's addictive and difficult. I've played over 400 games. I'd get more done if I deleted it, but I can't. Touch controls are perfect.
  • Hitman Go. Looks like a wooden board game. Plays like a Rube Goldberg machine. Move through each level turn by turn, but for every move you make the board reacts. Find the right sequence of moves to get out alive. (There's a Lara Croft-themed one as well. Same concept).
  • Papers, Please: Dark and dystopian. You play a customs agent examining people's passports. Look for forgeries and discrepencies. It has all the appeal of doing real clerical work... but it's oddly engrossing, and the controls work.
  • Really Bad Chess: It's a chess game that starts you out with the board stacked in your favor, and increases in difficulty as you get better.
So many mobile games just don't work. I'm an avid gamer, but trying to cram virtual thumbsticks or complex controls into a 5-10" screen just never clicked for me.

Are others out there still using lots of apps?
 

cgori

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Oct 2, 2004
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Tripcase - I suspect similar to Google Trips (which I didn't know about, so am going to check out). Nice thing is it can accept confirmation emails from airlines/etc and fold them into your trip.

Google Keep - I started to use this for a while, then stopped, but I should go back to it. Basically it merges the notes and to-do list apps into one thing where you can customize the layout as you wish. I have friends that swear by it (which is how I started), but I have a lot of crap to convert and it was taking a while to do that, but I did like it.

Economist Espresso - if you are a subscriber, great for a daily dose of useful news/info

Dropbox - very convenient for capturing pictures and notes in one place for the house renovation project I am doing

Routesy - SF-specific, is the best bus/subway-time tracking app, since it integrates with maps for stops/stations and can show you what other routes you could take (I wish it knew the layouts of the subway stations a little bit better like the best of the Tokyo subway apps). I'm sure there is something similar for Boston or other cities.

Mr Chilly - also SF-specific, has micro-climate weather maps for the city (if you don't believe that's a thing, just for right now the range is from about 59 to 80 within the borders of the city)

Waze - for when I drive. The Google Calendar integration is pretty good now, it already knows where you want to go if you put the address into the appointment.

Vivino - good way to catalog wine that you had (think of Untappd but for wine) - has a camera plugin that you just grab the front label and it identifies the bottle/vintage/etc

Drop7 - I still play this game, if I'm in line waiting or have 5min to kill. Can play on a plane since you don't need a connection.
 

One Red Seat

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Oct 30, 2003
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Anybody use any journal or diary type apps? Hate to say it but, my memory ain't what it used to be and I find myself wishing I could recall more of some the experiences I had etc. Somebody mentioned Day One to me...anybody have any experience with this app or similar ones?
 

SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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I'm down to about 10-15 apps, not including the builtin Chrome/YouTube/Maps/Mail/etc stuff:

VLC (I've ditched podcast-specific apps in favor of VLC, managing subscriptions/syncing from my desktop; also handles all my audio needs)
Kodi (For integration with my Kodi setup at home)
SSHDroid (allows syncing to VLC and other stuff)
Ownnote (Keeps online notes in my Owncloud)
Firefox (Rarely used but sometimes I want 2 browsers going)
Lyft
Uber
Airbnb
Wunderground
Blue Light Filter
Lithium (e-reader app, rarely used since I have a Kobo e-reader)
 

uncannymanny

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Jan 12, 2007
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I can’t wait for the ios11 app-removal feature to kick in on my phone. Automatically deletes unused apps (but not their data). I have at least 100 apps on my phone that I don’t need.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
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I'd love to find some good games that aren't In-App Purchase crazy. I'd love to purchase a game for $4.99 or $9.99 and just get the game. Everything I try now is basically neutered unless you want to play for 8,000 hours to level up or you can just keep paying. I don't mind grinding levels etc. but it's just at a point now with some games where they make it just tedious to do anything unless you pay up. But hey, the game is "free"!
 

sox311

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Jan 30, 2004
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That's what she said.
We are doing a Disneyland trip in a few weeks, their app is great
Traeger App is fantastic, I just got a Traeger, and it really helps
Keeper for passwords
Amazon Alexa and Samsung Smartthings for Home Automation
iCatcher for Podcasts

Everything else is junk or running/mountain biking related along with the staples like Uber, Apple TV Remote, IMDB...
 

Leskanic's Thread

lost underscore
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Jul 16, 2005
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I'd love to find some good games that aren't In-App Purchase crazy. I'd love to purchase a game for $4.99 or $9.99 and just get the game. Everything I try now is basically neutered unless you want to play for 8,000 hours to level up or you can just keep paying. I don't mind grinding levels etc. but it's just at a point now with some games where they make it just tedious to do anything unless you pay up. But hey, the game is "free"!
I don't know if this is up your alley, but I got on a nostalgia kick for old Ultima games and discovered these:

Lowlander (and its sequel, Lowerlander)
Dungeons of Chaos

Solid old school CRPG experiences, and no extra purchases beyond that initial purchase. The most gaming I've done on my phone in years.
 

Rovin Romine

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I don't know if this is up your alley, but I got on a nostalgia kick for old Ultima games and discovered these:

Lowlander (and its sequel, Lowerlander)
Dungeons of Chaos

Solid old school CRPG experiences, and no extra purchases beyond that initial purchase. The most gaming I've done on my phone in years.
Also for nostalgia, I recently loaded up Ultima IV on the iphone, but it died under the new iOS.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
19,272
I don't know if this is up your alley, but I got on a nostalgia kick for old Ultima games and discovered these:

Lowlander (and its sequel, Lowerlander)
Dungeons of Chaos

Solid old school CRPG experiences, and no extra purchases beyond that initial purchase. The most gaming I've done on my phone in years.
Great. I'll check these out.

One app I love, since i'm on the road constantly is "Road Ahead". It'll tell you all the future exits and really how far shit is off the highway. Is the gas station really off the exit an .1 miles off or is it 3 miles? I use it constantly. It's not perfect in terms of finding you and updating but I use it all the time when looking for gas / food etc. on long trips.
 

Marceline

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Sep 9, 2002
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Great. I'll check these out.

One app I love, since i'm on the road constantly is "Road Ahead". It'll tell you all the future exits and really how far shit is off the highway. Is the gas station really off the exit an .1 miles off or is it 3 miles? I use it constantly. It's not perfect in terms of finding you and updating but I use it all the time when looking for gas / food etc. on long trips.
Waze is good for this too. If you are en route somewhere and do a search for another destination (like "gas station" or whatever), it'll list them all out by how far they are out of the way from your current route in minutes.