My Top 75+ iPod Touch Apps

Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by kchristieh in technical

When we recently purchased a MacBook for our daughter to take to college, I asserted myself and claimed the iPod Touch that came with it. I’m so glad I did. While we wait for Verizon to start selling iPhones, I’ve become completely obsessed with and dependent upon the apps on my new iPod Touch.

I can click to my favorite apps – ShoppingList, Mail, Facebook, Contacts, Safari and Twitter – directly from my home screen. I highly recommend ShoppingList. I walk through the grocery store with my iPod in hand, checking off items on my categorized list. I also use it for packing for trips.

I’ve categorized the rest of my apps into 14 different categories. Here are my favorites for each category:

College:

• iStanford: Shows what’s going on at Stanford each day. I wish I could hear all the great speakers and attend the great events, but maybe it’ll come in handy the next time I visit.
• TommyCam: I can see a live view of the Tommy Trojan statue at USC. This Fall maybe my daughter will call me when she’s standing in front of the statue, waving to me. You can also see the TommyCam online here.
• CollegeMapp: Keeps track of college application submissions and statuses. I’ve got to get my son to put this on his iPod. Yes, I get to experience the college application process all over again this year.

Date / Time / Cal:

• CalenGoo: Great Google Calendar app. Our family’s calendars are on Google Calendar.
• Super Countdown: Counts the days until a big event. Right now, we’re counting the days until my daughter leaves for college (40).
• IP Free: For women. If you don’t get it, you shouldn’t.
• Clock: Shows me the time in various time zones.

Entertainment:

I don’t spend much time in this area, but this category includes YouTube, Fandango, Flixster, IQ+ Netflix, The Onion, Oprah Mobile, Videos, Kindle, This American Life and Public Radio.

Finance:

• Mint.com: I can view and categorize my financial transactions. It synchs with the online version.
• Tip Calculator: Easy way to figure a tip and split a bill.

Food:

Some cookbooks are completely downloaded on the iPod, and others will only show up offline if you “favorite” a recipe. Cookbooks include:

• How to Cook Everything (where I learned to make crepes!). This was worth paying for, as it downloaded the whole cookbook to my iPod and includes great step-by-step directions, tips and recipe variations. It also includes a timer for each step.
• Epicurious
• AllRecipes
• Recipes
• On the Grill (shout out to Jamie Purviance!)
• Whole Foods
• Jamie Oliver’s 20 Min Meals.

Music:

• Pandora: Just like Pandora.com. Listen to your favorite playlists.
• Vuvuzela: My virtual vuvuzela comes in handy when I watch World Cup games.
• Music: The music from my iTunes on my computer.
• Binaural Beat: Relaxing sounds.
• Shazam: Identifies songs. I haven’t used it yet, since it would require me to plug in my earbuds/microphone. I’m usually at my computer, so I can usually see what song is being played if I’m actually listening to music.

News:

If I’ll be offline, I’ll download the news before I leave home. It’s especially handy while waiting in a car line.

• New York Times
• Slate
• TheAtlantic and AtlanticWire: Look for new versions coming soon!
• The Daily Beast
• NPR News and NPR Addict
• WSJ (Wall St. Journal)
• LA News, KTLA 5, Fluent News
• Scanner911: Listen to real-time police scanners from around the U.S. We’re in the LA County Sheriff’s territory, but LAPD is much more interesting.

Photography:

• Flickr: Synchs with my photos at
• Rebel T2i (my camera’s manual)
• Photos: The photos I’ve chosen to upload from my computer.

Productivity:

• MobileRSS: Allows me to see all the items in my feed. I can download it when I’m online and read it when I’m offline.
• Things: Synchs with my Things to-do list on my computer
• Evernote: Synchs with Evernote on my computer and online.
• Dropbox: Allows me to read files that synch with my computer via Dropbox. Password-protected.
• iDisk: Part of MobileMe
• InstaPaper: Allows me to save articles to read later.
• GoodReader: Read pdfs

Reference:

• Articles: Great way to find something on Wikipedia.
• Dictionary, English/Francais Dictionary, Eng<>Spa Dictionary
• Google
• Wolfram
• YellowPages, W&Y Pages
• Wikipanion
• WebMD
• Bible, FastFacts

Shopping:

Apple Store, Amazon.com, Groupon, App Store, iTunes

Travel:

• TripAdvisor
• TrafficLA: Shows camera views of different freeways. I wish I could find an app that would show a map with how busy different freeways are.
• TripTracker
• Yelp
• GoogleEarth
• FreeMaui
• Maps
• Chateaux de Loire: I can dream, can’t I?

Utilities:

• Settings
• Free Wi-Fi
• Flashlight
• Calculator
• KitchenPro: Translates cups to TB, etc.
• Carpenter: Level, ruler, etc.
• Life: BMI, life expectancy
• Notes: I use Evernote instead.

Weather / Quakes:

• Weather: But it’s always the same here: sunny, sunny, sunny.   :)  (except yesterday and the day before)
• QuakeWatch: Shows and maps the most recent, biggest and closest quakes.
• TWC (The Weather Channel)
• pUniverse: Plots the stars and planets from wherever you wish.

As much as I love my iPod Touch, I’m frustrated that I can’t put more than 12 apps in a given category. If there’s a way to do that, please let me know.

In case you’re curious, I uploaded my own wallpaper as a photo into my Photos app.

Tags: apple, applications, apps, cooking, earthquakes, evernote, favorite, feature, food, google, ipod, ipod touch, itouch, music, productivity, recipes, recommended, stanford, technical, travel, usc, weather