Working with Other Useful iPhone Apps and Features

By David A. Watt
Oct 30, 2017

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Touring Other Cool iPhone Apps

There are many thousands of apps available for the iPhone. Some of these are pre-installed on your iPhone; others you download from the App Store. No matter how they get installed on your iPhone, these apps can be really useful in so many ways.

Touring Other Cool iPhone Apps Already Installed on Your iPhone

The following table provides an overview of a number of other apps (all of which are installed by default) that you might find useful or entertaining:

Other Cool iPhone Apps

Icon	App	Description
	Calculator	In portrait orientation, the Calculator is the equivalent of one you would get at the local dollar store. Rotate the iPhone to access scientific calculator options. Access the Calculator quickly by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center; then, tap the Calculator icon. You can also tap the Calculator icon on a Home screen to launch the app.
	Clock	Get the current time in multiple locations around the world, set alarms, set a consistent time to sleep every day, use a stopwatch, or count down time with a timer. Quickly access the Clock app by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center. Tap the Clock icon to open the Clock app. Or, tap the Clock icon on a Home screen.
	Compass (Extras folder)	Transform your iPhone into a compass. Using this app, you can see your current location on the analog-looking compass with your exact position shown in latitude and longitude. If you swipe to the left, you transform your iPhone into a level that measures on the horizontal planes along with angles. Swipe to the right to get back to the compass.
	Files	When you enable the iCloud Drive under your iCloud account, use the Files app to access the documents stored there. (See Chapter 3, “Setting Up and Using an Apple ID, iCloud, and Other Online Accounts,” for information on configuring your iCloud account.)
	Find Friends (Extras folder)	See the current location of “friends” who are part of your Family Sharing group or who you add to the app manually. You can also share your location with others.
	Find iPhone (Extras folder)	Use this app to locate other iPhones, iPads, or Macs that have enabled Find My iPhone using the same iCloud account. (Learn about Find My iPhone in the online Chapter 16, “Maintaining and Protecting Your iPhone and Solving Problems.”)
	Flashlight (Control Center)	Use your iPhone’s flash as a flashlight. Open the Control Center and tap the Flashlight icon to turn the light on; tap it again to turn it off. Press and hold on the icon to pop up the brightness slider; drag the slider up to increase the brightness or down to decrease it. This is a very simple app, but also happens to be extremely useful.
	Home	After you configure it to work with your home automation devices, use the Home app to control those devices.
	iBooks	Access and organize books and PDFs so that you always have something to read. The app enables you to change how the books appear on the screen, such as making the font larger or smaller. iBooks syncs across your devices so that you can read something on your iPhone and then pick it up later at the same spot on an iPad.
	iTunes Store	Browse or search for music, TV shows, movies, and other content. When you find something you want to listen to or watch, you can easily download it to your iPhone. You access the iTunes Store using your Apple ID; any purchases you make are completed using the purchase information associated with that account. Content you download to your iPhone is available in the associated app; for example, when you download music, you listen to that music using the Music app. This app works very similarly to the App Store app, which is covered in Chapter 4, “Customizing How Your iPhone Works.”
	News	Read news from a variety of sources. You can search news and save items of interest to you. You can also choose your favorite news sources so that you can focus more on what you care about and avoid what you don’t have any interest in.
	Notes	Capture different kinds of information, including text notes, lists, photos, maps, and more. You can also draw in the app and attach different types of objects to notes, and then use the Attachment Manager to view them. Using online accounts, such as iCloud, with the Notes app means that your notes are available on all your devices. If you want to share a note, tap the Share icon and choose how you want to share it.
	Podcasts	This app enables you to subscribe to and then listen to podcasts on a wide variety of topics. Episodes of podcasts to which you are subscribed download to your iPhone automatically. You can configure how many episodes are saved on your phone globally and for individual podcasts. There are podcasts on any topic you can imagine so it’s very likely you can find podcasts that are of interest to you. You can search for specific podcasts or browse for them based on category and topic.
	Reminders	Create reminders for just about anything you can imagine, such as to-do lists, items you need to purchase, etc. You can configure alarms for reminders that trigger notifications based on date and time or by location. You can set up repeating reminders, too. If that isn’t enough, you can also create multiple lists of reminders, such as one for work and one for personal items. Like other apps, you can store your reminders on the cloud so that you can access them from multiple devices.
	Stocks	Use this app to track stocks in which you are interested. You can add any index, stock, or mutual fund as long as you know the symbol for it, and you can even use the application to find a symbol if you don’t know it. You can see current performance and view historical performance for various time periods. Rotate the iPhone to see a more in-depth view when you are examining a specific stock. You can see the current “ticker” for the items you are tracking by opening the Widget screen and swiping up or down until you see the Stocks widget.
	Tips (Extras folder)	Use this app to get a few pointers about working with your iPhone. Of course, because you have this book, you are way ahead of the game.
	TV	Use this app to watch TV shows and movies. You can sign in to a cable provider to watch TV content and you can subscribe to video services, such as HBO Now. Movies or TV shows you purchase or rent using the iTunes Store app are added to this app so you can watch them.
	Voice Memos (Extras folder)	Record audio notes using the Voice Memos app. Play them back, and, through syncing, move them onto your computer, or share them by tapping the Share icon. You can record through the iPhone’s microphone or via the mic on the earbud headset.
	Watch	Use this app to pair and configure your iPhone with an Apple Watch. Once paired with your iPhone, you can configure how your Apple Watch accesses content from your iPhone’s apps such as Mail, Calendar, Messages, Phone, Contacts, Photos, Music, Reminders, and more.
	Weather	See current weather conditions and a high-level forecast for any number of locations. You can use the default locations, and if you tap the List icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, you can add, remove, and organize the locations you want to track. Swipe through the screens to see each location’s forecast.

Touring Other Cool iPhone Apps You Can Download onto Your iPhone

The following table provides “mini-reviews” of some apps you might find useful, but that aren’t installed on your iPhone by default. Fortunately, as you learned in Chapter 4 it is easy to download and install apps from the App Store onto your iPhone.

Other Useful Apps Not Installed by Default

Icon	App	Description
	AARP Now	You can get information provided by AARP by reading articles and watching videos. You can also get information about your AARP benefits and access your AARP account.
	Airline apps	All the major airlines have apps you can use to make reservations, check flight status, and more. The best of these apps also enable you to check in for flights and provide an electronic boarding pass through the Wallet app.
	AroundMe	Use the app to locate “things” that are around you. You can find hospitals, restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and much more. This app is really useful when you are in a new area because you can quickly find and get to places of interest.
	First Aid	This handy app provides first aid information for a wide variety of situations, including emergencies. It provides examples, and then leads you through how to deal with them in a step-by-step format.
	Food ordering and delivery apps	There are a number of apps that enable you to order and get food delivered to you. Examples of these apps include GrubHub, BeyondMenu, UberEATS, and Foodler. You can use these apps to search for restaurants near your present location. You can choose the type of food you want and then view menus and make orders for delivery in many cases. These apps are especially useful when you travel, but you should also try them at home to see what local restaurants participate in these services.
	GateGuru	This app helps you make airline travel better by providing information about the airports you visit along the way. You can find amenities, see maps, and get flight information.
	Ride sharing apps	These apps, prime examples of which are Uber and Lyft, enable you to request a ride from your current location to wherever you want to go. When you submit a request and a driver accepts it, you see exactly when your ride will arrive. You can use the app to communicate with your driver in case you need to clarify the pickup location. You also get fare information and the app handles all payments for you automatically, so, when you arrive at your destination, you can just get out of the car and go. These services generally provide better service, are easier to use, and are less expensive than taxis. You can also request a ride with a ride-sharing service through the Maps app as you’ll see in “Finding Your Way with Maps” later in this chapter.
	TripIt	This is a great app if you travel frequently because it consolidates your travel plans in one place. When you book a trip, you email your itinerary to the TripIt address. The details are extracted and a TripIt itinerary is created. The app then tracks the status of flights and other information and it keeps you informed of any changes. For example, if a flight gets delayed, you see a notification and your itinerary is automatically updated.
	WebMD	You can use this one to look up symptoms of health problems to help you identify potential causes and treatment. You can also look up medical terms, get information about tests and treatments, and access other medical information.
	Yelp	This is another app you can use to find places of interest to you, including shopping, restaurants, gas stations, and more. You can also get deals at participating organizations and read reviews posted by other Yelp users.