With more than 1 million apps available for download through iTunes, it can be a daunting to determine which ones are worth your time and money. So, here’s our list of recommendations — a selection of 10 free apps that are worth the time you’ll spend downloading them. Not satisfied with our list? Feel free to share other suggestions.
1. BillGuard allows users to connect their bank and credit card accounts to the app in order to track and their spending AND protect you from fraud and unfair charges. BillGuard uses a combination of predictive algorithms and crowd-sourced data from BillGuard users to spot suspicious activity and unfair or dubious charges. If found, the app flags the charges and notifies the user.
2. Mailbox is a slick email tool for blasting through your Gmail and iCloud inboxes. Mailbox particularly excels with its minimalist interface that’s all about quickly scanning through messages and conversations, and then swiping your emails into archives or trash.
3. Lumosity combines cognitive science techniques from the Human Cognition Project with a gamified approach to provide users with brain-training mini-games that are fun and effective at exercising your mental muscles. Users create a Lumosity account and then select particular mental faculties that they want to exercise. Lumosity then creates customized daily exercise routines with mini-games built around those particular skills.
4. Ingress is a massive multiplayer augmented reality game, and the playing field is the world itself. Developed by Google’s Niantic Labs, players take the role of members of rival secret societies fighting for control of a mysterious energy source called “exotic matter” or “XM”.
5. IFTTT employs a wide variety of triggers and actions ranging from websites, apps, to even other devices and peripherals. You can even browse through other people’s trending and featured recipes, as well as themed collections and all-time favorites that you can install or modify.
6. “GT Racing 2” is a full on broadside against Real Racing’s dominance in the realistic driving simulator field. Billed as “The Real Car Experience”, “GT Racing 2” features more than 60 licensed cars that you can race on 13 tracks.
7. Brewster consolidates your phone and social network contacts together into a convenient contacts central app. Incorporating data from Contacts, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail, Foursquare and Instagram, Brewster builds a consolidated address book filled with not only phone numbers but emails, social network contacts, and other info.
8. WhatsApp is free to use for the first year, with a cost of $0.99 per year. The basic ease of use, wealth of features and ballooning user base of more than 450 million people explains why Facebook was willing to pay $19 billion to acquire it.
9. QuizUp features a sharp, polished interface, a wide variety of trivia question categories, and a diverse following of gamers to play against worldwide. Simply choose a category you want to compete in, and the app quickly matches you up against gamers worldwide.
10. Camera Awesome is an feature-packed camera app that comes loaded with tools to help you take the best photos you can. Composition guides, exposure adjustment and focus tools let you make the most out of your snapshots, while an auto-awesomize feature lets you do one-touch improvements to your images.