Google Photos is an overall better solution to Apple's built-in iCloud Photo Library for backing up and managing your iPhone's photo collection.
The app has fancy image recognition that lets you search for things like dogs, food, or a particular mountain range and find relevant photos. You can share albums with others and create fun GIFs too.
Best of all is that Google Photos is free to use for unlimited photo storage. If you want to store higher-res photos from a DSLR, the $2 per month plan gets you 100GB. Plans go all the way up to a whopping 30TB ($300 per month), so there are plenty of options for everyone.
Foursquare has a wealth of community feedback (or "tips") on restaurants around the world (try searching "free WiFi" next time you're trying to find a coffee shop), and its use of push notifications to aid in the discovery of new places is unmatched.
You can use Messenger to communicate with anyone directly on Facebook, and you don't even need a Facebook account to use the app.
Messenger can also be used to send money to friends, make video and phone calls over the internet, order an Uber ride, and send stickers and animated GIFs with ease. When Facebook’s virtual assistant “M” becomes available outside of San Francisco, Messenger will be able to do anything from order a pair of shoes to call your cable company for you.
PayPal's Venmo app connects to your bank account and lets you quickly send someone else using the app real money. There are no fees, which makes it an ideal way to split up a dinner bill with friends or even pay rent.
Venmo is also a social network of sorts. You can see what other people are paying each other for along with playful emoji descriptions. Just don't get "Venvy".
Spark has a number of features that make a compelling email app: a smart inbox that automatically groups emails into different groups, like newsletters and alerts, customizable notifications, and the ability to snooze emails for reading later.
It's also completely free to use.
Dropbox is a reliable and well-designed cloud storage app.
You can automatically upload photos from your iPhone's camera roll and store them in Dropbox, comment on documents you have shared with other people, and of course browse everything you have stored online.
Most weather apps give you a basic forecast. But Dark Sky takes it a step further with notifications that warn you when it's about to rain or snow in your exact location. It’s also an excellent app with a beautiful, minimalist design and access to weather radar.
It’s like having a weather psychic in your pocket, and you’ll be glad you bought it the next time you almost get caught in the rain.
Dark Sky costs $3.99.
Your passwords need to be kept secure. 1Password is the best app for getting that job done.
It manages your web logins and sensitive information and keeps your passwords organized. Everything is protected with a master password that only you know, so hackers will never be able to crack your digital vault.
1Password is free to download, but there's an optional upgrade with more features for $9.99.
Bookmarking articles is so 10 years ago — unless you use Pocket. The service lets you save any webpage you come across to come back to later. Lots of apps integrate directly with Pocket, including the iPhone's built-in Safari browser, to let you save articles and videos.
The app itself can download stories offline in a clean, easily readable interface for offline reading. It even reads text to you with a Siri-like voice. You can also share (with comments) articles with other Pocket users, and the service learns what you like and recommends more articles you might find interesting.
Sworkit uses a combination of aerobic, strength, resistance, and flexibility workouts to create routines that work for all kinds of different fitness goals.
The app has been scientifically proven to work, too. A recent analysis of 30 popular free fitness apps by a team of sports scientists found that Sworkit Lite was the most closely aligned with the American College of Sports Medicine’s training guidelines. Tech Insider science writer Kevin Loria swears by it.
Sworkit has a “Lite” version that’s free to use with ads and a “Pro” version that costs $3.99 to remove ads and unlock features, like the ability to save and build multiple custom workouts.
Spotify is the best streaming music service for most people. As competition in the streaming music space has heated up — Apple's long-awaited Apple Music service launched over the summer — Spotify has been adding some great new features. One of those is Discover Weekly, which builds a custom playlist each week for every Spotify user.
The app supports free listening on shuffle with ads, while a $9.99 per month Spotify Premium subscription unlocks everything, including offline mode for when you can't stream.
No iPhone is complete without a keyboard for sharing GIFs, and the free Giffage app is the best one in the App Store.
Once it's installed, you can search for a GIF to fit just about any situation, browse by categories like "animals" and "emotions," and save your favorite GIFs for quick access.
If you want to make the photos you take on your smartphone look better, one of VSCO Cam's dozens of retro film filters will do the trick. The app offers more editing capabilities than Instagram, and each filter preset is designed to emulate the effect of an old-school film camera.
VSCO offers free cloud syncing and uploads to a personalized VSCO Grid account, which is essentially a hi-res, ultra minimalist version of Instagram that has less of a focus on social networking and more of a focus on pretty pictures.
Mint connects to your bank and credit cards and monitors your spending. It's designed to help you budget and get a sense of your net worth, and it can remind you about reoccurring bills and let you know when large withdraws are made from your account.
Apple's Game of the Year for 2014 is still just as good in 2015. Monument Valley is a gorgeous puzzler with a wonderful soundtrack. It will definitely go down as one of the greatest iPhone games of all time.
It costs $3.99.
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