When I give training classes on iPhone’s and iPad’s for business the number one question I get asked is what apps I use for my iOS devices (iPhone and iPad). After getting this question several times a lady finally said “Why don’t you give us a list.” and so this blog post was born. The 10 Apps that I use the most that others would find useful. Don’t get me wrong I use several other apps, but these apps are the ones I find to be the most productive for almost any user.

1. Cards

   Price: Free ($2.99/card)
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cards/id464957209?mt=8

   Cards, to my amazement, is one of the apps that gets the most attention and talk about during my trainings. Cards does the unspeakable and combines current technology with old fashioned good manners. With this app you can create a customized greeting, birthday, or thank you card and then apple will send that card to you through the United States Postal System. When I tell people about this app at first they say, “oh but who wants another greeting card via email”, and I always have to say “no, this is through the mail system and comes in good old fashioned tangible format.” At this point the crowd usually goes wild with glee.

2. Find My iPhone

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648

   One of the best tools for the forgetful. This app allows you to log in from either your iPhone or iPad (or via the mobile icloud.com site on your computer), and find your other devices. Display your lost devices on a map, play a sound (even if the ringer is set to vibrate only), sent text message, and even lock (with password) or remote wipe your devices to keep the bad guys from accessing your important data.

3. Find Friends

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-friends/id466122094?mt=8

   This app is great for group trips. Each person that has the app can see where the other person’s phone is at all times. When we go on trips with kids to Six Flags and other places its nice to have this because a) We know where the child is at all times (we assume with his/her phone), and b) we know where the phone is if it gets misplaced. You can allow someone full or temporary access to see where you are. This app is also great for knowing where someone is if you are traveling in multiple vehicles. The app tells how many miles apart you are from the other person.

4. Skype

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skype/id304878510?mt=8
   Skype has been around forever, and when it was introduced to the iOS devices I was excited because I had used the desktop application for a number of years. Some might ask why not use facetime? Facetime is great but has limitations (at least until iOS 6 comes out). Both users have to be on a wifi network. This isn’t always plausable. Not to mention since I already have a Skype account, I have all of my contacts right in my Phone. Lastly, Skype (with add-on services) can make outbound calls which allows me to call people without giving out my mobile number. Sometimes this is important to me. When we recently took a cruise cell phone usage was out of the question due to expense. Skype allowed us to stay in touch with our children and make phone calls by only being connected to wifi with our devices.

5. Dropbox

   Price: Free
   Link:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8

   Dropbox is one of my favorite software packages in the world. If you don’t have an account I suggest you sign up immediately (http://db.tt/KkGwBrJ) for at least a free account. Free accounts come with 2GB of cloud space. You can purchase 50GB for just $99/year. Once you have dropbox installed on your computer, any file added to the dropbox folder is immediately synced to the cloud. These files are also synced to your other computers running dropbox, and with this iOS app you can now see all of those files right from your iPhone and iPad. The app is also great for sharing large files with friends and can generate a link from your iOS device that can be sent via email with just the touch of a button.

6. iPhoto

   Price: $4.99
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iphoto/id497786065?mt=8

   iPhoto has been a favorite app on my Mac Computer for years. I was very excited to see it released for iOS. First the app has incredible auto enhancing photo capability. It takes care of redeye, rotation, coloring, etc; all done automatically, and in much greater detail than the built in photo app. Secondly you can send photos that you’ve edited (or that you didn’t) to twitter, flickr, Facebook, slideshows, or email from within the app. Another nice feature is the inspector that is built in to iPhoto. With this you can see where a photo was taken, if it was taken from a device that has GPS. The toolbox allows for effects, and many enhancements including levels and exposures. Overall this is a great application for anyone who takes photos with an iOS device.

7. iMovie

   Price: $4.99
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id377298193?mt=8
   iMovie is another app that is native to the Mac Computer. One of the most simple to use applications for editing video and splicing movie sequences together for presentation, funerals, weddings, family movies, etc. is now available for iOS devices. This app allows you to put that special touch on your videos within a matter of minutes. If you aren’t ready to make a full length feature fill, try the trailers feature for adding just the right touch of class.

8. iWork Suite

   Price: $29.97 ($9.99 each)
   While technically iWork is three apps, they go hand in hand so much that I decided to include them as one package. At just $10 per app you can edit and change almost any microsoft document that you are sent via email right from your phone.

   1. Pages

      Price: $9.99
      Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8

      Pages is Apple’s answer to Document (Microsoft Word) and Desktop Publishing (Microsoft Publisher/Adobe inDesign) all rolled into one. Pages can open any Microsoft Word document and can edit it right from your iOS device. It can also open .pages files from your Mac computer, and gives the ability to store documents right on the cloud. Pages comes with beautiful templates and allows for not only very nice Word Processing Document creation but also very nice Desktop Publishing Material creation. Once editing or creation is completed projects can be exported to PDF and sent to Dropbox, stored on the cloud, or even emailed to a client or colleague right from the device.

   2. Numbers

      Price: $9.99
      Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numbers/id361304891?mt=8

      Numbers (The Apple replacement for Excel) is able to open Excel documents. The app not only uses formulas that you have learned in excel, but also creates beautifully designed spreadsheets (something I think Microsoft misses the boat on often). Just because you have tabular data in a spreadsheet format, doesn’t mean that said data has to be presented in an ugly manner. Like Pages, Numbers also has full iCloud support and allows for export of PDF files that can be sent after creation or editing.

   3. Keynote

      Price: $9.99
      Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote/id361285480?mt=8

      Powerpoint is a key application in most businesses, and Apple’s Keynote allows for mobile presentations to be opened (and with the right adapters) even displayed on your iOS devices. Presentations can also be edited and saved to be emailed back in popular formats (.key, .ppt, or .pdf). As with the other two sister apps, Keynote has full iCloud support and wonderful ready-made templates making it one of my top picks.

9. 1Password

   Price: $14.99
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1password-pro/id319898689?mt=8

   Ever forget a password? What about that site that requires all those special characters in upper and lower case? 1Password Pro is an iOS device application to handle just that. The app stores all your important passwords, credit cards, and other important pieces of data and makes them available by inputting one easy to remember password into the app. If you own the desktop version of this app too (windows or mac) you can sync all your passwords using the dropbox app mentioned above. This makes password management a breeze.

10. Microsoft Photosynth

    Price: Free
    Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photosynth/id430065256?mt=8

    Microsoft Photosynth allows for the creation of panoramic photos. Sometimes photos from one view just aren’t enough. With this app you can send a virtual photo of an entire object, or place. Microsoft offering the app for free even makes it better. The app can share the photos created on facebook or saved directly to camera roll.

Honorable Mention

While the above are my top 10 I decided to go ahead and mention the following great business apps. They are handy and while they didn’t make the top ten it was more because they aren’t tailored for everyone vs. them not being very deserving apps.

1. Red Laser

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/redlaser-barcode-scanner-qr/id474902001?mt=8

   Red Laser serves two great purposes. First it works as a QR code scanner, and in today’s society QR Advertisements are everywhere. Secondly, Red Laser doubles as a bar code scanner. That might not seem like a big thing, however, being able to price compare hinges on this ability. I’ve been several places where I scan a bar code and see I can get a product 10 miles down the road for less money (or online for that matter). I don’t go to the other place, but I just simply show the price to the store I am at and 80% of the time they price match the red laser price. With two great features the product couldn’t get much better especially for the price.

2. Paypal Here

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paypal-here/id505911015?mt=8

   Paypal Here is the perfect app for any business who wants to accept credit cards without all those hidden fees. Paypal Here fees are simple with no hidden fees. Just pay 2.7% and begin taking credit cards without the hassle with your iPhone and the hassle free easy to install Paypal Here swipe device. Don’t have your Paypal Here swipe with you? Simply scan the card with your camera and have the customer sign with their finger.

3. Paypal

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paypal/id283646709?mt=8

   Paypal has always been a great way to transfer money between people. I use a Paypal debit card available at no charge from Paypal. When a customer pays me with the aforementioned Paypal Here app the money is instantly available for purchase with my Paypal debit card. The app lets you track purchases and payments as well as letting you see your account balance. If you have a Paypal account for any reason (eBay, credit card transactions, etc) this app is a must have.

4. HeyTell

   Price: Free
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heytell/id352791835?mt=8

   Sending text messages to colleagues and friends is great, especially with the addition of iMessage. Sometimes you need more than just a text to express your thoughts. Sometimes you just don’t have time to type a conversation back and forth. HeyTell is a simple solution for these problems. HeyTell allows you to audio messages (like walkie-talkie) to each other from right on your iOS device. With a simple in-app purchase for only $0.99 the app even allows the creation of groups which is great for organizations and friends all getting your message at once. This app is great for both personal and business use.

5. Keynote Remote

   Price: $0.99
   Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote-remote/id300719251?mt=8

   Keynote Remote allows you to connect and remote control your keynote presentation that are on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch from any other connected iPhone or iPod touch. The app makes a great addition to the Keynote app and allows for smooth presentation control from anywhere in the room.