A friend recently purchased his first iPhone and he asked me what to do. Here’s what I wrote:
so you bought an iPhone.
I have so much to say right now, but first off, good choice. This computer you have in your hand is three things - an ipod, a phone, and an internet communicator. Here is what I recommend beyond the stock apps that come with your new iPhone:
essential:
Dropbox - E S S E N T I A L
1Password - also essential
faith:
Divine Office 2 - pray, pray, pray
Accordance - my Bibles with commentaries, concordances, hebrew, greek, and archeology
ReadingPlan - great way to plan and complete your daily Bible reading
Mass Times - when can I receive the Lord next
The Pope App - because …
financial:
YNAB - our budgeting software and philosophy
Cash - simplest way to pay and get paid
Ångström - conversion of moneys, units, etc
health:
Nike Running - track my runs and geek out at my efforts to be the better version of me
Tabata - excellent timer for interval training
Withings - yes, I have a weight scale connect to the internet, what have I become … several pounds lighter, but still … come on
Training Peaks - a way for me to see my workout plan for the day/week
photography:
Carousel - an easy way to backup all photos to dropbox and then view them in a very nice timeline
Pixelmator - advanced and beautifully designed editor
SKRWT - very good for correcting iphone distortions in photos
VSCO - lots of people like this one too
social:
Tweetbot - I’m @doctorsutton - ninjustu-style professor of trinitarian theology at st. john's, loving husband, and happy father of five girls--blessed among women
Instagram - I’m @samuraimoses - cutting the Red Sea with a katana
travel:
Google Maps - better
Yelp - it sometimes works
Seamless - “Honey, I’m cooking tonight.” Quickly goes to phone and orders an awesome take out meal. Nice
synchronize - timezone calculator
Google Translate - Learn important words in Spanish - “Cerveza Grande”
utilities for work:
PDF Pen 2 - the best PDF viewer, editor, and creator on your phone - so much more to say here
PDF Pen Scan+ - the best way to take images of papers, books, and text to convert to PDF on your phone. And it does OCR - Honey!
Papers 3 - all my research all the time in PDF and citation forms
Textexpander - type less and better
Fantastical - a better calendar in so many ways
OmniFocus - this is a world - I implement the GTD method and this is my app for getting the better things done
weather:
Dark Sky - it’s like sticking your hand out the window
Check the Weather - it’s like Dark Sky but prettier
writing:
Scratch - Just get it down - I used to use Drafts for this, which is great also
Byword - a delightful way to write
Day One - a wonderful way to journal
it is also an ipod:
Apple Music is always on and I’m enjoying it, but most importantly, I listen to …
podcasts
Overcast - it’s the best app right now, but I also loveCastro so much and those guys are working on a new version soon. Here are the podcasts I’m listening too:
doctorsutton - yes I have my own podcast channel - talks, presentations, much more soon
- Above & Beyond: Group Therapy
- Analog(ue)
- Back to Work
- BONANZA!
- Connected
- The Critical Path
- The Flop House
- In Our Time
- The Incomparable
- Inquisitive
- Jesus Culture Leadership Podcast
- Jesus Culture Sacramento Church Podcast
- Mac Power Users
- Passion City Church Podcast
- Philosophy Bites
- Rodrick on the Line
- Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
So much more to say here. But, these are some of the apps I’m using now. I know you’ll discover more so please share them. Oh and I also wrote a blog post about how I use my iPad in my teaching. You can find it here.
And, of course, people are more important than tech. Always.