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

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.