The iPhone Mom

If you do Facebook then you need this free app. With it you can view most everything that you see on the Facebook website on your iPhone. You can view and add friends, make comments, upload photos, etc. When that witty idea for a status update hits you in the store you can add it right away. Having this app on my phone means that I can wait at the bus stop and stalk my Facebook friends at the same time. Which to be honest, is a bit disturbing and very addicting.

Seller: Facebook

Price when Reviewed: Free

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

This is a decent game and my complaints about it having nothing to do with the game itself, just my ability to play it. I really like the interface and it’s easy to learn. When it’s your turn you drag and drop tiles onto the game board to spell your words. Simple. You can zoom in and out on the game board to make it easier to see the tiles and squares.

My biggest complaint about Scrabble is that it’s too hard. Take that with a grain of salt as it’s coming from someone who’s children are daily sucking away my intelligence. My brain doesn’t do big words anymore and I wish you could adjust the level of difficulty. Sometimes when I play I feel like my opponent is a college professor and he’s wondering who I think I’m kidding. What can I say? I’m used to playing against my kids who spell everything phonetically. There’s a multi-player option that lets you play against someone who also has the game and is on your wireless network. I haven’t tried it yet but maybe we can load Scrabble onto my husband’s phone then I can ask the 4 year old to play and my self-esteem get a boost.

Seller: Electronic Arts

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

This free app is awesome and an absolute must have for your iPhone! It’s like having thousands of CDs loaded onto your phone and all available for you – without having to pay a dime. It takes only a minute to set up and it’s not hard to do. To get started you set up “stations” by clicking on “New Station” at the bottom of your screen. Then enter in one of your favorite music artists, it’s that simple. You can add as many stations as you like. I’ve got the Michael Buble station, Barenaked Ladies station, ABBA station and Disney Radio Stars station, just to name a few and give you some insight into my musical schizophrenia.

When you want music you click on the station you want. Pandora then plays songs from that artist as well as songs that are similar to the artist and their style of music. If you like a song you press the thumbs up. If you don’t like it, you press thumbs down or skip it. Pandora keeps track of what you’re listening to and learns what your taste is so before you know it you’re only getting songs you like. Some very smart techy fellows will probably be offended that I don’t explain  how it all works. Truth is, I don’t know how. I just think of it as magic.

This app is my must have at the gym. I turn it on and select the station that best fits my mood. I like to go to my iPhone settings and turn off the auto-lock. That way my screen doesn’t shut off and I can see the names of the songs Pandora is playing and skip the ones I don’t like. My one complaint about this app (and it’s a very minor one) is that it shuts off when you have to go back to your phone home screen. It’d be fantastic if they could somehow make it like your iPod music so it kept playing.

Seller: Panora Media, Inc.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

This app is a must have. I bought it just after Christmas with one of the iTunes gift cards Santa left in my stocking. This game has been a lifesaver when I’m sitting in the dance studio parking lot waiting for my girls’ classes to end. Last week it literally kept me entertained for an hour. Fabulous!

The interface is great on this game and playing it couldn’t be simpler. Instead of using your mouse (at least that’s how I used to play Tetris when it first came out for the PC, many moons ago) to rotate and move the blocks you use your finger on the screen. There’s a simple tutorial that shows you how to tap and move your finger to place your blocks. That’s the easy part. The tricky part is beating the dumb game.

The app also includes a “Magic” version which is basically Tetris with special blocks that let you do different tricks. It was a fun enough game but I never really got the hang of how to play it and to be honest I prefer the traditional version.

On the iTunes site there are reports of phones crashing during Tetris but I’ve never had a that problem.  After I downloaded and installed Tetris I restarted my phone. No problems since.

Seller: Electronic Arts

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

If you’re a Netflix subscriber this free app is a great one to have. It allows you to search for movies and update your queue from your phone. There have been a couple of times when I’ve walked into Walmart, right past the signs advertising movies to come. I’ll have one of those “oh yes, I was going to get a sitter and drag the husband to that chick flick but then life intervened” moments. Instead of forgetting again I pull out the phone and add the movie to my queue – right in the produce section, how cool is that! It’s just a matter of typing in the name of the movie, clicking “add to queue” and then moving it to the top if you want it to be your next movie. All the basic features from the Netflix website are here and portable.

To give you an idea of how easy this app is to use, one day my four year old had my phone and told me he was looking at movies for the mailbox. He’d figured out how to search for movies and then add them to the queue by himself. He hasn’t learned how to move them to the top yet but that’s okay with me. We don’t need Batman cartoons coming one after another for the next 6 months.

Seller: Moov Corporation

Price when Reviewed: Free

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

This is an app for keeping track of calories, points, etc.  You set the daily total that you’re shooting for and then enter what you eat throughout the day. For example if I was counting points I’d enter my goal, let’s say I’m super disciplined and was able to do 22. Throughout the day I’d add items and the points they were worth. On the screen you see a remaining number that tells you how you’re doing. There’s also a button for adding in any physical activity you might attempt. This app is one of the more expensive ones, but if  you’re just looking to keep track of a few things it’ll be for you.

Seller: Neal Colston

Price when Reviewed: $2.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store