The iPhone Mom

Last fall I reviewed the app Baby Connect. If you’re away from your baby it allows you to work with your child’s caregiver to keep tabs on what’s going on. Using the app or the website www.baby-connect.com the caregiver can make quick updates when your baby is eating, sleeping, etc. You can check the app to see what the status is throughout the day and even send messages back and forth. It’s a slick app. Now Baby Connect for iPad has been released and the concept is the same but the user interface is updated and I think it’s an improved experience on the iPad. Instead of moving from screen to screen on the iPhone you’ll see everything in one screen on the iPad. Updating the information takes only a few taps and it’s all right there for you to see. The iPad app still syncs up with the website so you can view and update information there as well.

I thought the original Baby Connect app was a great one for peace of mind and I think that the new iPad version improves on an already great app.

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

See the app in the App Store

Seller: Seacloud Software

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Once upon a time I was certified in first aid and CPR. I went to the classes, practiced mouth to mouth on the plastic dummies and earned my little card from the Red Cross. Then I had kids and ironically, when I could probably use the information the most, I let the certification expire and forgot much of what I had learned. I’d like to think that the knowledge is still there and if I ever find myself in a crisis then it will come to me. But just in case that doesn’t happen, and I’m not naive enough to be counting on it, I’ve discovered a good app that details basic first aid for babies. Baby MedBasics gives you the basics in CPR, choking, fever, bleeding, burns and poison. It also features some “Safety Basics” that include information on SIDS, car seats, dog bites, falls and drowning. I’d suggest reading through the app when things are calm instead of opening it for the first time in the middle of a crisis.

Baby MedBasics does a good job walking you through how to perform CPR and deal with a choking baby. I appreciated the refresher course and learned some new information from the other areas too. I found this app to be helpful and think it’s a nice resource to have on my phone.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: PicPocket Books

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

In the past I’ve reviewed a few apps that I hope to never have to use, the ones that are designed for use in an emergency situation. Silent Bodyguard is one of those apps. It works as a “silent panic button” and will send out your location via text message and email if you activate the alarm. You select the emergency contacts that you want notified and then it’s just a matter of tapping a “whistle” button to turn on the alarm. A text message and email will be sent every 60 seconds to your emergency contact. It gives your name and your GPS location so you can be located if you’re in a situation where you need help and can’t talk on the phone.

It was interesting to read that you will only be allowed to activate the alarm five times in one month. After that you’ll be limited to two times. This is meant to prevent misuse of the app and could also keep you from a “Boy Who Cried Wolf” situation.

Silent Bodyguard will also work on an iPod Touch as long as you’re in an area with WiFi coverage. When we upgrade our phones and convert our 3G to a Touch for our kids this app will be on it. It’s a great source of  peace of mind for yourself and your children. You’ll know that if you (or they) ever find yourself in a situation where you need to quietly let someone know where you’re at you’ve got an emergency plan.

One last note, tonight I attempted to test out the app and send a message to my husband. BUT, he was unable to get it until later because his phone had run out of batteries. Since we’re probably not the only ones to practically drain our phone’s batteries each day it might be nice to have the ability to send text messages to two different numbers. I know that would run up the text messaging charges but in an emergency it would be worth it. You’d just have to make sure that your kids understood exactly  when they should activate the alarm and when they should not.

Price when Reviewed: $3.99

Seller: Fun at Work

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Gentlemen readers, stop now, this review is especially written for my readers who are of the female variety. Read on if you must, but don’t blame me if you suffer a case of TMI. Disclaimer over. Now ladies – The Pill is an app that’s designed to help you remember to take your birth controls pills. You’ll need to set the day when you took the first pill of your current (or last) pill pack. Then set the time of day that you take your pills. Next you activate an alarm that will remind you when it’s pill time. You also have the ability to set an extra alarm for twice the reminder. You can customize the alarm by choosing from a list of sounds. My favorite two were sitar and moo. Yep, moo.

If you enable push notifications then you’ll be able to receive your reminder even if the app is closed. There is also an option to set up an email reminder for yourself. Between all of that I think you’ve got no one to blame but yourself if you forget that little pill. The app’s background color can be changed up too. Finally, at the bottom of the screen is a picture of a birth control pill pack. If you swipe from left to right you can change which pill pack you see. There are four choices right now. This lets you set up the app so it’s counting the right amount of pills, depending on which type you’re using. As you go through the month pills in the “virtual” pack will disappear so it looks like your actual pack. The pack can also be hidden if you don’t want the app to scream “birth control!” Final reminder – if you want The Pill to sound the alarm while you aren’t running the app you have to enable it’s push notification and be connected to the internet, either through Wi-Fi or the 3G network.

The Pill seems like a thorough way to keep track of your birth control pills and I like that you can set the extra reminder (and determine the delay between the first alarm and second.) My only advice, don’t take your pills at the time of day when you might find yourself in a business meeting or volunteering in the classroom. Otherwise you might find yourself having to think fast to explain why your phone is mooing.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Stephanie Queraud

Don’t Eat That is a comprehensive list of all the harmful (and potentially harmful) things in the food we eat.  There are no frills to this app, it’s just pure information for you to use when making food choice for your family. The information can be viewed in several ways, beginning with a master list and then being broken down into more specific groupings.

All Ingredient Names – This is a list of over 1500 additives and ingredients found in foods. The names in red are things which can cause problems. Tap on a name and you can read more information about the additive/ingredient.

Problem Ingredient – This is a list of all the problem additives/ingredients that can potentially be found in food. These are the same as the red words in the “All Ingredients” list. Again, tap on a name to read more.

Harmful to Kids – A list of the problem ingredients that could be harmful for children.

Banned Ingredients – Ingredients/additives that are banned in some countries.

Carcinogens – Ingredients/additives that some people suspect might be linked to cancer.

Genetically Modified – Ingredients/additives that have been modified in some way.

Allergies – This is a list of those things which are of particular concern to those who have allergies.

Asthma – This list is more specific than the allergy list. It deals with ingredients/additives that can affect asthmatics.

Reading through this app is enough to make me never want to eat again. Don’t Eat That contains an overwhelming amount of information. Personally, I some of this with a grain of salt but that’s just me. We’ve been lucky enough to not have to really worry about what our kids are eating, beyond food allergies. Now our most allergic child to date is still an infant and my attitude could very well change in six months. I also understand that there are plenty of others in more severe situations and  I do appreciate the fact that the list was all inclusive.  Plus, the specific information that’s included for each additive/ingredient is informative.  Don’t Eat That takes those five syllable ingredients on food labels and explains them in easy to understand terms so you can make your food decisions for yourself.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Celldial, Inc.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

The ESRB Rating app comes straight from the ESRB – Entertainment Software Rating Board. This is the group that puts the ratings on video games and computer software. They are the ones who decide whether a game is rated E or M. And there is a big difference between those two ratings.

I found this FREE app to be quite wonderful. It’s very simple to use. Search for a game title and the app will pull it up for you. You’ll see the ESRB rating for the game, content descriptors (blood, cartoon violence, etc.) along with a nice description of what the game’s about. If you have any questions about what any of it means it’s all explained in the “About” screen. You can read about rating categories, content descriptors, rating summaries and that great disclaimer of online rating notice. In the search options you can select which gaming platforms you’d like to see in your search. For example, if you’re only looking for a Nintendo DS game then leave that selection on and turn all the others off. This is a nice way to filter out the various titles that can show up in your search.

The ESRB Rating app is a fantastic one for parents who want to keep an eye on what their kids are playing. If you’ve got any doubts about a game rating or contents this is a good resource and the fact that it’s on your iPhone means you’ve got access to the information anywhere.

*When I went to the support site for the ESRB mobile apps I noticed that you can sign up for a bimonthly newsletter. It features information about the most recently rated titles and best selling games. Sounds like another excellent resource to me.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board)

The name of this app, Picky Eater, is deceptive. It’s not about dealing with a finicky two year old who won’t eat anything orange. Here the picky in Picky Eater refers to watching what you eat because of food allergies. The app provides allergen information for over 100 different types of food and nearly 2,000 food ingredients.

If you tap the “Allergen” button at the bottom of the screen you’ll see an alphabetized list of foods that cause allergies. There will be the name of the food, a thumbnail picture and the number of ingredients associated with it. Tapping on the food will display those ingredients. They’ll be shown in another list, along with the number of allergens that they in turn are associated with. Tap on an ingredient to see it’s definition and the list of those allergens. It’s like a giant, intertwined circle. The allergens lead to the ingredients which lead to the allergens again. Here’s an example of how it works. I would first tap on chocolate, it’s a type of food that can be associated with food allergies. Next I would see a list of food ingredients that are connected to chocolate. A few of them are bakers chocolate, chocolate chips, cocoa butter, and many, many more. Chocolate is a big one. I’d tap the ingredient I’m looking for, let’s say it’s chocolate chips. Now I’ll see a definition of what a chocolate chip is, along with the different food allergens it’s involved in. They are beet, chocolate, cow milk and sugar cane. So chocolate chips are involved with more allergens than just chocolate.  Picky Eater also allows you to begin your search with the ingredients instead of allergens. To do this you’d tap the “Ingredients” button at the bottom of the screen.

If you’ve got a child, or if you yourself struggle with food allergies then you know how important it is to have the necessary resources to decipher what’s in your food. Having that information easily available is a bonus and Picky Eater provides a lot of information. I think where it would be helpful for me is if I needed help figuring out some of the more obscure allergens and ingredients. Cow milk I can pretty much figure out on my own. But figuring out what allergens are associated with a Jiffy Raspberry Muffin Mix, that I need help with.

One last note, Picky Eater is associated with the website www.cookingallergyfree.com. I checked it out and it looks like a fantastic resource. It provides recipes, a discussion board, and more. If you’re dealing with this food allergies I suggest you give the site a look!

Price when Reviewed: $1.99 – This is a special introductory price.

Seller: CovertApps.com

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

WeetWoo showcases children’s videos from YouTube and it is one of the best kid apps that I have seen. The combination of YouTube and my kids makes me extremely uncomfortable.  The potential for them to stumble upon serious filth is too great for me to give them complete access to it but there’s no denying that YouTube does have some wonderful content for children. This is where WeetWoo! has hit upon a terrific idea. They pull the content from YouTube and give it to you in a kid friendly package on your iPhone. WeetWoo! only features the kid friendly videos and there is nothing even remotely questionable.

The first time you use WeetWoo! you’ll be asked to select an age range, either 3-5, 6-8 or 9+. The age range will determine the videos that show up in the app. You can change this age range at any time by going to the general iTunes settings and finding WeetWoo! on the list of apps. WeetWoo! groups the YouTube videos into the following channels – animals, fun shows, learn, music, people and places. Select a channel and then a list of categories is displayed. Now select a category and a playlist will appear. From here it’s as easy as tapping on the video that you want to watch and off you’ll go. The categories and playlist all feature screenshots from the videos so it’s easy for kids to tell what they are looking at. It’s obvious that WeetWoo! has been designed for use by kids and it’s an app that they will have no trouble navigating by themselves.

So far my son’s favorite channel is fun shows. He has discovered that he can find Tom & Jerry, Spiderman and Phineas & Ferb episodes here. I’ve glanced through the other categories and been very impressed with what I’ve found. These are all videos from the 3-5 age range, the older age ranges will have different content. In the people channel I’ve seen videos about Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller and more. The music channel has songs from the Electric Company, Disney songs, Raffi and the Wiggles to name a few. The Learn channel has videos from They Might Be Giants, Schoolhouse Rock and Dr. Seuss videos.

The videos featured in WeetWoo! are hosted on YouTube and it’s recommended that you use a Wi-Fi connection to view them. That’s how we’ve been doing it and we’ve had no problems with the playback. Be prepared though for your battery life to potentially be affected by the Wi-Fi. I did learn the hard way that you must have YouTube enabled on your phone in order for videos to play in WeetWoo!. I had turned it off in my restrictions and am embarrassed to say that at first I thought the app wasn’t working. Turned out to be me who wasn’t working. Once I removed the restriction on YouTube every video worked like a charm.

I highly, highly recommend this app. It’s only $1.99 and you would pay that much to purchase one Phineas & Ferb episode in iTunes. WeetWoo! gives you hours and hours of educational and entertaining videos that your kids will love and is a definite keeper!

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Net Junky Research, LLC

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

The Game Center app brings you loads of information about video games that are available for all the big gaming platforms. By using the app you can view lists of video games sorted into the categories of most popular, new releases and coming soon. You can also search the app for a specific video game title. When you’ve found a game you’d like to learn more about you’ll tap on it’s title and be taken to a screen full of information. Here you can view images from the game or it’s trailer. You will see user ratings and a general description of the game. You can view cheats and codes, the game controls and specifications. There are also excerpts from actual users as well as critics. These reviews come from the GameFly website. GameFly is a service similar to Netflix except instead of providing movies to your mailbox they provide video games. If you are a member of Gamefly you can log in through the Game Center app and rent games. I didn’t try this feature out because we’re not members. I’m afraid if we joined my kids and I would be in a constant battle over video game rights.

I was impressed by all of the information in the Game Center app but as a mom, why would I consider reviewing? I’m a self proclaimed non-video gamer, with the exception of the Lego games that I enjoy playing with my son. However, I control what video games come into my kids’ hands. There are a ton out there and the only way to know which are appropriate for my kids is to do research. I’ve looked up video games on the internet before and it’s tricky to wade through all the hard core review sites trying to figure out what’s appropriate. I just want a glimpse, a rating, some pictures and comments by real users.  The Game Center app gives me that information and I don’t have to go hunting around Google. The app is free and if you’re interested in knowing what your children are playing it’s worth a download onto your phone.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: GameFly

A little while ago I reviewed the app Baby Connect. It was an app that really impressed me and I think it could be extremely helpful for mom’s who work outside the home. Now the developers have a new app called BabySitter Connect. It’s very similar to the original BabyConnect except it’s only $.99 and doesn’t have quite as many features. It does however still integrate with the Baby Connect website, send push notifications, allow the babysitter to record information for food, diapers, sleep and activities. BabySitter also comes with a timer and a cost calculator you can use to figure out how much you owe the sitter. For more detailed information on the app you can read my review of BabyConnect or  visit www.baby-connect.com.

I’ve been given two promo codes for Baby Connect and two for BabySitter Connect. To enter please leave a comment telling me which app you’d like to try. I’ll keep the contest open until Tuesday night – 10 pm MST – and then I’ll choose four random winners. Good luck!

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Seacloud Software, LLC