Our 50 favourite apps

We've shared some of our favourite mobile apps. What do you enjoy using? Photo / NZ Herald graphic

What are your favourite mobile apps? Email the Herald Newsdesk.

There are thousands of apps out there for iPad, iPhone and Android devices. But what ones do we use most often?

Here are 50 of nzherald.co.nz's favourites.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Flipboard
FREE - iTunes
A clever app that turns status updates and shared articles into a digital digest. It looks pretty, and runs deep. You could spend hours with your nose in this one.

Tweetbot
$4.19 - iTunes
The best Twitter client app for iOS devices, particularly if you follow a lot of people on Twitter.

Pinterest
FREE - iTunes
Lets you create simple, easy-to-share, visual catalogues of things on the web that you like. Think of an average Tumblr feed, without (most of) the silly meme pictures.

Facebook
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Works best on iPhone, although prone to crashing. Uploading photos from your phone is seamless.

CoverItLive
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Lets you become a live blogger. Here's the tasty part: During our testing, live updates worked faster from an iPhone than from the web-based version, as long as the mobile networks played fair.

KIDS

Where's My Water?
$1.29 - iTunes & Android Market
The aim of this Disney game is to get water to an alligator called Swampy, who loves being clean. Standing in his way is gator Cranky, who sabotages the water supply. Highly addictive!

Talking Tom Cat
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Repeats everything you say, but in a silly voice. Keeps kids entertained for hours. There are now several animal variants as well.

Cut the Rope
$1.29 - iTunes & Android Market
Om Nom is an adorable green monster with a sweet tooth and needs you to cut the rope to get lollies to him. Bright colours will appeal to toddlers but may hook parents too.

TRAVEL

Tripit Travel Organiser
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
An invaluable tool for frequent travellers which keeps all of your travel plans in one spot on your device and online. Add your travel itineraries instantly by email and it syncs with your calendar.

Navigon
$59.95 - iTunes & Android Market
Extremely pricey but it has a simple, intuitive interface and we found it was consistently the most reliable around Europe.

Navfree
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
The trouble with most GPS navigation apps is getting stuck in a 3G deadzone. Navfree's maps and crowdsourced landmark data make for a hefty download, but you won't be stuck when you need a map to load ASAP.

Air NZ mPass
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Allows you to use a QR code to check and the latest arrivals and departure information.

Maxx
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Great for bus users in metro Auckland. The 'find my stop' finds the nearest and its services, while the 'real time board' gives up-to- the minute details on arrivals. It's just a shame ferry and train departures are not included.

TOOLS

Note Everything
FREE - Android Market
Allows you to create text notes, paint notes, voice notes, notes from
barcodes and notes from Google Docs.

Find My iPhone
FREE - iTunes
Enables you to log in from your iPad or Mac to disable your iPhone if it has gone missing.

Kindle
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Download books and magazines and read them in its easy, user-friendly interface.

Flashlight
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Incredibly useful program which uses the camera flash LED as a torch, and has levels of brightness.

SpeakEasy
$2.59 - iTunes
A powerful voice recording notetaker that is absolute gold for students in lecture halls and for people who enjoy saying 'note to self' a lot.

Find My Friends
FREE - iTunes
Keep track of your friends and family's whereabouts. A dream for a worried parent... but your children will probably hate it.

VOICE & TEXT

Skype
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
The granddaddy of voice-over internet programs which allows you to call friends and family here and overseas for free if they have a Skype account.

Viber
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Lets you make free phone calls and send text messages to anyone who also has the application installed.

HeyTell
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Instant voice messaging. Allows users to send short voice recordings back and forth, text-message style.

GroupText
$4.19 - iTunes
Set up groups and text them all with the same message at the same time. Handy for sending out notifications of cancelled rugby training, meeting changes, et cetera.

PETS

Games for Cats
FREE - iTunes
Hone your cat's hunting skills. Offers virtual rodent chasing as well as a laser dot chase game which rewards cats with a pleasing noise.

Cat Piano Jr
FREE - iTunes
Turns your iPad into a virtual piano which plays meow sounds to coax kitty from under the couch. LOLCAT approved.

DogBook
FREE - iTunes
Helps you keep a diary of your pet's life, find other dogs and parks nearby, and notifies users about lost and found pets. Handy for sharing photos and videos with likeminded pet owners.

GAMES
Angry Birds
$1.29 - iTunes & Android Market
Lives up to the hype. Catapult your birds at fortresses built by evil pigs. Highly addictive and frustrating as you try to perfect your catapulting technique. There are also free versions.

Flight Control
$1.29 - iTunes & Android Market
Land planes by drawing a line and make sure they don't crash into one another. The difficulty increases as more planes come in to view.

Plants vs Zombies
$4.19 - iTunes & Android Market
Zombies are coming and your only defence is a bunch of venom-spitting plants. Hilarity ensues as machine-gun tulips take out
zombies on pogo sticks and with traffic cones on their heads.

Veggie Samurai
$1.29 - iTunes & Android Market
Vegetables fall from the air and you have to quickly slice and dice them, using your finger as a sword. The smaller the bits are, the more points you get. But watch you don't slash at the bottles of poison.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Instagram
FREE - iTunes
Simple photo- editing for the iPhone, with the ability to share the results. Snoop Dogg is a fan and regularly posts.

AutoStitch Panorama
$2.59 - iTunes
Allows you to take gorgeous panoramic shots. Easy use and makes the ordinary extraordinary.

Photosynth
FREE - iTunes
Microsoft's app is also great for panorama shots on your iPhone.

GroupShot
$1.29 - iTunes
It's really annoying when one person in a photo has their eyes closed and another person is looking away? Well, take loads of snaps and select the best shots of each person to make one superb group shot

HEALTH

Weight Watchers
FREE - iTunes
Track your food intake, weight and exercise via the Weight Watchers points system. Has a good database of food items and brands, and the recipe planner and success stories are nice touches. Requires membership to access.

RunKeeper
FREE - iTunes
Tracks your runs and gives plenty of feedback on your performance. Uses GPS to track where you've gone, handy for those times when you find a route you really like and want to repeat it.

iMuscle/jMuscle
$2.59 - iTunes & Android Market
Useful if you want to see exactly how you should be stretching or lifting weights. It has a 3D animated "muscle man" that you can rotate 360 degrees.

MUSIC

Shazam
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Don't knowwhat that tune is? Hold your device to a speaker, and Shazam will identify the music and artist. It allows you to tag the tracks for later. You can also see what music your friends are interested in.

Ratatap Drums
$2.59 - iTunes
Take finger drumming off the desk and into the realm of professionals like Gene Hoglan - almost. Gives you the ability to drum
over the music stored on your phone.

GarageBand
$6.49 - iTunes
Turns your device into a musical instrument tomake professional sounding tunes on the run. You can use multi-touch gestures to play pianos, guitars, drums and basses.

NZ Radio Streams
$1.29 - iTunes
A boon for drivers of Japanese imports, this iOS app pulls in livestreams from a number of mainstream and less-than-mainstream broadcasters from around the country.

NEWS & VIEWS

NZ Herald
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Okay, it's ours but it's good for watching news videos in full screen and swiping through the latest news and photos from NZ and around the world.

The Times
FREE - iTunes
Easy to read, easy to swipe. Not too much content to overwhelm. Just right. Free of charge for the first 30 days.

Guardian Eyewitness
FREE - iTunes
The single best photo of the day, with tips on how it was taken. Provides a daily reflection of visual events on the iPad. Beautiful, awe-inspiring.

News 360
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
A clever news aggregation app which adapts its content stream to your tastes and habits.

FOOD

Menus.co.nz
FREE - iTunes
Handy for finding cafes, restaurants, bars and takeaways in your area. Search by location, cuisine, et cetera. We like that you can call the venue directly from the app and see its location on the map.

4 ingredients
$4.19 - iTunes
Based on the cookbook of the same name. 340 recipes, all requiring four ingredients or less.

Foodictionary
$2.39 - iTunes
Translates 87,500 food and beverage terms into several languages. Excellent for deciphering foreign menus.

TV

Miso
FREE - iTunes & Android Market
Allows you to tell the world what you're watching. Rant, rave and delight about what's going on in Modern Family, and take quizzes on your favourite TV series.

SkyTV NZ
FREE - iTunes
Allows you to see what TV programmes and films are coming up, and you can use your iPhone to set up recordings. Great for those
spontaneous nights out so you don't miss your favourite show.