Top 10 Phone Apps

As always, go over to Kate's and Tiff's blogs to see their Top 10's for the week and if you want to join in, just let Kate know!

Well, yet again, I've got to bend the topic just a bit. I may be a techie, but I'm also one of those people who think that a phone should just be used to call or text people. I rarely ever use apps on my phone and typically only out of necessity. My iPad, however, is a whole 'nother beast and I app the heck of it, so I'm going to make this week's Top 10 Tuesday a list of my top 10 favorite iPad apps (with maybe one or two iPhone apps thrown in for good measure). I'm also going to try to link to as many of these as I can.

#1: HOURS TRACKER
Ever wonder why I know exactly how much time I spend stitching on a project? Hours Tracker is the reason. I pretty much clock in and out as I stitch and have a "job" for each cross stitch project.

#2: EZ PDF READER
Although I still use paper copies of my patterns and do all my marking off of finished stitches on those, I do like to use this app to highlight the symbol I'm working on so that I don't miss any stray threads. I did try to use it to mark off as I went along, but I found it too unreliable. I also tried GoodReader, another PDF app that a lot of people like, but I couldn't keep it stable enough to work with.

#3: DROPBOX
I do luv me some Dropbox! It makes it much easier for me to access files across all the computers and devices that I deal with in a day and it's where I store all my cross stitch patterns for safety reasons.

#4: MY DISNEY EXPERIENCE
Disney World and Disneyland are two completely different worlds when it comes to technology. Disneyland just recently got an app that really serves no purpose, but the Disney World My Disney Experience app is a virtual godsend in the parks. You can see how long lines are (so you don't have to cross all the way through the park to read the board), you can book dining ressies (or cancel them), you can see where you are and where you need to be, you can book FastPass + experiences and get reminders when your FastPass is coming up...it's basically exactly what you want in a travel companion app (although it is slower than Christmas thanks to their overly clunky format - their website is the same). This is one of the few apps that I do use on my phone (because obviously I'm not dragging my iPad through the parks and to those people who do, I wish you would stop, especially those who use them to take pictures with during fireworks and feel the need to raise it into my eye view so all I can see is your iPad screen!).

#5: WAKE UP WITH DONALD
I can't link to this app because it is no longer available in the App Store (but you can find it on other sites - I don't recommend that FYI), but for those of us who have it, we are lucky ducks! Seriously, the best way to wake up in the morning is having Donald Duck screaming at you. At first, the app also told the weather and did other things (you could tickle him, change his outfits, etc), but over time some of those features are disappearing. At least the alarm clock still works and I do also use this more on my phone than my pad. Luckily, I just happened to find a YouTube video showing what it can do (or what it used to do in the case of the weather):


#6: JIGSAW PUZZLE
I go through phases with puzzles, sometimes I can't stop doing them and other times I can't bring myself to touch one. Puzzle apps are hard to find because I guess people have different ideas about what a "jigsaw" puzzle is, so when you find one you like, stick with it! I haven't been in the mood for a while now, but you get a free puzzle every day so I always make it a point to get my puzzle daily. You can also download puzzle packs (there are a couple of free ones, but the "good" ones all cost at varying rates).

#7: NETFLIX / HULU
If I'm in a good wi-fi zone and need something to occupy my time, I will typically watch TV shows from my queues. Honestly, I think my iPad is more of a stable watching source than my Blu-Ray player at the house.

#8: GHOST RADAR
This is one of those really hokey apps, but I keep it on a lot more than I probably should.

#9: SIRIUS XM
This app probably gets equal love between my phone and my tablet, it just depends on where I am and what I am doing at the time. Obviously, you have to have a Sirius XM account and have the web option (which I do), but I can't imagine life without it, even though I typically only listen to one station, #33 - First Wave. At least you can edit the web version more to your specific tastes versus just the live broadcast. Mine is heavy on the synth and more obscure than mainstream and it gives me exactly what I want to listen to.

#10: GAMES
I'm going to cram all these together in one number, simply because my attentions shift so quickly with games, I can't keep up! I will play one until my fingers are sore, unable to put it down for days or weeks, and then never touch it again. Right now, the list is shorter, but I'm pretty addicted to Blossom Blast Saga and Nibblers on the non-Disney side and Cinderella Free Fall and Frozen Free Fall on the Disney side (yes, I keep my games separated into those two categories). I will occasionally play one of those games where you have clues that get you from one place to another with an occasional item search puzzle in the middle (I'm not sure what those are called), but once those are done, they really aren't good to play again. The past few I've downloaded have taken me a max of three hours and if I'm going to pay $4.99 for a game, I want it to last longer than that.

There are a lot of other apps that I use on my tablet, but this is a top 10 list after all and most of these get used an awful lot.