Here are some of my favorite third-party apps for iPhone and Mac

I recently shared my top ten list of Apple and non-Apple tech. This time I’m following some of my favorite third-party apps for iPhone and Mac.

In putting this piece together, I realized that I rarely use apps for fun. On iPhone and Mac alike, most of my options do a useful job…

The iPhone

CityMapper

Both Apple Maps and Google Maps have gotten better over the years at helping navigate cities using public transportation. There are also apps for individual transit authorities available in many cities around the world. But when it comes to travel, you can’t beat the usability of a single app with a common interface that works in many different cities.

Citymapper supports walking and cycling as well as all the different types of public transportation options available within the city. It has also proven to be extremely reliable in my experience in its awareness of delays and closures that may affect your journey.

Beeline

My exception is that I use Beeline when I go by bike. This uses the ratings of many people on bike lanes to determine which ones are preferred, and this can make a big difference.

I also like compass mode when I have the space, but I want to let the calm take me there. In this mode, you just get one arrow pointing straight to your destination and you can wind your way through back roads, knowing that you’re always heading in the right direction, but without having to follow the directions.

Blackmagic Camera

Since I own two Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K units, it’s no surprise that the company’s iPhone app has become my favorite way to shoot video on the device.

The company is absolutely brilliant in allowing you full control over your shooting while keeping the user interface incredibly minimalistic and intuitive. The iPhone app’s UI mirrors the company’s hardware very closely.

For those times when I don’t have time to take full manual control and just need to be able to shoot and run, Final Cut Camera is my go-to. This is just as easy to use as the stock camera app, but allows you to record to an external SSD.

Libby

I can install one clean entertainment app. Libby is an app that lets you borrow both ebooks and audiobooks from your local library. You’ll usually have to join a waiting list for popular new releases, but it can save you a lot of money if you don’t.

For me, the biggest advantage of the app is that I will be willing to give a chance to books where the purchase price may seem like a big gamble.

Amazing Habits

When you’re trying to create new habits, whether that’s exercising more, sticking to a calorie-controlled diet, reading more books, writing down, or taking a daily walk, it can be much easier to come up with goals than to stick to them every day.

The Awesome Habits app is a simple yet highly effective way to track how well you stick to your daily goals. Once you’ve installed them, the app gets a badge counter for the number of habits you haven’t completed each day, which serves as a constant reminder to open the app and check what’s left to do.

Mac

Aqua’s voice

I’ve only been using this for a few months, but it’s become my favorite Mac utility in that time. It’s an incredibly accurate service that has changed the way I use my Mac.

Check out my full piece for more information. For now, I’ll just say that I call this piece like I do almost all of my work these days.

PraseExpress

When TextExpander turned into a subscription app, I looked around for alternatives and PhraseExpress has been the one I’ve been using ever since. It allows me to have a large collection of standard macro scripts and run them with a few keystrokes.

It should be said that it is a port of the Windows app, and the user interface looks a lot like it. But what it lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in functionality.

NordVPN

VPN apps obviously provide security when using public hotspots, but they also serve a few other purposes for me. As a UK-based author of a site with a large American population, I often need to make sure I’m looking at the US version of a website, so VPNto America is an easy way to do this. There are also TV shows and movies available in the US on streaming services, but not in the UK, and a VPN will usually allow me to watch these.

NordVPN is the service I chose for several reasons. First, privacy. It keeps no logs, and opens itself up to third-party audits to verify this. Second, it has proven to be the most reliable service to stay ahead of the cat and mouse game between streaming services and VPNs! On the rare occasions the internet address is found by the streaming service, it will probably work every time I try again the next day.

Scrivener

In my opinion, Scrivener is the best writing app ever created. It’s been over ten years since I reviewed it here, but everything I said then still applies today.

It’s a great tool for organizing your writing, allowing you to switch back and forth between different sections, or have more than one section on the screen at once. I also like how I can keep all my research, notes, saved web pages, and everything else I might need in the same app as the writing itself.

I have used it to write three novels and am currently using it to write a non-fiction book. I wouldn’t dream of writing a book on anything else.

What are some of your favorite third-party apps for iPhone and Mac? Please share in the comments.