5 iPhone Apps That Are Worth The Money
Apple iPhone users are undoubtedly in tune with many of the great options the App Store offers. Apps make the iPhone what it is when it comes to functionality and versatility. Users can personalize their devices and incorporate a range of applications that help them accomplish unique tasks, provide ample entertainment, and improve organization, among many other things.
There's a huge library of free apps that can be found on the App Store, and many others that are free to download but offer paid subscriptions to access upgraded content or in-app purchases to improve the user experience. While free apps certainly have their place, there are many things paid apps can accomplish that make your experience as an iPhone user all the more enriching. Across the App Store, these are some of the best options when it comes to paying for apps to make your iPhone even more valuable to the daily life you lead.
Pocket is an organizational tool with teeth. It offers a storage compartment for interesting things you find while browsing the internet on your iPhone. The app is used to save things you want to read or browse through later in an offline format. This means that you can eliminate all those excessive tabs open on your Safari browser.
Offline storage means that avid readers can save stories before flying, for instance, or in any other circumstance that might limit wireless connectivity (a really long elevator ride, perhaps?). Pocket allows for tags to help sort content, and includes a text-to-speech function that makes the experience even richer. The premium plan costs $4.99 per month or $44.99, billed annually, and allows users to highlight as much as they want, back up their library of saved content, and conduct searches through the text of the entire library. This is a great addition for researchers and writers who are constantly looking for that little tidbit of information they read a few weeks or months ago. The premium service also suggests tags for new saves, helping you to keep your library just a bit more organized.
A VPN
A VPN is a must for all internet users (i.e., everyone with an iPhone). The tool protects your personal information and device data from malignant actors and can help unblock country-specific content with ease. Everyone will have their own preference on which VPN to use, and many free VPNs exist. However, a paid VPN subscription provides you with the best in coverage and protection, as well as ample connection locations through servers placed all around the globe. Additionally, you typically get better in customer service in the event of a temporary outage or blockage, which will happen from time to time as websites and governments alike work to stop users from circumventing their digital rulebook.
Great options include NordVPN (starting at $3.29 per month), ExpressVPN (starting at $8.32 per month), and Proton VPN (starting at $4.99 per month), among many others. All three offer thousands of unique servers across dozens of countries (NordVPN offers 60, ExpressVPN provides 94 and Proton VPN offers 67 national connection options, respectively). Securing your connection to the internet with any of these apps can make for a much more significant layer of digital armor that's simply worth the small subscription cost.
Ground News
News is an ever-present component of modern life. We all live in a sea of constantly breaking events – whether they're relevant personally or not is another matter. Politicians make important decisions for their countries, artists announce tour dates, and athletes perform heroic acts of victory on a daily basis. Regardless of your preferred choice for getting news, an app that delivers it is a must-have on any connected device you use regularly. One option that stands out is Ground News.
The outlet is dedicated to providing a varied approach to reporting. Readers are able to see what is essentially the same story covered by a bevy of media outlets placed on a spectrum of political leanings. This is a great tool for anyone who wants to see balanced coverage of events, particularly political ones while understanding what others are making of the same circumstances. This is a fantastic way to stay informed and in tune with the hot takes that others may serve up during conversations. Mark Twain once wrote: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Ground News is a platform that can help mitigate the confirmation bias pervading contemporary news.
Coverage starts at $9.99 annually ($0.83 per month) with unlimited article comparison and a detailed boas comparison tool that makes sifting through media leanings a breeze. For the baseline subscription, you won't receive the same expansive personalization options. Still, the resources and availability remain consistent across all plans, meaning you won't miss out on ongoing reports from outlets you target for consumption.
TouchRetouch
Virtually everyone with an iPhone takes tons of pictures. Capturing images has become a commonplace feature of daily life as storage space and the ease of using digital technologies continue to improve common consumer tools. But taking great photographs remains a skill that eludes some iPhone users. TouchRetouch is an easy-to-use app that helps users improve the quality of their photos with simple effects and editing tools. Removing unwanted features like a photo bomber in the background or a fence in the foreground is simple within the app. Users are able to remove blemishes and marks in the contours of the image (for instance, knotholes on a wooden bench or a dog's leash hanging above or below the pet).
TouchRetouch can also improve the quality of 360-degree photos, making for a versatile application ideal for anyone seeking a better overall photography experience with their iPhone. The app costs $14.99 per year and users are likely to get a lot of mileage out of the tool considering the enormous volume of images the typical person takes and shares with friends and family.
Duolingo
Learning languages is a fantastic use of anyone's free time. Fortunately, with the power of an iPhone in your hand, learning to converse in a new target language is as easy as practicing with vocab and sentence structure for just a few minutes per day. Of course, to truly find command in a new language, you'll need to dedicate a great many hours of practice, but over the long term, this can be achieved with short bursts in the Duolingo app after dinner or while sitting on the bus to school or work. Duolingo offers courses in 39 languages, including some more obscure ones like Esperanto (325,000 learners) and Yiddish (252,000 learners), as well as languages appearing in fictional universes like Klingon and High Valyrian. The most popular courses in Spanish, French, and Japanese are used by almost 70 million learners combined.
The Duolingo app makes internalizing vocabulary and sentence construction simple by naturally guiding you toward discoveries on your own, rather than establishing rigid rules that must then be followed. The free version offers a great start to learning a new language, but the Super Duolingo subscription ($12.99 per month or $83.99 per year) eliminates freeze-outs that can stall your progress for hours on end if you make too many mistakes and allows for personalized practice on topics that you may be struggling with. This is a great addition to the iPhone home screen for committed language learners seeking to expand their horizons.