From Fastcompany

Here Are 7 Must-Download Apps For Your New Smartphone
  Have a new device to load up with apps? Here are some of the 
best, not-so-obvious downloads.


John Paul Titlow
  So, you just unboxed a brand new smartphone.  Merry Christmas, 
lucky! Whether you're a first-time smartphone owner (say goodbye 
to your attention span) or a migrant to a new platform, a freshly 
opened phone is an exciting new frontier.  With millions of apps 
available, this little gadget will undoubtedly become an 
indispensable part of your day-to-day life.  But where to start?
  The first apps anyone crams onto a new phone are pretty 
obvious: what are the services, social networks and games you 
already use? Most people go straight for Facebook (and its 
various offshoots, like Instagram and WhatsApp), YouTube, 
Snapchat, Netflix, Pandora, and the like.  But there are millions 
of developers around the world toiling away on inventive and 
useful mobile apps that aren't necessarily household names.  
Often, they creep up the top charts in the app stores, but not 
always.  Here's a field guide to some of the less obvious, but 
still must-download apps for your shiny and deeply addictive new 
device.
  Periscope
  Facebook.  Twitter.  Instagram.  Snapchat.  Of course you're 
going to scurry through the app store and and nab the most 
popular social networking apps first.  But once you've done that, 
go ahead and download Periscope.  It may not be as much of as 
household name as Twitter, its parent company, but the live 
broadcasting video app is already having an impact.  Periscope is 
used by over 10 million people to view live broadcasts of 
breaking news events or the microwaving of macaroni and cheese.  
Launched by Twitter in March 2015, Periscope has raised concerns 
about piracy and sparked debates about the ethics of 
live-streaming as tragedy unfolds.  Most of the videos are much 
more mundane than that.  But there's something fascinating about 
getting a little real-time window into somebody else's world, and 
then having that window shut after 24 hours (that's when 
Periscope videos disappear).  Even if you're not ready to 
live-stream your Christmas dinner to the world, go ahead and 
download Periscope to see what kind of random, weird, potentially 
riveting stuff is happening around the world right now.
  Stitcher
  It may have taken over a decade, but podcasts are officially 
all the rage.  Thanks to the rise of Serial and other hits, the 
once-geeky mass medium is something you can chat about with the 
whole family during the holidays.  But first, you need to spend 
the afternoon binge listening.  There are a bunch of podcasting 
apps out there, including ones that come pre-installed on many 
devices.  Stitcher has been around for a few years now, but it's 
still hard to beat.  Its design encourages discovery and 
listening without the user getting lost in choices (or distracted 
from driving, for that matter).  Playlists, offline listening, 
and a priceless "listen later" button make collecting and hearing 
your favorite podcasts easier than most other apps allow.  
(Overcast is another widely recommended podcasting app, although 
unlike Stitcher, it's only available for iOS)
  NYT Now
  Here's a sentence I didn't envision saying when I bought my 
first smartphone in 2008: Man, the app this newspaper company 
built is really awesome.  But alas, here I am-and I mean it.  
There are countless apps that let you read the news and other 
articles on your phone (I still jump between Flipboard, Feedly, 
Longform, and Instapaper on the regular), but NYT Now is special.  
It takes the venerable brand and journalism of the nation's 
"paper of record" and puts it in a well-designed, smartly 
curated, and easily digestible app that feels like it came from a 
stealthy startup.  NYT Now is respectful of your time, offering 
bullet point summaries and reading time estimates beneath 
headlines.  At the same time, it offers opportunities to delve 
into longform articles and read select pieces from other 
publishers, curated by the app's editorial team.  Somehow, NYT 
Now scratches both the itch to skim the news on the subway and 
dive deep on the sofa.
  Afterlight, Dark Sky, and Periscope
  Giphy Cam
(iOS only)
Despite being introduced nearly 30 years ago, the GIF 
(particularly the animated variety) is just now becoming a 
mainstay of modern communication.  GIFs fill Tumblr, illustrate 
major news events on Twitter, and enhance our one-on-one 
communication via chat or IM.  The team at Giphy is obviously 
well aware of just how indispensable these little animations have 
become in online life.  That's why the newest version of their 
Giphy Cam app makes it even easier to create, edit, and share 
GIFs.  The app lets you select from a range of effects filters 
and superimposed graphics and text.  Unlike the previous version 
of Giphy Cam, this one lets you grab images and videos from your 
phone's camera roll, so you can make GIFs out of just about 
anything.  More than just a holiday time waster, Giphy Cam will 
help you delight and entertain your friends and loved ones.
  Workflow
(iOS only)
One of the best apps to land on iOS this year is Workflow, a tool 
for automating tasks between the various apps on your phone.  If 
you're familiar with IFTTT (whose app, unlike Workflow, is 
available for Android too), you get the idea: You can define a 
series of actions in a simple, drag-and-drop interface and enable 
different services to talk to each other and unlock new 
possibilities.
  Popular workflows include the ability to automatically pull up 
Google Maps directions for the next event on your calendar, tweet 
the song you're listening to (or instantly find the lyrics 
online), or turn Live Photos and videos into GIFs.  Workflow 
doesn't have quite as many options as IFTTT (or "recipes" as that 
service calls them), but its interface is foolproof and its tight 
integration with iOS is a big plus.
  Dark Sky
(iOS only)
The weather on the East Coast has been freakishly warm and rainy 
this holiday season.  In fact, another drizzle is about to start 
in a few minutes.  How do I know? I found out the same way I find 
out about missed calls, Slack mentions, Tinder matches, and 
horrifying current events: I got a push notification.  Thanks to 
Dark Sky, the innovative weather app, I can get real-time 
notifications about changes in the conditions outside.  Dark Sky 
takes the standard day-by-day (and hour-by-hour) weather 
forecasts up a notch with sleek, minimal elegance, subtle 
animations, and maps showing precipitation and temperatures shift 
around the globe.
  But what makes Dark Sky the best weather app I've ever used is 
its timeliness.  In addition to what the day (and subsequent 
days) are going to look like outside, Dark Sky spells out for 
users what is going to happen in the next several minutes.
  Afterlight
  Your new smartphone can have the most advanced camera specs out 
there, but that doesn't mean your photos will all magically turn 
out looking frame-worthy.  Even the best shots could benefit from 
a quick tune-up before you Instagram them.  Afterlight is one of 
countless photo-editing apps available for Android and iOS, but 
having taken many of them for a spin, I find I keep returning to 
this one (VSCO Cam is a close second).  Afterlight offers all of 
the standard photo-editing options (adjusting clarity, 
saturation, contrast, brightness, shadows and the like), but 
packs them into a pleasant, intuitive interface and layers on 
Instagram-style filters and retro effects that recall the light 
leaks and artsy discoloration of film photography.  You can also 
crop, add borders, and layer on other images to mimic multiple 
exposure photos.
  P.S.  - Don't forget to download Fast Company's app, too!


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