In a world filled with millions of download options, it’s should come as no surprise to learn that there are many underrated apps out there.
Think about it. There’s just no way for people to sort through every app out there to find the absolute best ones. Inevitably, some apps are going to slip through the cracks. The shame of it is that many of those apps that do slip would help make someone’s life a little better.
The good news is that we’re here to help you find some of those underrated apps. While you can’t possibly be expected to sort through all the underrated apps out there, we’ve looked through a great deal of them and come away with some apps that you should absolutely know about.
These are 25 of the greatest iPhone apps you didn’t know existed.
Prisma
Photo: 9to5mac.com
Given how many photo filter apps there are in the wild, it takes something special for one to truly stand out. Well, Prisma offers that something special.
Prisma’s filters and editing features are designed to turn any normal photo into a work of art. That probably sounds gimmicky, but the effect is striking. Obviously, Prisma works better when you use it on a photo that’s a little more involved than a selfie, but it’s a generally well-made service for underrated apps such as this.
Perfect for smartphone photographers looking to turn their work into something even more artistic, Prisma is oneof those incredibly fun underrated apps to use.
Wolfram Alpha
Virtual assistants are great, but they’re not perfect. For instance, Siri struggles when it comes to quickly answering questions related to complex statistics.
Wolfram Alpha doesn’t have that problem. It’s able to access a deep database to answer questions related to mathematics (simple and complex), astronomy, Earth science, and computational sciences, and more. It can also answer basic questions such a pop culture trivia, but it really shines when you ask it something that will require the app to produce a graph or chart.
Wolfram Alpha is described as a Star Trek computer come to life, and we couldn’t have put it better.
SleepBot
There are a few underrated apps out there that do what SleepBot does, but no free ones that really do it quite as well.
SleepBot is a sleep monitoring app. That probably doesn’t sound too exciting until you start asking questions about how well you’re really sleeping. This app helps you answer some of those questions by allowing you to set a gradual alarm that lets you wake more naturally, monitor how much you toss and turn at night, enjoy some ambient noises, and much more.
Honestly, it’s hard to stop using SleepBot once you realize how much it helps you sleep.
RunPee
The rise of MoviePass makes it easier than ever to go to the movies, but MoviePass can’t tell you when the best time to sneak away for a bathroom break during a movie is.
Fortunately, we have RunPee. Yes, this app actually uses the user-submitted information to let you know when the best time for a bathroom break is during popular movies playing in theaters. The math can be a little off from time to time, but for such a strange app, we must say that it works shockingly well.
You don’t always know when you’re going to need this app, but you’ll probably be glad to have it for when you do.
Tunity
Every now and then, you encounter a muted TV in a public place. It’s one of those incredibly minor social annoyances that manage to irritate nonetheless.
Tunity helps you squash that minor annoyance. This app allows you to tune-in to the volume of any television that’s nearby. You just scan for a TV, let the app pick up the audio, and you can choose to listen in through your headphones or speaker.
Sure, that’s a pretty niche function, but we’re sure that if you really think about it, you can remember an instance or two when underrated apps such as this would have come in handy.
Skiplagged
This app is actually becoming more and more popular, but it’s still not one you hear about often.
Skiplagged is a flight price finder, but it’s not quite like any underrated apps you’ve ever used to book a flight. It’s based on the concept of “Hidden City” flights. For instance, let’s say you’re going from New York to Las Vegas and a direct flight is $400. However, there’s a flight from New York to LA that stops off in Vegas that runs for $300. Skiplagged will let you choose the layover flight, and you just get off at your layover destination.
Billed as being so good that “United Airlines actually sued us for it!” Skiplagged is worth a shot.
Hear
Hear has to be one of the most bizarre – and wonderful – audio apps out there.
Hear is designed to manipulate the audio that’s already around you. The app’s primary function is to eliminate the harsh noises in your environment and replace them with more tranquil sounds. It’s also great for concentrating in loud areas. However, Hear becomes a truly marvelous invention when you begin tweaking the settings to see what kind of strange noise combinations you can come up with.
The effect of adding too many effects to Hear has been described as the closest you can come to using psychedelics without actually doing so. That’s not far off.
Cheatsheet
Cheatsheet is a note taking app designed to help you keep track of the little things in life.
While you could just use a note taking app to write down things like what section of the parking lot your car is in or what your locker combination is, this widget allows you to turn those simple pieces of information into icons and little pieces of information that are easy to access at just a glance.
At the very least, Cheatsheet helps you free some space on your go-to note app by taking all those little things we all jot down from time to time and giving you a better way to access them.
The Infatuation
There’s no shortage of apps out there that offer reviews of nearby restaurants, but the biggest ones require you to put your faith into some guy that couldn’t even be bothered to spell his username right.
The Infatuation is different. It’s run by a small team of restaurant critics who personally write every review of every restaurant and group them into categories that help you figure out where to eat.
This app has been praised by some of the top industry critics as one of the most reliable restaurant recommendation guides out there. It’s certainly more reliable than someone named f00DeTR89.
1Blocker Legacy
While you ideally shouldn’t use an adblocker if you want to support your favorite websites, there are just too many malicious ads out there to not at least consider having a blocker available.
If you do need an adblocker, we highly recommend 1Blocker Legacy. What makes this blocker stand out from the pack is its accessibility and versatility. Not only does this underrated app feature a ton of different settings perfect for “setting it and forgetting it,” but it even lets you block content on the fly without leaving your browser.
In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need an adblocker. In this one, you should probably consider downloading 1Blocker.
Temp Mail
Here’s a truly underrated app that we think everyone could use at some point in their life.
Temp Mail is a temporary email service. It allows you to create an email address that is deactivated not long after it is created. Why would you ever want that? Well, think of all the services that require you to provide an e-mail address that you’d rather not give your actual e-mail address to.
That’s right, Temp Mail allows you to avoid spam, junk, and other annoying forms of communications that websites can’t seem to help but send out on a daily basis.
Drunk Mode
Look, most everyone has gone out, had a few too many, and made some truly bad decisions with their phones. Drunk Mode is the underrated app that helps you cut down on those bad decisions.
This app is designed to make drunk you a much more stable individual. From letting you find your friends and other Drunk Mode users to a feature that lets you block certain people in your contact list while you’re drinking, Drunk Mode might just save you from some socially awkward situations the next time you go out. It even lets you create a trail of digital breadcrumbs in case you get lost.
Hey, we’ve all been there. Drunk Mode makes getting back from there much easier.
Flush
If you’ve ever been in a strange place and felt the urgent need to…err…go, then you know that finding a public bathroom can be a real nightmare. Flush is the dream solution to that nightmare.
Yes, Flush helps you find nearby toilets. It’s not the noblest function in the world, but it is a particularly useful one for most people. Besides, how can’t you love an app that not only locates nearby public restrooms but also shares how other users rated that bathroom?
Flush sounds ridiculous, but we’re willing to bet this underrated app is going to sound a lot less ridiculous the next time you actually need it.
Fake Call
Here’s the thing: you shouldn’t do something so cruel as fake a phone call just to get out of a social interaction/obligation. Because that’s sometimes exactly what you need to do, though, there’s Fake Call.
Fake Call can be used for prank purposes – such as making your friends believe that a celebrity is calling you – but this underrated apps’ greatest function is as a diversion. If you ever need to take a fake phone call to escape a situation, Fake Call can dial you and allow you make an escape.
Yeah, it’s kind of dodgy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a brilliant app.
Deliveries
Deliveries is the one app on this list we could safely recommend to just about anyone who wants to make their lives easier.
If you shop online, you know how annoying it can be to keep up with deliveries. Well, Deliveries makes that process a little easier by compiling all of your incoming shipment information into one place. It works with just about every major retail shipping service out there and is updated as frequently – if not more frequently – than the built-in trackers most online stores use.
Deliveries makes a very common part of modern life as easy as it should be.
Lake
In recent years, coloring books for adults have surged in popularity. Before you write that off as being completely ridiculous, ask yourself if you’ve taken the time to try it yourself.
If not, then download Lake. This app features a variety of images that you can paint using your iPhone or iPad and even helps you find some up-and-coming artists who contribute some of the sketches. It’s easy to get lost in Lake’s surprising deep toolkit, but this is just a great underrated app that is incredibly easy to use.
If you’re looking to relax a bit while finding your inner artist, then you need to give Lake a shot.
RunGo
If you’ve ever tried to go for a jog in any city or town that has more than one long road, you know how frustrating it can be to find the perfect route. Between cut-offs, lights, and construction, running in a city isn’t nearly as easy as it should be.
RunGo makes it a lot easier. It helps you plan and track the perfect running route while this underrated app’s built-in voice functions ensure that you never get off-course unless you decide to do so. You can even browse existing popular routes near you.
This is an essential service for any urban runners out there.
Tab
It’s strange, but there’s something about the arrival of a bill at a restaurant that just forces people’s brains to shut down. Something about that moment makes it difficult to perform the simple math required to figure out who owes what for what they ordered.
Tab cuts through the noise and eliminates all confusion. You first use the app to scan a bill and then let it itemize everything. From there, choose the items that you ordered, and Tab will tell you what you owe and what portion of the tip to throw in.
There’s just no good reason not to have this underrated app handy.
Gorogoa
Gorogoa is the only gaming app on this list, but even if our selections were filled with nothing but gaming apps, then there’d still be nothing like Gorogoa on it.
In its simplest form, Gorogoa is a puzzle game. It requires you to navigate beautifully hand painted worlds in order to solve complex puzzles. Manage to figure out some of the game’s taxing brain teasers, and you’ll soon find that Gorogoa also packs a brilliant story that’s cleverly hidden in the game’s lavish worlds and abstract puzzles.
You’ve probably never played anything quite like Gorogoa before, but this is an unmissable experience no matter what kind of games you usually play. It’s a true gem amongst the underrated apps.
Ditty
Not every underrated app needs to change the world or even make your day a little easier. Sometimes, you just want an app that offers some good – albeit kind of stupid – fun.
Ditty is a text conversion app that turns almost anything that you type into your phone into a miniature music video. If you’re not satisfied with what this underrated app came up with, you can always customize the final video yourself by adding your own GIFs, songs, and text.
While not perfect, Ditty is a fun little distraction made even better when you share your creations with friends.
Unified Remote
Here’s an app so brilliant that it should come standard with your iPhone.
In its simplest form, Unified Remote lets you use your iPhone as a universal remote. That’s handy and all, but it’s not this app’s highlight feature. That honor goes to its ability to control YouTube, Netflix, and even your mouse cursor. In other words, you can finally lay in bed and control your laptop or desktop with ease.
Forget buying a wireless mouse, all you need is the Unified Remote app.
Libby
The fall of physical media means we sometimes forget just how useful libraries are. However, they’re still one of the best ways to explore new books.
Libby digitizes the library experience. It grants you access to thousands of audio and ebooks available at most local libraries. All you need is a library card and you’re set.
There’s absolutely no reason not to download this app if you love to read. It greatly expands any book collection.
Splitwise
If you have roommates, you know how difficult it can be to split expenses. Nobody likes keeping track of every shared expense and asking for money.
Splitwise simplifies the process. It lets you easily manage shared expenses through an itemized breakdown with your contacts. Not only does it let you get the money you need, it greatly simplifies the process of asking for money.
This is just one of those beautiful underrated apps that makes life and money management a little easier.
CamScanner
PDFs are used in all aspects of business and life, but they can be incredibly cumbersome to create and manage.
CamScanner lets you turn nearly anything into a PDF. All you have to do is load up the app, take a picture, and convert that picture into a PDF. You can even edit your new PDF file with signatures and other effects.
Again, we’re honestly not sure why this function isn’t standard for iOS.
JustWatch
Managing every video service out there can be daunting. Sometimes, you just want to find a movie without having to open and search every service.
For those times, you need JustWatch. Simply type in the name of a movie, and JustWatch will tell you where to find it online. It will even tell you if it’s playing at a nearby theater.
JustWatch saves you time and might help you find new movies.
Is there an app that nobody knows about that you just can’t live without? Let us know about it in the comments below.
