Fresh Apps for iOS 7: Our Favorite Picks for What’s New and Updated

Fresh Apps for iOS 7

  • Twitterrific 5: Twitterrific 5 as it existed a few days ago really wouldn’t have looked out of place on iOS 7. But that didn’t stop the developers from going the extra mile anyway. The Iconfactory has re-done pretty much all the UI elements and added many new features such as background fetching of tweets/sync position, several new gestures, and usability improvements. Just $3 on the App Store for a limited time.

  • Basil: Basil, our favorite iPad recipe manager has received a facelift for iOS 7, modernizing the interface. This update also brings a new filtering engine, making finding recipes easier than ever, and the ability to setup multiple background timers. Basil is just $2.99 in the App Store.

  • Clear for iOS 7: The minimal, colorful task manager for the iPhone and Mac has been updated to support iOS 7 and brings with it a new iPad interface. On the iPad, Clear earns new features such as moving tasks between lists. On the iPhone, Clear now supports iOS 7’s system-wide text size settings and still packs the fun interface, useful gestures and iCloud sync we’ve come to love in this to-do app. Clear for iOS 7 is a paid update, but is currently on sale at $2.99, and is universal.

  • Evernote: Ironically now at version 7.0, Evernote for iOS has a received a major facelift. Gone are the leather and felt of old, replaced with a new, springy UI. In addition to the new paint, Evernote 7 brings revamped quick entry tools, making it easier than ever to quickly add a note or reminder to the database.

  • Begin: Begin is a new, iOS 7-only task manager that isn’t meant to replace something like OmniFocus, but gives users a quick and easy way to enter and be reminded of to-dos. With a catch-all for uncompleted tasks, the app doesn’t get in the way of getting things done. Built and designed by Kyle Rosenbluth, David Lanham and Ben Brooks, the app features several themes and a clean, sharp design. Begin is 99¢ on the App Store, with a 99¢ in-app purchase for additional themes.

  • Pocket Casts 4: Pocket Casts has always been one of the more popular “podcatchers” for iOS. After a successful redesign of their Android client earlier this year, they’ve now ported the new look back over for iOS 7, and it’s gorgeous. One nice touch: the player UI changes colors based on the currently-playing podcast’s artwork. $4 on the App Store.

  • Instacast 4: Instacast is another podcacther app that’s ready for iOS 7 with its brand-new 4.0 release. As you’d expect, the interface has been overhauled to look much cleaner, including a new hidden sidebar menu that acts as your one-stop hub to everything in the app. Podcast episodes can now be queued for playback in whatever order you like, and they’ll even download automatically while the device is idle. $5 on the App Store.

  • OmniFocus 2 for iPhone: The OmniFocus app for iPhone got a massive redesign for iOS 7. The app itself has been completely reskinned for iOS 7, with an emphasis on text and color. Also the layout and overall UI has been rethought and re-organized. While there are some design elements that may take time to get used to, overall the new OmniFocus on iPhone is a nice step forward. $20 on the app store.

  • Simplenote: An app that needs no introduction, Simplenote has been rewritten from the ground up. The new design departs from the long-used Helvetica and now uses Source Sans Pro as the default typeface. It’s faster, cleaner, and is full of design and engineering improvements. And, don’t miss the brand new Mac version. The iOS version is free on the App Store.

  • Scratch: Scratch is a no-nonsense “scratch pad” app for your iPhone. It launches in a hot second, and greets you with a blank text-entry pane and blue blinking cursor. You are then free to type whatever it is you need to type out right now, and leave the fiddling to later when you have a few minutes. This app is one of 3 that lives in my (Shawn) iPhone Dock. The new icon looks great and the new design feels right at home in iOS 7. (Just $3 on the App Store.)

  • Perfect Weather: Perfect Weather is a new weather app from the guys behind Trip Cubby and Launch Center Pro that uses gestures to show weather information in a beautiful, fluid folding card that floats above a radar. Perfect Weather can support multiple location, showing them as cards that are easy to get in to and out of. It’s just $3 on the iOS App Store.

  • Reeder 2: Arguably one of the most popular RSS reading apps on iOS, this update brings a fresh UI that feels at home in iOS 7 without giving up its whimsical personality. Reeder is now a Universal app, and thus the iPad version works with many of the new feed reading services such as Feed Wrangler, Feedly, Feedbin, and more. $4.99 in the App Store.

  • Calendars 5: Until now, the reigning king of natural-language input for calendar events has been Fantastical. We at T&T still love it of course, but Calendars 5 gives it a run for its money by combining natural-language input with a cleaner interface and full iPad compatibility. $5 in the App Store for a limited time.

  • PCalc 3.0: One of the oldest and most powerful calculator apps in Apple history continues to evolve with the times, sporting a beautiful new look that fits in very nicely with the minimalist iOS 7 aesthetic. It also now allows you to speak equations aloud rather than typing them, if you’re more of a vocal mathematician. $10 on the App Store.