Apps

Alto’s Adventure

Alto's Adventure is a new game for the iPhone and iPad. It's an endless snowboarding game with incredible lighting, sound, and an ever changing backdrop. To be frank, it's stunning. After finding out about it on Twitter, I immediately purchased it. I wasn't prepared for how much fun I'd have. It's incredibly easy to learn, but it will provide endless hours of fun. It's the perfect "in the waiting room at the dentist" type game.

Tally 2

Tally 2 is a quick way to count anything on your iPhone. Its design allows you to work without even looking at your phone. It supports multiple tallies, so you can keep to access history (game scores, etc). With Apple Watch support planned, Tally 2 would make a great app to use at the ball field, in the classroom, or on family game night.

AllCast

I mentioned in my cord cutting guide that I switched to Roku last year and sold all my Apple TVs. One of the things I do miss is AirPlay (when it works). AllCast for iOS is helping to bridge the gap, though. It allows you to cast your movies, photos, and music to just about any streaming device. It works with Chromecast, Xbox 360/One, Roku, DLNA compatible TVs, Apple TV, WDTV, and Amazon Fire TV. It's free with a $4.99 in-app purchase.

CloudBeats App

iTunes Match works fine (most of the time), but what if you already have a large collection of audio content in Dropbox or Google Drive? CloudBeats allows you to turn your Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, MediaFire or OneDrive account into an iOS music player.

Wunderlist

Our sister site, The Sweet Setup, recently picked Wunderlist as their favorite app for shared lists. Wunderlist was picked because it syncs fast, it's easy to share lists, and it's accessible from multiple platforms (web, Mac, PC, Android, etc). Wunderlist is free, but you can upgrade to a pro account for $49.99/year.

MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter

One of my goals for 2015 was to lose about 15 pounds and get down to 170. I've realized over the years the losing weight is 90% diet and 10% exercise. I get plenty of exercise, but I mindlessly eat more than I should. I decided to start tracking my calories to help me be more mindful of what I am eating. I had typically used Lose It!, but I decided to give MyFitnessPal a try based on a recommendation from a friend.

Vigil Website Monitoring

There are a ton of website monitoring tools out there, but Vigil is probably my favorite. It's an iPhone app that has been recently redesigned with a modern iOS 7/8 look. While the app is certainly beautiful, there is a whole lot going on behind the scenes. Once you get your websites added, Vigil will monitor them 24/7.

Mailbox for Mac

Our sister site, The Sweet Setup, recently picked Mailbox as their favorite third-party email app for the Mac. Jason Snell points out that Mac users have a love-hate relationship with Apple Mail. While it's built in to every Mac, it's gone through periods of major instability (particularly with Gmail IMAP). After reading the article, I downloaded it to give it a trial run. While it only works with iCloud and Gmail, it's a very powerful app.

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