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The Best iPhone Apps You Should Download This Week

3 minute read
Apple iPhone 6
A woman checks the iPhone 6, on the day of its launch at the Apple Store Opera on September 19, 2014, in Paris, France.Chesnot—Getty Images
By Alexander Aciman

It seems like hundreds of new iPhone apps pop up every week, but which ones should you bother trying? We explored the App Store and found five apps worth downloading this week.

TurboTax Tax Preparation

Every year for a few weeks after the April tax deadline, scores of young, inexperienced or sloppy taxpayers wait to find out of they’re going to be audited because they botched their paperwork. There are just so many forms, it’s easy to screw things up.

To help make sure you don’t end up on Uncle Sam’s naughty list and hit with a fine (or worse), TurboTax’s new Tax Preparation app makes everything easy and helps you prepare for the most stressful thing since college applications.

TurboTax Tax Preparation is free in the App Store.

PhotoTime

At times it seems like the ease of taking photos on smartphones has outrun the actual need to consecrate certain would-be memories. Before you know it, you’ve got a backlog of photos clogging up your iPhone, waiting to be organized and put on your computer.

PhotoTime makes it easy to keep track of all those photos. You can tag photos with keywords to make them searchable, while facial recognition makes it easy to log photos of family members. You can even bookmark your favorite photos in order to go back and look at the pictures that really matter.

PhotoTime is available free in the App Store.

Duet Display

Some workplaces offer employees second monitors to use as an extended display. This should be a hint and a half that for many, having a bigger screen simply means getting work done faster and more efficiently. Duet Display allows users to jerry-rig an extended display of their own by using their iPhone (or, even better, their iPad) as a second display for their Mac desktop or laptop.

Duet Display is available for $14.99 in the App Store.

Surprise!

The Amazon gift card is perhaps the least personal of gifts, but it’s extremely useful. It has so few constraints and such wide application that recipients can always find something to buy — it won’t sit untouched like that $300 menswear shop gift card you got for Christmas three years ago.

Surprise! is an Amazon app that allows users to send e-cards, but, more importantly, Amazon gift cards. Think of it as a gift-friendly version of a Western Union money transfer.

Surprise! is free in the App Store.

Group Text+

Group Text+ combines the practicality of Facebook Messenger with SMS-based texts. You can select message recipients from a neatly organized bubble of contacts, along with any attachments (such as photos or videos) you might want to send. Essentially, it circumvents the counter-intuitive nature of the standard iOS group text layout. It also makes it easy to text links from websites as well as drop a pin showing your location to several people at once.

Group Text+ is available for $1.99 in the App Store.

PHOTOS: The Rise of Mobile Phones from 1916 to Today

A German field telephone station in the Aisne department of northern France during World War I.
1916 A German field telephone station in the Aisne department of northern France during World War I.Paul Thompson—FPG/Getty Images
French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday in a scene from the film 'Point de Chute' (aka 'Falling Point').
1970 French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday in a scene from the film 'Point de Chute' (aka 'Falling Point').Keystone/Holton/Getty Images
An early mobile phone during the Iranian Embassy siege at Princes Gate in South Kensington, London.
1980 An early mobile phone during the Iranian Embassy siege at Princes Gate in South Kensington, London.Kypros/Getty Images
Bob Maxwell, general manager of Englewood-based Mobile Telephone of Colorado, places a call on FCC-approved radio frequency while driving to work.
1983 Bob Maxwell, general manager of Englewood-based Mobile Telephone of Colorado, places a call on an FCC-approved radio frequency while driving to work.Lyn Alweis—Denver Post/Getty Images
THE A-TEAM -- "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" Episode 5. (l-r) Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana, Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell, George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith.
1986 THE A-TEAM "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" Episode 5. (l-r) Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana, Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell, George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith.Bill Dow—NBC/Getty Images
Bill Clinton, Ray Flynn
1992 Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton talks on a cell phone while meeting with Boston Mayor Ray Flynn in a New York hotel on Sept. 25.Mark Lennihan—AP
Whoopi Goldberg during ShoWest in Las Vegas.
1993 Whoopi Goldberg during ShoWest in Las Vegas.Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images
A farmer with his family sitting on a Bullock Cart and talking on a mobile Phone, in Delhi.
1997 A farmer with his family sitting on a Bullock Cart and talking on a mobile Phone, in Delhi.India Today Group/Getty Images
World Trade Center Terrorist Attack.
2001 A woman watches smoke pour out of the World Trade Center Towers in New York on September 11.Nicholas Goldberg—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
A rebel militiaman speaks on his mobile phone after capturing territory from government troops on March 25 2 in Ben Jawat, Libya.
2011 A rebel militiaman speaks on his mobile phone after capturing territory from government troops on March 25 in Ben Jawat, Libya. John Moore—Getty Images
A youth films the aftermath of tear gas police fired at protestors in Muhammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square on November 23 in Cairo.
2011 A youth films the aftermath of tear gas police fired at protestors in Muhammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square on November 23 in Cairo.Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images
Audience members take pictures of President Barack Obama at Florida Atlantic University on April 10 in Boca Raton, Florida.
2012 Audience members take pictures of President Barack Obama at Florida Atlantic University on April 10 in Boca Raton, Florida. Marc Serota—Getty Images
A teenager takes a selfie in front of Queen Elizabeth II during a walk around St. Georges Market in Belfast.
2014 A teenager takes a selfie in front of Queen Elizabeth II during a walk around St. Georges Market in Belfast. The Queen has apparently voiced her dismay that when she carries out engagements she is greeted by a sea of mobile phones.Peter Macdiarmid—PA Wire/Press Association Images/AP

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