IPhone Apps to Make Your Commuting Fun

Some people get to work from home, which means they don’t have to make the everyday commute that most others do on a fairly regular basis. As I’m sure most of those people know, those commutes can be extremely boring. Rather you are using public transportation, car pool, walk, or drive yourself to work; here is our list of the best iPhone apps to make your day to day travel just a bit more entertaining.

Reading and Literature

Many people all over the world choose reading as their favorite hobby, something that has become easier and cheaper with the rise of smartphones and tablets. You can now carry hundreds of books in your pocket without a problem. However books are far from the only reading material you can now keep with you wherever you go. (Though that is still easily an option if you are an avid novel reader like me.)

Flipboard (Free)

Flipboard is a curated news app that allows you to pick out specific topics and have news stories and information picked out that fit your interests. It’s simple and easy to use, allowing you to see news from all over the world that is relevant to topics you are interested in.

MangaRock (Free)

If manga is the reading material of your choice, try out MangaRock. This app can bring you all of the latest manga straight to your iPhone. You can download and save chapters directly to your phone, allowing you to take your manga reading anywhere, even if you don’t have an Internet connection. The best part is, it’s all-free! Thanks to the many scanalators that translate and put up all the manga on this app for free. That being said, you should definitely support the artists by buying their manga to keep at home so they can continue to make the manga that you love.

Scribd (Paid)

If you are a comic book fan, or wanting to get into comic books, it’s hard to find an app that lets you read them directly on your iPhone. However Scribd is an answer to those needs. Scribed is a monthly subscription service that gives you the ability to read millions of books, music sheets, and documents, as well as allowing you to listen to an array of audiobooks.

Although Scribd doesn’t have a huge amount of comics on it at the time, it still has more than enough to keep you busy reading comics for years to come. Newcomers to the comic book world will be pleased with the vast amount to choose from. If you are a life-long fan, who knows, you may find something you have missed amongst the thousands of comics that have been released.

iBooks (Free)

If none of the above suits your fancy and all you want to read is a regular book, then the iPhone offers iBooks, a digital reader app specifically for that taste. iBooks supports ePub books with ease, and supports PDF files pretty easily as well. You can download thousands of books from the Apple Store onto your iPhone, as well as audio books. This app allows you to change the font size as well as the background color, even offering the ability to switch between night and day themes to make it easier on your eyes when reading in different types of lighting.

Visual Entertainment

Reading isn’t everyone’s thing, and many people have long trips both home and back from their job, so in that case, why not watch some videos? The motion picture has been around for a long time and only continues to grow and evolve even today. Whether you love watching the latest viral video or the most recent episode of your favorite show, there is an iPhone app for you.

It’s Playing Pro ($4.99 USD)

It’s Playing Pro is an IOS app that allows you to play videos of any format on your IOS device. You can play videos directly from your phone’s storage, as well as from cloud storage spaces like Dropbox. The app also allows you to find and download subtitles for movies and television shows directly from the app itself. The app also supports watching videos from local wireless sources like your computer or other video playing devices.

It’s Playing Pro also supports TV Out as well, allowing you to watch videos on your TV on those days when you can just stay home and relax. It also supports Apple AirPlay, keeping you from having to switch apps to watch shows you have already downloaded from the iTunes store. It also supports YouTube videos, allowing you to watch every type of video right from the same app.

YouTube (Free)

Not everyone enjoys watching TV, myself included, and for that, there is YouTube. Virtually everyone knows about the YouTube app and about YouTube in general at this point. Whether you watch the variety of entertaining shows that are created and put up on YouTube like I do, or whether you just really enjoy catching up on the latest viral hits, YouTube is most people’s go to place for internet entertainment.

With multiple forms of both independent videos and videos from entertainment giants like Disney, it’s hard to go wrong with the YouTube app. Find something you enjoy and start watching, it’s as easy as that. Personally, I love watching Game Grumps and Cinema Snob.

Ted (Free)

There are a number of people who still don’t know about the TED app, which is virtually like YouTube, except strictly for learning and education. TED is a video-sharing app where experts from all walks of life create relatively short videos on an academic subject, and there is something for everyone.

Whether you enjoy the social sciences or the physical sciences, English or Math; the TED App has something for you. There are plenty of exciting videos to watch on this app, making it easy for you to find something the piques your interest. The app is free and easy to use and I urge you to give it a try.

Audio Entertainment

Not everyone wants to sit back and watch a video, sometimes you just want to kick back, close your eyes, and listen without having to focus your eyes on something. Well, friends and neighbors, the iPhone even has apps for that. The iTunes store changed the way people downloaded audio, but the iPhone changed it even more with some of the apps available on the it

Music

iTunes and Apple Music (Free/monthly subscription respectively)

Music. Almost everyone in the world loves music; music plays an important part in cultures all the way around the globe. I think at this point, everyone knows what iTunes is. iTunes is the biggest music app since the early 2000’s, and it’s still going strong today. Every Apple device comes with it, and the iPhone is no exception. Apple has spent years tuning its music app, and there are millions of songs you can buy and listen to, so this is the most obvious choice. Along with its music store however, Apple also has Apple Music, a monthly subscription service that allows you to stream virtually any music from iTunes straight to your iPhone or other Apple devices.

Spotify

Spotify is a monthly subscription service that allows you to stream songs numbering in the hundreds of thousands, it has been popular for about 5 years now and is still going strong today, so if, for whatever reason, you don’t want Apple Music, this is always another option to consider.

Podcasts

Podcasts have become overwhelmingly popular within the last few years and there is a podcast covering almost any topic that can be covered and, of course, iPhone has an app for that.

Overcast (Free)

Overcast is a podcast player that is simple and easy to use, while also allowing a curious listener to expand their podcasts of choice using Smarter Playlists.

Podcast (Free)

Sometimes, nothing beats the original. The rise of the iPod is what gave birth to the popularity of the Podcasts of today, and Apple is not one to forget that, thus making their own app simply called Podcast. Though lacking the discovery options that Overcast has, Podcast still has the ability to check out the most popular podcasts and search by category, as well as simply being able to subscribe to your favorites.

Audiobooks

Audible (Free)

Audible is a free app that lets you listen to thousands of audiobooks, from classics to the latest bestsellers, your choices are wide and vast. While you do have to pay for the book in some form or another, the app makes the experience easy, making the entire experience stream-lined and simple, while still giving a wide variety of customization that simply buying one on CD or using a normal media player lack.

Social Networking

Numerus (All Free)

Social Media is arguably the first thing anyone thinks of when the phrase “time waster” is mentioned. If you like connecting with close friends and family, try Facebook. If you like just looking at photos and pictures, try Pinterest. Want to connect with people all over the world but only in short bursts? Try Twitter. Want to send random pictures to people for only a few seconds? Try Snapchat. I could go on and on and on about all the social networks that exist on the iPhone, as there are enough to make your head spin around in a full 360. Your best bet is just to try them out and find what fits you.

Games

Oh mobile games, where would we be without you? There are literally thousands to choose from and much like social networks, these could have a list all their own. I will just stick to what I know though and talk about a few of my current favorites.

Walking Dead: Road to Survival (Free to Play)

Walking Dead: Road to Survival is a game that allows you to build up your own settlement of survivors in the world of The Walking Dead. It features familiar characters from the show and allows you to interact with other players by joining factions, raiding, and going to war with other settlements.

Puzzle & Dragons

Puzzle & Dragons is a Pokemon-style game that allows you to catch your own monsters and level them up, making them stronger. The game allows you to clear main dungeons as well as featuring special and daily dungeons to make sure you never run out of things to do within the game. It’s addicting, fun, and great for short bursts of gameplay.

Dice World (Free to Play)

I really enjoy dice games, Yahtzee, Farkle, Threes, and even a round or two of Pig. Dice World is an awesome mobile app for fellow dice game lovers. You can choose to play turn-based style with other plays, challenge your friends, or just simply play against A.I.

Solitaire (Most are Free)

There are way too many Solitaire apps to mention, so your best bet is just to go on the iTunes store and find one that sounds like it would suit (Get it?) you. Solitaire has been around for almost 200 years, and with the invention of the home computer, it became a classic staple in many parts of the world. These days, you can easily carry around an app with all different versions on your iPhone. Couple some Solitaire with maybe an audiobook, podcast, or music playlist; and I think you have a pretty relaxing ride whether you are going to, or leaving, work.

That has been our list of the best iPhones apps for your daily commute. We hope this list managed to make the beginning and end of your day a bit more fun than before. If you have any suggestions leave them in the comments below. Thanks to everyone reading this and we hope you have an awesome day or night, whatever time it is wherever you are.