As the AppStore fills up, and reviews are not properly moderated, finding the right app is becoming more and more difficult. The reviews range from valuable, to helpful, to outdated, to shameless plugs (for the app or its competition), to commentaries on any pricing that isn’t free, to absolute gibberish. Since you cannot try before you buy (in most cases), and the star rating has little relevance, a user must wade through (in some cases) hundreds of the reviews to get an idea of what to download or buy. In many cases, these reviews are not even made by people who have purchased the app, so again their relevance is questionable. A few enterprising websites have decided to take action by providing a Digg-like experience for finding apps.
As the AppStore fills up, and reviews are not properly moderated, finding the right app is becoming more and more difficult. The reviews range from valuable, to helpful, to outdated, to shameless plugs (for the app or its competition), to commentaries on any pricing that isn’t free, to absolute gibberish. Since you cannot try before you buy (in most cases), and the star rating has little relevance, a user must wade through (in some cases) hundreds of the reviews to get an idea of what to download or buy. In many cases, these reviews are not even made by people who have purchased the app, so again their relevance is questionable. A few enterprising websites have decided to take action by providing a Digg-like experience for finding apps.
i use this offers users a way to submit apps that they are using and to click on “i use this” to bump up the number, which indicates how many people are using this application. The site lists native apps (in the AppStore and jailbroken), web apps, and also apps that are in beta testing. Application developers can also submit their apps and add tags to better help with search. I was able to submit Date Wheel (our iPhone web app), but the green “beta” tag came up for some reason, so perhaps there still a few bugs to be worked out, but this was minor. Some advantages to this site–you can’t vote down an app. You can only indicate you are using it, or have stopped using it. This feature would prevent the competition from clicking down your counts. The site also remembers that you have already voted, since you have to login to vote, so you cannot “stuff the ballot box,” which is a good thing. You can, however, click up apps that you do not actually use.
“i use this” allows you to sort by New Releases, New Apps, Interesting Apps, Top Apps, and by Reviews. In addition to searching by tags, there is a search bar. I’m unsure the difference is between New Releases and New Apps, but with new releases you can filter by number of users. Interesting Apps are apps that have had a lot of recent movement. Top Apps is self-explanatory. The Reviews section allows for additional reviews (with no star ratings). The site is run by Arne and Marcus of Norway. You can access it at http://iphone.iusethis.com/ and there are links on the site to contact them if you have any suggestions.
iPhone: What’s on Yours? is run by Chris Pirillo of the Lockergnome websites. You can access the site at http://iphone.lockergnome.com/. It’s very new, but already has thousands of links, with both native and web apps listed. I easily found Date Wheel via the search bar. The site’s feel is similar to Reddit, and the submission form experience is Digg-like.
On “iPhone:What’s on Yours?” you can view titles by Popular or Recent. However, the Popular tab doesn’t seem to work yet–despite apps showing mulitple points, they are not sorted as such. It’s hard to say if Popular means apps with recent movement or with total points. The site is new, so I’d give it some time. It looks like the webmaster is working on adding all the titles in the AppStore and in Apple’s web app directory, which is also important right now.
Apps can also be voted upwards or downwards. You login, so you can only vote once in one direction, but can cancel your vote later. On this site, you CAN vote down an app, so can indicate that an app you didn’t like. However, I quickly discovered some abuse. In searching for apps I use and those of fellow developers, I’ve already discovered a questionable post. Two competing apps have been submitted by the same user. In one app, he states in the description to “Forget it” and use another app. Normally I would assume that the user tried both apps, but knowing the app he wrote negatively about, I would assume differently here. Karma by user is indicated, but it’s not obvious how a user wins or loses Karma on the site (maybe by voting up comments?). Unfortunately, the user’s opinion is in the app description, so it’s not possible to vote on the stated opinion. If a developer suspects abuse, there is no obvious contact link.
I would recommend users check out both sites to get more information on apps and on who’s using what. I would also recommend developers take a look at these sites and submit their apps, if they are not already submitted. In addition, it’s good to monitor the comments and provide responses as necessary. Both sites should prove to be valuable resources in the ever growing iPhone app depository.
