Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
Can't find the apps you need? Of course there's an app for that.
If you're like me, you find it impossible to keep up with the constant stream of apps being written for the iPhone and iPod touch. As a result, you wind up missing some useful or fun apps that you would buy if you just knew that they were in the App Store. Searching the App Store using iTunes doesn't work very well, and there are plenty of sites that review apps (including TUAW), but there are so many apps out there that finding what you want can be a matter of luck rather than skill.
That problem has largely been solved with Appsaurus [iTunes link], a U.S. $0.99 app that can quickly focus on what kinds of apps you like and make decent suggestions for new apps to try or buy.
Here's how Appsaurus works. When you launch the app for the first time, it presents you with an explore mode. It displays a list of apps, and you tap the ones that are of interest to you. You may have some of the apps, but you probably won't have all of them. When you select a favorite you'll get a new list that includes apps that match the general description of the app you clicked on. Run through a few iterations of this process, and the app begins to learn your preferences.
If there isn't anything on the list that appeals to you, just ask for a new list. If the title of the app doesn't give you enough information, tap on the right side of the title, and you're transferred to the app store. You can actually buy the app if you want to. When you tap on Appsaurus again you'll be right back where you left off. As you explore apps you can mark them as favorites, or tell Appsaurus you don't want to see an app again.
In no time at all I had some great picks, and bought a few apps that I simply would not have discovered any other way. However, that's not the end of the Appsaurus playbook.
You can create custom searches, like "all free chess games," or "photography apps under $0.99." You can save those searches, and then let Appsaurus do the heavy lifting and find them.
In my experience, the app worked very well, was easy to use, and was well executed with an attractive GUI. If there is a downside, be prepared to spend some money on apps you find; I was glad to find them, though, and don't think I would have encountered them without the guidance from Appsaurus.
Of course the app store on the iPhone has a 'genius' function built in. It scans the apps you have and makes some recommendations, but they get a bit strange. It suggested I get an app for a Chicago TV station because I had CNN. Well, they are both news apps, but interest in Chicago news doesn't necessarily follow from my interest in general news.
Appsaurus isn't a big investment. I'd urge you to give it a try and see if it gives you some intelligent navigation through the rough seas of app finding.
Click below for some screen shots of Appsaurus in action.
Gallery: Appsaurus screen shots
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dmaoliver said 2:54PM on 12-31-2009
I'm hoping Apple will be able to get away from the "i" prefix at some
point for their consumer-level products. It's starting to seem like
they've painted themselves into a corner.
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Richard said 3:18PM on 12-31-2009
Appsaurus is a neat little app. Unfortunately it doesn't know the apps you've already installed but it didn't take too long to search for them and add them as Favorites.
I'm curious about the logic used to find new apps. It was good about finding a few apps that I had installed but forgot to add as Favorites. But it made some strange recommendations: when I asked for apps similar to Amazon Kindle, it suggested SupportDesk (an app to talk with helpdesk software) and a few GPA calculators, which seemed kind of random.
Appsaurus is also still building its app database. It couldn't even find PasteBot, a new app getting a lot of buzz. And when I search for apps similar to games such as Doom Classic, Archon, Catan, Battle for Wesnoth, it says that it can't find any related apps.
Overall though, it's a fun little app and worth the $.99. It's somewhat addicting to keep exploring apps and see what it recommends.
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Luke (Hello, Chair) said 4:20PM on 12-31-2009
Hi Richard!
We've got a very seamless (and free) desktop companion app called Appsaurus Sync coming in the next couple weeks that will automatically sync the apps from iTunes every time you plug in your iPhone.
And thanks for the notes on recommendations! The "similar apps" feature works /really well/ for most apps, but there are indeed a couple rough spots; reports like yours help us go find the rough spots in our "app universe" so we can smooth them out : ).
Finally, yeah, we didn't have a chance to pull in the up-to-the minute database before launch, but we're updating as we speak! We'll definitely have all new releases, every day. Just gotta spin up a couple more servers : ).
Anyway, glad you like it! We're on Twitter at http://twitter.com/hellochair if you want to keep up with the above fixes.
Jordan said 3:42PM on 12-31-2009
So you're supposed to buy an app...that finds more apps for you to buy. Does anybody else see the irony in that? If the app store can't present apps for me to buy correctly in the first place, then I don't see the need for me to spend money to find ways to spend more money.
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Martin said 5:22PM on 12-31-2009
I'd wager you've purchased apps that improve upon the work that Apple has done (better notes app, etc). Why is this any different? It does something that Apple couldn't be bothered to do, which is fix the way the AppStore works.
Jordan said 6:11PM on 12-31-2009
But see that in effect is the problem. Apple is making 30% off each sale of this app, yet Apple is doing nothing. So there's a cheap app that improves the app store, fine, but why should Apple be making money off of us on something that improves something they are unwilling to fix themselves?
Luke (Hello, Chair) said 4:45PM on 12-31-2009
Howdy Jordan!
Yeah, we definitely agree Apple could be doing a better job presenting the apps in the store (hence our app!). I promise, Appsaurus is worth the 99 cents ; ). We spent a lot of 16 hour days over the past year to make sure of it (and the algorithm is the result of over three years of research and development). You could also just pretend your iPhone/iPod cost $200 instead of $199 : ).
And, you can actually use Appsaurus to never spend a dime again — the "Custom" feature lets you limit your recommendations to only Free apps!
Okay, now having said all that, we do have a free version of Appsaurus coming someday later that will be missing a couple pieces but will still give wonderful recommendations (along with some very unique social features, and many other forms of magic!).
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TheJae said 5:36PM on 12-31-2009
Oh nice to see the boss promoting his app in a friendly way and all those happy smileys :) i just hope you wont grow into something arrogant which money fuels.
Meanwhile i'll take a copy of appsaurus and pretend my iphone is $200.
hobanma said 8:17PM on 12-31-2009
I tried it and wasn't impressed. I expected that it would scan my existing apps and make some recommendations ala genius. Instead, I had to go through several pages of app suggestions and favorite what I thought/or did like. I could specify favorites but there were a few that it couldn't find.
I gave it 1 star in the app store because it didn't crash.
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Edicius said 12:01AM on 1-01-2010
You do know that 1 star is the worst rating right?
hobanma said 10:04AM on 1-01-2010
No - I've never tried to give zero stars although there are some apps out there that deserve that (or less than zero).
hobanma said 10:17AM on 1-01-2010
The point is that the app was a disappointment. After reading the review, I thought I would like it. After I bought it, I thought I had wasted $0.99.
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ethan316 said 11:28PM on 1-01-2010
I haven't tried this application yet, but it seems really interesting. I loved the review and now have to test it out. I hope that it is as good as the review.
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Richard White said 8:17AM on 1-04-2010
I'm not really sure I get the point of an application of this sort. I don't need lots of the same application. I need the most suitable (for me) of each sort. Group reviews and information about apps that really make use of the iPhone to the best of it abilities.
I wonder where I might find those?
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ethan316 said 4:28PM on 1-23-2010
I completely agree with you Richard. Nowadays, there are so many applications of similar type that at times it really gets annoying. I still haven't tried this out so not sure how this would serve my needs, but iPhone applications are really cool and fun to use.
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