“There’s an app for that.” The iPad is a revolutionary Tablet computing platform, made even more useful by the vast number of different apps that a user can download for free. Other articles have reviewed useful free iPad apps for productivity and for education. Here we review those apps that are useful for health and lifestyle, apps such as:
- MyFitness Pal,
- Symptom MD,
- Flixster,
- Wikihood,
- EZInteriors,
- Skype,
- Wall Street Journal,
- BBC News,
- USA Today,
- TweetDeck,
- Twitterific,
- CraigsEZPro.
Each of these apps are available at the iTunes App store for free at the time of writing. Please leave a comment in the comment box if you check out one of the free apps and find that it is no longer free of charge, a suitable alternative free app will be reviewed in it’s place.
Free iPad Apps for Health
MyFitness Pal is one of those golden finds that all on its own makes the iPad a worthwhile purchase! For many, the prospect of losing weight is a daunting one, but it is far less daunting with MyFitness Pal. MyFitness Pal has a huge food database (over 450 000 foods) that enables the user to count calories very effectively.
The calorie counter alone makes it an invaluable app, but added to this amazing feature is the ability to set a weight loss goal within MyFitness Pal. The weight loss goal is customized to your particular age, gender and activity level. Once you have set your weight loss goal MyFitness Pal calculates the amount of calorie intake you may have each day to enable you to reach your goal. MyFitness Pal also enables the user to track workouts and to measure the calories burned according to the type of workout undertaken.
MyFitness Pal has over 350 workouts stored in its database and it enables you to create an unlimited number of custom exercises. A really helpful feature of this app is that it renders comprehensive reports and charts to enable the user to track progress and make mid-course projections to accomplish the weight loss goal. MyFitness Pal also creates a customized on line account for the user which means that an entire family can each individually track weight loss progress by signing in to a personalized account.
Symptom MD is a very comprehensive medical app that renders a range of suggestions and possible diagnoses for symptoms that the user enters into the search toolbar. This app is most effective in the USA, since it is built around the US medical system, but as a first line of diagnosis, it can be a helpful tool to alert the user to steps of action for particular symptoms.
Free iPad Apps for Lifestyle
Flixster enables the user to search for movie times in nearby cinemas, to purchase movie tickets right from within the app, and to view maps of all of the cinemas that are playing a particular movie within the user’s area. Flixster, though, offers even more than these amazing features – it also alerts the user to:
- the top box office leaders
- upcoming new releases
- browse a DVD catalogue of over 50 000 films
- watch trailers and video clips
- buy or rent movies from iTunes right on your iPad
Wikihood is a must have free app for those who travel a lot. It enables the iPad owner to determine the most important sights in a specific location by reading up on what others found interesting in a specific region. Wikihood intelligently organizes Wikipedia information for any place in the world. This free app will even reveal startling new facts about significant landmarks in your own neighbourhood.
EZ Interiors is a fun app developed by Yuriy Zemenko of the Ukraine, in collaboration with New Media Agency. This app is helpful if you are looking for design ideas ranging from the classic to the modern and high tech. The database is constantly updated and designs are catalogued according to year, ranging back as far as 2006. The photographs are high quality and the designs are inspiring. A useful free app for home design ideas.
Skype works really well on the iPad. It is a great way to communicate to anyone anywhere in the world just as you would on any normal telephone, but for free. Skype for iPad works well and the sound quality is excellent.
If you need to stay abreast of current events and breaking news, then the BBC News app, the Wall Street Journal app, the USA today app, and the New York Times app deliver graphically rich news stories to your iPad. Reading the news on the iPad is a treat and some stories come complete with video as well. These free apps are worth the time taken to download them from the iTunes App store.
Tweetdeck for iPad is a superb free app that enables you to track what is happening on Twitter with an optimized interface that enables you to stay up to date and organized wherever you are. Tweetdeck has multiple columns and is packed with loads of great features. Twitterific is a simpler user interface but also very useful as a free app.
Craigslist is a popular online buy and sell forum. Now Craigs List comes to the iPad in an easy to use format know as the CraigsEZList app. This app is very useful because it enables you to specify your location. The app also allows the user to search through different categories such as housing, jobs, services, community, resumes, and for sale.
The iPad is a great productivity tool and a fun educational tool. But it is also very useful with a range of free apps for health and lifestyle.