https://momentoapp.com

This past week I have come across a new favorite app, that is now sitting on my iPhone. Momento was featured this past week with several apps in one of Apple's daily lists. Momento caught my as a private journaling app that has a really clean interface and the ability to automatically import content from your social media. 

I like the idea of a private journaling app at lot to just capture quick things throughout my day. The added benefit of the social integration makes that even easier because my Facebook, Instagram, etc. posts can automatically find their way into the app, which makes it ideal for weekend and vacation adventures. 

What is particularly cool about the social media import though is that it will actually bring in content that you are tagged in from someone else. If a family member tags you in a photo and posts it on Facebook, it will capture that automatically. Even cooler still, is that it is smart enough to see all of those tags across different social networks and identify those people or places. So you can then go in and find your spouse for example , and find everything, going back years with photos and posts with her. 

Another great feature for just looking back on your journal is the "One this day" feature on their calendar. You click on it and you can see every entry for that day/date going back years. It is sort of cool, but also freaky that Facebook has content back to 2008.

This app has filled two holes for me. I was a big fan of Flavors.me, which was a personal landing page website that aggregated all of your social media into one place. It was a great tool that really should have a replacement online. This doesn't replace that for a public profile, but offers a lot of the same features for private use. 

The other app it replaces is Foodspotting. I loved Foodspotting and it was my goto app for taking my food photos. Unfortunately it hasn't really been updated in years and while Instagram and Foursquare can serve that purpose for public usage, having something for private food tracking that can tag people and places is nice to have. Evernote Food unfortunately never got a replacement app. 

So I would highly recommend people check this out if they are looking for a great app to have a quick and small personal journal.  It is also a very affordable app to ranging from free to about $4 depending upon what you want to do with it. 

The past couple of trips that I have taken have been to major metropolitan areas. New Orleans, Sand Diego, New York, etc. I have found that my iPhone has been invaluable in these areas when trying to find my way around the cities and finding things to do. Here is a list of my favorite travel apps (for the city)

Transit

I put this one first because I think it is the least well known of the bunch. Transit is a must if you are in a city where you will be using public transit. Open it up and you can instantly see all of the public transit options around you. What is really nice is that you can set your destination on the map and it will automatically calculate your public transit options for you. It also has real-time updates of routes for those cities that make that data available. 

Foursquare

The split of Foursquare last year was a tough one, but to be honest I have found it to probably be good for the company in the way the apps are used. The new Foursquare is a way to find things around you and is more than just for restaurants, but that is where it excels. I like it over Yelp, because it categorizes restaurants and locations using a crowd sourced tagging system, which I think is very efficient. It is super easy to pop the app open and see what are the best tags at a place for food, etc. 

Swarm

Swarm is the other off shoot app that came from the Foursquare separation. I not longer find it quite as useful, but checking in is still a fun process, especially if you are separated from other people on your trip, it makes for a fun way to keep track of where someone has been throughout the day. I still miss my favorite app of all time, Gowalla so let's hope Swarm can take some of those old Gowalla ideas, like the geocaching aspect and make the game more fun. 

Foodspotting

Foodspotting is a great app that should get more attention. It has a bit of overlap with Foursquare in its purpose, but it's strengths lie in its reliance on photos. Instead of just reading about what is good at a restaurant, instead see what other people have taken pictures of and read how they liked it. It is a sort of app that if you are really into food, then it is a must have. 

Evernote

Not much I can say about this one, that I haven't already said. I store a lot of info in here and for vacation planning it is ideal for throwing all of your receipts, digital tickets, event lists, to dos and other stuff for your vacation in here. I even throw in .PDf files of maps or brochures which I can easily bring up on a moment's notice.  

I have to admit that I probably spend more time on my iPad these days than I do on my computer. The bulk of what I am doing on my devices is checking email, reading twitter or doing some other consumption practice. For better or for worse I have also found that the specialized apps for different services usually offer a much better experience compared to the website or the applications on most computers, including my Mac. So with that in mind here are my favorite iOS apps that I cannot live without. 

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