I've been trying to come up with something to implement in order to learn Objective-C/ iOS development. Basically the only iOS development I've done has been the game I'm working on which is on top of cocos2d-x and as such is in C++ with Objective-C complelely hidden from me, but I've started getting the feeling that I should actually learn Objective-C; otherwise, it might end up biting me in the ass down the line. Also wouldn't mind being able to start sniffing around at getting an iOS development job (I have a lot of experience developing software on other platforms so I think just getting a couple of apps in the app store with my name on them would be enough to be taken seriously)

Anyway, I kind of want to come up with an idea for a normal iOS app, i.e. a non-game app. Trouble is, I realize now, I don't actually use a lot of apps beyond the obvious things from the big players (e.g. Gmail, maps, etc.) so I have been looking through lots of lists of best or most useful iOS Apps. I am struck by the extent to which most of the apps I see listed do not interest me at all and don't seem particularly useful to me.

1. I don't care about taking notes/having a journal/blah blah blah
2. I don't care about some company's new yet-another feed aggregator. I know where to find the content I like; I don't really look at facebook much anymore and if I feel the desire I can, you know, look at facebook.
3. I don't care about yet-another to-do list app.
4. I don't care about yet-another calendar app.
5. I don't care about yet-another way to share x with my friends
6. I'm sick of every single app describing itself as minimal. I get what is presumed to be good about this approach: intuitive interfaces, stripped down functionality allows for low cognitive burden for new users, but at a certain point, when you realize that everything that is supposed to be new and exciting software-wise these days is being described as minimal, doesn't it all just start seeming like a cop out that has more to do with the length of engineering development cycles than anything else? If I'm going to get into, say, painting on my iPad, don't I want the maximal painting app?

I don't know ... Am I just getting too old?

I am struck by the extent to which most of the apps I see listed do not interest me at all and don't seem particularly useful to me.

Why do you use your device?

Most people use them for the features you say are not interested in.

I am struck by the extent to which most of the apps I see listed do not interest me at all and don't seem particularly useful to me.

Why do you use your device?

Most people use them for the features you say are not interested in.

Games.
email.
chatting.
Reading the internet
I have an app that does symbolic math, algebra etc., that I like.

The main really big thing that I don't do that other people apparently do do is "social": not interested in seeing pictures of people I went to elementary school with's children and never got into twitter.

You're doing it wrong. You don't go shopping for random crap, then complain that it's random crap. You think of a use case you'd like to solve (I wish I had an easy way to see recipes on my phone), then you search for an app that fills that need. Other people will have different use cases than you.

You're doing it wrong. You don't go shopping for random crap, then complain that it's random crap. You think of a use case you'd like to solve (I wish I had an easy way to see recipes on my phone), then you search for an app that fills that need. Other people will have different use cases than you.

Yeah, so I guess I need a good use case :)

Seriously, though I see nothing cool besides the games people are writing. There are some good games ... reminds me of the 80's.

Seriously, though I see nothing cool besides the games people are writing.

When you sit at your computer, do you think "Hey, cool, this has Excel on it!" Perhaps you sit down and think, "This word processor is amazing"? Probably not.

Much more likely, you have a need to create a document of some type, and you use the most convenient tool for the job. That's what most non-game apps are for.

Yeah, so I guess I need a good use case

Here are some for me, beyond the normal web / email / music / maps suite:

I do photography on the side. I need a model release form. There are apps for that: snap a photo of the person on the phone's camera for reference, let them fill in their personal info and email address, and it will keep it for archive and also email both them and me a digitally signed model release form. Very useful.

Sometimes I need to read various office documents and sometimes edit them, and after trying a few I settled on QuickOffice Pro (which includes things like dropbox integration). Very useful to me.

I like to read ebooks when I'm bored. I tried a bunch of ebook readers (there are many to choose from), and finally found one I really like that can load large documents really fast and lay them out nicely. It is also a handy replacement when a web site links to a PDF since the Adobe reader is so slow.

3-4 times per month I need a countdown timer. I wanted one that could give me a countdown of how much time was remaining. I found one by TheSpinningHead that periodically says how many minutes are remaining, then near the end counts down ("thirty seconds remaining"), then at the end counts down "Five, Four, Three, Two, One". Great for my needs.

Occasionally at work they ask the team to make rough estimates so our designers can build their shopping list of features very early in the process. We use Planning Poker cards to help with quick estimates in the meeting. There are some free Planning Poker apps that are more fun than actually listening in the meeting.

Note that I didn't ask "What apps are out there in the Universe?" Instead I thought "I have some task to do, is there an app for that?"

When you sit at your computer, do you think "Hey, cool, this has Excel on it!" Perhaps you sit down and think, "This word processor is amazing"? Probably not.

You're right, of course, but sometimes you actually do ... the first time I ever had access to Adobe Illustrator I remember being blown away by it.

I do photography on the side. I need a model release form. There are apps for that: snap a photo of the person on the phone's camera for reference, let them fill in their personal info and email address, and it will keep it for archive and also email both them and me a digitally signed model release form. Very useful.

Thanks for this and your other suggestions.

The above got me thinking about my interests ... (The first thing that came to mind was that there is a particular computer program the use of which is basically a requirement when designing a complex origami model and I thought about contacting its author and asking if he would mind if I ported it to iOS if I distrbitued it free ... found his web site, but, alas, someone has already done this.)

When you sit at your computer, do you think "Hey, cool, this has Excel on it!"

I do. Does that make a me a nerd? I would have relations with Excel if that wasn't weird.

I would have relations with Excel if that wasn't weird

Hey, if having relations with a piece of software is weird then what kind of world is this, anyway?

My 'relations' were italicized to denote innuendo!