What's the coolest app on your smartphone?

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I wasn't really sure what I was going to write about this morning. Then I was walking out to my truck to leave for work and I happened to look up at the sky. If you read my post yesterday, you will realize that isn't an uncommon thing for me. In this instance, it led me to think of a great topic for today's post.

I'd love to know what the coolest app is on your smartphone. Let's get this out of the way right now....

NO HIVE RELATED APPS

We are all here, we know how awesome Hive is, no need to bombard my comments with hundreds of single word comments saying "Ecency" or "Leo Mobile". If you have been following me, you know that I am pretty liberal with my upvotes on comments. I'm telling you right now, that won't be the case if you mention a Hive related app. In fact, I might go one step further and actually downvote your comment because clearly you just read my title and not my actual post, or you just don't care.

There, now that we have the "rules" out of the way, I'm going to share with you one of the coolest apps that I have on my phone.

Google SkyMap

Unfortunately, if you have an iPhone you won't have access to this app. It looks like it is either still in development or since it is Google they may just not give a flying flip about iphone users.

If you are one of the blessed masses to be using an Android phone and you haven't checked out Google SkyMap yet, you definitely need to. I've been using the app for several years now and it never ceases to amaze me just how cool it is.

Before Augmented Reality was a big buzz word or the latest thing, Google was already giving it to us via SkyMap.

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Basically, you open the app and after turning on location services and calibrating your phone, you point it up at the sky (or not). It works best at night of course, but it will label pretty much every major star, constellation, planet, and other extra terrestrial object that you might be seeing with your naked eye.

You can see in the photo above that I was looking at the constellation Orion this morning. I used it a couple of weekends ago to pinpoint where the epicenter of the Perseid meteor shower was.

Occasionally, my friend son will ask me to open the app when we are camping so he can see where Uranus is. Elementary age boys right?

I'd almost consider this app a poor mans telescope. I always wanted a telescope when I was a kid and then when I finally got one as an adult, I never really realized how much work they are. Finding the perfect place to setup that doesn't have too much light pollution. Using the coordinate doohickey on the stand to figure out where I needed to be looking.

With SkyMap you can bypass all of that.

If you do have an iPhone, you can try going to Google Sky, but it's really not the same thing.

Sorry.

Another cool thing about the app is the fact that it works no matter what direction you point it. You can point your phone at the ground and it will show you what people on the other side of the world are seeing in the nighttime sky. Want to know where the sun is in the middle of the night? It's pretty easy with SkyMap.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't an app that I use every day, but when I need it or I am curious about what I am seeing in the night sky, there isn't any other app I would want to have available to me. It just works and it is super cool to boot!

I'm not a very artistic person. It always amazed me how people in ancient times could pick out the images they did to name the constellations. This app puts things in perspective a bit more for me. Besides Orion's Belt, the Big Dipper, and Cassiopeia, I couldn't tell you if a clump of stars was a constellation or just some rando cosmic occurrence. With SkyMap, it doesn't matter, it tells me exactly what I am looking at.

I know it probably sounds like I am trying to sell you something. I'm not. The app is free, no charge, no referral link, just download it and enjoy it.

I included the link to the app store download above. If you feel more comfortable (not clicking on random links), just Google it and it should be the first or second thing that pops up.

That's it, that's the coolest app on my phone.

Leave me a comment and let me know what yours is! Just remember to follow the rules!


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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced



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22 comments
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in the past I have used a lot of Stellarium, but I must say that this one from google seems very valid
!discovery 30

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I have never heard of Stellarium. I will have to check it out! Thanks for that suggestion!

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I love Google Sky Map. A great resource for sky gazers and those like me that are easily distracted.

I got FOBO 2 that shows tire pressure and temperature on my motorcycle in real time. I look at that a LOT. But probably not for everybody :)

So. It's Merlin. Bird ID app put out by Colgate U. You can identify birds by sight, picture or sound. It's just terrific and FREE. I use it a lot.

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Those are some awesome apps! The tire one sounds pretty darn cool to me! More so than birds, but that is just my personal preference :) Thanks for sharing!

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Just a quick reply to say us iPhone users need not feel left out - NightSky does a very similar thing. I remember feeling much the same as you when I first came across it - not something I'd whip out every night, but when I did I always had fun.

It is a freemium app though, unlike Google's free offering...

As to my own suggestion for the coolest app on my phone - I'll have to give that a bit of thought...though I'm leaning towards Geocaching. Think real-life 'treasure' hunting. Folk hide small packages, and register them with the app. Some have little gifts and items in them (and the etiquette is that you take something and leave something if you find it and want to) - but some are so small there's only room for a note. But they are everywhere. You can look on the app to see any that are near to your location - or somewhere you may be travelling to.

Not used it in ages, but we went though a phase of wherever we went we looked for a 'cahce. I even found some when working in Kuala Lumpur!

It's an app that gets you outdoors and in the fresh air - you often end up going places you wouldn't normally (and even find spots close to home you maybe didn't know about), and there's a really strong community feel - it's like you're part of a secret club. You have to be careful if there are 'muggles' about so they don't start to wonder why you're stomping round a tree looking for something and then go on ot disturb the 'cache themselves.

There's loads of different type of cache. And there's a really cool thing called trackables. They're like a dog-tag with a unique number that you can attach to things. You can register with the site/app, then watch it travel round the world as folk move it from cache to cache. Here's one we set off in 2006. Gonzo the gorilla.

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He is still going strong - last updated yesterday, having travelled 33,788 miles from where we released him in the UK!!!

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https://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=671919

So yeah - it's pretty cool.

Must get back into it....

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Super cool! My friend used to do the GeoCaching thing, but that was back before smartphones and stuff like that so it was a bit more of a struggle for him I think. I like that they have integrated this kind of thing into a smartphone app. Thanks for the tip on the iOS app too! That should be very helpful for the Apple faithful!

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accubaterty is really good, especially if you have bad chargers or use a lot of battery, it helps and let me know if my battery is actually gaining power and how much.

it may not be so accurate on some phones but on mine works well.

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That is really cool. I know my battery is always giving me fits. I don't do the best job of conditioning it properly. I just throw it on the charger when I think it needs it. This sounds like it would do a good job of training me to charge properly.

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Wow. I never even knew about this app before now. Great stuff! I'm mostly impressed by the fact that you don't need to position it in any special way and the fact that you can point it to the ground and see the other side of the world! Really cool! I'm one of the lucky ones with an Android 🌚 so I'm definitely getting this.

For me the coolest app on my phone is "Rough Animator" by Jacob Kafka. It has almost all the tools of a professional animation software. I mostly use it to draw, this is something I drew, I drew myself as Pharaoh:

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Cool, right?

I can make animations and stuff with it, complete with audio, etc.

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That is pretty cool! If I had even an artistic bone in my body I might check it out. Unfortunately, I don't, so it would probably be wasted on me!

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Alright, man, I get it. At least now you can recommend it for artistic people, even kids or something 👍

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What about Ecency?!? Kidding! I'm Kidding!

I haven't tried Google SkyMap yet but I have used what sounds like a similar program called SkyView on my android device. There is a paid and free version. I've only used the free version but it's pretty neat.

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I guess I didn't realize there were so many other ones out there. Someone else mentioned SkyView. Here I thought Google hand cornered the market on this sort of thing! Maybe it is just that I have been using it for so long!

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I would say the coolest app on my phone would be Google Lens.

I simply take a picture of just about anything, and it will show me what it is, where I can buy it, and how much it costs.

My second coolest app is a bit similar except for plants. It is called Picture This!
I can take a picture of plant foliage, and the app will identify the plant, shrub, or tree.

Okay, That is all.
Good post @bozz

!CTP

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That is pretty cool. I have never taken the time to really dig into Google Lens. I need to fix that.

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I use Android. Some of my most used apps are Pocket Casts for pocasts and Strava for my running. I have used Google Sky in the past for checking what stars I can see

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Very cool! I use podcast addict for podcasts, but it can feel kind of bulky at times.

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As a Saints fan (New Orleans) living in the UK my must have app, is, of course, the Saints mobile app. Keeps me up to date with all the news i need about my team when i'm on the go and can't be on a computer.

Not the most exciting app in the world but it keeps me in the loop.

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Hey, it's important to you, so that is what matters! I never realized that pro teams had their own apps like that. I guess it makes sense.

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