I've just emerged from the Dark Ages and bought my very first smartphone--the iPhone4s. I'd like to ask some of you long time iPhone users what are the "must have" apps that every (FedEx) pilot should have on their phone.

Thanks in advance.

MG2

not a freight guy, and the furthest I get from the US is Canada, but the apps i use are:

sleep cycle (great app for an alarm as it uses the accelerometer to determine when to wake you up)

Aeroweather for metars & tafs

flightaware to see where my plane is coming from

and google voice, for obvious reasons

i shorttime. covers 42 major cities around the world.

Multiconvert: Not sure with FedEx if you need to do any conversions around the world, but if you do, this app is great. It converts everything from velocity to length to currency (by currency, I mean the exchange rate). You can update the currency any time. The best part is that it is free.

Airport Codes: I know that no one will admit it but it nice to know where in China you are going. Also free.

B.

AroundMe and/or MapsBuddy (both apps do the same thing but with different interfaces....I use them both...really handy on layovers)

Nav Clock (1 button push for instant time in local, zulu, current wx, sunrise/sunset, etc)

CardStar (holds all your hotel and airline frequent flyer numbers as well as all those grocery, hardware store and all other loyalty cards that used to clutter up my keychain...even displays as a barcode for scanning at the checkout)

RedLaser (scans product barcodes for price comparisons to a multitude of online stores)

Amazon (same as RedLaser but for Amazon only)

MyRadar Pro (nexrad radar...ditto the recommendation on AeroWeather mentioned above)

VLC (for playing those rare videos the basic out-of-the-box iPhone cannot play)

Skype WiFi (use your Skype minutes to access paid wifi hotspots like those in airports....allows you to pay a deeply discounted rate for only those minutes you use on wifi as opposed to paying for a whole day)

Shazam (just ultra-cool technology to name that tune you're listening to in the hotel elevator)

Noise Patrol (want to know just how much damage you're doing to your ears in the cockpit?)

Planets (just way cool)

Runmeter (if you like to run on your layovers)

TeleNav GPS (very nice GPS for driving)

FAAwait (gets all the current FAA delays in the US)

Flightboard (just like the flight board at the airport, filterable...great for jumpseating)

FlightRadar24 (similar to FlightAware but also has a feature that allows you to aim your iPhone at an airplane and will tell you all the info on that flight...gee whiz kinda stuff)

AviationABB (every aviation abbreviation known to man)

That should keep you occupied for awhile....welcome to the 21st Century!

Evernote. Save web pages, pics, etc between all you devices.
Flixter, find out what movies are playing nearby on layovers.
Wiki hood, all wiki articles around your current location.
If you go to Paris a bunch there's a Paris metro app in English.
White noise if you need that stuff to sleep.

I too just joined the 21st century.

For FedEx guys: Someone was saying that the fx-cal app will ping you whenever a new trip drops into open time--I thought bots were defeated--what's the truth?

This is not true! FxCal has to refresh OT to get OT. You can do it manually, or set it up to do it every few minutes using "auto-polling". Even then it doesn't ping you, it just lists the trips on that page.

Crew Rest (makes for easy back-side-of-the-clock math)

FMS helper- id's 3 letter identifiers
FX Cal
Ambiance- drowns out the snores in the sleep rooms with rain/waves etc..
StarMap 3D- aim the phone at the sky and it pans with you and id's stars etc..
RadarScope- almost realtime radar returns