10 Best Free Mobile Apps of 2009

By: Hillel Fuld

As the year and decade are coming to an end, it is safe to say that one can summarize this year in the mobile space using only three words: Apps, apps, and more apps. While all the major players in the mobile industry have released some pretty amazing phones this year, the ones who are bringing in the major numbers are the ones who realize that software is the name of the game.

Apple surpassed the 100,000 mark, Android is hovering around the 20,000 mark, Nokia released its Ovi store, and BlackBerry’s App World is catching up quickly. It is safe to say that Apple still has the lead by a lot, and in my opinion, there is a direct correlation between that lead and the iPhone’s unprecedented popularity.

Among many other factors, one of the things that amazes me about all the various app stores/markets/worlds are the astounding number of free apps available to consumers. It begs the question “how do these developers make money?” The answer? No simple answer, but each platform has created ways to monetize app development, whether it is In App purchasing, premium apps, or some other ideas I have heard thrown around.

Whatever the case for developers, consumers are the ones benefiting from this extreme competition and for almost any premium app out there, there is a free alternative. The free version might be missing a few bells and whistles, but they generally provide the basic functionality found in the paid app. Now, let there be no misunderstanding, I am not saying you should not be paying for apps, these developers spend day and night for months developing their vision of a great mobile app, they deserve to make money. However, if there is a certain functionality you will use once in a blue moon, and you do not have any intention of paying for the app that provides it, chances are you can find it for free.

The following is a list of the top free mobile apps of 2009. Some of these apps are for iPhone, some BlackBerry, and some Android. No Symbian or Windows Mobile apps in this list, simply because I am less familiar with them, no offense Microsoft or Nokia.

1: Facebook for iPhone: This app is most definitely a favorite. There is a reason it is consistently in the Top Free apps category of the App Store. Facebook is actually an easier and more user friendly  experience on the iPhone then it is on the Web. Gone are the days of the mobile web experience that we knew once. No more compromising because you are on a mobile device. This app has anything and everything the website has and it is presented in the clearest and easiest interfaces I have seen on any app to date. The improvement from the last version to the current Facebook 3.0 was also the biggest leap I have ever seen taken in a single release. It was good before, but then it became absolutely amazing overnight. Read the full review of Facebook for iPhone.

2: Bolt for BlackBerry: One of the problematic areas for BlackBerry users is the Web surfing capabilities of the RIM devices. There really is no comparing the iPhone’s Safari to the Berry’s built in browser. However, Bolt does a great job in closing this gap. The browser is fast, accurate, and allows you to access web pages that the default browser does not, such as Youtube for example. However, all that is not what put Bolt on this list. It is the fact that for the first time, the new Bolt actually enables you to set it as the device’s default browser. This is huge for BlackBerry fans. It is not perfect with some links still opening up in the BlackBerry browser, but tweet links open in Bolt, and isn’t that all that really matters?  Read the full review of Bolt for BlackBerry.

3: Advanced Task Killer for Android: Oh, Google, why wont you let Android users exit apps? Whatever Google’s reasons are for this policy, Advanced Task Killer should be one of the first apps you install on your new Android device. It enables you to view all the apps running in the background, decide what action to take for each one, and perform that action in one click. You can choose to terminate all running apps at once, add certain apps to an Ignore list, or select some apps and close them. In a perfect world, Android users would not even need this app, but they do, and it is a great app. Useful, easy, and powerful. Read the full review of Advanced Task Killer for Android.

4: Fring for iPhone: I have been a Fring fan for years. Fring leads the pack in free iPhone (along with other platforms, such as Symbian) IM and VOIP apps. With this app, you can turn an iPod Touch, which is in essence a glorified MP3 player, into a phone. Not only does Fring offer you the ability to chat for free with all your buddies across various IM platforms (missing Facebook chat), it also allows you to call them from your iPhone/iPod Touch for free. Fring already had an awesome product, but that did not suffice, and they went ahead and released a new version a few weeks ago that adds video capabilities, so you can now actually video call on the iPhone. The Fring team never seem to rest with new and enhanced versions coming out all the time. I, for one, am excited to see what’s next. Read the full review of Fring for iPhone.

5: UberTwitter for BlackBerry: When I first opened my Bold, one of the first things I looked for was a solid Twitter app. As opposed to the huge number of iPhone Twitter apps, there were less than 10 for BlackBerry. At the time, TwitterBerry was what I was told to use. I did, and thought to myself “there has to be something better than this”. Along came UberTwitter and completely blew me away. UberTwitter to me is the iPhone Facebook app of BlackBerrys. It is the ultimate app that gives me a better Twitter experience on my phone than I have on my computer. The UberTwitter team also do not seem to sleep very much with new releases almost weekly. They are also on the cutting edge of Twitter features with the new Twitter options available in the app almost immediately following their release. Twitter lists is a perfect example. While many leading apps have not yet added lists to their features, UberTwitter has had them for weeks. Not only are Twitter Lists included in UberTwitter, they are actually implemented to perfection, making the entire Twitter experience on the BlackBerry much more manageable than on my PC. Read the full review of UberTwitter.

6: Nimbuzz for Android: This was a difficult one, but not for the reason you think. I had to decide where to include Nimbuzz since it is available on all three platforms, and  it is one of my favorites on all three. Nimbuzz is also an IM/VOIP app that offers you access to any and all platforms you can imagine. The Android app supports AIM, MSN, Gtalk, Facebook, Skype, Yahoo, Jabber, ICQ, and others. The interface is simple and easy to use, and the VOIP features are advanced and always developing. I have had the privilege of working with Nimbuzz for a long time, in fact, I actually tested this app pre release, and I can safely say, there are not many development companies who work harder to make their users happy. The app on Android just like on all the other platforms is a must have, and if it was not free, I would definitely pay for it. Read the full review of Nimbuzz.

7: Echofon for iPhone: I am pretty sure this app was one of the first five apps I downloaded on my iPod Touch (it was called Twitterfon back then), and all this time later, it is still there, and on my very first home screen, so that in itself should tell you about this app. With all the competition out there for iPhone Twitter apps, I still use this as my default. I have to admit that ever since the introduction of Twitter Lists, I am starting to look toward other apps such as Tweetie, Twittelator Pro, and most recently Tweetings, but for me, Echofon is hands down the best free Twitter app on the iPhone platform. The interface is intuitive, the features are plenty, and the app as a whole is blazing fast, a factor missing from some of the premium competition. Like I said, Echofon needs to add some new features, but besides that, and for the basic Twitter user, Echofon is a must have. Read the full review of Echofon for iPhone.

8: WordPress for BlackBerry: While this app is not for everybody, it definitely earned its place on this list. It is actually extremely impressive to see such a huge company like WordPress working so hard to make their BlackBerry app the best it can be. They release updates frequently, and with every new release, the app gets significantly better. I have actually written various blog posts on the WordPress app, and the iPhone version also deserves a mention for being equally as awesome. All the major features and options that the Web WordPress has, can be seen in the app as well. You can actually add more than one blog, which is a useful feature that cannot be used on the Web. In the BlackBerry app, you can add, edit, or delete posts, pages, comments, and the app even includes some basic photo editing functionality. Like I said, almost all features the Web has are available to the blogger within the BlackBerry app. Read the full review of WordPress for BlackBerry.

9: Photoshop for iPhone: I know according to the order of this article, this should be another Android app, but given the proportions and numbers of the various app stores, I thought I would finish off with two iPhone apps. It is safe to say that no top iPhone apps article should leave the Photoshop app unmentioned. When it was released by Adobe, it generated a lot of buzz. How can Photoshop, that advanced photo editing software, be available on a mobile platform? Well, the answer is, it cant! This app shares a name with the desktop version of Photoshop and that is where the similarities end. OK, and they both edit pictures. So they are not the same, but the iPhone app is no less awesome, in fact, to a photo editing newbie like myself, it is even more amazing. The app is ultra simplistic and allows you to do some basic but professional editing to your iPhone’s photos. This, along with most of the above apps would probably be a top app even if it was not free. Read the full review of Photoshop for iPhone.

10: FlingFree for iPhone: Since all of the above apps are either social, communication, or utility apps, I figured this list has to include at least one game. I come across tens of new iPhone games daily, and most of them get deleted from my iPod within seconds. The few that remain include a very few that I actually play regularly. Fling is one of those  games. The game incorporates all the factors that make a successful game. It has great visuals, entertaining music, and of course a highly addictive nature.  Fling is one of the many apps that come in a free version so you can test it out and in this case, as soon as you are addicted, download the premium one. The paid one costs $.99, which is a small fee to pay for such an awesome app. I am not going to try to explain to you how to play this game, because no matter what I say, it will not do it justice, but let’s jut say, download the game, play for a few minutes, and consider yourself dared to not get addicted. Read the full review of Fling for iPhone.

Among the hundreds of thousands of mobile apps available today, there are so many more that come to mind for this list. Apps such as Bing (iPhone), Bump (iPhone), eBuddy (iPhone and Android), Waze (iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian), Layar (iPhone and Android), Flyscreen (Android) and many more, but these are my top 10 free apps of 2009. If you have others or dont agree with some of these, would love to hear about it in the comments.

Bookmark to

Hillel Fuld

Hillel is a tech blogger at TechNmarketing.com as well as an active Twitter personality @hilzfuld. He writes for many other sites including Mashable.com, Bitrebels.com, and works as the Content Manager of Dailyforex.com.