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Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

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Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#1

Post by yonisto »

Out of curiosity, other than the trivial use cases of smartphone (digital swiss army knife as my FIL calls it) what else are you using it for?

My examples: Sky Map - Point your phone at the sky and it will show you the names of the stars, planets and other celestial objects that you can see.

Sound Meter - uses your built-in microphone to measure sound volume in decibels

Chwazi Finger Chooser - Random Finger Chooser (before anyone asks it helps me to decide random stuff with the kids, like who takes the first turn in any game)

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#2

Post by emsixteen »

> Sound Meter

Not sure what you're using this for, or which exact app it is, but I use the app put out by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for this, NIOSH Sound Level Meter[1].

I use Network Ping Lite[2] often to just check if the network I'm on is stable/up.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/app.html

[2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/network-ping-lite/id289967115

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#3

Post by ggeorgovassilis »

- WiFi prioritizer: connect to the best wifi when multiple are in reach

- Shelter: implements Android work profiles [1]

- Fuelio: automobile fuel tracking

- Survive: free survival game. Hard AF, spent way too much time on it. Bought the pro version as a token of appreciation.

- Shortcut creator: Android shortcuts to hidden/burried functions

- Super Star Trek: free, open source offline PWA game. I'm the author, case of eat your own dog food I guess. [2]

[1] https://blog.georgovassilis.com/2022/09/11/my-android-work-p... [2] https://github.com/ggeorgovassilis/superstartrek

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#4

Post by vmurthy »

- AutoSleep (iOS + watchOS) [0]

I bought it when my Apple watch didn't yet have a sleep tracker and have used it for the last 2 years. Good one! Has helped me understand what works for me and what doesn't. I use the iOS app for analysis.

A sample of my findings :

1. I sleep very well when I have done some hatha yoga exercises + eating early

2. I sleep pretty well when I eat early and eat mostly salads

3. Beer ruins my sleep (no surprise, really!)

4. Cheesy/foods heavy in spices make my sleep bad and my energy levels in the morning low

[0] https://apps.apple.com/au/app/autosleep-track-sleep-on-watch...

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#5

Post by dusted »

Apart from the social media and streaming stuff:

- Spectroid: A spectrum analyzer to help me identify "that annoying sound I hear" or "what's wrong with the sound in this place?" I'm not good at ignoring sound, but it helps me when I understand something about it, like "oh, that's a 10 khz harmonic" still annoying but slightly less.

- DiggieDog: Gopher client, extremely fast, good for when I'm somewhere with REAL bad Internet.

- Ulysse Speedometer: For driving.. I don't like the ones in cars because they're always somewhat wrong.

- Color Note: Maybe not a special app..

- Podcast Addict: Maybe also not..

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#6

Post by aidomi »

I created a simple browser extension to help me organise my links. It solves a problem I had where there was a middle ground between keeping a tab open to read later and saving something to my bookmarks.

It's under 200 lines of JS, not available on the Webstore and not complicated (or even well-written) at all, but it's a nice feeling to use a little piece of software I wrote that's purely customised to my specific use case(s).

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#7

Post by gregoriol »

dusted wrote: post #5

Apart from the social media and streaming stuff: - Spectroid: A spectrum analyzer to help me identify "that annoying sound I hear" or "what's wrong with the sound in this place?" I'm not good at ignoring sound, but it helps me when I understand something about it, like "oh, that's a 10 khz harmonic" still annoying but slightly less. - DiggieDog: Gopher client, extremely fast, good for when I'm somewhere with REAL bad…

How could an app ("Ulysse Speedometer") be better at measuring the vehicle speed?? This seems so wrong!

Re: Ask HN: What “special” app you are using?

#10

Post by danr4 »

awelxtr wrote: post #8

Notin - Creates a simple notification with the text you input. Pro version makes the notifications persist across reboots and unswipable. I use it to make reminders or task lists. I like that is simpler than the alternatives

is there a version for ios?
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