5. Find, Buy, and use Third-Party Apps

The collection of preinstalled apps that comes with iOS 11 enables you to use your iPhone or iPad for a wide range of popular tasks without first having to find and install additional apps. However, one of the things that has set the iPhone and iPad apart from the competition, and made these devices among the most sought-after and popular throughout much of the world, is the vast library of optional apps.

You can obtain all the apps currently available for your iOS device from Apple’s online App Store. Then, as needed, iOS 11 can automatically update your apps to ensure you’re always working with the most recently released version of each.

Working with the App Store

The iOS 11 edition of the App Store app not only features a redesigned app icon on the Home screen, but the entire layout and design of the app itself has been revamped. The purpose of the App Store app remains the same—to help you find, download, install, and update apps on your iPhone or iPad that don’t come preinstalled with iOS 11.

There are two ways to access the App Store: directly from your iPhone or iPad (using the App Store app that comes preinstalled on your device), or using the iTunes software on your primary computer.

The App Store app is where you get apps for your iOS device. To get other things for your device—music, movies, TV show episodes, and ringtones—you use the iTunes Store app. Both require that your device have an Internet connection.

You can use the iTunes software on your primary computer to access the App Store, as well as many types of content. Anything you acquire is then transferred to your mobile device either using the iTunes Sync process or by downloading the apps or content from your online-based iCloud account.

Installing New Apps

If you’re shopping for apps directly from your iPhone or iPad, tap the Price icon, followed by the Buy icon, to make a purchase. (Free apps display a Get icon in place of the Price icon.) You are asked to supply your Apple ID password (or place your finger on your device’s Touch ID sensor—the Home button—to confirm and potentially pay for the transaction). iPhone X users can use Face ID to confirm purchases.

The acquired app automatically downloads and installs itself on your device. After it is installed, its app icon appears on your iPhone or iPad’s Home screen and is ready to use.

Restoring or Reinstalling Apps You’ve Already Downloaded

If you have Family Sharing set up via iCloud (see Chapter 7, “Use iCloud and the Files App”), it’s possible to share apps you acquire with up to five other family members, without having to repurchase that app. With or without Family Sharing, you’re able to install an app you acquire from the App Store on all of your own iOS mobile devices that are linked to the same iCloud account, as long as the app is compatible with each device.

Apps you’ve already acquired are indicated by an iCloud icon rather than a Get or Price icon. To download an app that you’ve already acquired or purchased (without having to pay for it again), make sure the iPhone or iPad you’re currently using is linked to your iCloud account, and follow these steps:

1. Launch the App Store app.

2. Tap the Today, Games, Apps, or Update icon along the bottom of the screen.

3. Tap your iCloud/Apple ID account profile photo in the top-right corner of the screen.

4. When the Account screen appears, tap the Purchased option.

5. Scroll down the list of all apps you’ve previously acquired (or purchased). To install (or reinstall) any of these apps on the device you’re using, tap the iCloud icon associated with the app’s listing.

FIGURE 5.1

From within Settings, you can offload or erase an app from your iPhone or iPad (shown here).

Finding Apps, Music, and More

If you’re shopping for apps, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, eBooks, ringtones, or other content from your primary computer, with the goal of transferring what you acquire to your iPhone or iPad later via the iTunes Sync process or via iCloud, use the latest version of the iTunes software on your Mac or PC computer.

From your Internet-connected iPhone or iPad, you can acquire and enjoy different types of content using a handful of different apps. Table 5.1 explains which app you should use to acquire and then enjoy various types of content on your iOS mobile device.

Table 5.1 How to Acquire and Enjoy Content on Your iPhone or iPad

Content Type	Buy with App	Run with App
Apps	App Store	The app itself that you download and install
Digital editions of publications (including newspapers and magazines)	App Store	The digital publication’s proprietary app
Music	iTunes Store	Music app
Movies	iTunes Store	TV app
TV shows	iTunes Store	TV app
Podcasts	Podcasts	Podcasts app
Audiobooks	iTunes (or the optional Audible app)	iBooks (or the optional Audible app)
eBooks*	iBooks (to access iBook Store)	iBooks app
PDFs	There are many ways to create or acquire PDFs	Files app, iBooks, or another PDF reader app
iTunes U Personal Enrichment and Educational Content	Podcasts	Podcasts app
Ringtones (and Alert Tones)	iTunes Store	Phone, FaceTime, Messages (or other apps that generate audible alarms or ringtones)
Streaming TV shows and movies	Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, or a network-specific app	Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, or a network-specific app

^*You can also purchase eBooks from Amazon.com and read using the free Kindle app, or purchase from BN.com and read using the free Nook app.

Everything You need to Know About Apps

Apps are individual programs that you install onto your iPhone or iPad to give it additional functionality, just as you utilize different programs on your primary computer. For the iPhone or iPad, all apps are available from one central (online) location, called the App Store.

When you begin exploring the App Store, you’ll discover right away that there are in excess of two million apps to choose from. They are divided into different categories to help make it easier and faster to find what you’re looking for.

Understanding Device Compatibility

In terms of compatibility, all iOS apps fall into one of these three categories:

iPhone-specific—These are apps designed exclusively for the various iPhone models that might not function properly on the iPad. Most iPhone-specific apps run on an iPad but may not take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen.

iPad-specific—These are apps designed exclusively for the iPad. Some work exclusively with the iPad Pro models. They fully utilize the tablet’s larger display, and do not function on an iPhone or on other iOS devices.

Universal—These are apps designed to work on all iOS mobile devices, including any model iPhone or iPad. These apps detect which device they’re running on and automatically adapt.

FIGURE 5.2

From an app’s Description screen, see which iOS mobile devices the app is compatible with.

When you’re browsing the App Store from your iPhone, by default it displays all iPhone-specific apps followed by universal apps, but it does not display iPad-specific apps. When you’re browsing the App Store from your iPad, iPad-specific, universal, and iPhone-specific apps are all listed.

Buying Apps

Regardless of whether you use the App Store app from your mobile device or visit the App Store using the iTunes software on your primary computer, you must set up an Apple ID account and have a major credit card or debit card linked to the account to make purchases.

The first time you access the App Store and attempt to make a purchase, you are prompted to enter your Apple ID account username and password, or set up a new Apple ID account, which requires you to supply your name, address, email, and credit card information. For all subsequent online app purchases, you simply need to enter your Apple ID password (or place your finger on your device’s Touch ID sensor), and the purchase is automatically billed to your credit or debit card or deducted from your iTunes gift card balance.

To set up electronic payment options for your Apple ID/iCloud account, another option is to launch Settings, tap the Wallet & Apple Pay option, select the Add Credit or Debit Card option, and then follow the on-screen prompts.

Some apps are free, but others need to be purchased or require you to make in-app purchases to fully utilize them. The following is an overview of how app pricing works.

Free Apps

Free apps cost nothing to download and install on your phone or tablet. In some cases, these are fully functional apps.

Other free apps are demo versions of paid apps. Certain features or functions of the app are locked in the free version, but are later made available if you upgrade to the paid or premium version of the app.

A third category of free apps comprises fully functional apps that display ads as part of their content. In exchange for using the app, you must view ads. These ads typically offer the option to click special offers from within the app or learn more about a product or service being advertised.

Another type of free app enables the user to make in-app purchases to add features or functionality to the app or unlock premium content. The core app, without the extra content, is free, however.

Paid Apps

After you purchase an app, you own it and can use it as often as you’d like, usually without incurring additional fees (although in-app purchases might be possible). You simply pay a fee for the app upfront, which is often between $.99 and $9.99. Typically, future upgrades of the app are free of charge.

Subscription-Based Apps

Each full-length digital edition of a magazine or newspaper requires its own proprietary app (also available from the App Store) to access and read that publication’s content.

These apps are typically free, and then you pay a recurring subscription fee for content, which automatically gets downloaded into the app. Many digital editions of newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, utilize a subscription app model, as do hundreds of different magazines. Usually, the main content of the digital and printed version of a publication are identical; however, you can view the digital edition on your iPhone or iPad, plus take advantage of added interactive elements built in to the app.

If you’re already a subscriber to the print version of a newspaper or magazine, some publishers offer the digital edition free, whereas others charge an extra fee to subscribe to the digital edition as well. Or you can subscribe to just the digital edition of a publication.

With some publications, you can download the free app for a specific newspaper or magazine and then purchase one issue at a time (including past issues) from within the app. There is no long-term subscription commitment, but individual issues of the publication still must be purchased and downloaded. Or you can purchase an ongoing (recurring) subscription, and new issues of that publication will automatically be downloaded to your iPhone or iPad as they become available.

In-App Purchases

Some apps enable you to purchase additional content or add new features and functionality by making in-app purchases. The capability to make in-app purchases has become very popular, and is being used by app developers in a variety of ways. If an app offers in-app purchases, they are listed within the In-App Purchases section, which is below the Information heading of an app’s description.

Researching Apps

Before committing to an app purchase, tap its title or graphic icon to view the app’s description screen (see Figure 5.3), which displays the app’s title and logo near the top of the screen, along with its price icon (or Get icon if it’s a free app), average star rating, and the total number of ratings it has received.

Immediately below this information are sample screenshots or video clips from the app itself. Keep scrolling down to view a text-based description of the app. This description is written by the app’s developer and is designed to entice you to acquire the app.

FIGURE 5.3

Ratings and reviews can be seen as part of an app’s Description screen.

Further down the page are the app’s ratings and reviews. Tap the See All option to view all of the app’s ratings and text-based reviews (see Figure 5.4). Tap any review to read it in its entirety. Use this information to determine what your fellow iPhone and iPad users really think of the app.

The Ratings and Reviews chart graphically shows how many ratings the app has received, its overall average rating, and the total number of ratings. A top rating is five stars.

Below the App Store Ratings chart are reviews written by other App Store customers. Scroll down to read them.

Two more important sections in every app description are the What’s New and Information sections. Because many apps are updated periodically, the What’s New section lists changes or improvements made to each new version of the app. The most recent information about the app is listed first.

FIGURE 5.4

Every app description contains an average rating and a rating summary chart.

The Information section includes details about the app’s seller/developer, the file size of the app, the app’s category, which iPhone/iPad models the app is compatible with, the languages the app supports, and the age appropriateness rating for the app. This section also states whether the app offers in-app purchases or supports Family Sharing.

You can find a list of other apps from the same app developer as well as a list of similar apps.

Managing Your Account and Redeeming iTunes Gift Cards

When you scroll to the very bottom of the Today, Games, or Apps screen within the App Store, you see two command buttons: Redeem and Send Gift.

Tap the Redeem button to redeem a prepaid iTunes gift card. Tap the Send Gift option to send an iTunes gift card to someone else. The gift card is sent via email, and the recipient can redeem it almost instantly from the App Store, iTunes Store, or iBook Store.

Managing Your iTunes Account

Tap your profile photo in the top-right corner of the screen in order to access and manage your Apple ID account, access previous App Store purchases, redeem a Gift Card or Code, Send a Gift by Email, or Sign Out from your Apple ID account. If you haven’t already done so, you need to sign into your account by typing your Apple ID password, using Touch ID, or using Face ID (if you’re an iPhone X user).

From the Account window, tap your username (or profile photo) to access the Account Settings window (shown in Figure 5.5).

FIGURE 5.5

From the Account Settings window, manage your apps or digital subscriptions.

From here, you can further manage Apple ID features, update payment information, change your country/region, manage App Store–related alerts, manage app-related subscriptions, and customize other account-related functions.

Finding Apps

As you explore the App Store, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of apps that are available for your iOS device. If you’re a new iPhone or iPad user, spending time browsing the App Store introduces you to the many types of apps that are available, and provides you with ideas about how your phone or tablet can be utilized in your personal or professional life.

However, you can save a lot of time searching for apps if you already know the app’s exact title, or you know what type of app you’re looking for. In this case, enter either the app’s exact title or a keyword description of the app in the App Store’s Search field to see a list of relevant matches.

If you’re looking for a word processing app, either enter the search phrase “Microsoft Word” into the App Store’s Search field, or enter the search phrase “word processor” to see a selection of word-processing apps.

To find specific iPad Pro apps that support the Apple Pencil, for example, within the Search field, enter “Apple Pencil Apps.”

If you’re looking for vertical market apps with specialized functionality that caters to your industry or profession, enter that industry or profession (or keywords associated with it) in the Search field. For example, enter keywords like “medical imaging,” “radiology,” “plumbing,” “telemarketing,” or “sales.”

As you’re evaluating an app before downloading it, use these tips to help you determine whether it’s worth installing on your phone or tablet:

Figure out what types of features or functionality you want to add to your iPhone or iPad.

Using the Search field, find apps designed to handle the tasks you have in mind. Chances are, you can easily find a handful of apps created by different developers that are designed to perform the same basic functionality. Pick which is the best based on the description, screenshots, and list of features each app offers.

Check the customer reviews and ratings for the app. This useful tool enables you to quickly determine whether the app actually works as described in its description. The customer reviews and star-based ratings are created by fellow iPhone or iPad users who have tried out the app firsthand. If an app has only a few ratings or reviews and they’re mixed, you might need to try out the app for yourself to determine whether it will be useful to you.

If an app offers a free version, download and test that first before purchasing the premium version. You can always delete any app that you try out but don’t wind up liking or needing.

Keeping Your Apps Up to Date

Periodically, app developers release new versions of their apps. iOS 11 can automatically update your installed apps as long as your iPhone or iPad has access to the Internet.

To customize this auto-update option, launch Settings and tap the iTunes & App Store option. From the iTunes & App Stores submenu, make sure the virtual switch associated with the Updates option is turned on.

Keep in mind that some apps that have a large file size associated with them require a Wi-Fi Internet connection to initially download or later update.

At any time, you can see which apps have been updated, and read a summary of what functionality or features have been added to the app update (as well as which bugs have been fixed) by launching the App Store app and tapping the Updates icon.

If an app listed on the Updates screen has an Open button associated with it, the app has been recently updated. The date of the update is listed in the heading. Tap the app icon or its title to read about the update. Tap the Open button to launch the app and use it on your iPhone or iPad (see Figure 5.6).

From the Updates screen, if an Open button is not displayed, you might see a progress meter indicating the app is currently being updated and downloaded to your device. If an update is available but has not yet been downloaded and installed, an Update button, instead of an Open button, is displayed with that app.

As you’re viewing the Updates screen, apps are listed in chronological order, based on when they were updated. Pending updates, if any, are displayed near the top of the screen.

FIGURE 5.6

The Updates screen has been redesigned in iOS 11. Use it to keep your apps up to date as new versions are released.

Managing Your Kids’ App Acquisitions

As a parent, you’re able to control what apps your child is allowed to purchase, install, and ultimately use on their iOS mobile device (or yours). It’s also possible to control their online spending when it comes to apps and in-app purchases in several different ways.

To determine which apps and content your child is allowed to use on an iOS mobile device, activate the Restrictions options. To do this, launch Settings on the device, tap the General option, and then tap the Restrictions option.

From the Restrictions submenu, tap Enable Restrictions, create a four-digit passcode, and then turn on the virtual switches associated with iTunes Store, Music Profiles & Posts, iBooks Store, News, Installing Apps, Deleting Apps, and In-App Purchases, to limit what your child can do.

Under the Allowed Content heading, tap the Apps option, and determine what apps your child is allowed to access, based on an app’s age appropriateness rating.

When you set up iCloud’s Family Sharing, it’s possible to set up your child’s iOS mobile device so he or she needs to ask you for permission (via a text message to your iPhone or iPad) before acquiring any new apps or content. This feature also gives parents greater control over apps installed on a child’s device.