If you’ve been fortunate enough to receive a new iPhone or iPad, then you’ll no doubt be keen to find apps that can turn it from a pretty piece of technology into a truly useful daily companion.
In this article we show you the easy steps to downloading apps, along with some tips for the best ones currently available.
If you’ve not yet opened the box on your iOS device, then you should take a look at our How to set up a new iPhone to get things up and running.
Finding apps for iPhone or iPad
All apps for iPhone or iPad are found in the appropriately named App Store. You’ll find there’s already an app for this on your device, with an icon that looks like a capital letter ‘A’ made out of white sticks on a blue background.
Tap this and it will launch the App Store.
Along the bottom of the screen you’ll see there are several options: Today, Games, Apps, Updates and Search. Tapping these will bring you to different areas of the store.
In Today you’ll see the daily highlighted apps selected by Apple, many of which feature reduced prices or special offers.
Games is where you’ll find fun distractions to play, while Apps houses everything in the store. It can be a little hard to find things at first, so be sure to scroll through the lists of apps until you find something interesting.
Apps is arranged with two or three examples sorted into various sections and collections, such as New Apps We Love and Popular Apps to Try. If you want to explore this style of app further, then tapping the See All option at the top of the section will bring you to a longer list of programs.
Tap on one of the apps to open up its page. Here you’ll find a more detailed explanation of its capabilities and functions, with customer reviews and screenshots giving you a better idea of what’s on offer.
Should you want to return to where you were, tap the Apps button in the top-left corner.
Updates is where you’ll see if any of the apps already installed have updates available, while Search allows you to look for specific apps by name.
Downloading apps for iPhone or iPad
Once you’ve found an app you like, tap on it to open its page. Underneath the name you should see a blue button that you tap to download the app. This will either have the word GET inside or a price.
GET means the app is free, but it may well include something called In-App Purchases. These are often for subscriptions to the app (usually found in productivity apps) or for buying small items and add-ons (such as in games).
If there’s a price then tapping it will initiate the download, but you’ll be asked to confirm you want to pay for the item. This is done by either logging into your Apple account or using Touch ID or Face ID to unlock the payment.
After you’ve tapped the button and confirmed your intentions, the button will turn into a circle that slowly turns blue as the download progresses. Should you wish to cancel the download, tap the blue square in the middle of the circle.
If all goes well then the app will install on your iPhone or iPad. Now you just need to return to the Home screen and see if the icon has appeared.
Should you see that the icon is there but is grey and has an incomplete circle filling up inside the icon, this means it’s still downloading. Just give it a few minutes and the icon should turn from grey into the regular colours, meaning you can tap it to launch the app.
That’s it. Now you can enjoy using the new software or head back to the App Store to find some more.
For ideas on the apps that should be top of your list, check out our Best free iPhone apps, Best free iPad apps, Best kids apps for iPad & iPhone, and Best iPhone & iPad games guides.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews for Macworld and its sister site Tech Advisor.