Mac 101

September 14, 2009 in How-To, Reviews by Bob Faulhaber

You might already be used to the Genius feature in iTunes to help you develop playlists or even find similar music, but now Apple has added Genius feature on the iPhone/iPod Touch to help you sift through the thousands of apps available. Like the Genius feature in iTunes, this will look at the apps installed and make recommendations to what else you might link.

To use the the App Store Genius, just goto the App Store on your iPhone or iPod Touch and click on the Genius button in the upper right hand corner.

Genius will then automatically bring up a listing of recommended apps based on what you have installed on your device.

While the display of related apps or utilities that may complement existing apps, I didn’t like the fact that the Genius recommended additional Twitter clients (especially more expensive) based on what I already had installed. Granted, the Genius was probably developed by Apple to increase sales and revenue, but I think Genius would be better served by providing apps that complement and enhance the apps you already have on the device.

One nice feature is the ability to remove recommended apps by simply swiping the app and clicking the Remove button.

The App Store Genius is a nice new addition to the iPhone OS, but considering the sheer volume of apps now available on the App Store, I believe that Apple needs to work on improved search function or a better way to organize the thousands of apps.

What would you like Apple to add to the App Store to make searching for and purchasing apps easier? Leave a comment below.