When compared to its software ecosystem rivals in the form of Google and Microsoft, Apple has a reputation for fostering a richer catalog of native-feeling third-party applications on itsApp Store. In particular, the iPhone’s iOS operating system is home to a staggering selection of apps that look and feel polished and aesthetically unified, which is an impressive feat.
iOSapps come in all shapes and forms, of course, but some developers have truly gone above and beyond in terms of crafting software experiences that blend seamlessly into the overarchingiPhoneaesthetic. Here are eight examples of apps that I personally find do a great job at looking and feeling native to the system. In fact, each of these apps is so clean, that they could more or less pass for in-house Apple apps.
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Make your countdown experience a stylish one
Donec - The Eager’s Countdown
Donec is a countdown application that serves up pleasing alerts and visual reminders of upcoming events, holidays, and milestones.
I love a good countdown app. There’s something cathartic about taking in the number of days leading up to a major event or holiday in a visual manner, and no app does it better than Donec. With a subtle-yet-tranquil set of backdrops, flexible alert options, and the ability to pencil in notes and thoughts at a per-entry level, this app succeeds at what it sets out to do. There’s plenty of sorting and categorization options to leverage here, as well as an excellent home screen widget that blends in perfectly with the iOS design language. Donec is a lightweight piece of software, and it’s entirely free to download and install with no ads to worry about.
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2GoodLinks
GoodLinks is a read-it-later application that makes it easy to save articles from the web to view, reference, and mark up at a later date.
The App Store is teaming with excellent read-it-later and website bookmarking applications, but, for my money, nothing comes even close to GoodLinks. The app is aesthetically pleasing, with tons of options to highlight text, easy-on-the-eye theming options and accent colors, and more. The app integrates seamlessly with the iPhone’s default share sheet, and your selection of articles can be synced and exported with ease. GoodLinks can be purchased for a one-time fee of $10, and the experience is always free of ads.
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3Habit Tracker - HabitKit
Visualize your goals in a clean and minimal way
Habit Tracker - HabitKit
Habit Tracker - HabitKit is an application that helps you visualize your goals with a grid-style design for enhanced accountability.
HabitKit is a downright excellent application for keeping tabs on your ongoing goals, commitments, and habits. The app makes use of a unique dot matrix graph design for visualizing progress, but it somehow fits in with Apple’s iOS design language all the same. Options to import, export, and archive your goals are present and accounted for, as are a broad selection of emoji-style glyphs and color accenting options for each new habit logged. HabitKit itself is free to download and install, though it requires a Pro tier purchase to unlock unlimited habit tracking, home screen widgets, additional statistics, and more.
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4Acute Calculator
A cute calculator app that beats out Apple’s offering
Acute Calculator
Acute Calculator is a third-party app for the iPhone that offers a customizable graphing calculator experience, complete with haptic feedback.
I’ve never been a big fan of Apple’s default calculator on the iPhone. The company majorly improved on the app in iOS 18, adding in a dedicated backspace button and a dual-column display view, but third-party options still leave Apple’s native solution in the dust. One of my favorite alternative calculator apps for the iPhone is Acute Calculator, which looks and feels native to the system while adding in additional options. There are several themes and colortones to choose from, advanced options to tweak the key repeat delay, a proper history manager, and, crucially, haptic feedback throughout the interface. Acute Calculator can be downloaded for free from the App Store, but it requires an in-app purchase to unlock additional customization options.
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5Crouton: Recipe Manager
Slickly tackle baking, cooking, and grocery shopping
Crouton: Recipe Manager
Crouton: Recipe Manager is an app for Apple devices that streamlines the meal planning, prepping, and grocery listing experience.
If you’re a fan of cooking or baking, then Crouton is the app for you. While embracing a native iOS-style interface design, the app allows for granular control over meal planning, recipe logging, grocery and ingredient listing, and much more. Integration with iCloud Sync makes Crouton excellent for anyone embedded in the Apple ecosystem, and it’s easy to import and export recipes in a .ZIP file, too. Crouton itself is free, but paid Plus and Discover tiers are available to purchase from within the app. These premium upgrade packs unlock a discover feed, sharable links, unlimited recipe storage, and a variety of other perks.
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6CARROT Weather
A native-feeling weather app with personality
CARROT Weather: Alerts & Radar
CARROT Weather is a third-party app that offers a quirky-yet-endearing weather robot mascot, complete with five personality options.
CARROT Weather is a fun third-party forecast app for the iPhone that not only looks and feels native to the system, but also provides a quirky sense of humor. CARROT allows you to pick between several personalities, which alter the behavior and vocabulary of the app’s weather robot mascot. The app is free to use for basic forecasting results, but a Premium Club subscription is required to unlock home screen widgets, Live Activities, the CarPlay app, and Apple Watch complications. Aside from surfacing weather results, CARROT offers an activity achievement system, an augmented reality (AR) mode, and other fun additions.
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A traveler’s best friend
Flighty – Live Flight Tracker
Flighty is a well-crafted travel companion app that provides live air travel updates, pilot-grade data, and tons of data metrics.
Flighty is a well-crafted travel app for the iPhone that streamlines air travel to a remarkable degree. The app offers a staggering array of flight tracking metrics, delay forecast details, and real-time flight status update notifications. A handy ground radar map is available here, as is automatic calendar sync and support for Live Activities. My favorite Flighty feature is its built-in passport, which logs such metrics as total minutes lost from delays, total distance traveled, and most flown aircraft model. The free version of Flighty offers iCloud backup and sync, an ad-free experience, live data, and an unlimited number of flight logs. A paid Pro tier is also available, which incorporates delay predictions, arrival forecast data, live data while en route, and other more advanced features.
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The video game emulator Apple would never make
Delta - Game Emulator
Delta is a video game emulation app that can read ROM files from across various retro systems, including the NES, the GBA, and the N64.
Delta made a big splash when it landed on the Apple App Store back in April 2024, ushering in a new era of emulation app availability on the iPhone. Due to a sweeping Apple policy change, Delta has been able to flourish, and it remains one of the best iPhone emulators to this day. The app, which is optimized for both the iPhone and the iPad, can effortlessly emulate several retro game consoles, including the NES, the SNES, the N64, the GB, the GBA, and the DS. The app is incredibly polished, and, by all accounts, it looks and feels almost as though it was designed by Apple itself. Of course, the app doesn’t come with ROM files – you have to already legally own game files to get started with iOS emulation.
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