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Throughout the past years, Apple has updated iOS to include more productive and useful features such as multitasking, iCloud, notification center, and more. However, if you look at the core apps, or built-in apps, those aren’t really updated much. Take Notes, for example. Nothing much has changed other than 2 new fonts and iCloud integrations. Weather doesn’t seem to have any functional changes. The Stocks app was only updated to be able to view graphs in landscape mode. The Calendar app has gone through no real cosmetic change, other than the integration of iCloud. Yes, they may be great apps already according to Apple standards, but many of us have to agree that we are all bored with how they look and act. Today, I will be talking about 4 apps that have replaced the default Safari, Mail, Music and Maps app.

First of all, Safari. Safari is a great browser. Now with integration of iCloud, with bookmark syncing and iCloud tabs, it’s a great browser. Even better, it also has offline reading lists, and a Reader view to make it easy for the eyes. However, I have made the switch to using Google Chrome. Why? Simply because I have also switched to Chrome on my Mac. Safari is a great browser, but it is really slow. My Mac is close to unusable when I have more than 10 tabs opened. Whereas with Chrome, it manages them very well to maintain the performance. Google Chrome for iOS also had bookmark syncing even before Apple made it available. Google Chrome in my opinion is simply the fastest browser on the planet. And same goes true with the iOS version. What I love the most about the iOS version is how easy it is to switch between tabs. With Safari, you would have to tap onto the tabs icon, and then flick to choose which tab you would like to switch to. With Chrome, you can also tap on the tab icon and view all of your tabs. But instead, you can just simply flick from either edge of the screen to switch between tabs. Just as simple as that. Much faster, much snappier than having to go through annoying taps.

The Mail app has had a few big features in the past years, such as a unified inbox, more than one exchange accounts, flagging and VIP inboxes. However, it never really made use of the multitouch user interface of actually swiping. Now I use an app called Sparrow. Sparrow is a famous Mac app that also landed on iOS not too long ago. It has unified inboxes, it has attachments, it has flaggin and starring. But is also has a great swiping feature. If you are in your inbox, you can just swipe to see the options of what you can do with that specific message. You can delete, archive, star, flag and so on. Because you can view these with a swipe, that allows you to save some screen space on the bottom, allowing you to view more messages at a glance. When you are in a message, and you would like to go through your messages, you don’t have to go back to the inbox again to see view each message. All you have to do is just swipe up or down, to go through your messages. Just like how you switch between tabs in Chrome for iOS. Very simple and easy. There are some drawbacks though. Sparrow does not do push notifications, which kind of sucks, and it does not have support for exchange accounts. And, because Sparrow has recently been acquired by Google, we will expect no future updates in terms of new features. Plus, the upcoming, widely discussed Mailbox app will be arriving the App Store soon, which is also promised to revolutionize your inbox.

Next up, the Music app. Simple sentence. The default Music app is ugly. It has been great in 2007. But not in 2013. ALthough with iOS 5 and iOS 6, they have refined the look of the Music app, it still is the same process of going through a long list of artists or albums or songs, just to reach your favorite song. What if you were able to browse your music more graphically? What if you can view your history? Your newest? Your most played? Well that’s what Track 8 does. It is a Music app that does all of that, with an interface that copies Windows Phone. You have the album art as tiles, and once you tap on the, there is an animation effect that takes you to that album. From the Home screen, you can see your history, newest and most played, which will allo you easy access to your most favorit and newest songs easily. All I can really say is, you just have to check it out. It even beats the music app in Windows Phone! Although it is a paid app, it is definitely worth it!

Last, but not least, is the Maps app. We all know that the Maps app in iOS 6 has caused a lot of trouble for many people. It’s not accurate, not Street View, and it’s just… crap. Even the Maps app before iOS 6 with Google’s backend was better. But now with the introduction of Google Maps for iOS, made by Google themselves, things have really changed. It is simply the best maps app ever. Normal view, satellite view both look awesome, with vector rendering and 3D capabilities. Navigation is easy as expected, and Street View is back. It’s free, it’s awesome, and it’s a must have.

Those have been the 4 apps that have replaced the default iOS apps. Do you have any other suggestions, or with any other apps? Please let us know in the comments section. You can also watch our video discussion about this topic on the top of this article.