TiPb takes a look at the top 5 best iPhone and iPad apps to help you succeed with your New Year's resolutions in fitness, finances, organization, dieting, and kicking a bad habit.

2012 is the year you're going lose weight, get in shape, get your finances in order, quit smoking, and organize your life - and your iPhone and iPad apps are going to help you with your success! There are a plethora of apps out there to choose from, however, so we've gathered up a few of our favorites to help you with your New Year's resolutions.

Weightbot

This Tapbots gem is an oldie, but a goodie. With Weightbot, you can set your weight goal, record your weight, view your BMI, and see your progress on a beautiful graph. The UI is gorgeous and true to Tapbots style and makes use of nice sounds and clicks as you navigate through the app. Tracking your weight is always a chore, but Weightbot will at least turn the actual act of entering your weight a pleasure. Whether you're happy with with the numbers you're entering or not - well, that's up to you.

• $1.99 - App Store link

See also:

• P90X: $4.99 for iPhone - App Store link
• Nike Training Club: Free for iPhone - App Store link

SilverWiz Money

Money - you both love it and hate it. You love getting it; you love spending it, but you hate when it runs dry. This is the year to get your finances in order by setting budgets, tracking your spending, and make smart spending choices. SilverWiz Money is a great app to help in your endeavor.

With SilverWiz, you can see the status of all your accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, cash, etc) and log all of your expenses and credits. Set up reminders to get your bills paid on their due dates, and schedule automatic deposits and transfers. My favorite feature of SilverWiz Money, however, is that it can sync across multiple devices. So, if you share accounts with your spouse, you can both log your spending on your own device, but it updates on all devices. There is also an iPad version, so when it's time to analyze your reports, you can kick back and use the larger screen.

• $0.99 for iPhone - App Store link
• $4.99 for iPad - App Store link

See also:

• Bills ~ On your table: $3.99 for iPhone - App Store link
• iXpenseIt: $1.99 for iPhone - App Store link

Evernote

Organization - something we all vow to get better at every year. Evernote is here to help. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop. You can also mark specific notes as favorites and text within notes is searchable. Available an an in-app purchase, the Premium Features allow you to add, sync, access, and share files (PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, and more). Get organized, today!

• Free - App Store link

See also:

• Day One (Journal/Diary): $1.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link
• Todo:
  • $4.99 for iPhone - App Store link
  • $4.99 for iPad - App Store link

Weight Watchers Mobile

I'm convinced that the Calendar was intentionally created so that the New Year immediately followed a slew of Holidays that make us eat too much food, drink too much booze, and make us fat. If we didn't have the New Year to motivate us to loose the 20 pounds we gained in less than 2 months, we'd have an even bigger obesity problem. We've already taken a look at an app to track our weight loss, but we're not going to be happy with those numbers without some action - the most effective being a diet change.

Weight Watchers Mobile will provide you with the latest recipes, health news, exercise info, and more. It's also compatible with Weight Watcher's PointsPlus program so that you can keep track while on the go. A subscription to Weight Watchers Online will give you over 31,000 food options, meals and recipes and let you see your daily remaining PointsPlus values with notifications.

• Free - App Store link

See also:

• Lose It! Free for iPhone - App Store link
• Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List: Free for iPhone and iPad - App Store link

My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr

Smoking is bad - you know this, but every attempt to quit has ended with you giving up. But this year, you'll have My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr in your pocket to aid you in your success. The quitting process is never exciting, but this app will add a little fun to your journey with 14 innovative games designed to help you remove all illusions created by the nicotine addiction. It's not all fun an games, though; your personal coach will give you personalized advices and tips to help you kick your bad habit once and for all.

• $2.99 - App Store link

See also:

• Quitter: Free for iPhone - App Store link
• LIVESTRONG MyQuit Coach: Free for iPhone - App Store link

Your favorite New Year's Resolution apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best New Year's resolution apps for iPhone and iPad. Be sure to check out our other Top 5 picks, our Picks of the Week, and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

What's your name? Paul Haddad

What's your company's name? Tapbots

Where are you located? Flower Mound, TX

What's your website address? http://tapbots.com

What's your Twitter name? @tapbot_paul and @tapbots

What apps do you make? Weightbot, Convertbot, Pastebot, Calcbot, Tweetbot

What apps, other than your own, are currently among your favorites? My favorite Apps tend to be Mac based: Transmit, VMWare, TextMate, VLC, TF2 :^)

How long have you been a developer? Professionally I'd say I'm a bit shy of 20 years, non professionally closer to 30.

How long have you been an iOS developer? Ever since the first iOS SDK came out.

Do you develop for any other platform in addition to iOS? If so, which one(s)? Minor Mac and server side stuff.

What primary computer setup do you use for your iOS development? I use two almost equally depending on where I am in the house. Macbook Pro 17" i7 2.66GHZ 8GB RAM dual striped OWC 120GB SSDs. Mac Pro 8 core 3GHZ 5 striped 40GB OWC SSDs, Areca RAID controller, 30" Cinema display, loud mechanical keyboard and kensigton trackball.

What iOS device(s) do you personally use most often? iPhone 4, iPod gen 2 and iPad 2.

What mobile devices, other than iOS, do you currently use? None.

What's your favorite thing about developing for iOS? I'm a big fan of ObjC and the various frameworks and always have been. I don't think there's anything better out there.

What's your least favorite thing about developing for iOS? Dealing with the entire iTunes connect provisioning setup and waiting for app approvals.

What feature would you most like Apple to add to the iOS SDK? Rich Text editing and general improvements to UITextView are at the top of my list.

What feature would you most like Apple to add to the App Store? Paid upgrades for major new versions. The current free upgrades setup doesn't encourage developers to update their apps on a long term basis.

What do you do when you're not coding iOS apps? I'm pretty boring I tend to always be working unless I'm out and about with the kids on the weekend. Lately I've gotten hooked on Team Fortress 2.

** Given Tapbots has such a distinctive, restrained catalog of apps, how do you decide which types of apps you want to make? Do you reject a lot of ideas along the way?** We try to focus on apps that we'll use and sound fun to write. We're not going to write an app for something that we'll never do or won't use because we wouldn't be able to put our hearts in it. We actually reject a ton of ideas, for every app from us you see there's probably a dozen that we thought about and decided not to do for one reason or another.

What should we look for from you next? We're quite busy with Tweetbot but have started thinking about our next app. We've got two top contenders but haven't quite decide which we'll do yet. We keep saying we're going to start soon but keep getting pulled away on other Tweetbot features.

Thanks Paul!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

This week, we have chosen apps that will help us keep our new year's resolutions. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's Pick: WorldMate Gold

Stranded in NJ between Christmas and New Years, my New Year's resolution is to never travel without WorldMate. It kept me far more informed as to gate changes and flight cancellations than my airline did, and was way more helpful in finding alternate flights, and hotel arrangements.

If you travel, WorldMate is a must. It is jampacked with essential travel aids. Email your itinerary from the airline or travel agent to your WorldMate account, and all your terminal/gate/connection details are at your fingertips. You can book a hotel right from inside the app, find out the weather at your destination or current location, calculate tips, convert currency, or book a limo. It even tells you who lives near your trip, so if you get stranded you know who to call for help. WorldMate - don't leave home without it!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Ally's Pick: Evernote

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to become more organized, Evernote is a must. I've been using Evernote for almost 2 years in conjunction with ToDo by Appigo. I've managed to stay organized and on top of things whether it's work, development timelines, or simple things like groceries and shopping. While programs like ToDo can be used for projects and time sensitive affairs, Evernote is by far my favorite tool for free form note taking and remembering everyday things.

Evernote also has Mac and PC software you can use as well. We now keep all grocery lists and home tasks in Evernote. I use it to save pics of bar codes when I'm price shopping as well. I have over 50 tags in Evernote and I can filter my notes by tag. Chad and I are hardcore supporters of Evernote for a reason. It's simplistic, powerful, and syncs seamlessly across many platforms.

Evernote is free but you have the option to add additional monthly storage for an additional fee as well. I've always done just fine with the free version.

[Free - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: Weightbot

Weighbot is the perfect daily weight tracker for those looking to lose a few extra pounds for their New Years resolution! The design of the app is superb, with input mechanisms that come natural to the user and a top-notch UI scheme -- something you'd expect from Tapbots, the team behind Weighbot and other iOS releases like Convertbot and Pastebot. If you've ever used other Tapbots apps, you'll feel right at home when using Weightbot.

With Weightbot you can do cool things like check your BMI as you enter your weight on a daily basis or view your weight history on a graph by rotating your iPhone, and there are a ton of options. What I love best about Weightbot is the backup/restore system they have in place, where If you ever need to restore your iPhone or iPod Touch and don't restore from a backup in iTunes, there's no need to worry about losing any of your history. So if you're trying to shed a few pounds for the new year -- or even a few inches -- then Weightbot is the app to help you achieve your goal. Go grab it now!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Brian's pick: Bills ~ On Your Table

Bills ~ On Your Table is the perfect app to get your finances on the right track and keep track of all your bills for 2011. It supports all 170 currencies, supports auto payments, and has a lock to protect your information along with many other features. It is perfect for bills such as car payments, mortgages, credit cards and many more types of bills. It will help you keep track of what is due and when so you won't miss a payment and it will help keep your credit and finances in tact!

[$3.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: RunKeeper Pro

At the start of every New Year, I always have "Get Fit", top of my list of resolutions! This year I mean it and thankfully there is an app for that. RunKeeper Pro is a great app that will let you log all your running efforts and many other activities too. It is automated by utilizing your iPhone's inbuilt GPS. The app also allows you to upload your run data to an online service where you can view your run routes and all the statistics that you could ever need. With this app I can set some goals and start my fitness resolution off on the right track in 2011. Even better, the app is free until the end of January 2011, it is usually $9.99.

[Free - iTunes-Link]

Chris V's pick: Lose It!

Lose It! is a nice weight loss/diet tracking app that has a nice set of robust features. A nice database of foods (both restaurants and name brand food) along with a tool for inputing your own foods is included. Exercise tracking allows you to keep track of additional caloric burning. One really nice feature is that you can join up with friends to share you weight loss progress and status, since dieting and losing weight is always easier when you are doing it with someone.

Other features include a weekly log, options for choosing specific nutrients to track, adjusting your goals, even putting on recipes and creating dropping lists based on your diet choices. The app makes it just about as easy as possible - now I just need to get off my lazy ass and do it myself!

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Baby Geek

One of my resolutions for the new year is to be more organized, which means it's time to start keeping better track of my daughter's health habits. Baby Geek will help me do just that.

Baby Geek is a universal iPhone and iPad application that helps parents keep track of when their children eat, sleep, and get their diaper changed. You can also record the weight, height, and head circumference measurements of your child and view progress charts as well as see what percentiles your baby falls into. In addition, Baby Geek has a check off list of developmental milestones and much more.

There is no way I'm disciplined enough to keep track of all this with pen and paper, but with the help of Baby Geek, my daughter's pediatrician may finally not be a little disappointed in me at her next appointment.

Rene's pick: Todo

I'm remarkably disorganized for someone who's life demands so much organization. Maybe it's a form of rebellion, maybe it's a cry for help, maybe it's just my desire to impose chaos on the world around me, but my usual method for getting things done is to wait for crisis than do whatever is screaming loudest for whomever is screaming loudest. But my brain is getting softer, time is going faster, and things that need doing just won't stop needing being done. Enter Todo.

There are lots of task management apps for iPhone and iPad and I've tried -- and neglected to use -- almost all of them. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses but most of the top ones provide all the key functionality you'll need. My resolution is to pick one and use it. Right now Appigo's Todo is on sale for $0.99. In a world of $10-$30 task managers, that's a steal. (Really, I feel like I need to put a few extra bucks in an envelop and mail it to them!)

If you want to better manage your time and tasks in 2011, check it Todo.

[$0.99 on sale - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know which apps will help you keep your new year's resolutions!

The totally titanic team at Tapbot have gone above and beyond for TiPb readers with this one!

First, they've given us five (5) Promo Codes for their latest greatest unit converter, Convertbot [iTunes link], a sweet app with a stunning interface, designed to make the admittedly tedious task of converting one measurement into a another a deliciously tactile, actually enjoyable experience.

But wait, there's more! They've also given us five (5) Promo Codes for their classic weight tracker, Weightbot [iTunes link], a great app with a gorgeous interface, and just in time (again!) for bikini season (or whatever the rest of you wear to work...)

Want a chance to get either one of them -- or if pure random luck comes your way -- both of them, for FREE? Head on over to our forum and post your reply in the Convertbot Give Away and/or Weightbot Give Away threads.

(As always, to use Promo Codes, you need access to the US App Store).

While many iPhone devs probably haven't struck it rich (just as many of the apps flooding the store haven't yet been strike-it-rich worthy), quality products that find an audience are still proving to be massive income sources for some developers reports Fake Steve Real Dan Lyons in Newsweek:

Greenstone, 41, has been writing games for Apple's computers for 21 years. But he says he's never seen anything like the iPhone apps phenomenon, which this year will deliver $5 million in revenue for him. "It's crazy. It's like lottery money. In the last four and a half months we've made as much money off the retail sales of iPhone apps as we've made with retail sales of all of the apps that we've made in the past 21 years—combined." Business is so good that Greenstone won't even bother writing for the Mac anymore.

Daniel wrote in to let us know the obvious: Apple rejected iBoobs from the App Store. Duh or d'oh, we guess, depending on your point of view. Did the dev think Pull my Finger made this okay? Cheer or jeer the video if you have to.

Tapbots developer Paul Hadda, whom TiPb interviewed a while back and whose awesome WeightBots app has just hit version 1.2, made a nasty discovery when searching the App Store: keyword spam:

I searched around for other high profile apps and found quite a few developers have chosen to SEO optimize their app description. So first we have apps naming themselves with blanks at the beginning to take advantage of alphabetical listing in the store. Then we have apps going from Free to Paid to take advantage of the top 100 list. And now this SEO hack, what’s next?

Since astroturfing and mechanical turk paid ratings are already taken, we're betting "you may have already won..." scams, but who knows?

Is one of your New Year resolutions to shed a few pounds? Well if it is then this application, Weightbots, by Tabots[iTunes Link] is just for you.

Whether you are trying to lose (or gain) a few pounds, tracking your weight has never been more fun. Set your goal weight, record your weight at any interval (one weight per day max), view your BMI, and see your progress on a beautiful graph. Weightbot also has a built-in secure password feature to protect your weight from prying eyes. It’s easy to use, surprisingly addicting, and designed for everyone to enjoy. Even if you are not actively dieting, you will love tracking your weight just to use Weightbot.

Get it now for the holiday sale price of $.99!

Next up is a nice little 21 and over bar app from Helmes Innovations, Party Pro. [iTunes Link] There are a few other free solutions if you are looking drink recipes, but what makes this app stand out is a GPS bar locator! Very nifty indeed.

Got an iPhone or iPod Touch? Like to Party? Party like a Pro. Everything you need for a party is now on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You can mix a drink, find a bar and much more all from your iPhone or iPod Touch. This is the ultimate party guide for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Again, this app is on sale for a limited time for $.99 so be sure to grab it soon!

Last but not least we have a great new game on sale! Tricky Software's Armado [iTunes Link] is now on sale! Check out the video after the break to see what you get for $.99!

Have you found an app on sale we might have missed? Your favorite at a bargain price? Hit the comments and let us know!

Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad of Tapbots are the breakout designers and engineers behind Weightbot (iTunes link), one of the most original user experiences released on the iPhone App Store to date. Continuing the iPhone blog's behind-the-scenes look at iPhone application development, Mark and Paul were kind enough to take time and discuss their ideas on interface and interactivity, and how what more we might expect from Apple's next generation mobile platform.

TiPb: How was approaching the iPhone interface for this App different than how you would have approached an interface for another platform?

Mark: It was really different coming from a web design background. 320x460 isn't a lot of space to work with and then you have to factor in the huge difference in input devices. A person's finger is a lot less accurate than a mouse cursor. At the same time, I wasn't designing a website so I was freed from a lot of rules and conventions I've been following over the past 8 years. So my initial approach was pretty simple. If Weightbot was an actual physical device, how could I make it usable and fun at the same time?

Paul: The thing I found challenging about dealing with the iPhone interface is that users want a silky smooth and yet the iPhone and iPod touch are both very slow compared to any modern Mac. I spent a lot of time juggling things around in order to get a consistent 60 fps for all the various animations within Weightbot. Coming from our current Multi Gigahertz, Multi Gigabyte and Multi Core world where for the most part you don't have to worry about performance to a platform like the iPhone where every cycle and byte counts is a big change.

TiPb: Weightbot's interface is obviously both creative and innovative. Is the robot theme something that came to expressly for that app, or does it exemplify a personal style of interaction that you can see pushing further in future with different types of Apps.

Mark: The whole robot theme sort of just fell into place. That happens a lot with the work I do. I can't always sit down with a piece of paper and try to think up a whole concept from scratch. I prefer to just dive into the work and then see what ideas pop up from it.

Paul came to me one day telling me he wanted to test the iPhone market and was going to start off simple with a weight tracking app. He asked if I was interested in helping out and didn't want to spend more than a week or two on it. I think the original plan was to use all of the standard UI elements provided in the SDK, but I thought I'd let my imagination run a little and then see what Paul would think. My initial sketch was simple. It was just the shape of the iphone with the lcd as seen on the app today. One thing popped into mind at that point. It was Eve from Wall-e. Everything just fell into place from there. Weightbot was inspired by Eve, and the Tapbots idea was based on the whole concept of different utility robots in Wall-e. That was such a great movie. When I was in high school, my dream was to become a 3d modeler for Pixar. Obviously, my career went off on a tangent (along with this interview).

So now that you know the story of where Tapbots and Weightbot came from, obviously you can expect there to be more robot applications in the future.

TiPb: Given the stylization, was it difficult to balance form and function, and make sure the interface didn't take over or drown out the underlying App?

Mark: Over the years, my web design philosophy has matured. I used to be all about the flash, bang, whiz type of websites, but one day I just realized that people just want to use the site or get the information they need. That's not to say flashy sites don't have their place. I've just changed my philosophy on it. So my take on all UI design is function first, and then wrap a solid, usable design around it. The same approach was taken with Weightbot. I pictured a user balancing on his/her scale, and easily being able to enter weight data into the app with one hand and without needing too much precision or concentration.

The Wii fit is probably the best example of simplicity because it weighs you and stores your weight data automatically. It's also somewhat fun to do. The big flaw with it is you have to turn on your TV and Wii just to do it and that can get tedious if you do it everyday. I know because I have one and hardly ever turn it on anymore. So Weightbot needed to be very simple, fun enough to be motivational, and not feel like a chore to use. I'd like to think we did a pretty decent job on it.

TiPb: Did developing an interface for the iPhone change the way you may approach future interfaces on other platforms? Did you learn anything special from developing for the iPhone?

Mark: New experiences always help shape the way you think about other things. I've definitely learned a lot from the experience and I'm sure it will influence my work on the web. Maybe not from a visual standpoint, but definitely from a user experience point of view.

TiPb: You use touch and accelerometer based interactions in your Apps. Are developers fully tapping the potential of iPhone interactivity yet? What more, if anything, could Apple surface to help developers create even better user interactions?

Mark: Some developers are doing really cool stuff with it. The multi-touch screen, accelerometer, and even the mic are all input devices for the iPhone. Developers should use them to their app's advantage. Our main purpose for using them was to simplify the interface. Imagine having a "graph" button in Weightbot to switch to the graph. The button would have to be small so it doesn't make the interface busy, but then the user has to look for the button. Using the accelerometer was a no brainer. It keeps our interface clean and it's very intuitive.

Google Earth makes really good use of the accelerometer and multi-touch controls. I think games are also pushing how users can interact with the iPhone. I think the possibilities are almost limitless so we will be seeing a lot of great solutions in the future.

Paul: I don't think most developers fully tapping the iPhone at all. It'll probably be another year before we see a large number of apps that really push the iPhone. Unfortunately in the current iPhone SDK there's very little defined support for detecting things like two finger swipes or shaking the iPhone. You pretty much have to depend on accessing the accelerometer and Event code at fairly low levels. Once Apple provides some higher level support for these features you are going to see more and more developers using them in innovative ways.

TiPb: What worked out especially well for you with Weightbot? Any favorite features or elements that you're especially happy with?

Mark: I'm happy most with the pure simplicity of it. Part of me wants to say this is the final version. But we get a lot of feature requests and Weightbot is nothing without people using it. So we will do our best to make our users happy without sacrificing on the initial vision of Weightbot.

Paul: I really like the Date Slider screen, maybe its because I spent an obscene amount of time tuning it, but I really enjoy the effect of flicking the Slider and hearing it tick as it switches dates.

Mark, Paul, we sincerely appreciate your taking the time to share with us and our readers!

Tapbots is Mark and Paul's website, and their premiere application, Weightbot, is available via the iTunes App Store.

Updated: Now available via the iTunes App Store

Want to get attention for your App? Innovative and drop dead gorgeous UI is one heckuva way to do it. Enter Weightbot from Tapbots. Killer mascot, even more interesting user experience. These are the kinds of high-polish Apps we've been waiting for (no pun intended!)

Anyone else pushing the iPhone envelope? Please let us know!

Thanks to Mark for sending this in!