3 apps for New Jersey residents

Every place you visit, every city you spend time in, has its own story to tell. Wouldn’t it be cool to have your own personal tour guide to show you all the cool things to do and see, and get the most out of your experiences, wherever you go? Well, you do, friend. It’s in your back pocket.

Now that everyone and their kindergartener owns a smartphone, there really is an app for everything. Well, just about everything, that is. It seems the boundaries pertaining to what apps can and can’t do are limited only by the imagination of the developer who decides to take it on. There are apps for every part of life, divided into categories like lifestyle, entertainment, health, fitness, cooking, and so much more.

Here’s a look at some of the most helpful apps for New Jersey Residents in particular.

NJ.com

The NJ.com app brings all the convenience of the highly successful website to your smartphone in an easy-to-use mobile app. Available on Android and iPhone, it collaborates news content from The Star-Ledger, along with eleven other leading newspapers sprinkled across the state of New Jersey. This app is particularly convenient because it combines your news sources all into one resource. You’ll find coverage pertaining to your local community, as well as state, nationwide, and global coverage. It eliminates the need to look up a dozen different sites or television channels to get the latest scoop. Just open this baby up, and you’re all set.

The Official Guide for New Jersey State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites

Whether you’re a native or you’re just visiting the area, this app offers everything you could ever want to know about New Jersey’s state parks, forests, and other historic sites. Powered by Pocket Ranger, it utilizes sophisticated GPS technology to provide you with accurate trail information and the ability to time your hikes. Its photo waypoint features lets you capture a photo, and then marks the coordinates of plants, animals, and landscape views within the app, so you can return to it later. It combines the breathtaking beauty of nature with the unstoppable force of social media through it’s friend finder feature. It helps you keep track of your friends and family members as you explore the parks and wooded areas. It even has a built-in compass to help you find your way.

Possibly the most important feature of this innovative app is that it sends your GPS coordinates to designated contacts in your phone, as a security feature in case the worst happens while you’re hiking. Because you’ll likely be away from civilization for the most part as you utilize this app, and outside the reach of any WiFi connection, you’ll want to make sure your data plan is equipped to handle the potential drain you’ll put on it on your adventures.

Radio Pup

All you radio and music lovers will get a kick out of this one. The Radio Pup app features more than 200 radio stations, allowing you to stream them right to your smartphone. So use it when you’re out and about and want some tunes or to tune into your favorite morning show. You can even browse through photo galleries and other tidbits of information relevant to your favorite station. It’s especially helpful for those who leave the New Jersey area, but want to stay connected to their favorite DJs and regular programs.

There are even some commercial free stations, so it’s hard to argue with that. Set your genre preferences and get listening. You can purchase songs and read artist bios directly from the app, as well as check out your local weather forecast and communicate with friends via comments on Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail networks. Since streaming tends to use a lot of data, you’ll want to make sure you’re hooked into your home (or work) wifi via a Newark, NJ Verizon Internet connection before you start using it heavily.

Each of these apps will help you get the most out of the state, and keep you in touch with what’s important. What are your favorite localized apps? Feel free to share in the comments below.