12 types of iPhone apps, with examples (2026)

By Sigsten Gustavii· 13 September 2026· Updated 27 October 2026· 8 min read

Apple sorts the App Store into more than two dozen categories, from Books to Weather, and every app picks one as its main home. Most of what people use every day falls into twelve types. Knowing which type your idea belongs to tells you what it needs, which apps it sits next to, and how hard it will be to build.

The 12 types, one by one

1. Utilities

Apple describes utilities as apps that "enable the user to solve a problem or complete a specific task", and lists calculators, clocks, measuring tools, flashlights, barcode scanners and unit converters as examples. The iPhone's own Calculator is the classic. A good utility opens fast, does its one thing and gets out of the way. A countdown app to a holiday or a wedding, or a scanner that reads text with the camera, is a quick place to start.

2. Productivity

Productivity apps make "a specific process or task more organized or efficient": task lists, calendars, notes, dictation and email. Todoist is a well-known task manager; Forest turns focus time into a growing tree. Make your own to-do list or Pomodoro timer, or see how a personal take on Todoist or Forest could work for you.

3. Health and fitness

Apple's Health & Fitness category covers "healthy living, including stress management, fitness, and recreational activities". Strong is a popular log for lifting weights. A fitness app is mostly a fast way to log something mid-workout and a chart that shows progress. Make a workout tracker or a HIIT timer, or read about your own Strong-style app.

4. Habits and wellbeing

Habit trackers, journals, mood logs and meditation apps sit between Health & Fitness and Lifestyle. Headspace is known for guided meditation; Streaks for ticking off daily habits; Day One for journaling. These are among the easiest apps to make well, because the data is personal and can stay on the phone. Try a habit tracker, mood tracker, journal, meditation timer or sleep log, or your own take on Streaks or Habitica.

5. Education

Education apps "provide an interactive learning experience on a specific skill or subject." Duolingo turns language lessons into short daily sessions; Anki is the classic spaced-repetition flashcard app. A flashcard app, a language learning app or a reading tracker are good projects, and so is your own Anki-style deck.

6. Finance

Finance apps "perform financial transactions or assist the user with business or personal financial matters." YNAB is a budgeting app built around giving every dollar a job. A personal budget app needs quick entry, categories, a chart and ideally a Face ID lock. See also a personal YNAB-style budget.

7. Food and drink

Food & Drink covers recipes, cooking and eating out. Paprika is a long-standing recipe manager. A meal planner that turns the week's dinners into a shopping list is useful in almost every household, and a fun one to make for your own family.

8. Travel

Travel apps "assist the user with any aspect of travel, such as planning, purchasing, or tracking." TripIt gathers bookings into one itinerary. A travel planner with every place on a map and plans that open with no roaming data is a great personal project before a big trip. See Apple Maps in your own app.

9. Lifestyle and home

Lifestyle is Apple's broadest category, for "a general-interest subject matter or service". Planta reminds people when to water their plants. Apps that look after something in your life fit here: a plant care app, a pet care app for vet visits and walks, or a wedding planner.

10. Business

Business apps "assist with running a business or provide a means to collaborate, edit, or share content." Square Appointments handles bookings for salons and studios. For a small business, the most useful apps face the people who come back: a booking app, a loyalty card, or an internal tool such as a CRM or an inventory app.

11. Social

Social Networking apps "connect people by means of text, voice, photo, or video." Instagram and WhatsApp are the household names. Social apps need accounts, shared data and, under Apple's guideline 1.2, ways to report content and block people. Start small: a club, a class or a group of friends. Our guides cover social media apps and chat apps.

12. Games

Games "provide single or multiplayer interactive activities for entertainment purposes," and Apple lists puzzle, board, card, strategy and many more kinds. Candy Crush Saga is a famous puzzle game. Small games with one clear loop, like a quiz, a word puzzle or a card game, are very makeable without code; fast action, physics and 3D games need a game engine. See how to make a game app.

Other types worth knowing

A few more App Store categories are common homes for apps:

• Shopping, for apps that sell goods. See how to create an online store app.
• News, for current events and updates. See how to create a news app.
• Photo & Video, for capturing, editing and sharing pictures. See how to make an AI photo app.
• Music, Entertainment, Navigation, Reference, Medical, Sports, Weather and Books, each with its own niche.

Which types are easiest to build

How hard an app is to make depends less on its type than on two questions: does its data stay on one phone, and do people interact with each other through it?

If you are new to making apps, start at the top of the table. A personal app you use yourself every day teaches you more about making apps than a half-finished social network, and you can always add accounts and sharing later.

How to choose your App Store category

When you publish, you choose a primary category and an optional secondary one. Apple's advice is to pick the category that matches the main function or subject matter of your app, and the primary one is where the app appears when people browse or filter the App Store. Apple also suggests looking at where people would naturally look for your app and how similar apps are categorised. Picking a category that doesn't fit is against guideline 2.3, so choose the one that matches the core of the app.

How to make any of these types with Borel

Borel makes native iPhone apps of every type above from a plain description. It writes the app in Swift with SwiftUI and Xcode builds it on Borel's own Mac, so you need no Mac and no code. Personal apps keep their data on the phone; apps that share data get accounts and a cloud database that Borel runs, with no setup.

1. Pick a type and an idea. The make pages have ready ideas for each, and your own pages show personal takes on well-known apps.
2. Describe it at borel.one. The free plan gives you 5 credits a day.
3. Try it on a live iPhone in the iOS Simulator in your browser, free for everyone, and change it by asking.
4. Put it on your iPhone with Borel Companion, which comes with Pro from $20 a month.
5. Publish to the App Store under your own Apple Developer account, $99 a year paid to Apple. Borel drafts the category from your app, and you can change it.

Make a plant care app. I add each plant with a photo, where it lives and how often it needs water. The home screen shows which plants need water today, and I tick them off. Remind me in the morning on watering days.

The bottom line

Most iPhone apps fit one of twelve types: utilities, productivity, health and fitness, habits and wellbeing, education, finance, food and drink, travel, lifestyle and home, business, social and games. Personal trackers and tools are the quickest to build and the most likely to be used every day. Pick the type closest to your idea, find its page on Borel's make hub, and describe your own version.

I like seeing which of these types people pick, because it says a lot about what they wish their phone did. Pick one, make your own version on Borel, and tell me what you built.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

Describe the app you want and see its first screens before you pay anything.