iPhone Software – AppSniper

App Sniper by Manta Research

App sniper is a really great piece of software that will enable you to get some real bargain software for your iPhone.  The software connects to the App Sniper server at startup and synchronizes the latest software from the last session.

The sniper part of the name comes from the ability to mark a piece of software for interest at a certain price.  So for example if you saw a piece of software for say, $9.95 and think you would like this but at a lower price, you simply add a snipe price in the software and each time you sync it checks this to see if the condition is met.  If so, you will see a tag on the snipe section leading you to go in and check the new price.  If you want to buy simply click the buy now and you exit the application and are taken into the usual iPhone App store app with the application you selected ready to buy.  YOU SHOULD DOUBLE CHECK THE PRICE  IN THE APP STORE AS  THE PRICE IN APP SNIPER IS OCCASIONALY INCORRECT.

A really great feature of this software is the ability to check the price of a software title over a period of time.  The last 90 days is shown in a graph with minimum, maximum values also shown.  From this you can easily work out a pattern to see if it’s worth waiting a while longer for an app.

Another useful feature is the ability to view software in a more orgonised system than the App Store presently supports so it is easier to look through software types for a software title you are interested in.

The biggest problem I found with using this app os that I soon filled every single screen with applications as I found free or bargain titles I just had to have.

A downside with App Sniper is the fact that you have to actually go into the application each day to check if there are any titles that are showing as snipes.  It is quick and easy to do this and some might wish there was a way to get an email alert but this is not possible as Apple do not at present allow 3rd party software developers to run as a background task, hence the need to open the app and manually check.

This has remained one of my favourite apps on the iPhone and has repaid the very small investment in buying the app. At 59p UK price or $0.99c this app is a bargain.  I have been using the app for at least 6 months now and it gets better.  There have been the ocasional crashes but on the whole my experience is pretty good.