App Smart: Unveiling the Bag of Tricks Inside Your Smartphone

But that does mean I’ve not explored every trick in my phone’s repertoire. For help with that, I turn to a few of the many apps that reveal those tips. These apps are also handy if you’re looking at a brand-new device in bewilderment.

Among the best iPhone “tips” apps I’ve found is Tips for iPhone — Tricks & Secrets (currently free on iTunes). This has been freshly updated for iOS 6 and has hoards of handy hints and tricks.

The real joy of this app is its heavy reliance on graphics. In the center of the screen is a photo or a graphic demonstrating a gesture, all of which are extremely clear and simple. Beneath this is a bright red banner bearing a title that’s akin to a newspaper headline for the tip in question. A tap or drag on this banner brings up a short text summary of the tip itself.

If you’re simply curious to learn, then you can just swipe through each tip on a whim and pull up details on the ones that intrigue you (the banner headline “The Bluetooth Fairy” always catches my eye, for example).

This app can also take you directly to a tip to help you understand an iPhone feature or perhaps solve a problem. The easiest way to find a specific hint is to use the app’s built-in search powers. You can also try looking under the Categories tab. This lists tips under headings like “Email,” “Photos, Music and Video” and so on, and under the “Troubleshooting” section you’ll find useful data like how to keep the phone up to date.

The app also has user comments, and you can share interesting tips with friends via e-mail or Twitter. Tips for iPhone is intuitive and helpful, plus it’s a great way to while away a few spare minutes.

If your mind is more organized, you may prefer the free app Guide for iOS 6 — Tips & Tricks. This app has similar content but has a listlike format. One of these lists is for iOS 5 tips, useful if you haven’t upgraded. There’s a section for Time Saver hints (like searching the Web for a phrase via the iPhone’s spotlight search bar) and one for Keyboard Tricks, and it’ll also help you solve problems. The app keeps 50 more “professional” secrets for an upgrade costing you $1.

While this app is definitely useful and easy to operate, occasionally some of the tips it suggests may feel a little obvious.

For a simpler tips app, you may enjoy the iOS 6-centric Tips & Tricks (currently free on iTunes). This app’s subtitle is “new features for girls,” and its décor is pink. The advice is broken down into extremely simple categories, each adorned with cute graphics, and you can choose “novice” tips or “talent” tips depending on your experience.

Despite its whimsical design, it’s very useful and taught me a trick or two. It told me, step by step, how to add those cute Japanese emoji characters to text messages.

When it comes to Android phones, there is a problem with hints and tips apps because of the diverse versions of the Android operating system used on a vast array of smartphones. Manufacturers also tweak some Android editions, which complicates matters.

One useful Android hints app is Droid Secret Tips (free with ads, or $2 for an ad-free “pro” version). This one is worth a mention because it contains tips for most versions of Android, and its maker promises that advice for Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and tablet-centric tips are on the way.

The app categorizes useful information by level of user experience. But the app delivers its information as text-only and is not browsable by category. This means it’s probably more useful for consulting on a casual basis rather than when you need specific advice.

Android Secrets Lite is another free helper app that’s relatively up-to-date, and it contains information about devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3. It has a comprehensive list of tips, and where it gives you advice it does so clearly — for example, listing actions in order and guiding you through menu options. There are images to help with some of the tricks. To get to its “advanced” section, where it guides you through complex tasks like formatting an SD card, you have to pay for the full app, but it’s under a dollar.

If you pay attention to their advice, you may find you learn something. I definitely did!

Quick Calls

The popular Android photography app Camera ZOOM FX has just had a makeover. The look is modernized and there are many new features that will please photographers, including brightness, ISO and exposure control. It’s $2.99 on Google Play and is a good alternative to your phone’s stock camera app. ... Sega’s popular Sonic the Hedgehog has just appeared in a brand-new game called Sonic Jump ($2 on iOS). The game is the first original mobile-only game Sega has put together for the phone.

App City: Tricks to Finding Food, and to Paying for It

Here are a few more to consider adding to your phone.

Foodspotting is an app whose basic function is to let people share photographs of food, with the idea that once you see what you want to eat, you can go to the restaurant that serves it. Lots of people are adding photos, not all of them inspiring: I clicked the “nearby” tab while sitting in my apartment, and the closest image was a photograph that someone from the corner bar had taken of a Bud Light. An Italian restaurant seems to be adding images of its entire menu, and one of my Facebook friends is posting dozens of images from restaurants around town. When you upload an image, you have to indicate the restaurant the food came from, so other users can find their way to the dishes themselves.

If you want to find a restaurant recommendation another way, the app also allows you to follow specific users, or to browse guides where people have posted recommendations for vegetarians, or people who love nachos. And a deals function is built in under the “specials” tab (free for iPhones and other Apple devices, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry).

If deals are really what you are after, check out BiteHunter, which aggregates offerings from various daily deals sites and places them on a map. It’s a fine idea, and there are plenty of opportunities to eat for cheap. It is not without its glitches, though. On the two consecutive days I looked at the app, none of the deals from Restaurants.com, a large deals site, were working. (BiteHunter blamed Restaurant.com, but really, do I care whose fault it is?) Also, the world of daily deals has its annoyances, and BiteHunter does not help you avoid them. I settled on a Groupon and bought it through BiteHunter with no problem. But in exchange for the cheap meal, Groupon started sending me an alarming number of e-mails about other ways to spend my money (free for iPhones and other Apple devices with iOS 4.0 or later).

Of course, once you have found a restaurant and eaten your fill, the check will show up. A new app called Foodivide helps you end an otherwise pleasant evening without grumbling about how so-and-so never pays for all the wine he drinks. The app, which is strikingly well-designed, lets a user tally up what each person had, and will even divide items between people for the sharers in your group. Once the bill has been entered, decide how much of a tip you’re leaving, and Foodivide tells everyone exactly what they owe (99 cents for iPhones and other Apple devices with iOS 5.0 or later).

Have a favorite New York City app? Send tips via e-mail to appcity@nytimes.com or via Twitter to @joshuabrustein.

App City: Tricks to Finding Food, and to Paying for It

Here are a few more to consider adding to your phone.

Foodspotting is an app whose basic function is to let people share photographs of food, with the idea that once you see what you want to eat, you can go to the restaurant that serves it. Lots of people are adding photos, not all of them inspiring: I clicked the “nearby” tab while sitting in my apartment, and the closest image was a photograph that someone from the corner bar had taken of a Bud Light. An Italian restaurant seems to be adding images of its entire menu, and one of my Facebook friends is posting dozens of images from restaurants around town. When you upload an image, you have to indicate the restaurant the food came from, so other users can find their way to the dishes themselves.

If you want to find a restaurant recommendation another way, the app also allows you to follow specific users, or to browse guides where people have posted recommendations for vegetarians, or people who love nachos. And a deals function is built in under the “specials” tab (free for iPhones and other Apple devices, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry).

If deals are really what you are after, check out BiteHunter, which aggregates offerings from various daily deals sites and places them on a map. It’s a fine idea, and there are plenty of opportunities to eat for cheap. It is not without its glitches, though. On the two consecutive days I looked at the app, none of the deals from Restaurants.com, a large deals site, were working. (BiteHunter blamed Restaurant.com, but really, do I care whose fault it is?) Also, the world of daily deals has its annoyances, and BiteHunter does not help you avoid them. I settled on a Groupon and bought it through BiteHunter with no problem. But in exchange for the cheap meal, Groupon started sending me an alarming number of e-mails about other ways to spend my money (free for iPhones and other Apple devices with iOS 4.0 or later).

Of course, once you have found a restaurant and eaten your fill, the check will show up. A new app called Foodivide helps you end an otherwise pleasant evening without grumbling about how so-and-so never pays for all the wine he drinks. The app, which is strikingly well-designed, lets a user tally up what each person had, and will even divide items between people for the sharers in your group. Once the bill has been entered, decide how much of a tip you’re leaving, and Foodivide tells everyone exactly what they owe (99 cents for iPhones and other Apple devices with iOS 5.0 or later).

Have a favorite New York City app? Send tips via e-mail to appcity@nytimes.com or via Twitter to @joshuabrustein.