Three overlooked Apple apps you should start using right now

The company has spent a lot of time working on several of the core apps across its platforms, trying to ensure that they provide a great experience.

- DAN MOREN

Software - good software, at least - is in a continual state of evolution. It's one of the most impressive things about the current state of affairs in technology, even if it's something most of us take for granted. Once upon a time, you bought a device, and how it was at that point was basically how it was for the rest of its lifetime.

But software can change and improve. Case in point: A recent story in The Wall Street Journal suggested that opinions on Apple Maps (fave.co/3PXck4e) have changed in the decade since its tumultuous release. Once the (rightful) butt of jokes (fave.co/46jy1By), it's now become a respectable piece of mapping software in its own right, a worthy competitor to Google Maps.

And it's not the only piece of Apple software to follow such a trajectory. The company has spent a lot of time working on several of the core apps across its platforms, trying to ensure that they provide a great experience. Are there third-party options that are equally good? Absolutely, and in some cases they are better. Still, while Apple could have rested on its laurels with its built-in apps, getting them just to the point of "good enough," there are plenty of places where it has added features and enhanced capabilities year after year. If you haven't checked them out recently, here are three that may be worth another look.

TAKE NOTE 

Perhaps no app in Apple's catalog has come as far as Notes. When it debuted with the original iPhone in 2007, Notes was the height of skeuomorphic design: a yellow-ruled notepad with just a single font option, the much-maligned Marker Felt.