This is a guest post by Paul Dickinson of Manchester Internet Marketing and Mobile App Development Agency, Tecmark.

We’re going mobile mental! The success of the Smartphone means that many of us now engage in social networking, emailing, blog posting and even work on the move. Armed with an iPhone, there’s really no excuse to be unreachable, either by phone, text or email. This has meant, for many, that commuting by bus or train equates to more hours of productivity, given that you can now answer business emails on the go.

But it’s not all about productivity and working on the go. Oh no! Of the 5 billion downloads from the Apple App Store, a good proportion have been ‘just for fun,’ games or utilities etc. Here we take a look at 5 iPhone apps that probably won’t change your life – but they’re a lot of fun regardless!

Shine On!

Exclusively for iPhone 4, Shine On makes lighting up dark surroundings much quicker. It uses the phone’s LED light as a torch and is the ‘fastest and brightest’ torch on the app store. I know, I know… it won’t change your life. It won’t make you employee of the month and it won’t make you an overnight millionaire. But it will make looking for things in the dark much easier and well, it’s the small things, isn’t it?

Foursquare

The Foursquare app is not only a social networking app. Oh no – it’s a social networking app that tells your friends (and stalkers) exactly where you are at any given time. Well, only if you ‘check in’ at your given location. Yes, we know all about the potential dangers of half your city knowing exactly where you are, but if you exercise a bit of caution about what you publicise and who to, it’s absolutely fine. Again, this app isn’t going to make your life instantly perfect, but…. you can become a fictional mayor of your local Starbucks if you’re lucky. And that’s surprisingly satisfying!

Doodle Jump

Arguably the most addictive game on the App Store, Doodle Jump is infuriating. It’s a really simple game and has been in Apple’s top 25 chart seemingly forever. You’re the little doodle guy who continually jumps higher and higher. You’ve got to navigate him to the safety of platforms simply by turning your phone in the right direction (the game uses the iPhone’s accelerometer). The aim? Just to get as high as you can. It’s not as easy as it sounds though. Just like every other app in this list, it won’t revolutionise your life and it may even cause you to pull out your own hair. It’s all worth it though for the strangely empty sense of satisfaction you get each time you beat your highscore.

Coffee Art

Coffee Art is an app about, well, coffee art. For anyone not all that familiar with the concept, it’s basically about making artistic shapes on the top of your coffee using milk. And this is an app dedicated to showing you how. It won’t make a difference to your quality of life, but it will double the time you take over your morning coffee.  Entirely pointless but bizarrely enjoyable.

iFart

With iFart, the name says it all. Describing itself with the line – “#1 Fart Machine – Now With Fart Buddies,” you get pretty much exactly what you would expect. The funny thing about this digital fart noise generator is that it really brings the juvenile side of you out. The love of toilet humour you had as a teen and thought you’d grown out of? Guess what, it’s back!

These apps won’t improve your life. They won’t make you more productive and they probably won’t help you on your way to a promotion. But who cares?