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Seven great sources for free iOS apps (screenshots)

A lot of apps are already a bargain at a buck or two, but nothing beats free. These sites, apps, and services help you find free and newly free downloads for your iDevice.

Rick Broida
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
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1 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

148Apps Now Free

Sure, a lot of apps are already a bargain at a buck or two, but nothing beats free. This collection of sites, apps, and services will help you find free (and newly free) downloads for your iDevice.

For example, 148Apps Now Free, a Twitter-powered offshoot of app-review site 148Apps, delivers a daily deluge of tweets about apps that have just become free. It's almost too much to handle--but still a great way to discover gratis apps.

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2 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

AppGiveaway

You know how you never win contests? At AppGiveaway, your chances are way above average. The site is updated daily with new app-code giveaways from developers. Pick any app you want to win and click "Enter this giveaway." You can even improve your chances by tweeting the giveaway, "liking" it on Facebook, following AppGiveaway, and so on.
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3 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

AppShopper

AppShopper is a great resource for all things app: new stuff, price drops, the top apps in various categories, and so on. To find newly free titles, click the "Free" button in the toolbar, then the "Price Drops" button to the right of it. What's nice is that you can narrow down the list by category, something that few of the other sites offer.
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4 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

Free App a Day

Free App a Day offers exactly what you'd expect: a new freebie every day. (One each for iPhone, iPad, and Android!) And although the name suggests otherwise, most of the offers last for a couple days. Still, you'll want to check in regularly to make sure you don't miss anything good. Better yet, sign up for e-mail notification, which you can filter based on categories of interest--a nice touch. Alternately, you can follow FAAD's Twitter feed.

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5 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

OpenFeint

OpenFeint is best known for hosting multiplayer games, cataloging high scores, and so on. But the site also offers an exclusive free game every day. You'll find the latest titles listed on the right side of the page under "Free Game of the Day."
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6 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

FreeAppAlert

FreeAppAlert produces a daily roundup of apps that previously cost money but are now free (either temporarily or permanently, though it doesn't indicate which). The site is great, with full-size screenshots that appear when you mouse over thumbnails, but I like the reminders I get from FreeAppAlert's Facebook feed.
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7 of 7 Screenshot by Rick Broida

PandoraBox and Bargain Bin

What would an iDevice be without free apps that steer you to other free apps? BargainBin With Push and PandoraBox serve up new apps that are free as well as newly free apps. Even better, they can monitor selected titles (like the pricey GPS navigation apps) and notify you of price drops. I can't decide which one I like better--so I use both!

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