Free Apps for a Perfect New England Summer

One of best seasons for enjoying the Boston area, summer in New England is perfection.

Whether you head to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game, enjoy hiking in New Hampshire, or cherish lounging on our sandy seacoasts, here are a pocket full of mobile apps to help make the most out of the beautiful weather this summer.

With our selection of fun mobile apps, not only will you locate the best places to spend your time, you’ll also find new summer music, be able to organize BBQs on the go, and create a fantastic beach reading list for your iPad.

8tracks Music Playlist

An iOS7 upgrade in the 8tracks Music Playlist app allows users to explore new music with multi-tag searches by theme or genre.

When exploring “newest’’ + “summer’’ I found Lamento En La Selva by Los Mirlos. Groovy.

You can also select Staff Picks or Trending, allowing others to open your musical horizons.

Now share 8track playlists on Tumblr and WhatsApp, or download the 8tracks xBox app to play music on bigger screens. Perfect for summer house parties.

Available for free from 8tracks, Inc. on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

MLB.com At Bat

The official app of Major League Baseball, you won’t miss a moment this summer with MLB.com At Bat.

Video playbacks, instant replays, and a league-wide scoreboard are a few of the app’s free features. Upgraded subscriptions give access to Spring Training and a video library searchable by player, team or keyword.

MLB.com also offers Get At Bat, a mobile app to experience “Every Pitch. Live. Everywhere.’’ Or for Red Sox fans, download At the Ballpark, Fenway Park’s app for promotions and in-game features.

Available from MLB.com for free on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android

Checklist Mom

Featured on Parents.com and USA Today, Checklist Mom is a mobile app that helps keep busy moms and their families on track.

Promising to “take organization to the next level,’’ I’m always looking for an easier way to coordinate summer gatherings.

With Checklist’s custom to-do lists, calendar and reminders, it was easy to create line-item shopping lists, which I shared with others via email and text. Now we’ll never wind up with two potato salads (again).

Watch the Checklist Mom YouTube video here.

Available for free from Next Generation Mobile Inc. on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Everest

Believing that your life is more than your last photo, the Everest mobile app lives by the slogan, “One Life. Many Journeys.’’

With every moment telling a story, web profiles are created in Everest for all users and public journeys. Here you can choose to post quietly or celebrate milestone moments with the community.

You can also follow interesting people and keep up with their journeys to gain inspiration for your next adventure.

Available from Everest for free on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Jetpac City Guide

Jetpac City Guides analyzes billions of public Instagram photos to help find popular places of interest to you.

From surfers on the South Shore to business travelers wanting to make the most of Boston, Jetpac uses Instagram pictures to spotlight Outdoor Activities, Live Music, Happiest Places and more. No reviews; people vote for places by sharing photos on Instagram.

Available in every city in the world, watch Jetpac’s video here, or download Jetpac’s framework on GitHub to build your own custom object recognition.

Available from Jetpac for free on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

MovieFone App

With summer always comes new movies, but how can you quickly decide which blockbusters to spend your $ on?

Rated the “Best Use of Mobile by a Publisher,’’ the MovieFone App displays movie trailers, top box office hits and reviews, all searchable by movie title, keyword or actor.

This app also delivers theater showtimes nearby. You can even buy your tickets on the go to any of MovieFone’s participating theaters.

And if you’re not too full on movie theater popcorn, with Moviefone you can check out local restaurants around your theater.

Available from AOL, Inc. for free on iPhone, iPad, Android

Waterkeeper Swim Guide

Locate a nearby beach to cool off or heat things up this summer with the Waterkeeper Swim Guide mobile app.

Search through lists, pictures and maps of beaches closest to you or discover over 5,000 beaches along the Atlantic, Great Lakes, Gulf and Pacific coasts.

The Waterkeeper mobile app also offers information on nearby lakes and rivers, as well as historic facts, camping locations and real-time water conditions, including temperatures, tides and shark warnings. You can even report pollution concerns!

Available from Lake Ontario Waterkeeper for free on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android

Zite

The Zite mobile app recommends stories based on your reading habits and the topics you like.

Zite stories are collected from various online sources based on the topics you choose. You can also organize topics into Quicklists, or browse Your Top Stories.

My beach-ready topics include Serious Eats, iOS Apps, Game of Thrones, Healthy Living and Photo of the Day.

Available for free from Zite, Inc. on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android