Four Open Source Apps for Your iPhone

There aren't a ton of open source apps available for the iPhone, but the ones that are out there are real gems. Here's four of our favorites:

Colloquy [iTunes link]- One of the most popular open source IRC clients for the Mac takes its show on the road with it's mobile version for the iPhone. It runs in the background to track conversations and tells you at a glance where the action is. It also alerts you when someone in the channels you’ve joined uses your nickname or keywords you’ve pre-designated. Mobile Colloquy will set you back $1.99, but it's well worth the price to be able to stay logged in to your favorite IRC channels when you're on the move. To learn more about this slick app, check out my overview at The Apple Blog.

Funambol - Funambol's iPhone Sync Client bridges the great divide to let your iPhone sync your contacts with Web mail systems and email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird. It also serves as a handy contact database backup method for your iPhone in case the unthinkable happens.

wikiHow - If you're not familiar with the online collaborative how-to manual wikiHow, then you really must check it out. Once you're hooked, you'll want its app on your iPhone for sure. It lets you search through more than 50,000 articles, read the site's RSS feed, and store articles you like right on your phone. The app even includes the wikiHow Survival Kit, a batch of articles stored right to your phone that cover first aid, wilderness survival, and a host of other things you may need to know in a pinch.

WordPress - Popular blogging platform WordPress released its users from the bonds of journaling from a PC when it released WordPress for iPhone. Write and edit posts, upload pictures, manage comments, and edit pages right from your iPhone. The app includes support for WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress, and works with all models of the iPhone and iPod touch.