Two Ways to the App Store

You can get to the App Store in two ways: from the phone itself, or from your computer's copy of the iTunes software.

Using iTunes offers a much easier browsing and shopping experience, of course, because you've got a mouse, a keyboard, and that big screen. But downloading straight to the iPhone, without ever involving the computer, is also wicked cool—and it's your only option when you're out and about.

Shopping from the Phone

To check out the App Store from your iPhone, tap the App Store icon. You arrive at the colorful, scrolling wonder of the store itself.

Across the bottom, you'll see the now-familiar iPhone lineup of buttons that control your view of the store:

  • Featured. Here are the 30 programs Apple is recommending this week.

  • Categories. This list shows the entire catalog, organized by category: Books, Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Games, and so on. Tap a category to see what's in it.

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  • Top 25. Tap this button to reveal a list of the 25 most popular programs at the moment, ranked by how many people have downloaded them. You can also tap the Top Free button at the top of the screen to see the most popular free programs. There are lots of them, and they're one of the great joys of the App Store.

  • Search. Scrolling through those massive lists is a ...

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