6 Best iPhone Apps for Investing in Stocks

I spend a decent amount of time traveling, not in front of a computer. This forced me to explore almost all the iPhone stock investing apps. I know there are many top 10 / top 5 lists out there, but unlike other lists that were created focused on average customer reviews, this list is derived from my experience. It could be a little subjective, but I've been disappointed by the apps in these lists because most of them weren't based on a real hands-on experience. I'm sure there are people out there that want some type of experience based list so here it is.

1) Bloomberg

This is hands down one of the best iPhone apps for investors. All the news, international index quotes, and graphs are here. There are so many other apps that provide similar information but Bloomberg has the most content. The interface is easy to use. Although it doesn't bother me, some people complain about the design, saying it looks old and archaic.

2) CNBC

CNBC app is similar to Bloomberg iPhone app in that it provides a lot of content. CNBC provides extensive video content too. Still, I feel that Bloomberg provides a little more news and has larger pool of international stocks. Since I have a few international stocks in my portfolio I end up using Bloomberg more often. One thing CNBC has that Bloomberg doesn't is the sleek design. From all the investing apps I've used, CNBC's design is the best.

3) Analyst Rating Tracker

When I worked at a hedge fund, we tracked analyst ratings for stocks in our portfolio because their ratings do affect the stock price. They are far from perfect, but do influence the stock price. I needed an app that allowed me to keep track of analyst ratings, but there weren’t any until this app came out a month ago. I have been relying my analyst ratings on this app ever since. A great app with great content.

4) StockAlert

You can’t be checking on your stock prices all the time. You have a life to live. But you want some type of reminder from your iPhone when a stock reaches a certain price. This app allows you to set that price and send you alerts. So once it’s set up, you won’t be checking this app frequently unless you set the target prices very close to your stock price.

5) FS Viewer – Financial Statement Viewer

Any serious investor needs to look at financial statements and financial ratios when making an investment decision. FS Viewer is the only app in the appstore that provides financial statement and ratios going back either 6 years or 6 quarters. Free online websites like Google Finance or Yahoo Finance offer historical financial statements but not historical financial ratios. The ratio you get from these websites are all real time. It’s difficult to find historical financial ratios online. This app provides you with such data too. I’ve frequently used this app, and have also downloaded the iPad version as well.

6) Ace Stock Screener

This app allows you to filter for stocks using 23 criteria. I believe there is only one stock screener app in the appstore. This is it. Although I’m not fully satisfied with this app due to the small number of criteria available, since this is the only app of its kind, I keep end up coming back to it.

There are many great investing apps out there such as MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, Morningstar, iFutures, Kapitall, The Street, iStockManager, Risk Manger, DailyFinance, but due to many different reasons, I ended up not ever using them. Also I didn’t list any apps that required you to get a trading account from them. People say eTrade apps are good, but since i don’t have an account with them, I never tested its apps.

I've also created a list called, "Top 5 iPad Apps for Investing in Stocks". Please Check it out!!