My Review of 56 IPhone Magic Apps

Also prices correct as off: 4th January 2012

The iPhone has revolutionised everything we do, from the way we play games and watch TV, to writing reports, taking pictures and yes, even making phone calls which can now be done with video along with words.
So it was only a matter of time before magic tricks exploited this new medium for its own gain. I personally close my lecture and adult cabaret show with a trick on the iPhone so I know how powerful it can be, if utilised in the right way.

So for this article, I wanted to give you all a brief idea of what tricks I have discovered and like to play around with. I have not downloaded and used them all. Many I worked out the method after watching the demo video and if it was that obvious to me, I felt I could rate it without having to buy it. Most of the apps have videos demos Youtube and http://www.alakazapps.com.

If a force is used for the trick to work, I’ve included it in the description. If certain details were left out of the add description which affects the working of the trick, I’ve included it in the description. I’ve tried not to reveal any methods, but anybody with knowledge of iphone apps will understand certain principles in play from my descriptions. I do explain two effects as they are public domain in my opinion. If they are a problem, you are welcome to edit the thread to remove them.

In the end, this list is not to help creators sell their bad apps; it’s to help users learn what tricks to spend their money on.

As this is a long list, here are my top 5:

1. Marty’s Psypic
2. iWash (from the Byrd DVD)
3. iCalc
4. Andy Nyman Presents – Mindreader
5. Mental Killer

So, without any further delays let’s begin:

Marty’s Psypic - £1.99
You show a photograph on your phone from your great, great, great Granddad claiming he was a magician that could see into the future. He has already predicted what card you are about to select. You now ask the spectator to name any card they wish; it is a completely free choice. You then show the spectator that you can zoom in and around on the photo and then ask them to look around until they find your Granddad. They do so, and see that in his hand is the very card they named.
This is a very powerful effect, and any of the 52 cards in the pack can be made to appear in the photo. I will say that memorizing the process can take a bit of mastering, but once you have it down, the trick is awesome. There are 3 photographs to choose from, so you can repeat the effect and a second version of the tricks using animals instead of playing cards is also available to use.
My Rating – 96%

Grow Shrink Head Illusion - £0.69
You show a weird design on your phone and ask the spectator to stare at it. It spins around for 30 seconds, and then they look at your head to see it growing. You repeat the effect only this time they look at their hand and see it shrinking.
This is the classic Shrinking and Growing head illusion done on the phone. Because the turning is constant and perfect, the illusion works 90% of the time, far more than the large version. It’s very simple to use and operate and great fun to play with
My Rating – 92%

Coin Production – Make It Yourself
This is a trick you make up yourself using the camera on your phone. Take a picture of your empty hand, and then another picture with your hand in the same position holding a coin. You simply slide your thumb over the screen changing the picture to the empty hand while simultaneously dropping the coin into the other hand. When timed correctly, it looks as though you have just produced a coin from the inside of the phone.
This was the trick as it was originally performed. However using a bit of imagination, you can create many other effects and produce many other items.
I personally love the idea of performing a John Kennedy Mystery Box type effect, by showing a folded card on the phone desktop, and producing the card from the phone using the same manor, as though you have just pulled the card out of the phone. It’s quite a finish for any card routine…
My Rating – 80%

Card2Phone – Magic Trick - £2.49
This is same effect as the Coin Production, but done with an iPhone desktop as the back image (instead of a hand). It also comes pre-loaded with wide-selection of images such as playing cards, notes and other objects. It also allows you to move the object around inside the photo like an animation which is a cool addition. However it loses marks for not having the UK 50p piece amongst its collection.
My Rating – 85%

Thought Receiver (Magic Stage) - £3.99
(Comes with the following 8 effects below for free)
A spectator thinks of one of the three colours displayed on the screen. The phone then shows a weird animation before displaying the name of the colour they're thinking of.
When you have a trick above with 52 options, any trick with just three options to choose from seems weak in comparison. The animation looks nice though.
My Rating – 40%

Mystic Hand (Magic Stage) - £0.69
A picture of a golden hand is shown on the phone. A card is selected and returned to the deck. The phone is place above the cards and the golden hand reaches down into the pack, finds the selected card, turns it over and puts it back inside. The cards are then spread to show the selected card having turned over.
I don’t want to give away secrets, but there is a force involved. The method they use to turn the card over is okay, but easier methods exist. But the animation is great and this turns an old trick into something with more interesting and unusual which I like.
My Rating – 80%

Amazing Magic Match / Matchstick (Magic Stage) - £0.99
Show a picture of matchbox on the phone, open it to display one matchstick. You then reach into the phone and produce the match, leaving a smoke trail in the photo.
The puff of smoke really does help this effect, although it is basically the same as the Coin Production above. If you want a cool way of producing a match, then this is it. But it’s not a trick, it’s just a bit of fun.
Rating – 40%

Magic Compass (Magic Stage) – £0.69
A spectator can place any small object next to your device and it will be discovered by the compass needle on the phone.
I don’t get this one. It’s not a trick in my opinion as the iPhone can do anything; it just looks like a normal operation of the phone.
My Rating – 15%

Photo Escape - £0.69
A photograph of Houdini disappears from the phones screen and appears printed on a blank piece of card.
You’re basically doing the paddle move, along with a screen change. The fact that the spectator never really sees both sides of a card is awkward and the fact that they never handle it before the transposition handles it makes this even less impressive. But using the techniques it teaches, you can use the sleights to magically print your own business cards before handing them out, which is a nice idea.
My Rating – 50%

Pencil Stab - £0.69
You impale a chosen playing card on a virtual pencil from inside the phone.
An obviously forced card is used in this attempt to create the old card sword trick with a phone. Perhaps if he had a duplicate card under the phone, and he used the sliding image technique to create the effect of pulling the card out of the phone, it would be a lot stronger. But as it is, its not that good.
My Rating – 25%

Notepad (Magic Stage) - £0.69
You turn over the pages on a note book to reveal the name of the selected card.
I don’t have the effect, but Very weak and obvious force which won’t fool anybody.
My Rating – 5%

Super Strength - £0.69
You show an animation on the phone of a nail imbedded into a block of wood. You are able to lift the nail out of the wood, but the spectator cannot.
Again, this is not a magic trick, but more of an how to touch the phone app. To the spectators, you know it’s just about where you touch it that makes it work and its not really that impressive.
My Rating – 20%

Bottle Cap (Magic Stage) - £0.69
You show a picture of a bottle, and after a small animation, pull the bottle cap out of the picture.
It’s been done before only this time with a bottle cap. It doesn’t really do anything and cannot be presented as a serious trick.
My Rating – 30%

(End of free apps that come with the Magic Stage Package)

Magic Rabbit Trick – £1.99
A coin or small object is placed anywhere around the phone, and a picture of a rbbit will point his carrot at it.
This is the exact same trick as the compass effect above, only with a rabbit. It gets an extra 5% for having a rabbit in use, to make it be more perceived as a magic effect, but really, its all just time-wasting.
My Rating – 20%

Magic Box (Appibia) - Free
Think of a two digit number. Do some math with that number and then with the new number look at a list to see what object is at that number. Press the button and the phone tells you what your thinking off.
It’s the old 99 list effect. A bit of math makes the effect a little cumbersome, but the app is free and you can change the picture ten times so that the effect is repeatable.
My Rating = 70%

Andy Nyman Presents – Mindreader - £0.69
You show a pack of playing cards on your phone, and ask the spectator to choose one (free choice). They then close the app showing the cards and put the phone down. You are then able to tell them what card they are thinking off.
The trick is all about timing and when to look at the phone so as to not arise suspicion. But the method in use is genius thinking and is an absolute steal at the price.
My Rating: 92%

Renditions Design – Magic Card - £2.99
A card is selected (forced) and lost in the pack. You take a photo of the pack with your phone and watch a card in the photo morph into the selected chosen card.
The selling point of this effect is that the background of the cards stays the same, while the app only changes the cards in the image. This means the picture you show them is the picture you actually did take. But it also means your handling of the camera but me very still as there are guidelines fro where the cards need to be in relation to the distance from the camera. Still, at the end of the days it just another card trick.
My Rating – 70%

iForce – Greg Rostami – £1.99
There are a number of effects with this trick, so I’ll describe the easiest and hardest. The easiest is that you show a drawing program on the iphone and write a prediction upon it. You then place it face down on the table. You ask the spectator to call out any number from 1-4, and when you turn the phone over, that number is written on the screen.
As an effect, its weak and with only 4 outs on a 4-sided device, quite obvious in my opinion.

The hardest is the 3 coin trick, where you make your prediction on the drawing pad, and a coin is flipped in the air three times. You note which way it lands (heads or tails) each time.
When they have finished flipping, you turn the phone over to show you predicted which way it would land each time.
This trick is killer and gets A+++++ in my opinion. It is described as ‘hard’ because you have to be careful how you turn the phone over as there are eight outs. But for the spectator, its absolutely fries them and well worth the practice needed to perform the effect.

But the real treat about this program is that you can customise it for your own tricks. You can create your own tricks using this app. I made my own using all eight UK Coins. Basically, it’s a multiple out devise for up to 8 items. But does take quite a bit of practice to get perfect.
My Rating – 90%

iPredict - Greg Rostami – £1.99
The spectator selects a card, they ring a name from your contact list and the answering machine that picks up names the card.
This trick is useless outside the USA. All the numbers are USA based and there are better ways of doing tricks like this without it costing you a fortune each time. The numbers are also real, so for how long they will stay working for is anyone’s guess. If your in the US, then maybe it will be better for you.
My Rating – 50%

Magic Eye – Raymond - £2.49
A card is selected from the pack on the iPhone, and the spectator turns the card over in the phone. You place your hand over the phone and tell them what card they selected.
It takes a secret from a normal magician’s pack of cards and incorporates it into the iPhone deck. Really simple to perform once you know what to look for. The trick is in not looking at the phone too much.
My Rating: 85%

Spirit Writer – SharperMinds - £1.49
The spectator thinks of any three digit number, and when you turn the phone over, the number on the screen matches what they said.
The trick does not work with any number ending in zero. The advert won’t tell you this, and if they select a number ending in zero, the trick has failed.
My Rating: Don’t own, so not rating.

CardOracle by Yves Domergue - £24.49
You launch CardOracle and give your iPhone and an ordinary deck of playing cards to a spectator. From this moment, you are no longer going to touch your phone or cards.
The deck shuffled by a spectator and they deal 5 cards face down on the table. The deck is then shuffled again by the spectator and 4 of the 5 cards turned face up and keyed one by one into the CardOracle application which then makes a prediction. 'The next card will be... (for instance) the King of Hearts'. The fifth card is turned over: it IS the King of Hearts!
This is just the beginning though... The spectator then deals 4 face down cards. These are shuffled and one is placed aside. The remaining three cards are keyed into CardOracle in the order they wish. Once again, CardOracle makes a prediction as to what card is next and, when the fourth card is turned over, it is the predicted card!
But things are still far from over... The spectator turns over half the deck and shuffles once more. They freely choose 2 of the face-up cards and enter these in CardOracle. Yet again, CardOracle predicts without fail what card is next! Now for the grand finale!
The iPhone is shaken and a whole deck of cards appears on the screen, the top card being the same as the one on the deck on the table - let's say it's the 3 of Spades.
The next card on the iPhone is the 5 of Clubs. So it is on the deck!
Following that is the Queen of Hearts on both the iPhone and the deck!
And so on, and so on!
In front of the bemused and bedazzled spectator's eyes, the iPhone has managed to predict the order of the entire shuffled deck, right after it had been shuffled by them!
Shockingly high price, no video demo, the advert is in French, but the screenshots show English so not really surprised that there are no reviews. The trick description sounds too good to be true, while also being incredibly confusing and boring to listen to. I’ll let someone else rate it.

Magic Wallet – Hottrix - £1.99
Effect: You tap your phone and suddenly the desktop starts filling with coins. You reach behind it, and your finger appears on the iphone screen. You grab a coin and slide it out the top on the end of your finger into reality.

This is the same trick as many above, only with the addition of the finger entering the phone, which I will admit is a very nice touch. It really does make this effect into a cool toy that you will want to show people. You have numerous options to select the various currency and skin tone of the finger. However you will need to practice the effect as timing is a key part of the effect (you have to move in-sync with the video playing).
My Rating: 80%

iCalc by Sean Goodman - £6.99
You borrow a spectators phone and bring up the calculator. You check to see that it works and then hand the calculator to a spectator. You make a prediction on a piece of paper and place it in full view. The spectators now input a bunch of numbers a calculations into the phone and press equals. The total sun just happens to match your prediction.
This trick is also taught on the Richard Osterlind – Live Without a Net DVD, Its got a free tutorial video on Youtube with Scam School and I’ve been performing the exact same effect with a normal calculator for years. I think its fair to say the formula is in the public domain and what you are buying here is the knowledge that the formula works with an iphone as well as a normal calculator. The trick itself is good, and I use a variation of the effect to close one of my shows with.
My Rating: 95%

Faster than Calc by Alex Hui - $2.99
A spectator enters a formula anyway he likes into the iPhone calc app, and without having him pressed the = button, you instantly knows the answer.
I saw the method the second time I watched the effect, but then I know what to look for in magic apps so I’m not sure if that means anything. What I did notice is that the answer is only visible for a second, so if you blink, you’ve missed it.
Unless the spectator can do math in their head along with the calculator, then they won’t know an effect has happened as they themselves won’t know what the answer should be. If they can do the math in their head, then they expect you to have done the same, so the effect is then meaningless. There is also a better calculator force you can perform using a borrowed phone as well that trumps this effect.
It’s very clever and the programming is top notch, but unfortunately there are better effects out there (like Andy Nyman’s Mindreader) that utilise the same principle better.
My Rating – 75%

iScream - http://www.bigbrainstudios.com – $4.99
You ask your spectator to look at the iphone desktop and see if they recognize any of the symbols. Suddenly, the screen changes to a ghost and ‘screams’ at you, making the spectator jump.
This is more a practical joke which is so good; I’ll add it to this list. A few things however, don’t have them hold the phone while doing this trick, they are likely to drop it when the effect happens. It might not be magic, but it’s the most entertaining trick I’ve seen on the iphone.
My Rating: 95%

iVoyeur - http://www.bigbrainstudios.com - $4.99
A lady is trapped on the desktop of your iPhone. She decides she needs to change clothes, so puts up a curtain, of which her silhouette can
Another practical jokes, great for performing after iWash (the version from Byrd DVD Below)
My Rating – 90%

Magic Marvels #5 Richard Osterlind’s Any Card at Any Number - £1.99
The spectator names any card in the pack, and then any number from 52. Using the cards on the iPhone, they slide the cards of the pile until they reach their chosen number. When it is turned over, it is the card they named.
You have to show the start screen, which makes sense if you have a pack of cards on there. But you will have to justify using a Magic App. You need to do some memorization and you have to actually practice the moves.
My Rating: Don’t own, so not rating.

No Freakin’ Way – £2.99
The spectator names any card from the pack. You take out your phone and swipe across the screen to the ‘No Freaking Way’ App. It shows a fingerprint scanner. The spectator places their finger on the screen; it scans and then shows a picture of their selected card.

I guessed the method after watching the demo video. But to the average lay person, this may go unnoticed. A bit of memory work needed but very easy to do. With the latest update, you can apparently customise the icons as well to match your own desktop.
My Rating: 80%

Ellusionist's Invisible Deck – £1.99
A card is named, put back into the pack upside down, absorbed into the phone. They then deal of the cards on the phone display until they find a card face down, which just happens to match the card they named.
You cannot help but think that it’s technological. No matter how good the original trick was with real cards, on the iPhone – its feels like the app doing the effect.
I’ve also heard several reports about the technique used – it’s not as surefire as you might like.
My Rating: 70%

Tenyo's Magic Shuffle - £1.49
Almost the same trick as Ellusionist Invisible Deck, but with only one deck to choose from. However the method has been simplified and there is no start-up screen.
My Rating: 85%

Theory 11 – Rising Card - £1.99
Spectator names any card in the pack. You take out your phone, open the app and show a pack of cards. You give the phone a shake and the card they named rises from the pack inside the phone.
My Rating: 85%

Fitch Cheney 5-Card Trick - $4.00
http://www.lybrary.com/fitch-cheney-5car......773.html
Spectator hands you any 5 cards from a real deck. You place one face down and have the spectator enter the other four into the App. The App then reveals the correct card.
Too much touching of the screen and mathematics involved. It might be a clever trick and can’t see me ever using it when you all these other tricks available.
My Rating: 45%

Magic SMS - £0.69
You ask someone to think of any colour and any playing card. Next a text message is sent to a psychic friend asking him to guess what they are. A reply comes back 100% correct.
I like the look of this effect and at the price I’ll give it a go.
My Rating: Don’t own, so not rating.

Harry (Coylebilt Industries) – £2.49
A card is selected (forced). You place the cards on the phone’s screen, and then lift them to show a card stuck inside the phone. You tap the screen and it turns over to show it is the selected card.
Way to limiting in my opinion, only having one card to choose from and the revelation is not as impressive as some other effects.
My Rating: 45%

Magic X-Ray Card Scanner By Saddo Boxing - $0.99
A card is selected and lost inside the pack. You hold your hand over the pack and use the other hand to hold your phone above it. You now take an x-ray of your hand, and within the x-ray is a picture of the selected card.
My Rating – 80%

iOpener – WizardofApps.com
You show a bottle cap in the phone, and then pop it out. You can also remove a bottle opener. I’ve seen it all before and too me it’s obvious. Using it with the sleights and in conjunctions with bottle-cap to bottle was clever thinking though.
My Rating – 75%

Scribble 2.0 (Found on the Vegas Road Trip DVD) - Free
A drawing program is bought up on the IPhone and you make a series of marks across the screen. A card is selected (forced) and the phone is given a shake. The marks reform themselves into the letters of the selected card.
Any picture you want can be revealed, so if you know how to force a house, you can have the picture turn into a house. So it’s a way of performing a revelation. You cannot watch the marks change, you show the marks, and undercover of shaking the phone, the image changes.
A major negative is that the Scribble App would not work on my iPhone 4. It downloaded, but crashed whenever I opened it. Still it’s a free app, so worth downloading just to see if it works. Therefore, I’ll rate the trick on video performance on the DVD, and not my actual use of it.
My Rating: 80%

ICard - Daniel Garcia Project Volume 4 DVD
Pull a folded card out of the phone. The card2phone app is the improvement of this effect, but it still works.
My Rating: 75%

IScatter - Daniel Garcia Project Volume 5 DVD
You show a picture of a bunch of playing cards. You ask the spectator to merely think of one card. A second later, the cards fade away and is replaced with a picture of a folded card. You pull the card out of the phone and it matches the card they are thinking off.
It didn’t work for me when I first did the trick, and when you word the trick to be more specific by eliminating cards, it comes across as forced. But at the right moment for the right person, it might work.
My Rating: 75%

iATM - Daniel Garcia Project Volume 6 DVD
Pull a folded dollar from the virtual ATM on your iPhone. Useless outside the USA, and card2phone surpasses it.
My rating: 50%

Google App – Alan Rorrison - $3
http://www.lybrary.com/google-effect-for......759.html
The spectator names any card and you then hand them your phone, with the Google page displayed upon it. They type ‘what is my card’ into the search box, and Google reveals the card they said.
This trick is not available on the app store or Alan’s Website. It is a Lybrary exclusive which means you can’t add it to your phone the normal way. There is a small learning curve on getting the app to your phone before you even start.
My Rating: Don’t own, so not rating.

Dracula Book Test - $4.50
http://www.lybrary.com/dracula-ebook-tes......538.html
You show an eBook on your phone and the spectators can look through it to see all the pages are different. You scan through the pages and the spectator shouts out stop whenever they wish. They look at the first line on the page and memorize it. You are then able to tell them what that line is.
Without giving too much away, the app forces a page. It’s fair to add that it’s the same page every time (you have no choice over this) so the effect cannot really be repeated.
Its nothing like the Alexander Black version, so don’t get the two confused – they are completely different. It works, but I have better tricks to perform at this point.
My Rating: 70%

Ipod playlist effect – Make it Yourself
You open iTunes on your phone and show a playlist of about 50 songs. They can select any song they wish and listen to it to check that it is genuine. You then activate shuffle and turn the phone upside down.
You write a prediction on a piece of paper and have them place their finger on any song without looking. The song starts to play and amazingly it is the same song you predicted.

To make this trick, you start by creating a playlist as normal, using 50 of your favourite songs. You then choose a song you want to force and copy it 50 times. You then rename each of the copies by a different name, corresponding to the song titles in your normal playlist. You add these 50 copies into a new playlist of its own.
Both playlists should look identical, only one is real while the other will all play the same song, even though the titles are different.
You now write down the name of this song as your prediction, perform the trick as normal, only before you activate shuffle, swap playlists.

The main problem with this effect is now having the spectator look at the list because if they do, they may recognize that the song playing does not match the title on display. The song you force must also be recognizable so as to not need checking.
My Rating – 75%

Magic With The iPhone by Nicholas Byrd – DVD
In a nutshell, buy this DVD for the iWash effect, it’s a great magic trick using an iPhone and you will use it.

1. iHotrod: A show the spectator six coloured dots on the screen. They say a number from one to six and you count or spell to the corresponding dot. A little shake of the phone and all the dots turn into that colour. Awful trick, really obvious. 20%

2. iWallet: After showing off your virtual wallet, you're able to remove any one of the items inside, right out of the phone. Coin from phone. It’s been done before 30%

3. iATM: Show a picture of a twenty and magically pull one from the phone. 30%

4. iPurse: You pull a dime out of the phone. This is basically the Magic Wallet app from above, only using video. It has a countdown timer which can help with your timing which is nice. But is limited to only the one coin. 60%

5. Card from iPhone: Force a card, reveal the card on the phone and then pull it out of the phone. It’s puts a few effects together which is nice. But you would be better using the iWash trick below for a stronger effect. 75%

6. X-Ray: Demonstrate the new iPhone X-Ray feature with a quick x-ray of your own empty hand! Uh oh, it's not an exact match. There's something round in the image. Remove the phone from your hand and an actual coin appears. Like the above tricks, but the added video of an x-rayed hand is a novel approach. It gains a few point for that. 75%

7. iConic: The spectator thinks of a number and moves around the screen icons. You remove some and they move some more. You remove more, and they move again. Finally they end on the final prediction. This is the same interactive trick performed by David Copperfield on his TV Special, using Iphoen icons. It’s cute, but to complicated for most people to follow along so you will have to pick your audiences. The use of photos however makes this an ease to perform, as there is very little memory work involved. 80%

8. Telecommunication: The spectator chooses any card and it is lost inside the pack. You secretly locate the card and manoeuvre it to anywhere within the top 13 cards. The spectator dials a name from your contact list and that person tells the spectator how many cards down their card is. The method used to secretly message your friend on the other end of the line is nice, and can be utilised for much stronger effects. But relying on someone to answer the phone and know what there doing limits its effect, especially with Mental Killer in the market.

9. Princess Card Trick: You show six cards on your phone. The spectator thinks of one, and the next time you show them a picture, the card they selected has vanished. Rather obvious at this point – 20%

10. Penny to Dime: A penny, displayed on the screen of your iPhone, magically changes into a dime. But wait, the penny you were holding under the phone also turns into a dime. I live in the UK, so this trick is useless for me. Still it’s a nice idea. 50%

11. Wallpaper Magic: Use your iPhone wallpaper to reveal a card. This trick simply tells the spectator you have forced a card, giving away the trick. My Rating – 15%

12. iWash / Lovely Assistant: This is it. This is the trick you will be using. If your looking for that one gen of a trick you can show your friends in the bar, this is that trick. You force a card, and then show your iPhone desktop. Suddenly a woman dressed in bra and panties walks into the phone, wipes soap all over the screen, and then wipes it down to show the selected card behind her. Forget anything else on this entire thread, this is the trick you will be doing. Its self working, other than a force and there is only one video, so can only be performed once. But if you get iVoyeur as well, which is a separate magic item; it’s a nice video to follow up with. My Rating: 96%


I’ll add more when I get them. But please feel free to add your own ratings and make this list the most complete it can be.

Steve

Do you have mental killer, because you did not seem to review it but you said you like it.

Doh! I missed one!

Mental Killer - £6.99
You write down a telephone number for your friend so that the spectator knows you are not going to change numbers or anything later. You say that your friend ‘Chris’ can read your mind over the phone. The spectator names any card in the pack and you dial the number on the paper with them watching as you type the number in. They can either listen to the message themselves or you can put it on speaker. After a few rings, Chris’s answering machine picks up and he reveals the card they named.
This is a very clever app that has really thought about the little details like getting an engaged sound if you put in the wrong information etc. In can customise certain details such as the number you ring and the number of times it rings. So most of the memory work is removed as you can simply change the setting to what you already use. Even the way the suits are secretly inputted has been thought about to make it easier to remember. Remarkable.
I don’t even bother writing the number down, I simply say it before the trick starts. They may not remember what I say, but to make the trick completely in the phone, it makes the trick simpler to perform.
This is one of the more expensive tricks to buy, but well worth every penny and all the calls you make are free (as they are built into the app), meaning you don’t have to worry about roaming charges or the trick not working. This is exactly the trick you expect to see when someone brings out a phone to do magic with and everyone should get it.
My Rating: 98%

A couple of improvements:

Magic SMS (Top Talk) - £0.69
You send a text message to your friend asking him to reply with the future prediction. You then ask someone to think of any colour and any playing card. Your phone then beeps to indicate your friend has replied and you open up the message and allow the spectator to read it. The reply has within it, the selected colour and card they choose.
Many like to use this effect if needed to repeat the Mental Killer Effect but want to do something different. But the coding is different and so you might get a little confused which isn’t good. The benefit with this trick is that you are making two predictions and you send the initial text before you ask for the card and colour. So it’s more hands-off. Also, the app doesn’t cost you anything as all the texts are built into the phone, so it won’t cost you a penny to perform. Mental Killer is still a better trick in my opinion, but for 69p, you can’t go wrong.
My Rating: 80%

iVoyeur - http://www.bigbrainstudios.com - $4.99
A lady is trapped on the desktop of your iPhone. She decides she needs to change clothes, so puts up a curtain, of which her silhouette can be seen through it. She undresses and the curtain drops to reveal a shocking surprise for the viewer.
Another practical joke, great for performing after iWash (the version from Byrd DVD Below)
My Rating – 90%

I'm surprised that Email Wizard or 101 Deck have not made your list. But then again I am biased, and they are a bit more expensive than most

Hi Steve,

Thank you for taking all that time reviewing 56 magic apps. WOW!

The cost of performing iPredict is equal to the cost of making a 30 second phone call. Some people may complain about "it costing you a fortune each time". But I think it's a very small fee considering the app is only $2.99.

I agree about your point about the numbers being in the USA. To get numbers for the UK, it would cost about $1,400 for numbers that NEVER expire.
My Australian customers have already pulled money together and have acquired phone numbers. I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to disclose what these numbers are . . . so please don't ask.

As a point of clarification for all of my existing iPredict customers. The phone numbers will NEVER expire.
So to answer your question "how long they will stay working for is anyone’s guess" . . . The answer is FOREVER.

cheers,
Greg Rostami

Hi James,

I had never heard off your 2 apps until you mentioned them. They didn't show up on any of my searches of either iTunes or Google. For your reference, the word ‘magic’ was my key search term, and since neither of your apps had the word in any part of the title, subtitle or authors name it didn’t show up. You may want to update the authors name just to include the word magic in brackets, so that it shows up.

Your trick E-mail Wizard sounds very impressive, but at £10.99 you are right in that’s its too expensive. Magic SMS appears to be a very similar trick and that’s only 69p. Maybe once you have a few rating and reviews for the effect, I would be more tempted to take the plunge, but you will only get those if people buy it. Can you lower it for a one-day promotion or something and get a few of us on this forum to download and review it for you?

I did do some research on the 101 Deck, and found some interesting comments across the net, enough to tell me exactly how it works. For new readers, I am going to say there is a force involved, which I think is fair for buyers to know beforehand. Inside the app are the instructions to make a gimmick deck called the 101 Deck, which is used to help you force one of five cards. The trick is basically a five way out but disguised as a normal phone app so that the phone looks completely normal in everyway. I am told you can customise the effect and so this might be a great trick to have on your phone for backups for when tricks go wrong and as a third prediction for tricks like Mental Epic and the Tossed Out Deck. I also think the trick ‘Cataclysm’ from Alakazam would go hand-in-hand with this effect as that’s a trick which uses 4 photographs and multiple outs. Combining that trick with your app would clean everything up and get rid of all the dirty business giving you a superb ending for that effect.

I want to give it a better review, but I don’t own the apps and I already spent enough this month buying and reviewing all the apps above. But thank-you for letting me know they exist and maybe in the future I can give them a proper look at.

Steve

Thanks for the reviews. MENTAL KILLER and Andy Nyman's MINDREADER slay constantly and consistently. (I was one of the people who finally purchased Card Oracle. It's an incredible concept. Although the directions are hard to decipher - I had to keep going back and forth from the performance video (which has NO sound) to the directions. And I still haven't used it yet. But if I can spend a few more hours, it may very well be worth it. Pretty amazing concept.

Thanks for the reviews, nicely done. I have killed with ipredict and a deck of cards. Having the spectator shuffle a deck, deal down in three piles and doing a magician force. Finally, doing a reveal long after with ipredict. It plays so strong - I have a great time with this routine and app. It takes the focus away from the app and makes it about the cards and the prediction that was made by your psychic. At no time, after 100+ performances, has someone brought up the phone or a potential app etc..

Steve,

Actually, the word "Magic" is not in the title, subtile, or company name on purpose, and the reason is two fold. First, I want the app to be as stealth as possible, so that includes both being hidden during the performance and also not easily found by the spectator if they went searching for it later. Granted they would have no reason to suspect an app was involved anyway, but just in case I'd rather it be hard to find. It does show up in the 30s if your search for "mentalism." I figure only a magician is going to use that term to search for an app. And second, it means that someone is only going to come across the app if they are really looking for it specifically, or perhaps through the "users who viewed this app also bought...". The idea is to keep non-serious people away from the app. Being that Email Wizard is rather complicated, a non-serious magician could become easily frustrated and blame the app and then leave a negative review, even though there is nothing wrong with the app! So, by keeping it away from average Joes, I am hopefully keeping away negative (uneducated) reviews.

So I suppose I am relying more on word of mouth more than internet searches, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you had not heard of it. I have a few reviews on the Café already, and a handful of iTunes reviews as well (all positive). Speaking of iTunes reviews, Apple displays those a little weird. If you are in the UK, you will only see reviews left my other UK people. In the US, only US reviews, and in Australia, only Australian users, and so on. I'm not sure if the same goes for star ratings. You're in the UK I assume? Are in the Magic Circle? A review is coming out in The Circular in a month or two.

And also, I'd have to disagree with your thought that it is similar to Magic SMS. Completely different effect in my opinion, other than being a prediction type effect. Email Wizard does it's thing via email, and is not limited to cards, and also has a nailwriter effect.

James

Wow, thanks for all these reviews

Thank you Steve for your nice review on "Magic - Eye". This is my favorite app among my two other apps:"Magic - Card" and "Magic - Cup" because it is so easy to perform. Magicians are free to incorporate various creative methods to read the card off the mind of the audience and wow them off their socks.

I am grateful for your list of other magic apps of which some I am not aware of but am now interested to try them out.

Raymond

God safe the Magic Café...!
I'm a "Magic-App-Fetishist" ;-) and I think I have a few...a few...
Half the store space from my iPad and -Phone is almost full!

But your 3 apps are new for me!

I've just bought and now I'll look in your "Eye"!

R-U-D-!

Hi R-U-D-!

Thanks for trying out "Magic - Eye". I hope you have had lots of fun staring in the eyes of some pretty ladies : )

Some of my misdirection methods that I have used include feeling for the pulse on one of the wrist, asking the audience if he or she is a left hander or right hander and then spread that mastered flat to place the device on their palm. Sometime, I ask them to place the device in a small box with a lid instead on placing the device on their palm.

How you execute the trick is virtually limitless!

ChEErs!

The iPhone Magic Guy

Highly Recommend "Houdini's Last Magic Trick" - Scoompa LTD. - $5.00

It's an app that has 11 photos of Houdini including posters, publicity shots and the main one used in the trick, a family photo of Houdini plus 12 others. (Did I mention these are real photos?) There is also real Biography infor and stuff about his career, famous Escapes and his appearances in Movies.

The effect is, after you show some of the material to someone, you move to the photos and tell the story about Houdini claiming to be able to do a trick after his death (after being challenged by someone). That is when you show the spectator the family photo.

Yes, it sounds very much like Marty's Psypic, but this is based around the most famous magician ever, Houdini and you don't have to tell some phony story about someone magical in your family from the past.

There are multiple beautiful photos of Houdini andThe photo used in this effect is an actual photo of his family with wife, brother, etc. 13 people in all. The photo is so large (and high quality), that your spectator will not even see the person holding the card until you zoom way in to look at it. It's even better after you hand the phone to them and have them look for it.


This was only available for Android for a time and I emailed Scoompa LTD. asking to please bring this to IOS (iPhone). Not only did they finally, but the owner/programmer actually emailed me personally to tell me it was not available. You can't beat customer service like that! I bought it IMMEDIATELY! I HIGHLY RECCOMEND giving this one a try. The material is great and the effect can't be beat. Very easy to perform also.

Rating 5/5, 100%

Steve,

I see that you are located in the UK, and that probably explains why you rate iPredict at only 50 percent. That is fair given that it is costly to make a telephone call or send an SMS message to the US from the UK. Nevertheless, for a magician in the US, the cost is small and the audience appeal is enormous for this clever trick. As Greg Rostomi (iPredict publisher) mentions in his response to you, the cost is just the cost of a 30-second call or two text messages. As with many people I have virtually unlimited calls and text messages to US-based numbers, so I do not believe I am paying anything extra for these calls. Is that right, Greg? Regardless, I think this trick, coupled with a marked deck, MindPower deck, Radar deck, or even stacked deck, is an utterly amazing and entertaining piece of magic. By the way, I use the marked deck with iPredict.

Jim

Mental killer is the exact same trick, but completely free and solves several other problems, and can be done worldwide, with any number. It beats ipredict hand down.

Hi Steve,

I do agree that Mental Killer is free worldwide and is a great magic app. What are the "several other problems" that you are referring to?

I'm always looking into ways to make my products better, hence your insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

Please keep in mind that iPredict+ was designed to be a successor to the classic "Calling Mr. Wizard" plot.
In that plot it doesn't matter what phone is used to make the call. If you were performing "Calling Mr. Wizard" you or your spectator would be making a real phone call to "Mr. Wizard".

thank you,
Greg Rostami

I don't know your app well enough to say what's good or bad about it. I only know of some of it's limitations. Worldwide use for example. The cost factor and numbers used are one issue. The fact that it wont work when low on credit is another. Mental killer allows you to programme in your own telephone number for the trick, this makes it customisable for the country, town, and area code you live in. It means you can call a mobile if you want to. That feature especially makes it user friendly anywhere in the world.

There is also only one number you will ever use, so it's easy to remember and use in an impromptu situation without having to write anything down. The way you input the suit of the card is also clever.

I'm not saying your trick doesn't have it's strengths, but it's use is limited to one country out of the 60 that have iPhones. That's a pretty major drawback.

However, your iforce trick is superb and everybody should get it. Yes, the simple version has become a little overused and common amongst iPhone users. But the advance versions such as the heads or tails and coin predictions are fantastic and fool people every time.
I will add one point though, it would be nice in the next update if you could save the drawings to your photo album. The button is there to save, but doesn't actually do anything.
I have my own routine, and would like to email the spectator the drawing after the trick, along with my website details.

And having a doodle app on the iPhone is useful for taking notes etc. So it would come in handy with that. So please get the save function working.

So if you are going to update any of your apps, that would be appreciated.

Steve

If you haven't had a chance to look at my app, I recommend you look at it again. I think you'll like it. At the present time, I don't have a UK solution for you, but I am working on it.

In iPredict+ you also have only one number. You can either start your performance with that number written down or not.

The way you input a card in iPredict+ is with only one touch of the screen (and that touch is completely motivated). Most people will swear you never touched the phone.

Thank you for the kind words. The feature that you requested is currently in "Doodle" (the decoy for iForce). In the next version of iForce we will put your feature in. I think your application of that feature is very clever.

all the best,
Greg Rostami