High expectations: Best weed apps for your iPhone

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Now that marijuana is  legal in many spots around the U.S., pot apps abound.
Now that marijuana is legal in many spots around the U.S., pot apps abound.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Where can you buy weed legally? What kind of marijuana is best for you? What are the laws concerning pot use in your neck of the woods? Potent new marijuana apps make it easy to answer all your sticky weed questions.

We’ve harvested the best marijuana apps so you don’t have to pick through the seeds and stems yourself.

Now that marijuana is legal in many states, you might have questions you need answered. Maybe, like many stoner entrepreneurs, you want to start growing a simple patch of bliss in your backyard and aren’t quite sure how to start.

Whatever your specific Mary Jane need, the mobile world has you covered, with apps to help you find dispensaries, apps to help build your grow operation, and even apps that let you connect with other like-minded folks in your area.

Top medical marijuana dispensary apps

Finding a dispensary or information about marijuana laws is easy with Leafly.
Finding a dispensary or information about marijuana laws is easy with Leafly.
Photo: Leafly

Looking to buy some medical marijuana? How do you know where the best weed shops are in your local area? There are several options on the App Store that let you see and rate local dispensaries, ensuring the best deals nearby for your high times.

Leafly Marijuana Strain and Dispensary Reviews: This app has a ton of buzz around it, along with some of the highest ratings in the App Store. You can explore various strains of marijuana, find out where they’re available near you, and read user-submitted reviews of the different flavors and desired effects. It also packs dozens of high-quality informational videos on cannabis. There’s an integrated map to help you find a legal doctor, clinic or retail store (in addition to medical dispensaries), plus a weed news and culture section with info on the magic plant, recent medical studies, and legalization updates from around the web. If you want one app that does it all, Leafly is the best.

Dispensary apps is the largest category for weed apps — naturally — and others like MJ MaryJane, Where’s Weed, Budzgo and BlazeNow also get high rankings.

Top weed social networking apps

You might find your best "bud" with this weed-based social networking app.
You might find your best “bud” with this weed-based social networking app.
Photo: Duby

Connecting with other green-friendly folks is important because if you’re smoking alone all the time, you may have a problem. Baking with buddies is one of life’s better pleasures, and these apps will help you find new ones to share that bag of Doritos with.

Duby: There are quite a few five-star apps in this category, but we think Duby is the clear winner thanks to a well-desigend interface that lets you connect securely and anonymously to other 420 fans in your area. Once you’ve signed in, you can swipe left or right, Tinder-style, on uploaded pictures of other members’ activities to either pass the duby or put it out. The more positive swipes on your own photos, the more influence you have in the Duby app, which lets you share even more pot-inspired photos.

MassRoots: If Duby is the Tinder of the weed world, then MassRoots is Instagram. It’s got a well-designed interface and a ton of users, and its focus on photos lets you browse through local weed lovers’ stashes quickly and easily. Just “like” a photo to connect to the person who took it, and you’ll be hanging with your “buds” in no time.

WeedWall and MJ MaryJane both get high ratings in the App Store, too, so be sure to check them out as well (though WeedWall didn’t show any users in my area, and MaryJane crashed on my phone several times — your mileage may, of course, vary).

Top informational marijuana apps

PotSnob has a gorgeous visual database of all the strains you've never heard of before.
PotSnob has a gorgeous visual database of all the strains you’ve never heard of before.
Photo: PotSnob

Just looking to learn a bit about popular marijuana strains? Want to see what kind of ganja you bought from that janky dispensary near your apartment? If so, you should check out one of these apps — they’re like the bird-watching guides of the 420 set.

PotSnob: This delightful free app seems to be the clear winner, with gorgeous photos of dank buds all laid out in a simple grid. Tap on any of the beautiful pictures and you’ll get a full-on data dump all about that particular strain, complete with the typical THC percentage and a food-pairing guide. You’ll discover, for example, that Banana Diesel strains boast a 19.34 percent TCH level and pair well with cinnamon buns.

Marijuana and the Marijuana Handbook also have a ton of great info, though they’re both paid apps, so that might put you off. (Marijuana Handbook has a Lite version so you can try before you buy.)

Top weed theme apps

Not bad for an ad-supported app.
Not bad for an ad-supported app.
Photo: Weed Wallpaper

We’d be remiss if we didn’t point you in the direction of some sweet apps to help you theme out your iPhone in all styles of weediness, though many of the wallpaper and icon-changing apps don’t get super-high ratings.

Weed Wallpaper: HD Wallpapers: This one seems to have the most variety of marijuana pictures to choose from, including red-green-yellow Rasta weed images and inspirational ganja quotes. The app has a ton of ads, so be warned that you’ll be clicking past quite a few Game of War sales pitches. Once you find the image you want to use to show your love for all things marijuana, simply save it to your Camera Roll to use as your wallpaper.

Weed Yo Screen has our favorite app name, and while it averages three stars across 32 ratings, it still needs to be updated to the newer iPhone screen resolution.

If you truly need to get a weed wallpaper on your iPhone, consider just doing a Google image search and downloading your favorites.

Ultimately, the weed app you need is the one that works best for you. Let us know your own favorites and we can update this list as we find newer, better apps to help you navigate the sticky world of marijuana.

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