I’ve always wondered if there was a simpler, no-look way to use the iPhone’s music player.  Turns out there is and it’s been out for a while now.  FlickTunes is a free App Store download from SoGeeky Software that purports to let you control the music on your handset blindly.

Why would you want to do that?  Personally, I wanted the functionality so I didn’t have to take out my iPhone from my belt mount.  FlickTunes’ pitch, however, is for easier control of your music while you’re driving – which actually makes it sound a heck of a lot more significant.

As a way to control your music while behind the whee;, I can attest to its usefulness.  You swipe left to skip to the next song, swipe right to go back one, swipe up to play and swipe down to pause – all easy-to-memorize movements that does afford you some latitude.  Swiping can be done anywhere on the touch surface.  Other available functions (using two-finger swipes) include advancing and reversing tracks by 30 seconds, and changing the volume.

It also displays track and artist information in large, bold fonts (along with the album cover), so you can immediately see it with a quick glance.  During a stop, you can also tap on the lower right corner to see detailed iTunes information about the song playing.

FlickTunes does the “swipe” control beautifully (after a brief phase of getting used to).  If there’s anything I’d like to see added, it’s the ability to save playlists – the last thing I want to do is to pick out my on-the-road songs every time I drive to work (which is how they expect you to use the app).  Since it’s free, though, I’m not sure if I’m really that justified in complaining.  You know what, screw it, please have that in the next update because it’s going to make this good app even better.