I suspect that most of the readers of this website already know how to tie a tie, but just in case you forget, there's an app for that on the iPhone. Actually, there are at least two: iTie and Tie-A-Tie.
iTie
iPhone developer Karl Klostermann of Lab48 in Munich, Germany developed the free iPhone app iTie. It includes instructions for five different knots, so even if you have been tying ties for decades, you might learn something new. The app includes Four-in-hand, Half Windsor, Double Tie, Oriental and Onassis. For each knot, you get illustrated step-by-step instructions that you can have play automatically as a slide show or you can just manually advance through each screen.
The illustrations are nicely done and easy to understand. On the options screen, you can choose how quickly you want the steps to appear in automatic play mode (from 3 to 8 seconds per slide), and you can choose to flip the orientation.
This app is bare bones simple, but it does exactly what it needs to do, and hey, it's free. Although I did not check it out, if you want to splurge and spend $1.99 you can buy the premium version which adds more knots: Full Windsor, Pratt, St. Andrew, Atlantic, Italian, Diagonal-Right and, for those nights you want to go out on the town, the Bow Tie.
Tie-A-Tie
Another set of tie-tying iPhone apps comes from AppsCode. The free version of the app, called Tie-A-Tie Lite, only includes a single knot, the Windsor. Like iTie, Tie-A-Tie includes nice drawings of each of the steps to tie a tie. But for each step in Tie-A-Tie, you can also see a photograph of a person tying a tie, which is a nice addition.
The app also gives you some basic information on the knot, another nice feature:
Again, I only looked at the free version, but if you want more features, you can purchase Tie-A-Tie Deluxe for $0.99 and get seven different knots: Windsor, Half Windsor, Four-in-Hand, Small Knot, Cross Knot, Pratt and Bow Tie.
Tie a Tie and Tie a Tie Pro
I know that I said that there were two iPhone apps to teach you to tie a tie, but I also see two more in the App Store. One is called Tie a Tie from Pocket Fun Inc ($0.99). The description says that it shows you not only how to tie 13 different knots but also how to fold a handkerchief into six different pocket squares. However, I can't seem to find a website for the developer, and each of the nine different apps sold by Pocket Fun Inc. links to a different website, none of which appear to be connected to the iPhone apps or Pocket Fun Inc. The other app is called Tie a Tie Pro ($0.99) from NBR-Soft, and the description says that it shows you how to tie 10 different knots. Once again, I don't see a website for this app, but here the fault might be mine; the link on iTunes is to a Chinese website that does appear to have something to do with iPhone apps, but I don't see any reference to Tie a Tie Pro in English and I cannot read the Chinese. In light of my confusion finding developers for these apps, I did not take a look at either one of them.
Tying it all up
Now that we're covered with tying a tie, what we really need is an iPhone app that fixes that broken button that you discover when you are already running late to work and only have one clean shirt left because the others are waiting for you at the cleaners. I would definitely pay for the premium version of that app.
Click here to get iTie (free):
Click here to get iTie Premium ($1.99):