We all get stuck in a rut sometimes, or simply stay within our own little circles in our own little worlds. But thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to get tips and advice from strangers who’ve tried different things, and can therefore offer some pretty savvy advice when we’re looking for a change. So if you’re looking for a must-have smartphone app that’s new to you, the 15 people below have some ideas!
#15. Birds
“Merlin.
It’s Cornell University’s bird identification app. A quick five or six question form will help you identify any bird that you see.
It’s easy and amazingly quick.”
#14. Solidarity
“Die With Me- a public social media app, but you can only use it when you have 5% battery or less and you can only talk with others with 5% battery or less.”
#13. It also gives coupons
“Key Ring, instead of having 100 plastic loyalty cards on your key ring or in your wallet it keeps the barcodes on your phone. It also gives coupons.”
#12. Super helpful
“Oddly enough, Bubble Level.
It works just like a manual bubble level a carpenter would use. You can calibrate it on any horizontal surface even if the volume/power buttons offset your phone.
It’s been super helpful with hanging pictures with those Command strips since I’m not allowed to use nails in the apartment.”
#11. No more forgotten grocery lists
“Love Wunderlist. No more forgotten grocery lists or stuff like that. My wife and I just have a shared shopping list that we populate and clear as needed. So helpful.”
#10. For introverts
“Slydial. Lets you leave a voicemail without the person’s phone ringing, in case you don’t want to actually talk to them or just don’t have time.”
#9. Allllllll the time
“Genius scan to take pics of documents and convert to pdf and then email. I use it alllllll the time.
Edited to fix typo.”
#8. Turn it into a game
“Habitica. It’s a productivity app that turns your daily to-do list into an RPG. Every time you complete a task, you damage a boss and/or find some loot and gain EXP so you can level up. My motivation has skyrocketed because every time I fail to complete a daily task, the boss does damage to my whole party, and every time I do complete a daily task/cross something off my to-do list, I help damage the boss!
Edit: check out the subreddit at /r/ habitrpg (former name for the app) or the wiki if you need help getting started”
#7. Point it toward the sky
“Sky view!
Point it toward the sky to find out what star or constellation you’re seeing.”
#6. Sounds like it would save some arguments
“Splitwise – it’s a free app that keeps track of how much money you and other people owe for things like trips and apartments. Clears up the mess when you have a lot of expenses and it gets tricky with how much people owe each other. You can also download everything into Excel if you’re into that.”
#5. Mary Poppins would approve
“OurHome is awesome for families or roommates with shared chores – you create a list of tasks and give points for each task. Ex – taking out the trash is 2 pts. Doing the dishes is 15 pts. It keeps things fair – everyone has to earn a certain number of points each month.
We take it a step further and make each point worth 10 cents. The kids fight each other to do chores…”
#4. Sleep better
“Sleep As Android. Constantly being improved and updated. It lets you set unlimited alarms, helps you schedule polyphasic sleep, records sounds you make in your sleep, tracks the quality of your sleep, and has an option to wake you when you’re in your lightest sleep cycle.”
#3. Wakes me up every time
“Alarmy
I have a hard time waking up for class after a overnight/graveyard shift and this alarm has been able to wake me up every time. Even with my phone on silent or ‘Do Not Disturb’, its able to ring the alert sound. You can also set it to have you solve math problems on different difficulty settings or even shake your phone a certain amount of times to turn it off, which definitely wakes me up. I also like how it has Quick Alarm function which is similar to snoozing/setting a timer alarm that will disappear after I wake up and dismiss it on the app.”
#2. For the ladies (and tuned-in men)
“Clue. For period tracking. Pretty darn accuarate compared to other apps I’ve used.”
#1. Fast and easy
“VoiceAloud reader, or a similar fast and easy text-to-voice app. I use it CONSTANTLY. Having a long work email, long reddit post, or long web page read aloud while I do other stuff is like, the greatest thing about my phone.”
I’m off to download these and make my life easier!
