We live in the age of the mobile phone – in fact, without one, most people aren’t able to manage their day-to-day lives. Emails, calls, social media, banking apps, and more make our daily living easier than ever – all we need to do is have the right app to make it work.
While not every app on the list will apply to how you use your mobile phone, some just make sense for things like entertainment and managing your daily to-do lists.
Finance
If you’re an account, you might not need this one, but if you are not and you want to get a firm grip on your finances, the Mint app might be for you. Mint will track all of your spending and income across your accounts, meaning you have a single point to check for the entirety of your finances.
While other apps act like an accountant, Mint is free and comes with many functions. So if you want to kick your finances into touch, this app is for you.
To get your home budget in order, You Need A Budget, often shortened to YNAB, will help you create a realistic budget to have your finances ship-shape in time. YNAB is known in the budgeting world because, most of the time, it can help people save around $600 in their first two months of usage.
Saving is not your strong point, and you want to make the most of the cents and the dollars that you have free at the end of the week. Automatic saving can be the best thing for many people. Manual saving means you must make sure you move money regularly and do the calculations yourself.
Automatic savings apps like Chime, Qapital, BofA Keep The Change, and Digit are some of the most popular. Their algorithms calculate what you can afford to put aside and do it for you – so you’ll never be short and always be saving what you can.
Entertainment
Mobile phones are perfectly sized to enable us to take all of our entertainment with us all the time. No matter what you want to play or do, and whenever you want to do it, you can. Here are a couple of great apps for entertainment.
NASA is one of the most fun apps for those who like to be amazed almost every day. You can stream stunning Earth View in HD, as well as keep up with features of space stories, videos, stunning images, and NASA TV.
Gaming apps come in many different styles and flavors, so you’ll probably go through a few until you find the one you like the most. Whodunnit murder mysteries, casino apps offering not just poker games but tutorials as well to prepare yourself against other users who like a strategic challenge in their downtime just like Hearthstone.
But if gaming isn’t your thing, then Good Reads might be right up your street. If you read often and can’t wait to reach for the next book yourself, then Good Reads is the app for you. You can create an account, rate books, create a reading list, and even participate in the reading challenges.
For the social media savvy but also feeling overwhelmed with how much social media can demand attention, Flipboard is a great option. It streamlines all of the things you care about into one personalized magazine. Flipboard pulls content from Instagram, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter into one place – a single app. As well as the addition of breaking news stories.
Productivity
Getting more done in less time is the dream for many, and there are plenty of apps for that! Being more productive is part mindset and part tools. The apps you have on your phone can help you stay on track regardless of your day.
Todoist is not only a great app, but its website is dedicated to helping you achieve your goals. Time management, lists, tracking progress, and collaboration are all possible. Todoist is free, or you can upgrade for more features.
For those who don’t want to use multiple apps but instead want one app that can hold whole projects, Evernote is one of the most popular. You can also add PDFs, photos, videos, notes, sketches, and written notes. Evernote can sync across all of your devices and keep you on track no matter where you are. There is a free version and options for personal and professional usage too.
Freedom or Forest will help you reduce the time you spend using your phone and other apps when trying to get some focused time in. Freedom blocks anything that is considered time-wasting (this is customizable), or you can simply block the internet on your mobile phone completely. Forest will grow a little forest of trees the longer you don’t reach for your phone. If you exit the app, your forest will die – which is great for those who respond to gamification.
If productivity is high on your agenda, here are some extra tips to keep you on track when you are surrounded by all of the distractions of home: How to Maximise Productivity When Working From Home.
