With the rise of the iPhone, our society has quickly shifted in many respects. The ways we interact, the ways we find information, the ways we work and the ways we occupy our time have all been impacted by not only the advancement of mobile technology but the introduction of apps into our everyday routines. Now entire businesses revolve around the model of customer interaction via phone applications. Mobile traffic has given the opportunity for hundreds of thousands of companies to reach their audiences with more ease and efficiency, making transactions, and communication in general much more streamlined. By 2020, the predicted number of apps to exist will be 5 million (Perez, 2017), and the possibilities don’t stop there.
In the shuffle of it all, it is easy to get lost between the staple apps and those new to the scene. While doing my research, I think I downloaded approximately seven new apps in one hour, so beware of finding that there are so many better ways to do what you do on the daily. In order to bring the best directly to you, we’ve compiled a list of the 5 highest quality and most useful apps to download today.
1. Google News
Unlike other news aggregators, Google News groups together many articles from news sources which take different perspectives on the same topic to give a wider variety of opinion on one story. The app draws its information from several of the world’s most trusted journalistic sources. If you are more confident in some news sources than others, this app makes it easy for users to hide or follow specific sites and choose to see more or less of certain kinds of content in the future. The tabs are separated into favorites, latest updates, US and foreign news, among other features. Google News even includes integrated media that displays the latest headlines much like Instagram stories with real-time updates.
2. Garden
Like flowers in a garden, app creator Zander Adell claims that, without regularly giving attention and love to those in your social circles, your relationships will not grow and thrive. With Garden, users are able to create a reminder frequency for any amount of individuals they choose to keep up with via technology. Whether weekly, daily, monthly, or even yearly, it is important to maintain communication with friends, family or business partners to cultivate a healthy community. When you choose to catch up with a friend, the app allows you to leave notes and write details about your last conversation so that next time, you can pick up right where you left off!
3. Workflow
Workflow is an organizer app that allows you to create seamless chains of tasks while integrating other applications into your schedule. From posting a status on Facebook to aggregating all of your meetings from your calendar into one email, this app allows each user to create their own unique, color-coded drag and drop interface of tasks each day. WorkFlow is integrated with many other features such as Dropbox, Venmo and many popular social networks. Never forget another “to-do” with WorkFlow.
4. Instapaper and Pocket
Instapaper and Pocket both serve the same purpose; to help individuals bookmark news, articles, videos, and books to view or read later. The nice thing about these apps is that they organize the material you save, then weed out most of the advertisements and information that isn’t pertinent to the article. This makes for an easy and more enjoyable read that you can return to truly dive into on your own time. Both apps also feature an offline mode which allows users to download their saved material then read it even when there is no internet connection. Can you say new flight activity?! Utilize these apps to their fullest potential and follow other users to find and save more articles they’ve shared on the social feed.
5. Calm
Named Apple’s favorite app of 2017, Calm has taken the world by storm, or should I say by stillness. This app takes ten minutes of your day to lead you through breathing exercises, meditation and relaxation. In order to do all the things that your day entials, it is important to have a focus. Music, meditate, and sleep are the three tabs which users can choose from to bring their mind back down to earth. Their programs also include 7 days of Calm, 7 days of Sleep, and Breathe for a small fee, to teach the art of mindfulness. Visit their website, www.calm.com/meditate to see the full breadth of sessions to target your calm needs.
If you’re anything like the rest of us, these apps can make a big difference in the smallest of ways. Keep your schedule, relationships, and health on track by using technology to its fullest capability. We would love to hear about your personal favorite apps that make your day more valuable or convenient. As always, feel free to comment below!