Digital Hacks: 11 Apps That Will Make Your Life Easier
There’s a whole range of apps that you didn’t know you needed. From tools to help you beat procrastination and boost productivity to smart ways to transform your phone’s camera, here’s a selection of our favourite apps for making life that little bit easier.
The App That Replaces Annoying Office Scanners: CamScanner
It’s apps like CamScanner that really do make you rejoice at how far the humble smartphone has come. This app turns your phone’s camera into a high-res scanner allowing you to scan documents outside of the office. It’ll convert images to text files in over 15 languages while easy syncing makes documents instantly available on all devices.
The App To Help You Become More Organised: TickTick
Few apps provide a more all-encompassing planning tool than TickTick. Yes, you can muddle your way through currently with your phone and laptop’s default calendar and reminder systems, but TickTick is the streamlined bridge between both, with added features. Smart date parsing, task duration and “annoying alerts” are all useful additions that’ll keep you organised and on top of deadlines.
The App For Looking At Journalism Differently: Time Immersive
Time Magazine have launched an augmented reality and virtual reality app – and it’s quite the experience. From the surface of the moon to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, Time’s new app allows you to experience their high-quality journalism with interactive table-top models and informative audio. A fascinating move from the legacy publisher and sure to be bolstered with future content.
The App That Will Make You A Better Photographer: Elements of Photography
Whether you’re snapping on your phone or that overpriced DSLR you still haven’t got the hang of yet, Elements of Photography is the sort of app that – with the help of simple yet helpful walkthroughs – will tell you everything you need to know in order to become a better photographer. With interactive real-world examples and a wide range of scenarios with helpful tips, stick with Elements of Photography and you’ll see the improvement in your snaps.
The App To Help You Learn A Foreign Language: Fluent Forever
Of course you’ve tried to learn a language before. You’ve done the CDs in the car, you’ve tried a few apps and you’ve even been to a class or two, but nothing stuck. Until now. Fluent Forever is a surprisingly useful language learning app that is rooted in personalised flashcard creation and spaced repetition. Both use innovative learning techniques to target the parts of your brain that deal in memory.
The App That Will Stop Your Plants Dying: SmartPlant
Plants are cool again. You’ve seen them all over Instagram; ferns galore, luscious cheese plants covering entire walls of open-brick flats bathed in sunlight. All this and yet when it comes to keeping that one Aloe Vera alive at home, it feels almost impossible. Smart Plant has got your back. It’s an app that will help you identify, discover and most importantly take care of your plants. No more overwatering.
The App For The Ultimate Entertainment Bucketlist: Soon
Common entertainment conundrum: what should I watch tonight? What should I read next? What was that TV series that so and so recommended? Soon is a bucket list-style app that offers the solution. The perfect place to make a “watchlist”, based on your lists it’ll also recommend other books, films and TV shows and even has options for restaurants and hotels.
The App For Turning The Best Long-Form Journalism Into An Audiobook: Audm
At Ape we love the sort of long-form journalism found in the pages of The New Yorker and Wired, but if we’re being honest, we don’t have as much time to read it as we would like. Which is why Audm is great. With one subscription, you’re able to access some of the world’s best long-form journalism in audio form, ideal for educating yourself on the morning commute.
The App That Will Change The Way You Make Notes: Otter Voice Notes
The power of AI. Otter Voice Notes is a voice notes app that not only records but also transcribes, with surprising accuracy, making it an extremely helpful note-taking tool. Record on either your phone or web browser and Otter will do real-time live transcription. The subsequent cataloguing, sharing and search options make the entire package seamless.
The App That Will Make You A Better Cook: Paprika Recipe Manager
Sometimes a specific App comes along and really scratches an itch. Paprika Recipe Manager is one of those apps and thus a must for any wannabe kitchen connoisseur. Perfect for collecting and organising recipes, making meal plans and even compiling recipe lists, it’s the ideal all-in-one place for your kitchen planning and means you’ll never be caught short in the supermarket again.
The App To Beat Procrastination: Focus Keeper
There’s a few of these apps around and they’re all loosely based on the Pomodoro Method, a working strategy that involves 25-minute spurts of focused work with a five-minute break. After a few repeats you give yourself a longer break. Focus Keeper is a great tool for implementing this strategy with a simple interface and charts that track your progress. Stick with it and you’ll be surprised how much it’ll enhance your productivity.
