Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor
In today’s day and age, most of everything can be easily accessed through our phones. Like most of society, I like to make my life easier by having an app on my phone when I need it and don’t have my laptop. Here’s some apps for anyone to make life easy-breezy for little problems.
There are many free music apps out there, but for college students who have Amazon Prime — thanks to the six-month free trial and reduced payment plan — they have free access to over two million songs and albums on-the-go through Amazon Music. In addition, Spotify connects its users to millions of their favorite artists ⏤ along with connections to streaming services ⏤ for a cheap bundle deal. Both are ideal for those that use music to study or just frequently in their lives.
Studying is typically a critical part of the college experience. Granted, it isn’t the most exciting experience, but can become easier with certain apps. For those enrolled in a foreign language course, Duolingo is a free app that can help with extra practice. Whether it’s reading, listening or speaking, it can help improve any of those skill sets. Another handy study app is Quizlet, which enables the user to either generate their own sets of flashcards for specific classes or find already created sets from other people. Furthermore, it provides various interactive ways of practicing the terms in study sets, such as a matching game and practice tests.
Continuing slightly with the study theme, there’s an app that lets students who don’t own a scanner or a printer turn their phone into a portable one. For iPhone users, there’s Scanner App, which allows the person to take a picture of their homework or assignment and instantly scan it into a PDF with ease. Android users have the app Tiny Scanner that provides the same results, it’s merely a different app for a different brand. Both can connect to Google Drive — or other application — to make uploading the file a breeze.
Any.do is an app that gives the user an easy way to organize the multitude of tasks that they have to take care of. It has a calendar, to-do list and reminder system for anyone that keeps themselves so busy that they need help keeping track of everything in their day-to-day life. It also has the option of sharing schedules and tasks with others — whether it’s letting roommates know what their new schedule is for the term or sharing a work schedule with friends when trying to plan a night out.
Mathway is a dual calculator-equation solver that works as a tutor inside of a phone. If a student is struggling with understanding a math concept, the app will give out a step-by-step process of how the equation works once it’s inputted. It’s a great solution as well for those who need to double check the validity of their answers.
For anyone that struggles with keeping track of their finances, Mint works as a budgeting app so the person knows where they’re spending their money. It can give reminders for when bills are due or coming up so the user isn’t hit with an unexpected withdrawal from their account, and can even keep track of a credit score for those that have a credit card. Venmo is another option that lets people see who they sent money to, what for and when. By letting someone label their payment, it makes for trouble-free navigation of various spending sprees.
Finally, Headspace is an option to help with sleep and stress by providing assorted guided meditations and mindfulness techniques. It gives someone different exercises to manage stress when classes, work and relationships become too much to handle in order to benefit their health. If someone is having trouble sleeping, it also gives sleepcasts, mellow music and miscellaneous ways to help wind down the mind and body.
Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu
Photo by Kay Bruley
