App Focus: Best Apps Feb '16 Edition
I am a stock apps guy, whether be it Nexus or iPhone. Not that I don't try out third party apps on a frequent basis; far from it. It's just that I try not to rely too much on them. Again not only because they are vulnerable to shut down without as much as a warning (like Circa News), or at times, even worse, acquired by another company only to be shut down (like Mailbox, Umano, Zite and Sunrise for example), there's also this native integration with the mobile operating systems that these apps miss out on, although admittedly this is not much of an issue on Android (thanks to Intents) as it is on iOS.
Newsela (iOS only) - Newsela is perhaps one of the most interesting news reading apps I've encountered in recent times. And very educational too, for it helps students/users improve their reading comprehension with embedded quizzes and whatnot.
Sleep Cycle (Android/iOS, paid) - All of us crave for a good night's sleep, but it's something that's becoming very difficult these days. With many of us taking our smartphones to bed and spending hours texting, browsing and stuff, suffice to say, our sleep patterns have gone for a toss. That's where Sleep Cycle the app comes in handy by analysing our sleep and intelligently waking us up when it's the right time.
Music Memos (iOS only) - Want to capture and organise your musical ideas? Then look no further than Apple's surprise new free app Music Memos, a Voice Memos app with a musical twist.
Adobe Voice (iOS only) - Adobe has been trying its best to distance itself from the security debacle that's Flash, and Voice, which recently landed on iPhone, offers solid tools to create professional animated videos with minimum effort.
Apple News (iOS only) - Like many Apple-made apps, Apple News is not the best news app. That honour according to me goes to Google Play Newsstand. But where it truly shines is in terms of presentation and layout. Reading articles from Bloomberg, The Guardian, The New York Times, Wired and Complex has never looked this beautiful!
Quartz (Android/iOS) - A conversational, fun take on bite-sized news from Atlantic Media, joining an already crowded list of media-owned news apps like NYT Now, AJ+, What's News and Great Big Story.
Apple Music (Android/iOS) - Apple Music is fantastic and a keeper, if you can live with its convoluted user interface.
Safari (iOS only) - If there is one app that I cannot absolutely live without on my phone, it's the browser. The dedicated apps make for a better user experience, sure, but I can do just about anything with Safari, the built-in web browser from Apple. And with support for features like iCloud Keychain and offline reading lists, who needs a dedicated password manager or read-it-later app (looking at you 1Password and Pocket)?
Flowstate (iOS only, paid) - An innovative note-taking cum writing app that will erase your entire progress if you stop writing for more than seven seconds. Focus is the key!
Quotlr (Android/iOS) - Daily dose of motivation and wisdom from Quotlr.
Watchville (Android/iOS) - Whether you are a timepiece enthusiast or a budding horologist, the Watchville app from leading wristwatch magazine Hodinkee is your one stop shop for all your watch needs.
Hooks (Android/iOS) - Alerts about stuff you care, your shipments, your favourite artist's next album, new releases on YouTube, upcoming TV shows, anything!
Tubex, ProTube (iOS only, paid) - YouTube is horrendously designed, that we all know. While it exactly doesn't flout Material Design in principle, its design is a far cry from its beautiful siblings YouTube Gaming and YouTube Music, the dedicated live-game play and music streaming apps Google released last year. So what do you do? Install feature-packed YouTube clients like Tubex and ProTube.
Inquire (iOS, paid) - Discovering and exploring interesting things around you is what this app does, and it does it so elegantly.
Norton Ad Blocker, Focus Ad Blocker (iOS only) - Ad blockers, the bulwark against intrusive advertising and user tracking on the web, became a reality on mobile after Apple quietly baked the feature into iOS 9, and with millions of users relying on their smartphones for browsing, it has unsurprisingly pushed several (online-only) publishers reliant heavily on ad revenues into panic mode. Should they tone down the ads, or should they start charging visitors to their websites for an ad-free version (like Wired for $1 a week)? Or is this whole mobile ad-blocking part of Apple's broader strategy to hit Google (which makes money mainly by selling ads) where it hurts? Whatever may be the case, it will be interesting to see how things pan out.
Airtable (iOS only, Android in Beta) - An app for those who want their data completely organised, like a spreadsheet, but can't afford the technical complexity of storing and retrieving the information in a SQL-based database.
Momentum, Productive, Streaks (iOS only) - Building a new habit can be hard, but breaking it, way too easy, and that's precisely why habit-tracking apps are a godsend.
Newsela (iOS only) - Newsela is perhaps one of the most interesting news reading apps I've encountered in recent times. And very educational too, for it helps students/users improve their reading comprehension with embedded quizzes and whatnot.
Sleep Cycle (Android/iOS, paid) - All of us crave for a good night's sleep, but it's something that's becoming very difficult these days. With many of us taking our smartphones to bed and spending hours texting, browsing and stuff, suffice to say, our sleep patterns have gone for a toss. That's where Sleep Cycle the app comes in handy by analysing our sleep and intelligently waking us up when it's the right time.
Music Memos (iOS only) - Want to capture and organise your musical ideas? Then look no further than Apple's surprise new free app Music Memos, a Voice Memos app with a musical twist.
Adobe Voice (iOS only) - Adobe has been trying its best to distance itself from the security debacle that's Flash, and Voice, which recently landed on iPhone, offers solid tools to create professional animated videos with minimum effort.
Apple News (iOS only) - Like many Apple-made apps, Apple News is not the best news app. That honour according to me goes to Google Play Newsstand. But where it truly shines is in terms of presentation and layout. Reading articles from Bloomberg, The Guardian, The New York Times, Wired and Complex has never looked this beautiful!
Quartz (Android/iOS) - A conversational, fun take on bite-sized news from Atlantic Media, joining an already crowded list of media-owned news apps like NYT Now, AJ+, What's News and Great Big Story.
Apple Music (Android/iOS) - Apple Music is fantastic and a keeper, if you can live with its convoluted user interface.
Safari (iOS only) - If there is one app that I cannot absolutely live without on my phone, it's the browser. The dedicated apps make for a better user experience, sure, but I can do just about anything with Safari, the built-in web browser from Apple. And with support for features like iCloud Keychain and offline reading lists, who needs a dedicated password manager or read-it-later app (looking at you 1Password and Pocket)?
Flowstate (iOS only, paid) - An innovative note-taking cum writing app that will erase your entire progress if you stop writing for more than seven seconds. Focus is the key!
Quotlr (Android/iOS) - Daily dose of motivation and wisdom from Quotlr.
Watchville (Android/iOS) - Whether you are a timepiece enthusiast or a budding horologist, the Watchville app from leading wristwatch magazine Hodinkee is your one stop shop for all your watch needs.
Hooks (Android/iOS) - Alerts about stuff you care, your shipments, your favourite artist's next album, new releases on YouTube, upcoming TV shows, anything!
Tubex, ProTube (iOS only, paid) - YouTube is horrendously designed, that we all know. While it exactly doesn't flout Material Design in principle, its design is a far cry from its beautiful siblings YouTube Gaming and YouTube Music, the dedicated live-game play and music streaming apps Google released last year. So what do you do? Install feature-packed YouTube clients like Tubex and ProTube.
Inquire (iOS, paid) - Discovering and exploring interesting things around you is what this app does, and it does it so elegantly.
Norton Ad Blocker, Focus Ad Blocker (iOS only) - Ad blockers, the bulwark against intrusive advertising and user tracking on the web, became a reality on mobile after Apple quietly baked the feature into iOS 9, and with millions of users relying on their smartphones for browsing, it has unsurprisingly pushed several (online-only) publishers reliant heavily on ad revenues into panic mode. Should they tone down the ads, or should they start charging visitors to their websites for an ad-free version (like Wired for $1 a week)? Or is this whole mobile ad-blocking part of Apple's broader strategy to hit Google (which makes money mainly by selling ads) where it hurts? Whatever may be the case, it will be interesting to see how things pan out.
Airtable (iOS only, Android in Beta) - An app for those who want their data completely organised, like a spreadsheet, but can't afford the technical complexity of storing and retrieving the information in a SQL-based database.
Momentum, Productive, Streaks (iOS only) - Building a new habit can be hard, but breaking it, way too easy, and that's precisely why habit-tracking apps are a godsend.
Comments
Post a Comment