In this age of the internet where tons of distractions are sitting right in your pocket (your mobile phone), it can be hard for you to crack your study goals.
But I don’t see it this way.
The same load of distraction can become a productivity powerhouse if you know how to use it smartly. I graduated in 2023 and in the first few semesters, I was struggling with the same problem. Then I came across an app that helped me in scheduling and since that day I discovered apps for almost every case.
I turned problems into a great utility.
In this content piece, I will be talking about the essential apps that every student should have on their phone. Mobile apps that will help you, from managing your finances to organizing your schedule.
There’s an app for almost every use case. I have categorized them based on different use cases so that it will be easy for you to navigate to the one you need the most.
Without further ado, let’s dive right into them.
JUMP TO:
I. Conquering Organization: Apps to Streamline Your Schedule
Saturn – A Social Media App Made for Scheduling
2Do App – It’s Already Obvious from the Name
II. Mastering Information: Boosting Learning and Research
Quizlet Flashcard – An App to Simplify Your Lectures
Evernote – Arguably the Best Note-Taking App
III. Collaboration and Communication: Tools for Teamwork
Google Drive – Keep Your Data Accessible on Any Device
Discord or Slack – Keep Them and Yourself Updated
IV. Well-being and Focus: Apps to Enhance Your Student Life
SleepScore – Keep Your Sleep in Check
Forest – Just Study When It’s Time to Study
V. Bonus Round: Hidden Gems for the Tech-Savvy Student
Grammarly – Stop You from Worrying About the Spelling and Grammar Mistakes
Duolingo – Master a New Language
Contents
I. Conquering Organization: Apps to Streamline Your Schedule
Saturn – A Social Media App Made for Scheduling
Yeah, I know the heading might confuse you but it is what it is. Saturn is an app built specifically for high schoolers so, skip if you’re not one.
Currently available for just the iPhone, the app helps students of the same school stay connected while giving them complete control over their schedule. They can customize their schedules and the app gives a reminder for the next class along with a countdown.
Not just that, students will get reminders for lunchtime and recess along with regular classes.
Saturn has problems too and the one that comes first to my mind is that if your school isn’t registered on the app’s database, you won’t be able to log in because users need an official school email to log in.
With that problem comes a perk: students of the same school can see each other’s profiles and collaborate accordingly.
2Do App – It’s Already Obvious from the Name
Student life, especially when you are in your college, is a little rough to manage. You are going through a lot of mess and it gets hard to balance the work with the study. You might miss things that may seem trivial but can significantly impact your daily work.
To skip the fuss of missing them, you should have a to-do app on your mobile phone that can share some of the responsibility. 2Do is the best app in my opinion.
It can replace all of your to-do apps and that hard copy that you keep in your pocket. It can help you categorize the tasks and assign them a tag for a fine line of difference.
If you install this app, make sure to turn the notifications on to stay on top of your schedule.
II. Mastering Information: Boosting Learning and Research
Quizlet Flashcard – An App to Simplify Your Lectures
There are some concepts and lectures that suck a lot of brain energy and still, you can’t comprehend them, the Quizlet Flashcard app helps solve exactly that.
It’s a great mind-mapping tool that helps you connect the dots between the lectures which makes it easy for you to understand. When I was in my post-grad, I extensively used this app to comprehend the complex concepts of data science while being connected to my Xfinity Internet. Honestly, the app has proven to be a savior for me.
You can customize flashcards for different subjects which, in turn, helps you hold the major points of the lectures. Not just that, Quizlet Flashcard is super helpful when you’re tight on the schedule. It helps students in a hurry with pre-defined flashcards.
All in all, the app is going to be useful for students who want to become straight-A students.
Evernote – Arguably the Best Note-Taking App
Whether you want to arrange your lectures for quick access or need to save the brightest idea, this app is the one for you.
You can do almost everything from saving your hand-written notes to bookmarking useful websites, to tracking your due dates on Evernote. You can connect Evernote with Google Drive and Outlook.
The best thing that I like about this app is its search features. You can search and find your notes by merely typing the words you used in them. With a cherry on top, this feature works for the images of the hand-written notes too even when you are offline.
III. Collaboration and Communication: Tools for Teamwork
Google Drive – Keep Your Data Accessible on Any Device
Arguably the best app that enables you to access your files from anywhere and helps in collaboration.
You can upload your file from any device which has Google Drive and you’ll be able to see that file across all the devices with Google Drive.
When it comes to collaboration, using this app can be an efficient way to keep all the members of the project on board.
The thing I love the most about Google Drive is that it enables users to upload almost every type of file whether it’s an .exe, .jpg, or Word document. Last but not least, Google Drive can be easily integrated with almost all the Google Apps that are related to your work.
Discord or Slack – Keep Them and Yourself Updated
When you are a student, you have to collaborate with other students on projects. While apps like WhatsApp or Messenger will work, they can easily distract you from the stuff that matters – your homework.
So, a better way is to have a dedicated mobile app on which you will be communicating just for your coursework.
I have found Slack and Discord both to be great in this matter. They have a simple-to-use interface, groups or channels for dedicated topic-wise conversation, quick file sharing, video conferencing with screenshare enabled, and more features that can prove to be pretty useful.
Also, I should mention that if you have already used Discord for gaming stuff, then I suggest skipping it because of the distractions.
IV. Well-being and Focus: Apps to Enhance Your Student Life
SleepScore – Keep Your Sleep in Check
I know being the hardest-working student in the class can sometimes lead to the stage of sleep deprivation. That stage is not good for you as a student in the long run. You might score well initially but soon you will realize that you are having focus and comprehension issues during the class.
With enough things to be worried about, you can skip the hassle of manually checking out your sleep routine by installing SleepScore on your phone.
The app provides detailed data on your sleep pattern and evaluates if it needs improvement. Not only that, the app gives you insight into what can be the problem for your unsound sleep and suggests solutions accordingly.
Forest – Just Study When It’s Time to Study
In a world of this digital age where distractions are everywhere, you might need something that makes the focus work engaging for you.
Enters Forest – an app designed to help you focus on your tasks. How does it make the focus engaging for students?
Whenever you try to work on the tasks and turn the app on, it plants the tree. As long as you are keeping yourself away from your phone, the app runs in the background and water the tree it (or you) has planted. The more you stay away from your phone, the bigger your tree will grow.
And the best part (only if you care about the planet)? They share a part of their profits with the organizations that are working to plant trees across the globe.
V. Bonus Round: Hidden Gems for the Tech-Savvy Student
Grammarly – Stop You from Worrying About the Spelling and Grammar Mistakes
I know you are on a run when a deadline is approaching. The situation leads to a ton of spelling and grammar mistakes and being tight on the schedule won’t allow you to manually go through your assignment to find mistakes.
The best solution to that is to let Grammarly do its magic. Grammarly is basically an app that underlines the spelling and grammar mistakes in the text you have written. You can just edit the mistakes by a tap and you are good to go.
Though, it’s a great app I won’t suggest purchasing the premium version unless you part-time work as a writer.
Duolingo – Master a New Language
Whether you want to boost your resume or learn a new language for fun, Duolingo is the best of the bunch.
It is a simple app that helps you learn different languages (45 languages to be precise). The app has a paid version for those who really want to master a new language.
