5 Apps Everyone Needs on Their Phone!

Life is difficult when you have hundreds of useless apps taking up all of the space on your phone. It feels like every month, for a day, I try to delete apps and reorganize my home screen so I can get organized, while the rest of that month I continue to add unnecessary apps that bury my useful ones.

Conventionally useful apps, such as mail, texts, settings, notes, alarms, reminders, photos, and weather, should always be the frontrunner on your phone; but after these, what are really the most important apps you need to better yourself and make your life easier? Here are 5 apps everyone needs!

1. MyFitnessPal

For those who are athletes to those who are couch potatoes, MyFitnessPal is the best app to have on hand. It’s free to download but some features require a paid premium plan. It has multiple features like calorie tracking, nutrient and water intake, helpful tips and tricks, fitness plans, progress reports, and much more.

Its calorie tracking feature is free and allows you to account for exercise, water, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks by searching for food items, scanning barcodes or meals, or, if you’re already a pro, you can add your calories manually. It will keep track of your calories and macros for the day, minus what you burn from exercise.

The app will keep you inspired by allowing you to add your friends and compete, giving you access to articles in a newsfeed that discuss healthy tips and tricks, allowing you to set reminders, and giving you access to a whole community working on bettering themselves. With the premium version, you can even find workout plans dedicated to your skill level and interests. There are helpful videos on how to partake in certain exercises as well as videos of trainers to watch and keep you motivated during your workouts.  Whatever your fitness needs, MyFitnessPal has you covered.

2. PictureThis

Hiking, gardening, or enjoying nature is always an incredible pastime that many love, especially during these Summer months. With tens of thousands of diverse types of plant types in the United States, it is definitely difficult to keep track.

This free app (with in-app purchases) allows you to take a photo of any plant you come across and lets you know the exact species, its condition, tips for upkeep, information on the species, and anything else you would possibly need to know. If you are hiking or exploring the outdoors, this app is helpful in identifying safe and toxic plants, and if you are gardening indoors or outdoors, the app can help you make sure your plants are healthy and stay healthy. If you have a sick plant, PictureThis can also tell you exactly what you need to fix it.

The app also offers a widget and notifications dedicated to all your different plants in terms of watering and health reminders. You can also keep a record of all the plant species that you have found or keep in your garden. It also has seasonal tips, trending plants in the U.S., an explore section of species information, and insightful articles. It also has a light meter that allows you to see how much light plants are receiving. PictureThis Premium also comes with insect, bird, tree-ring, weeds, allergen, pet toxicity, and tree identification.

3. Calm

If you don’t have Calm, stop what you’re doing and download it immediately. Everyone has stressful days, and most of us could benefit from some form of mental health care. The app has 1.6 million ratings and has 4.8 stars in the App Store. It’s the best app for sleep and meditation.

As soon as you download the app, it asks you some questions to give you personalized recommendations based on your goals. Once you enter, it asks you how you are doing where you can give 6 different answers based on the emotions you are feeling. Based on you answer, it gives you a personalized list of results that can help you feel at ease. These results can include meditation instructions, stories, music, calming sounds, and more. It reduces anxiety, helps you sleep better, and keeps you in check with your emotions, which is something that more people need to do for their mental health.

4. Fitness

Fitness is a basic but important free app that you need no matter who you are. What’s amazing is that you can use it in conjunction with MyFitnessPal to make sure you are getting accurate readings on your exercise intake as well as the exercises you choose to do.

It works best as a widget you can throw on your home screen to keep track of your steps and calories burned throughout the day. You can select a wide variety of different workouts to secure accurate readings. The app works best when it is connected to an Apple Watch, but it is still very good if you just keep your phone nearby. It can count steps accurately, keep you motivated with different challenges, goals, and trophies that you can earn when you complete certain exercises, and maintain a good exercise track record. It gives you rings to keep track of your progress throughout the day. These consist of a red move ring, a green exercise ring, and a blue stand ring. Placed as a widget on your home screen, the rings give you a good idea of how you are doing at that point in the day. The goal is to make sure you close all your rings in a day!

5. Waze

Most people are satisfied with Google Maps or Maps to take them anywhere they need to go. Those who use Waze, however, are totally elite. Waze allows so many amazing features that make road-tripping a fun and exciting thing.

It is a free app that is equipped with a built-in speedometer that works in conjunction with the speed limit of the road you are on to tell you if you are going over or under/on par with the speed limit. It turns red and flashes to let you know if you have gone over to avoid those pesky speeding tickets that ruin your day.

It also allows you to share the drive with friends who might be on the same road with you to keep yourselves on the same pace by keeping you on the same directional plan. You can also see your fellow ‘wazers’ on the map as you pass by them and keep connected to them through public reports.

The best feature the app offers are the warnings about the road ahead. It warns you about police, potholes, roadkill, objects in the road, cars on the side of the road, construction, road closures, time in traffic, gas prices, and more. It also allows you to save your favorite locations and reroutes you if there are any issues.