Nine apps every university student must have

In the digital era of higher education, technology, and apps rule the game. Outside of the classroom, apps can help to create a balanced lifestyle as you juggle modules, meet deadlines, submit assignments, and make time for socialising and rest.  

As a microbiology master’s student at Lovely Professional University, I use a lot of apps to help manage my studies and my spare time, too. Here are nine must-have apps that will make your university life easier and more fun.  

Alarmy  

Unlike other alarm clock apps, Alarmy makes it harder for you to sleep late thanks to a quirky technique.  

The night before, Alarmy will ask you to take a picture of something you want to accomplish when you get up. It could be a photograph of a coffee cup in the kitchen, your exercise mat, or even your desk. The only way to turn off your alarm the next morning is by going to that exact location and taking another photograph to show that you’re out of bed and about to seize the day.  

I find the customised deactivating tasks more motivating than regular alarms that come with a snooze button. The user experience on this app feels tailor-made to student life. You can even use it throughout the day to make yourself accountable for the tasks you set out to do.  

Google Apps 

Google Apps should form an essential part of your app collection. From organising your time with Google Calendar to navigating your way through the city on Google Maps and even holding group discussions on Google Meet, the major technology conglomerate has everything you could need to organise your life.  

OneDrive can form a central database where you can store all your assignments, projects and images. Google Documents help you to create, edit, and share files with multiple people where each person can see their changes on a group project. You can even build presentations with Google Slides. 

Plus, the apps are free and globally available. Some universities even provide Google Apps for students to use.  

2Do 

The 2Do app is a personal task manager, where you can quickly add your thoughts and to-dos on any device. I like to create daily checklists so I can tick off everything I’ve accomplished and add to them as I go.  

I play football and chess for my university and volunteer for a charity too, so scheduling is important for me to find the time to do everything. For those who feel overwhelmed by multitasking, 2Do is the perfect way to make this feel more achievable.  

Quizlet 

Researchers at MIT found that we learn faster and better with infographics. Flashcards are some of the best uses of infographics, which brings us to our next app – Quizlet.  

Quizlet is a digital version of flashcards, meaning you have all your revision cards in one place. It comes in very handy for presentations, when you can hold your phone and flick through your notes with ease.  

With the Quizlet app, you can create your own designs to help you remember information for different modules or exams, and you can share your decks with other users. The chances are that someone has already made flashcards for the exam you're studying, so you can search the app to see if they exist instead of reinventing the wheel. 

Grammarly 

While Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken first-language in the world, English reigns as the most spoken language overall. With Grammarly, you can make sure your English grammar and spelling is correct.  

We've all been there, grammar and spelling can be tricky sometimes. I often miss a comma after a phrase, use 'me' instead of ‘I’, 'your' instead of 'you're', or fall into the 'there', 'their', and 'they're' loophole.  

Having a tool that can tell you if you’ve made a mistake and make you write more clearly will undoubtedly make university life easier.  

The app has plug-ins and keyboards that can be integrated into your smartphone, web browser, or other digital writing tools. It will automatically check your work for errors, whether you're writing an assignment, posting on social media, or emailing your professor.  

Forest 

Forest is an app that helps you to stay focused by planting digital trees that wither if you get distracted by your phone in the time you’ve set to concentrate.  

If you concentrate, trees grow to full size and the company plants the equivalent number of real trees into the world. So far, they’ve planted 1,561,537 trees with Trees for the Future. So if you don’t concentrate, your tree won’t be planted. That’s good motivation.     

Discount apps 

Student discounts are one of the best things about studying at university. Lots of local cafes, shops and bars offer discounts when you show your student card, but there are also national and global discount apps that you can sign up to for even more offers.  

If you’re in the US, Student Beans is a really cool app where you can get amazing discount on several shopping sites. The Chegg app offers you amazing discounts for buying all your textbooks and reading materials. 

If you’re in the UK, the most popular student discount apps are Unidays and Totum. You can also get several offers from fashion and lifestyle shopping app, Grabble and cashback from Quidco.  

Due to most stores being localised or region-specific, you are more likely to get a discount app that’s specific to your region. 

Headspace 

Headspace is a guided meditation and mental health resource app to maintain focus and deal with anxiety. 

With this user-friendly app, you can kick start your day with meditation, inspiration and workout videos. After a long day, Headspace provides sleep casts and soft music to ease you into the night. 

To access content and resources on Headspace, you’ll need to purchase a subscription. Headspace offers discounted rates for students for less than $10 USD (~£8 GBP)! 

Cookpad 

The Cookpad app is a cooking companion for students, containing a rich depository of recipes from across the world and in 16 different languages! 

Anyone can add their favorite recipes to this cooking encyclopedia. You can bookmark your favorite recipes to try later. If you have any allergies, the Cookpad app helps you to filter ingredients from the recipe, so you can still enjoy your favorite meals without hassle.  

As an international student in India, I found an entire section dedicated to Indian cuisine. The app gives me a step-by-step method to follow and I’ve learned lots of new dishes since I started university.  

 

These nine apps will help you get through your university days, no matter what you study or how hectic your life is.