A round-up of the newest and best smartphone apps designed to make student life a little easier.
Any.do
Any.do is a versatile to-do list app for iOS and Android. It prompts you to plan out your day each morning, providing users with a quick touch-based interface. By raising a once-daily notification, Any.do does a good job of remaining visible without being overly invasive.
MoneyWise
Budgeting is arguably one of the hardest responsibilities that new students have to adjust to. Student loans and overdrafts afford most students purchasing power far beyond what they’re used to, and, especially if you make the mistake of taking out a credit card, bad financial decisions can quickly pile up into a serious problem. Enter MoneyWise, a comprehensive Android app that makes budgeting simple. MoneyWise keeps a comprehensive record of your finances and provides users with graphs that show what you’ve been spending and when.
Mailbox
Mailbox is a comprehensive mail client for iOS and a great replacement for the default app. It encourages users to keep a clean inbox with a number of swipe commands. Using swipe commands, users can archive mail once they’ve read and actioned the contents of the message, or set a reminder to return to it later. Like a lot of great apps, Mailbox allows you to work through a large number of tasks very quickly, and is perfect for staying on top of your inbox.
Dropbox
A great app obsoletes a real-world appliance. Dropbox has always been great for people either too frugal or disorganised to purchase and use a USB stick, and comes recommended for its ease of use and usability.
Many readers will use the desktop version of the application, which allows you to store small files in the cloud for free. The iPhone and Android versions allow users to take photos and videos and upload them to their own Dropbox. It also allows access to your favourite files offline, making it perfect for viewing files on the go. What differentiates Dropbox from a USB stick is that even if you lose your phone or your computer, your files will still be accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. As such, Dropbox is a great insurance policy against forgetfulness and loss.
Evernote
Evernote is a staple of productivity-related lists, and for good reason; if you use it on your laptop and your phone, both will stay in sync, regardless of whether or not their operating systems are on talking terms.
Evernote is a great word processor and organiser of notes on desktop computers. And by using the app (available on iOS and Android), you can access them from wherever you are, making it perfect for presentations and last minute revision sessions.
Camscanner
Gone are the days where people are forced to use temperamental USB scanners; Camscanner uses the (often absurdly high-quality) on-board cameras available on most smartphones to take photos of documents. The application will then sort out the levels and contrast of the document, offering users the benefits of a scanner with none of the inconvenience.
Camscanner allows you to scan multiple pages of a document and then aggregate them into a single PDF.
Feed.ly
Staying on top of deadlines, part-time jobs and fledgling relationships can be tough at first—so a good news application is perfect for staying on top of current affairs. Feed.ly is an excellent cloud-based RSS aggregator, available for both iOS and Android, and offering users the ability to consolidate all of their news sources into one feed. Users can select the news sources they want to receive and login to the service both on their desktop computer and on their phones.
RefME
A new app, designed to overcome the time-consuming task of referencing secondary material for essays. The free tool uses scanning technology to create essay bibliographies and has already attracted half a million users across its six-month testing period.