1- Moodnotes is a mental health journal
Moodnotes isn’t your average journaling app. It uses cognitive-behavioral therapy to suggest healthier thinking habits and a series of guided questions to help you evaluate — and hopefully improve — your mood
“The App Store is a perfect distribution channel for an intervention like this,” Ustwo’s Alana Wood, who led the development of Moodnotes, told Tech Insider in August. “If people learn something about themselves, whether it’s something that makes them happy more often or not, or it’s helped them unpack a situation from a different angle, I think it’s worth the cost of a cup of coffee
Price: Free
Available on: iOS
Human is a way to track your activity and share it with friends
Human uses the iPhone’s tracking sensors to detect when you’re walking, running, and on a bike ride and displays that information in a beautiful interface. You can think of Human, which was named as one of Apple’s best apps of 2014 in the App Store, as a better version of the stock Health app that comes on your iPhone
It gives you daily activity challenges and lets you set up a club of other Human users for organizing workouts and keeping each other accountable
Price: Free
Available on: iOS
Duolingo will help you learn another language
Duolingo tries to make learning another language manageable. The app breaks down complicated curriculum into easily digestible lessons that are designed to motive you with points and unlockable power-ups. The service itself is completely free and doesn’t require you to drop cash during the learning process
The goal is to make you fluent in one of the 13 supported languages, and the app will even remind you to brush up on lessons you didn’t score so well on the first time
Price: Free
Available on: iOS, Android
Khan Academy will help you learn just about anything
Khan Academy is a non-profit trying to revolutionize the distribution of free education. The app gives you free access to 10,000 videos and lessons in math, science, economics, history, and many more subjects
The iPad app also includes 150,000 interactive, Common Core-aligned math exercises with instant feedback and step-by-step instructions and hints. It also supports handwriting recognition for writing down answers to questions
NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT have all partnered with Khan Academy to offer custom lessons
Price: Free
Available on: iOS, Android
Spotify is a great app for streaming music
Spotify is the best streaming music service for most people. As competition in the streaming music space has heated up — Apple’s long-awaited Apple Music service launched over the summer — Spotify has been adding some great new features. One of those is Discover Weekly, which builds a custom playlist each week for every Spotify user
The app supports free listening on shuffle with ads, while a Spotify Premium subscription unlocks everything, including offline mode for when you can’t stream
Price: Free ($9.99 per month optional subscription)
Available on: iOS, Android
HBO Now provides premium programming without a cable subscription
HBO Now represents the future of television: premium programming packaged in a nice app with simple pricing and no required cable subscription
It doesn’t hurt that the app gives you access to all of HBO’s exclusive content, including shows like “Game of Thrones” and “The Wire
HBO Now was an Apple exclusive app when it first debuted earlier this year, but now it’s available on other platforms (including Android) for $14.99 per month (after a 30-day free trial)
Price: $14.99 per month
Available on: iOS
Netflix is for streaming movies and binge watching shows
If you haven’t spent a weekend binge-watching a Netflix original series like “House of Cards” or “Orange is the New Black,” you’re missing out. For a base monthly subscription (plans start at $7.99, but most popular is the $9.99 per month plan), you get access to all of the shows and movies on Netflix, and you can watch them on pretty much any device
The app itself is easy to navigate and comes with customization options like subtitles, multiple user profiles, and more
Price: Prices vary, but start at $7.99 per month
Available on: iOS, Android
SoundCloud will find your next jam
We wish other apps took cues from SoundCloud on how to build an intuitive and friendly music player. The app’s swipeable interface is great for skipping part of a song and navigating between playlists
With access to all of SoundCloud’s millions of tracks, you can queue up a song you like and the app will continue to play music that’s similar
Price: Free
Available on: iOS, Android
Pandora is perfect for listening to internet radio
With an average review rating of 4 stars, the Pandora app has maintained its position as an “essential” app in Apple’s App Store for years.
Even with the rising popularity of Spotify and Apple Music, Pandora is used by 78 million people to stream personalized internet radio stations. Its music recommendations clearly resonate with people.
The Pandora app, which also works on the Apple Watch, is free to use with ads and other restrictions
Cost: Free (optional Pandora One subscriptions costs $3.99 and removes ads and other restrictions)
SoundHound will discover music playing around you
Like Shazam, SoundHound listens to your surroundings to identify whatever music is playing. What sets SoundHound apart from Shazam, though, is that it can also detect songs you sing into your phone. And yes, this works even if you’re not the greatest singer in the world
Once recognized, it can help you add the song to Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, or Rdio. There’s even a built-in lyrics engine for when you want to sign along
Price: Free
Available on: iOS, Android
GIF Keyboard will help you find the perfect GIF for every moment.
This third-party keyboard for the iPhone lets you quickly send an animated GIF from anywhere you can type. You can search for specific memes and save your favorite GIFs for quick access
Price: Free
Available on: iOS
Hulu will help you cut the cord
If you’re trying to “cut the cord” and get rid of your cable or satellite service, Hulu is a no-brainer. The service (which is co-owned by NBC, ABC, and Fox) has scored the rights to stream all kinds of shows, including all nine seasons of “Seinfeld.” The app is lightweight and makes it easy to watch content on the go or at your big screen
We preferred Hulu when it barely had commercials, but even with the introduction of more ads over time, the service has managed to stay innovative. If you don’t mind a few commercials sprinkled throughout shows, you pay just $7.99 per month. Otherwise, you can pay for a no-commercial plan for $11.99 per month
Price: Free to watch some shows on some devices, but full access starts at $7.99 per month
Available on: iOS, Android
