Interactive News

Transfer Money, Stay on Top of Goals and Meet New People With These AMAZING Apps! Your mobile device is a springboard to so many possibilities. With app development becoming one of the fastest-growing industries out there, your phone can do just about anything. Certain apps can help you stick with a beneficial habit, get amazing deals on products and services, or learn the alphabet! No matter your age or interest, there’s an app out there for everyone. We’ve compiled a list of our top 10 favorite apps along with their price, reviews on the Apple Store/Google Play, and a video describing their function. If none of these tickle your fancy, check out our blog post on The Top 10 Coolest Apps Ever and 10 More of the Coolest Apps Ever. Venmo (free) Wish you could transfer money safely? Sick of having to remember IOUs and deposit five dollar checks from your friends? In a day and age when carrying around cash is a thing of the past (used only for tolls and paying parking meters), it makes sense that a simple app for money transferals would be a huge hit. It’s easy to link up your bank accounts and debit cards, and deposits typically take only one business day. This virtual wallet also lets you pay for items. You can split dinner or send a gift hassle-free. Venmo remembers the cost and allows you to split the next time you open the app. Your card and bank information are secure in your Venmo account—not shared directly with businesses. Venmo is a service of Paypal, so you know it can be trusted. Audible (free 30-day trial) This Amazon company lets you listen to your favorite books from the convenience of your phone. You won’t lose your place if you switch devices, and world-renowned performances (from A-list celebrities) make an enjoyable listening experience. This is a great application for long car rides or jobs that allow you to listen while you work. You can take advantage of a 30-day free trial (and free audio book to get you started), then pay $14.95/month for your subscription after the trial. Each month, you get one free credit toward a book of your choice—price doesn’t matter! You can listen offline, there are no ads, and Audible is the world’s largest library of audiobooks. If you don’t like a book, you can swap it out for free. Plus, you can keep your books forever—even if you cancel! If you're someone who enjoys a good story but can't seem to find the time to sit down with a book, Audible is a great alternative. Groupon (free) With Groupon, you can search through different categories to find deals near you or anywhere around the country. Search for discounts on ‘things to do’, ‘restaurants’, ‘getaways’, etc. from the convenience of your phone. Save the deal on your phone and then pull it out when you need to redeem it. Or print out your Groupon if you’re going somewhere without cell phone service. These deals cover everything from online classes to zip-lining to customized blankets, and the app makes it easy to search for exactly what you need. If you think coupons are a hassle and hate having to scrounge your emails to get the latest deals, Groupon is the app for you. White Noise (free) If you or a loved one has trouble falling asleep, White Noise is the perfect solution. It plays your favorite sounds to relax and calm your mind, like pouring rain, crashing waves, or thunder. You get continuous playback or looped audio without interruption. The alarm slowly fades in so you wake up gently rather than with the jarring of an alarm clock. You can record and mix sounds together or adjust audio properties to find the perfect soundscape. You can even upload and share you mixes for the community to use. Some of the different sounds include air conditioner, airplane travel, Amazon jungle, crickets chirping and stream water. Alarm noises include short beeps, bell towers, fast flute and glass chime. Puzzle Alarm Clock This is one of the coolest apps ever because it actually gets you out of bed on time! Notorious snoozers: you have met your match. If you’re someone who sets several alarms, you can see the time of your next alarm in the same space. Adding puzzles to solve before the alarm will turn off ensures you’re fully awake. You can choose basic puzzles or harder mini games depending on how much of a challenge you need to motivate you to get out of bed. You can enable a ‘wake-up poke’ feature that makes you prove that you’re awake five minutes after turning off the alarm. You can even add a snooze limit and turn off an alarm within an hour before it goes off. Keep in mind that this app is currently only available for Android devices. Boomerang (free) The Boomerang app for Instagram lets you capture a few seconds of movement that gets replayed forward and backward—looping like a boomerang. Simply tap the button once and create your video. It shoots a burst of 10 photos which are then turned into a video that you can share on Instagram or Facebook right from the app. You can even save it to your camera roll to share with friends later. It's one of the coolest apps out there because of how seamlessly it integrates with social media platforms. Streaks ($3.99) Available only for the iPhone, this app is designed to help you stick with your goals. You can choose up to six tasks that you want to turn into daily habits, such as walking the dog, eating an apple, or flossing your teeth. Each day that you complete these tasks, your streak is extended (much like a Snap streak). If you break your streak, it resets back to zero days. If you connect with the iOS Health app, Streaks can track whether you walk 5,000 steps, measure your heart rate, and record your blood pressure. You can also adjust the steaks so you only do some tasks on certain days (ie: walking to work Monday-Friday, calling your parents every Wednesday). This app is even compatible with Apple Watch! Feel free to change the background color of the app’s home screen, and choose from hundreds of icons to represent your goals. The app reminds you of all your tasks a once a day, or you can have it send a reminder for each individual task. Cozi (free) This Family Organizer app comes with a shared family calendar that’s color-coded, shopping lists, to-do lists, a family journal, and a recipe box. It can be accessed and updated from any mobile device or computer, plus you can add ingredients to the grocery list. Chores can be assigned and checked off from the convenience of a single app! You can even add Major League Baseball schedules to your Cozi for the best summer experience. If you choose to pay for Cozi Gold, you’ll also get mobile calendar month view, calendar search, mobile app themes, multiple reminders, the ability to change notifications, an ad-free experience, birthday tracker, contacts, and shopping mode. It's still one of the coolest apps even it's unpaid version, but this option is great if you want this app to be an essential part of your family planning. Bumble (free) This unique dating app is similar to Tinder, but changes up the game by putting women in the driver’s seat. Only females can start conversations. This tactic is meant to lower the number of sleazy messages that women often get on dating apps. You swipe right just like with Tinder, except this app sets the stage for conversations to begin. If you don’t say something to a new connection within 24 hours, the connection disappears. This motivates users to take charge and be active. For same sex connections or friendships, either person has 24 hours to make the first move. BFF is a new feature that allows you to find friends on the app as well as romantic connections. It matches you with people of the same sex who you seem to have commonalities with and lets you take it from there! Conversations with potential BFFS show up in a different color than your conversations with potential partners, so you don’t have to worry about sending the wrong message to someone! You can extend one connection for an additional 24 hours each day if you need more time to make a decision. We think it's one of the coolest apps because of how it flips those gender norms! Endless Alphabet ($8.99) This game is perfect for your growing toddler, offering an interactive, educational game to each them the alphabet. It helps them build their vocabulary in a fun setting! Every word has an interactive puzzle with talking letters and a short animation showing the definition. Endless Alphabet comes with 100 words to explore and learn (though only 7 word puzzle come with the free app). This app is great because there are no high scores, failures or limits—the best environment for your learning child. It ranks as one of the coolest apps because of how it mixes education and entertainment. Contact Us For more of the coolest apps ever, check out this blog post…or this one! We are a full-service digital marketing agency that specializes in app development, so contact us if you’re interested in developing your own app. Each of these apps started out as an idea in someone's head--there's no reason that head can't be your's!