Mobile banking has changed my life. No longer can I continue to buy things and be blissfully unaware of how much I'm spending. Nope. Now I have constant access to my bank account, which helps with budgeting and making sensible financial decisions
God I’m sorry to keep bleating on about Fitbits. I feel like the Fitbit whisperer in that I’m consistently talking about them. But they really are so awesome they warrant a mention in every single blog post I promise. One of my favourite features of Fitbits has to be the phone app. Having an app on your phone that your Fitbit can communicate with directly via Bluetooth is a very easy and motivational way to keep an eye on your activity levels. Had a lazy day? Just check your daily steps via the app – and then walk the long way home. For me, as someone who seems to have been on a diet my entire life it takes the guess work out of calorie counting. By being able to see at the touch of a button calories in VS calories out I can decide whether having 2 portions of lasagne for dinner is a good idea or not…
And on that note, how bloody brilliant is Myfitnesspal?! It seems to be like Marmite in the sense people have either loved it and seen amazing results or hated it and think its overrated. Either way, I fall into the ‘’loved it’’ category. I don’t see how anyone can fail to lose weight by tracking their food intake using this app and then adjusting their activity levels accordingly. It even allows you to scan food packaging via your camera, and will show you the calorie content of whatever you’ve scanned! As someone who’s becoming increasingly more aware and interested in nutrition WHATS NOT TO LOVE?! You can also keep track of how much water you've drank - not to get all Derek Zoolander about it but water truly is the root of beauty and a focused mind at work. If you’re a fellow Fitbit whisperer it gets even better in that the two apps can talk to each other, and thus make losing weight literally fool proof. Monitor what you’ve consumed via Myfitnesspal and monitor how many calories you’ve burned via Fitbit and ensure the latter is higher. Voila!
If you’re female you have periods. Sorry guys – it’s a fact of life. (If however you're in denial and would rather not acknowledge that we all get periods feel free to skip this paragraph.) Unfortunately however our monthly bill isn’t always on time, which can lead to a whole host of worries and concerns…Clue is an app that tracks your periods via the information you put in each month about your previous cycle, which over time can provide estimated dates and info about future cycles. It can even alert you when you’re about to get PMS, which I know is my personal favourite function (buys cookies in bulk, boyfriend goes into hiding). It’s also pretty awesome at tracking when you’re likely to ovulate, which for anyone trying to conceive has gotta be useful right? Free to download from the app store Clue is an app I definitely wouldn’t want to be without. Its also added insurance that you’ll never be caught short without a you-know-what again. God I love technology.
Finally, my newest recruit is Headspace. This is a meditation app that aims to improve your mental well-being by encouraging mindfulness. Now as a miserable cow who is sceptical of anything like this I didn’t think this was something that would work for me, or something I’d stick to. The mere thought of me sitting cross legged for 10 minutes with my eyes closed was laughable. But there’s something very calming about this dude’s ability to make me focus on my breathing, and I’ve slept incredibly well since starting this. Initially the app consists of 10 steps, that are 10 minutes each which aim to get the listener to focus their thoughts in the moment, not that they forgot to feed the cat or how much ironing needs doing. This has become part of my night time routine and something I look forward to doing before I sleep. Currently on step 4 I still have a long way to go, but can honestly say I feel the benefits of this already in that I go to sleep calm, and wake up calm (which for anyone that has lived with me will know is a revelation). The recommended time for meditating is first thing in the morning, which makes total sense, however I prefer to use my 10 minutes in the morning sleeping/slapping on makeup/both. I recommend this to anyone really, but especially anyone that feels they get stressed quite easily, or would like to find ways of learning to focus their thoughts. It's not as easy as it looks and science buffs have also declared meditation as being good for overall health and brain function. Hurrah.
Honourable mentions go to O2 Priority (£1 lunch from Boots on Mondays!) and the ASOS app making shopping on the go dangerously easy.
So there we have it – my top apps. Obviously Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al. are also up there with my most used apps but these are a few that I believe are actually beneficial, rather than a total waste of time and something to scroll through in awkward situations (I’m looking at you, Snapchat)
What are your favourite apps?
