I currently have 158 apps on my phone. Do I use them all? Absolutely not. Am I an app junkie? Maybe so. Here is a breakdown of some of the ones that I use most frequently or what I would consider my favorites.
Finance Apps
Ibotta – people always ask me how I can afford to travel so much. It is a crazy mix of a lot of things. This phone app helps me save on food. If you don’t like the idea of spending hours cutting coupons out of the newspaper or breaking them out of your wallet or purse with a huge line behind you at the grocery store, this app is for you. You can search for your favorite products on the app before or while your in the store. You simply add the products to the store you want to use. After you are done shopping you either take a photo of your receipt or scan the barcode on the items. Once you get to $20 in coupons, the money is deposited into your paypal account. Voila!
Root – This phone app and company provides low cost auto insurance. It uses the tracking on your phone to measure what times of day you drive, frequent starts and stops, sharp turns, etc. Over the course of a month it will tell you how well you are driving, a rating of 1-10. The better your rating, the cheaper you insurance. You can use your credit card to pay the for the insurance (flight miles) and set it on autopay. I like this app a lot because it save me over 60% on my car insurance. I was with Progressive.
Letgo – A place to sell all of your crap that you don’t use anymore. I describe it as a high tech version of craigslist. When you take the photo of the item with your app it attempts to recognize the item and create a name for the item so that you don’t have to. You then set your price, or give it away for free. Once that is done you are good to go. It takes a fraction of the time that it does to post an item on other services.
Venmo – a digital wallet that lets you make and share payments with friends. You can easily split the bill, cab fare, or much more. Pay friends and family with a Venmo account using money you have in Venmo, or link your bank account or debit card quickly. Remember the moments you share with friends. Split dinner, send a birthday gift, or just say hello. Use your Venmo account as a way to pay in mobile apps. Move money from Venmo to your bank account
Give customers a seamless payment option with Venmo at checkout on your mobile website or app, and reap the social benefits of the Venmo platform—far beyond the moment of purchase.
Personal Capital – Link all your accounts for free to see a clear real-time view of your entire financial life. There are many other apps out there similar to this one, however, this is my favorite.
- See your net worth
- Analyze your investments and spot hidden fees
- Set spending and saving goals
Travel Apps
Showaround – helps travelers to connect with locals who are ready to show off what they love most about their home cities – or in other words, it’s an online marketplace for private tours, where users have the freedom to tailor tours with residents before they arrive at their travel destination. I have personally used this service in over 20 countries all over the world. Some guides are really knowledgable, some or not. Just make sure you are clear with them what you are looking for. The best part is that I have made some life long friends along the way.
Mobile Passport – speeds you through U.S. customs and border protection at 3 cruise ports and 26 airports. This has actually saved me from missing my flight more than once. Once you log in with your information it is only available for four hours so you must do this close to your flight/cruise time. When you arrive at border control follow the signs to the designated Mobile Passport Control line. Show your passport to the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer and scan the barcode on the CBP receipt and that’s it!
Skyscanner -finds you the cheapest flights by comparing millions of flight options. Aside from plane tickets, they also compare hotels and car rental prices. I really on use this app for checking out the best flights. I will sometimes check the app momondo as well because each one has flights that the other one does not but skyscanner is my go to.
Triposo – Helps you find things to do across 50,000 destinations & 3 million points of interest. This app also boasts that it will “ensure it’s content is highly relevant through a delightful mix of fact and opinion”. Through a sophisticated scoring & tagging algorithms this app delivers recommendations for categories such as food, nightlife, sights, attractions, hotels, and transport. The app also includes features like “city walks” and “similar places” enable you to make the most of your travels.
Booking.com – my go to when it comes to booking accommodation. Sorry airbnb. Although over 80 percent of the bookings from my hostel come from the airbnb platform, when I travel, I least in the last year or so, I go to booking.com first. This site not only lists hotels but apartments, guest houses, B & B’s, and hostels as well.
Yelp – Although this app can be used to locate a variety of different types of businesses, I primarily use it to find good local restaurants when traveling. I highly depend on the user ratings. I really like to open now and pricing filters. This will weed out any places that are currently closed or if you are on a budget.
Foursquare – Almost exactly the same as Yelp. I prefer yelp but this app is offered in some countries where yelp is not. I will also use Foursquare to read other reviews from a different group of users or to break a tie when I am trying to decide between two places with excellent reviews.
Health Apps
SPAR! – This very new app is referred to as a social habit building app. You link up to your credit card. Anyone who downloads the app can create a challenge. For example, I created one the requires you to take a 3 minute cold shower every day for a week. Some other examples are read a chapter in a book, do 50 kettlebells, eat a vegan meal, write in a gratitude journal, etc. Every day you take a short video to prove that you accomplished your task for the day. If you don’t check in, your credit card is charged for that day and the total amount of charges each day is dumped into a pot. Charges range from $3 – $10 and are set by the creator of the challenge. At the end of the challenge, all of the people who did not miss a check-in split the pot! Cool, huh!
WAKING UP – A new guided meditation app by New York Times best selling author Sam Harris. Harris is also known as philosopher, neuroscientist, critic of religion, blogger, public intellectual, and podcast host. This app currently has over 5,000 reviews with an average of 5 out of 5 stars. Most meditation sessions are 10 minutes long. This is the perfect amount of time for the beginner in my opinion. I have been meditating regularly for several years and I really enjoy these short meditations first thing in the morning. The app also includes lessons which are an expanding curriculum of short talks also narrated by Harris which vary in length from 3 to 30 minutes.
PACER – I got tired of buying new $300 watches with GPS and heart rate monitors and step counters. Wearing a strap and the battery wearing out is a pain. This app is free and tracks your daily steps, helps you set goals, and has a GPS system that tracks your running/walking path. It does not have a heart rate monitor but everything else I need. Oh, and did I mention it is FREE!
Personal Development Apps
AUDIBLE – an Amazon company, Audible advertises itself as the largest selection of audiobooks and audio performances anywhere. For $14.95 per month, you get 1 free audible book and 30% off all other audiobooks. I mainly listen to audible via bluetooth in my car. Keep you audio books, even if you cancel. Exchange any audiobooks you don’t like, anytime (I didn’t know you could do this until writing this blog post, I have a few I’d like to exchange!)
Duolingo– A great free language learning app that currently includes over 30 languages. I love that feature that allows you to challenge yourself to practice everyday. When you reach your daily time limit that you set for yourself you receive lingots, like money, and can use your lingots to do things like “freeze” days so that you can take a day off without being penalized or purchase lessons on subjects like “flirting”. Spanish is spoken in 21 countries and that is the one I am learning first.
OK, sixteen…but whose counting really?
It is very important to understand that most of these apps are designed to make you use them as much as possibly which can become psychologically addictive. Check out my post on morning routines to make sure you are getting your healthy dose of the digital world.
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