💎Rare Finds💎

Have you ever gotten to the point of your life that you find something that you randomly excavated and you feel like you have to tell the whole world about it?

We love new finds and what better way to share them among our fellow internet brethren.

Here are 5 rare finds that you may find fun/interesting:

 

What is it?

Track your spending, grow a city! Fortune City gamifies bookkeeping with a fun city simulation game. Record your income and expenses, and watch as your city flourishes into a beautiful metropolis.

 

•  Cultivate Good Habits in an Easy Way
  Gamification gets you hooked on recording expenses! Build good habits while watching your city develop and grow.
  – Easy to use interface let you track your spending and categorize transactions in simple taps.
• Analyze Expenses at a Glance
  – Pie charts and bar charts allow you to check income and expenses at a glance.
  – Over 10 different categories and multiple accounts so you can keep clear records.
  – View your balance weekly, monthly, or seasonally for both long and short-term financial planning.
  – Advanced searching functions allow you to quickly understand your personal spending habits.

Review

I can’t even lie, this app has saved me from my obsessive spending ways. I’m usually not that kind of person that tracks their spending but since my friend recommended this, I’ve been having a blast navigating through the app. This makes a budget book seem more personalized and fun with little cute townies to help you out along the way.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Plant Nanny combines health with fun to remind you to drink water regularly.
The cute plant keeps you company every day by living in your phone. Your little plant will grow up day-to-day with your care. You can also unlock new flowerpots by planting more plants. Feed your plant when you drink water with one single button.
Plant Nanny will remind you how many cups of water you need on the daily.

 

Review

This app is the best rare gem I’ve ever found. I use it on again off again because I drink water more often but this app was such a great resource for me when I always forgot to drink water. This app is great because it makes the habit more personal to you. You want to take care of the plant because it is a representation of your habit for drinking more water and I think the way they incorporate it is so well-done.

Check out the iOS version here & the  Android version here!

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Walkr is the second offering in a series of health-conscious games from Fourdesire, creators of the Plant Nanny app. Hop on the Walkr spaceship and begin your adventure across the boundless cosmos! With Walkr in your pocket, your daily steps are automatically recorded and converted into energy fuel for your spaceship. Tracks and records the number of calories you burn and recommends daily fitness goals. Start up the booster when you begin walking to accumulate even more energy fuel

Review

I regularly don’t have time for this app anymore but it’s pretty great for people who want to get their daily steps. It does a really good job gamifying fitness and ultimately makes you want to go for your goal. It creates a really cool mechanic of implementing your steps into the engine for your ship that you will be maintaining through the app.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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Dogs, man’s best friend, worth for us to spend more time and give love to them.

Doggii let you easily take photos of your lovely puppies, street dogs and any doggy you see anytime on anywhere with additional info of their names, breeds, location, dates and personal info. Quick picture touch-ups, individualized images to share the precious moment with others.

Review

As a major dog lover, I found this to be such a treat for me. If you catch a dog that you’re not sure what their breed is, you can simply whip out this app and find out everything you need to know about this breed. It’s a great resource among dog lovers and owners.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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EpicWin is an iPhone app that puts the adventure back into your life. It’s a streamlined to-do list, to quickly note down all your everyday tasks, but with a role-playing spin. So rather than just ticking off your chores and reminders, completing each one earns you XP to improve and develop your character in an ongoing quest to improve stats, gain riches, and level-up.

Review

I would put this app next to the productivity apps like Habitica or Done that basically make your everyday life an RPG quest. The art is really dope and the quests that they have you conquer are modified to be more fantasy than they are boring.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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🎨Make Art. Not War.

Have you ever gone to an art museum and thought “Wow, how in the world do artists do art?”

You can’t magically learn art overnight, it’s a process that takes time, dedication, and a boatload of creative to churn out the beauties we call art today.

Although apps can’t teach you everything there is to know about art, there are a lot that can provide you with the resources and education you need to get started.

Here are 5 apps fun art apps to get your creative juices flowing:

What is it?

Do you want to know why van Gogh cut off his ear? Or who is the lady on Picasso’s portrait? How Jackson Pollock created his paintings? Open DailyArt and find out.

Every day get inspired by beautiful classic, modern and contemporary art masterpieces and read short stories about them. Join the community of over 700.000 art lovers, for whom DailyArt is something that enlightens their day, every day. For free, with no ads.

App Features:

•  Explore and search the collection of more than 2000 masterpieces
• Read 700 artist biographies and information about 500 museum collections
• Add masterpieces to your favorites
• Easily find DailyArts which you haven’t seen yet
• Share everything among your family and friends

Review

Who doesn’t love a little art education? This app is really awesome for art history nerds who want to know more behind the painting. This app presents a range of stories for paintings you can find around big museums. From popular paintings to small ones, this app is your go-to art history dictionary.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

What to Draw? gives you ideas when you want to draw something, but have no idea of what. They offer 12 themes for you, Medieval Fantasy, Space, Horror, Western, Llama and so much more! All with millions of cool (and mostly weird) suggestions. No more artblock!

It has 2 types of suggestions. First are Random Phrases, a random formula that creates a suggestion based on key-words. Second is Pre-made Phrases, suggestions from What to draw?’s database.

Review

Art block getting you down? Look nowhere but the What To Draw? app. This app has a range of awesome art topics that you can base your next creation on. It doesn’t just stick to one theme either. Want to do a historical piece? They got it. Science Fiction? Got that too. Real life scenario? Check that too. This app is awesome for prompts, especially ones you may have never thought of.

Check out the Android version here!

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What is it?

Discover the history behind some of the world’s greatest typefaces with Typendium, an elegant collection of short essays and illustrations. Learn why Gill Sans is considered controversial, or why Palatino is the world’s most pirated typeface, as well as other interesting tales from the world of typography. Typendium is a clean & simple iOS app that aims to delight you.

Review

I have a graphic design friend and she is in love with this app. For all those typography lovers out there, this is the app that expands your typography by a ton. The app teaches you about each typeface and the history behind each one. Have you seen a typeface and aren’t really sure where it’s from? Typendium helps out with that problem and more.

Check out the iOS version here!

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What is it?

Origami is the ancient art of paper folding. This app includes diagrams for creating your own work of art. Learn how to turn ordinary paper into beautiful origami flowers.

Create flowers such as:

• Simple Tulip
• Stem
• Tulip
• Money Flower
• Lily
•  Iris
• And many more!

Review

Ah, yes. Origami. The most beautiful yet frustrating art form that I’ve ever done before. Origami is a pretty extraordinary form that creates delicate results. I’ve always had problems with origami making but this app is pretty great for beginners. If you want to get started on origami making, here’s your chance.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Finding the right colors for your bedroom have never been easier! Point the phone camera on the wall and see matching colors. Explore the variety of combinations, adjust color palette and save the best one.

Find 4 matching colors and use 10 different algorithms to choose the set of colors in your taste. Find them with Color Harmony!

App Features:
•Variety of color modes (RGB, HSV, RAL, CMYK)
•Variety of algorithms of color harmony
•Matching colors in camera mode
•Finding 4 matching colors in harmony
•Translating colors to RAL format (color matching system used in Europe)
•Adding swatches to favorites
•Stunning design with clean look and feel

Review

Ever run into those situations where you just don’t know what colors to put together? This is a great on the go color palette guide that you can use for any situation. I use this a lot for when coming up with colors for documents or projects. It’s always hard to pinpoint designated colors with random color swatches.

Check out the Android version here!

🌱Pay It Forward🌱

With all the chaos that’s going on in the world, sometimes you feel like the world has sunken into a hopeless bog. Anytime you turn on the news or scroll through social media, another calamity seems to have occurred somewhere in the world.

It’s simple. We can’t fix everything in the world just yet but we can start with what’s around us.

A little kindness can go a long way.

Here are 5 apps that can spread the love:

 

What is it?

Nobly is a fun and social place for creating and interacting with acts of kindness. It will allow you to see how one deed can be a catalyst for far-reaching change, and allow you to connect with others through the common interest of doing good.

With Nobly you can:

• Capture acts of kindness happening around you, share them with friends, and inspire goodwill.
• View a focused, ad-free feed of the latest RAKs performed by friends and users across the world.
• Receive updates when someone follows you, is inspired by your Deed, makes a comment, and much more.
• Share Deeds with apps like Facebook and Instagram.
• Connect with Nobly users all over the world to see the good happening both locally and abroad.

Review

I’ve never really seen an app like this but I like what it’s going for. With broadcasting acts of kindness from across the world, this spreads that awareness of kind acts through a social network system. I find it to be intriguing and will definitly be utilizing it in the future.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Ripil is Social Media for Good. If you want to do good, see good happening around you and the world, Ripil is the place. The platform was built with every tool possible to keep people engaged and inspired to do and spread good around the World. A newsfeed of all that is happening around the user, ‘Deeds nearby’ to connect you with those in your community doing good, a ‘follow’ function to help grow your impact on the world. Create a public group for anyone across the globe or a private group just for your company or school.

A Kindness Leaderboard will show you the kindest users, kindest groups and kindest cities in the world and a “Deed gauge” will give you up to the minute stats of how many deeds have happened today and throughout the year. A direct messaging feature will allow you to speak with people you have connected with the inside of Ripil and the “Good news” section brings the user in contact with every piece of good news published, each day, throughout the world.

Review

This app has similar elements to the Nobly app. It creates a local community that once again displays all of the good deeds that have been done in the area. The interface for this one can be a bit off sometimes but none the less it is still an app for good.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Tired of social networks that make you feel worse about yourself? Empath is all about sharing how you actually feel and building deeper connections with people you really care about. Every feeling you post is anonymous, but when a friend hearts one of your posts, Empath tells you who is showing you love. Then if you feel comfortable, you can open up and let that friend know it was you all along.

 

Empath tracks all your posts in an emotional journal so you can see how your feelings change over time and remember important moments. When we share our feelings, the world feels a whole lot friendlier.

Review

This app has similar elements to the Nobly app. It creates a local community that once again displays all of the good deeds that have been done in the area. The interface for this one can be a bit off sometimes but none the less it is still an app for good.

Check out the iOS version here!

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What is it?

ShareTheMeal is the charity app that allows you to feed a child in need with one tap on your phone. Every year, hunger kills more people than malaria, HIV and tuberculosis combined. But it costs only $0.50 to feed a child for one day. There are 20 times as many smartphone users as hungry children. If every one of us gives just a little, we can make this world a better place!

Use ShareTheMeal to:

• Share your meal with hungry children: wherever you are, whenever you want
• See exactly where your donation goes and who you are helping
• Create a team and fight hunger together with your friends
• Learn more about how we can build a world without hunger

Review

How can a small app such as ShareTheMeal create such a huge impact? This app follows the guidelines of if you take a picture and post it, it will donate $0.50 to children in third-world countries. Yes, I was skeptical at first but I did some research here and they are completely funded by United Nation’s World Food Programme.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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One Today makes it easy to support the nonprofit causes you care about. Make it your very own generosity app. Get a real-world photo, short story, and simple explanation of what your dollars actually make better. Choose from a number of causes, browse new projects, and get inspired by others’ generosity. Quickly give $1, or more. Double your impact by inspiring others to match your donations. Generosity is contagious. So, share your projects. Spread random acts of kindness by paying it forward. You can even pay for someone else’s donations.

Review

This is another great app that I found today, sponsored by Google. It follows the deed format where if you tell your story through photos, that you will be donating towards an organization of your own choice. It’s pretty cool that you should try it when you get the chance.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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Be More Chill😎

Ah, yes. It’s that time of the year again. Midterms are coming. *cue Game of Thrones Main Title Theme*

We, college students, are always stressing the extra mile. Sometimes to the point that we just push all our important tasks to the back of our mind in hopes that it will get done itself. Unfortunately, that’s never the case and sometimes we can’t avoid studying for that midterm exam, homework assignment, or big league project without a little help.

Here are 5 apps that can minimize your stress:

What is it?

Loffee is a one-stop application for your Lo-Fi needs, with music for focusing on music for setting the vibe on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Personally curated, Loffee is a collection of music gathered from all the avenues of the world wide web while promoting and recognizing all the talent from around the globe. So sit back, relax and let Loffee make your day a little easier, one track at a time.

Review

Lo-fi is definitely a growing sensation in the music community. Everywhere on you Youtube you can guarantee there will be a lo-fi study live stream popping up in your recommended. This app presents a solution for when you just want specific playlists for your mood. Whether it’s positive, negative, lonely, or just for studying, this app has created a universe of lo-fi playlists to choose from.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Just Rain is a soothing audiovisual rain simulator. Listen to varying degrees of rain sounds from gentle drizzle to intense downpour — controlled by a simple drag of your finger. Just Rain also features stereo audio panning and a visual rain simulation. Use it to relax, to meditate, to study, or as a sleep aid!

 

Review

Who doesn’t like a little rain white noise to cleanse your mind? This app is awesome for when it’s a clear night and you just hear the pitty-patters of the droplets outside your window. The adjustments of the rain make this app even better than it should be. Along with controlling the type of rainfall you would like, you can also add soothing music in the background for a little more noise activity.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Relax Melodies is an app that lets you select sounds and melodies that you like, combine them and adjust the volume of each sound to create a mix. Add one of our meditations specially designed for sleep, lay back, listen, and enjoy falling asleep. It’s that simple and it works. Create different and new mixes every time!

You will also love falling asleep to Sleep Moves, a unique concept of guided exercises done with a pillow to bring you into blissful sleep every night. These sleep-inducing programs have been approved by health and sleep professionals, including neuropsychologists and physiotherapists.

 

Review

I would put this in the same realm as the JustRain app except it pushes more outside the “rain” atmosphere. This app provides a diverse amount of sounds for you to listen to. You can choose from campfires, cat purring, bird noises, frog croaks, etc. This app is definitly up your alley if you are into ASMR.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Ever seen an adult coloring book and just wanted your release your inner frustration (Not to mention your inner child) by coloring in a coloring book? Look nowhere else then Colorify. This app is the digital version of an adult coloring book that compacts plenty of images for you to color. Whether it’s patterns or mandalas, you are not limited on ideas in this app.

Review

I personally don’t feel like lugging around an adult coloring book everywhere I go. This makes it so much easier to just sit down and let you blow off any steam through coloring. The app gives you a bunch of coloring paged to choose from that fulfill all of your coloring desires. From floral designs to even mandalas, this app does not fall in short in the de-stressor category.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Similar to the Loffee app, this app broadcasts a range of lo-fi hip-hop to work, study or just chill in the rain/sun. All of the songs that are broadcasted through his app are available through Bandcamp & Soundcloud for listening purposes. You could call it the “lo-fi” version of Spotify if you will.

Review

As I stated earlier, this app has similar attributions to what Loffee can do. The only main differences that I identified were that it features play out like Spotify where you can favorite your tracks and randomize the song radio. It has a lot of really chill songs and haven’t been disappointed with the music options.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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🎵Slave to the Rhythm🎶

Music. We listen to it. We dance to it. We fabricate conspiracies around it. We even make memes out of it.

Rhythm games have become on the rise, challenging their player’s sense of rhythmic action. Not to mention you can also discover some new music.

Here are 5 rhythm/music apps that will make you feel groovy:

What is it?

Cytus is a rhythm game developed by Rayark Games, an independent game developer in Taiwan. The main gameplay of Cytus features the Active Scan Line, a black line that moves up and down across the screen. The player taps circular objects, referred to as Notes, as the Active Scan Line passes over them, following the music.

App Features:

• 200 songs and 400 variations, including many from famous composers around the world
•  Beautiful hand-drawn art style (as illustrated in the screenshots)
• Easy, intuitive Active Scan Line system and 3 types of notes
• Different display modes allow player-friendly previewing of notes
• More than 9 difficulty levels for more fun and challenges
• Various music genres: Pop, Jazz, Trance, Hardcore, Drum N’ Bass and many more

Review

Gosh, how much describe my utter love and affection into a game like this one? I’ve always been a fan of games like DDR and StepMania but this game is on a whole other level. This app gives you over 100+  songs (including Cytus II which is an add-on to the game) to play and each level has a different gaming mechanic.

 

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

From the same team that made Cytus, Deemo is a hybrid of music rhythm game and the story of urban fantasy, with hand-drawn art, story-telling gallery and real instrumental feedback of piano key sound.

App Features:

• 60+ Free songs in story mode
• More than 220 songs in various music genres, many of which from famous composers
• Simple and intuitive gameplay
• Twitter and Facebook score sharing function

 

Review

Similar to Cytus, this game provides an interactive rhythm-narrative that guides you through a beautiful journey of instrumental emotional turmoil.  It’s not only a fun rhythm game to play but you also get attached to the characters that they based this entire app around. It’s a pretty great experience that makes you want to come back for more. Don’t even get me started on the gorgeous artwork that is inhabited in there!

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Geometry Dash is an arcade app that provides Prepare for a near impossible challenge in the world of rhythm. Push your skills to the limit as you jump, fly and flip your way through dangerous passages and spiky obstacles.

App Features:

• Rhythm-based Action Platforming
• Lots of levels with unique soundtracks
• Build and share your own levels using the level editor
• Unlock new icons and colors to customize your character
• Fly rockets, flip gravity and much more
• Use practice mode to sharpen your skills
• Lots of achievements and rewards

Review

I have one fatal warning before playing this game. Do not play unless you’re ready to except instant failure the first few tries. This game does not hold any mercy towards anyone. It will take you at least the first 20 times before you can actually finish the first level.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

The Nightwave Plaza – a place to indulge yourself with the top aesthetic musical talents of the Vaporwave genre.Featuring a beautiful, constantly updated database of Vaporwave artists across the globe, the 24/7 radio station prides itself with its no after-track advertisements and full support page for all artists and producers trying to find an audience.

App Features:

• 58+ different aesthetic background gifs to choose from.
• Simplistic, nostalgic user interface
• No advertisement breaks between tracks

Review

If you’ve ever had the experience of Pandora radio, then this app is similar to that. This app is for those peeps who want to venture out into the new world of vaporware. It’s an infinite radio that plays music unless the majority of listeners decide to change it. This isn’t a rhythm game of sorts, which makes it the odd one of the 5, but this a pretty cool place to curate some vaporwave tunes.

Check out the Android version here!

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What is it?

Dynamix is a mobile music game that integrates arcade gaming experience into a mobile device. With triple-dropping track design, you feel like playing different instruments while hitting different sides.

App Features:

• 5 level options that suit your level
• Rank Up to unlock more tracks, more than 20 tracks is avaliable for free version
• Collect characters to help pass the difficult levels
• Over 100 tracks by composers all over the world, including Taiwan, Japan, South
• Wide range choice of music including J-Pop ,Trancecore, Chiptune, New Age and more

 

Review

This a real oldie yet goodie for those who are huge DDR fans. I couldn’t keep the app long but this is a pretty fun experience. Not only is the music bumping, but the different levels fluctuate the beat and stacks on more rhythms.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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🔮Let Me Tell Your Fortune🔮

Grab your broomsticks, 20-foot long toilet paper, and pumpkin baskets, because Halloween is right around the corner. It’s that time of the year where you get to go all out on the pumpkin spice (and not look like a total hunger-prone pumpkin maniac) and have a reason to hang mutated-like spiders in your window without being questioned for it.

What better way to get into the Halloween spirit than to dive into the world of the mystic? Maybe learn about some tarot card reading? Or maybe you want to get into the magical world of numerology. Buckle up, ghouls.

Here are 5 apps that can mystify your life:

What is it?

Mystic Mondays is a tarot for the modern mystic. The tarot can be used as an intuition tool to help you clarify your day to day questions and guide you towards better decisions for yourselves. When you go inwards, often times you already know the answers to your questions.

Fun Find: You’re can actually buy your very own holographic tarot card set on their website here! 

Review

I have been using this app on the daily since I discovered it in September. It’s a quick and easy way to check what tarot card you’ve gotten for the day and even share with your friends on different social media. The app not only provides you your card of the day, it also gives you a description of the card’s representation as well. You can also log all of your cards for the day into the log journal to keep track of your fortune progress.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Golden Thread Tarot is a modern approach to an ancient tradition. The app’s belief is that tarot is not about revealing a fixed future, but giving you access to the self-knowledge you need to make better decisions and act with awareness.

App Features:

• Your Mirror – as you save and store readings in your log, we build up data about you and your cards, making it easy for you to find patterns where they were once hidden.
• Tarot Database – sortable and searchable database of cards, giving you details on meanings, keywords, suits, and number.
• Guided Readings – use either digital cards or physical cards to ask and reflect on your questions.
• Log Your Readings – save and store not only your cards but how you felt about them. Build a database of your thoughts and feelings and see yourself reflected back at you.
• Illustrated Lessons – make learning the underlying foundation of tarot simple.

Review

I actually like this app better than the Mystic Monday app. This app has way more features to offer when it comes to tarot readings. You not only get your reading for the day, but the app also teaches you the basics/origins of tarot card reading itself.  It also teaches you different ways of doing tarot reading based on your mood. It’s a pretty insightful app that really snags your attention when you first open it and I would definitely recommend.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

My Moon Phase is an app for tracking the lunar calendar. It has a sleek dark design which makes it easy to view information such as the current moon cycle, moonrise & moonset times as well as extras such as when the next full moon will be. If you’re interested in moon photography, you can also find out when the golden hours and blue hours are so you can take the most beautiful photos.

Review

This is a pretty cool calendar app for those who are into formulating “spells” & “potions” around the lunar calendar. It’s pretty much an on the go moon phase app that notifies you of the moon cycles, distance, and even the best time for taking photos of it are. It can pretty much count as your daily calendar and weather app if you don’t want to jump back and forth between two different apps.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

The World Numerology app analyzes 18 different numerology readings created specifically for you – with instant access to your free 8-page personal reading, free daily forecast, and 3 free chart calculators.

Each report covers a specific area of your life. Learn more about your personality, talents, the way others see you, and why you choose the things you do. View approaching challenges and opportunities. Pinpoint your state of mind and emotions, and check your relationship compatibility with the people in your life.

Review

This app reminds of a horoscope app but instead of your well-known 12 zodiac signs, it actually dissects your life path, your daily forecast, your yearly forecast, your chart calendar, your interactions with relationships, your inner reflections, and your proportional chart. It’s a pretty dope app that expands beyond the typical horoscope apps that give you the 12 sign forecasts. This app steps outside of that realm and instead observes your life path number.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

The DailyHoroscope is a free horoscope application updated on a daily basis with the best daily horoscopes. The DailyHoroscope is the most popular horoscope app on many major smartphones​. Tout being the most accurate and compelling horoscope app out there by its users.

App Features:

• Daily horoscope
• Weekly horoscope
• Monthly horoscope
• Zodiac characteristics for each sign
• Zodiac sign compatibility
• Chinese horoscope for 2018 and 2017
• Explore alternative Druid horoscope

Review

I am an absolute horoscope nutcase. I’ve researched a lot about the great unknown of horoscope and I am quite fascinated by how many people have caught on to it. This app feeds into the phenomena and gives you everything you need to know about your horoscope. Wanna know what’s going on with you in a year? This app tells you that. What about your Chinese horoscope? They’ve got it. They’ve got everything you can imagine in the horoscope realm.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

🧠Work Smarter. Not Harder. 💦

How many times have you caught yourself off-task to the point that you just resort to your old fashion procrastinating ways? It’s so easy for us to distract ourselves with the technology that surrounds us, especially when it comes to having our phones.

It’s hard for some to get away from the distraction of our phone since it is so ingrained in our everyday life.

Thankfully, with the creation of productivity apps, motivation has increased over time.

Here are 5 apps that can help you stay on task:

What is it?

If you want to temporarily put down your phone and focus on what’s more important in real life, you can plant a seed in Forest. As time goes by, this seed will gradually grow into a tree. However, if you cannot resist the temptation of using your phone and leave the app, your tree will wither. The sense of achievement and responsibility will encourage you to stay away from your phone and will help you make better use of your time.

Review

I love this app when I came across it. I enjoy gamification in mobile apps when they’re done right, and this is one of them. From the same creators that made SleepTown in my last post,  this app once again enforces you to stay focus on a real-life task and keeping you off your phone. This cannot only be a self-motivation tool for staying off your phone but it can also be used for competition against your friends if you want to work together on being more productive.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Habitica is a productivity app that treats your life similar to a game and encourages you to stay motivated and organized in an RPG like style. Rewritten.

Input your Habits, your Daily goals, and your To-Do list, and then create a custom avatar. Check off tasks to level up your avatar and unlock features such as armor, pets, skills, and even quests! Fight monsters with friends to keep each other accountable, and use your gold on in-game rewards, like equipment, or custom rewards, like watching an episode of your favorite TV show. Flexible, social, and fun, Habitica is the perfect way to motivate yourself to accomplish anything.

Review

Game design majors/gamers are going to have a field day with this one. This habit tracker makes the mundane tasks in your life similar to that of an RPG quest. I find the idea thrilling because not only is it considered a task manager but it’s also a system that rewards you with pets, equipment, and more rewards.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Fabulous is an app takes a holistic approach to motivate you to be more productive and have higher energy. It’s more than just a habit tracker, or a way to create new rituals; it’s your own personal coach and happiness trainer.

• Smart-targeted health advice for healthy living
• Scientifically grounded approach to instill healthy habits and mindfulness into your daily rituals
• Atkins & HCG diet inspired weight loss program where you can stop counting calories
•  A personal 1:1 coach that will motivate you to be more productive and achieve your goals
• Integrated fitness programs for a healthier, fitter lifestyle
• Incremental goals that start with getting you to fall asleep faster. You’ll eventually create an entire morning ritual
• Beginners guide to exercise and a workout plan, meditation, yoga, stretching, and a lot more

Review

Fabulous is a heartwarming app that’s main focus is to incorporate better habits for yourself. It really tries to look into what habits you mainly want to work on and build a schedule plan around it. I like apps like this because it not only focuses on one habit, it creates ultimately different components for you such as meal plans, morning rituals, and weight loss regime.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

OmniFocus manages everything in your busy life. Use projects to organize tasks naturally, and then add tags to organize across projects. Easily enter tasks when you’re on the go, and process them when you have time. Tap the Forecast view — which shows both tasks and calendar events — to get a handle on your day. Use the Review perspective to keep your projects and tasks on track.

Review

OmniFocus is a pretty big program that’s central interface in Apple products. I’m not a huge Apple user so that is the only downside I can find with this app, but with it comes everything you can think of. Errand records, email management, project enlistments, and even tagging your own tasks to help you stay organized.

Check out the iOS version here!

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What is it?

Done helps you create healthy routines by helping you set goals, tracking your progress, and then motivating you with streaks/chains. Unlike so many other habit apps, Done lets you set a goal and track it multiple times a day, not just one time per day.

Done can help you both build and quit habits/activities.

After setting tangible daily, weekly or monthly goals, Done will help you track your habits and activities and tell you when you’ve met your goal. Done also keeps track of Streaks or Chains when you’ve met your goals in consecutive periods.

Review

I love the progress report on this app. It’s has a simple user-interface that keeps you inspired by tracking your motivation streaks and visualizes your motivation trends over time. This app has really helped me stay up to date and organized with getting daily goals done, such as homework,  chores, bills etc. I would recommend this to anybody who is down to kick off the bad habits in your life.

Check out the iOS version here!

 

😴 Good Night. Sleep Tight.💤

Sleep is for the weekend. At least, that’s what we want to believe. Unfortunately, sleep doesn’t come to some people when they tuck themselves in for the night. Whether it’s a bad case of insomnia or you just find yourself falling into some night owl habits that you want to break, there’s something out there that can bring you a good night’s rest.

Here are 5 apps that can help you sleep better at night:

What is it?

SleepTown is an app from the developers of Forest app. Its sole purpose is to help you attain a healthy, regular sleep schedule. Construct buildings just by achieving your bedtime and wake-up goals every day.

Keep a regular sleep schedule in just 3 steps:
1) Set a challenging bedtime and wake-up goal
2) Open SleepTown before your bedtime goal and start constructing a building
3) Wake up before your wake-up goal, shake your phone to clear your mind, and see which building you built last night
4) Repeat these steps every day to keep a regular sleep schedule and create a livelier SleepTown

With SleepTown are interesting features such as:

• Set-up a bedtime reminder and alarm clock
• Claim revenue from your SleepTown after every successful construction. The amount of revenue you can claim increases with the number of successful consecutive construction days.
• Spend your earned coins to build a building of your preference.
• Redeem tickets to significantly increase your chances of constructing a rare building
• View your SleepTown and all your sleep statistics on the town page.

Review

SleepTown is a cute little interactive game that really engages it’s user with promoting better sleeping habits.  It keeps track of when you’re going to bed based on your phone activity and rewards you for going to bed on time with constructing a little town. It really guilts you when you don’t go to bed on time by destroying the town that you worked so hard on.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Lucidity is a lucid dreamer app with innovative features to help you lucid dream, keep a dream journal, and analyze your dreams.

• Elegant UI to enjoy writing and reading your dreams, with Android’s latest navigation and design guidelines
• Password-protected dream journal
• Tag, search and filter your dreams with custom labels
• Morning reminder: have a notification ready to immediately write down your dreams once you wake up
• Evening reminder: it’s important to read your passed night dream in the evening, to develop a better dream recall
• All Day Awareness feature: never again forget to be aware!
• Import/export all your dreams to your SD card in only one click
• Nice statistics: who doesn’t like to watch cool and colorful graphs about his data?
• Find recurrent dream signs. Lucidity can analyze your dreams and find recurrent words and patterns
• Record your dream entries by audio with Lucidity Premium

Review

I’ve always been interested in the science behind lucid dreaming. This app really explores the concept of it through your own personal dreams and trains you to grasp lucid dreaming. This also counts as a sort of dream journal that helps you keep track of your status. There are certain premium features that you don’t have access to unless you add it on, but I think all the free features have a lot to offer when you start off.

Check out the Android version here!

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What is it?

Tide is a physical and mental health app on a theme of nature sounds, which helps you to keep focused, reduce stress, relax and sleep better in the busy daily life. There are two primary functional modules combined with various nature sounds scenes that makeup it: “FOCUS” and “SLEEP”. It is a way you enter another peaceful time-space away from the fast-paced current moment.

•  Nature Sounds:
  – Selected high quality sounds from nature world, create a trip through time-space.
  – With the original functionality of music fusion, you can enjoy the white noise simultaneously with music playing.
• Sleep & Nap:
  – Various nature sounds help you get a good sleep.
  – Through day and night, you can switch between quick nap mode and sleep mode
  – Lightly wakeup makes it much easier to get up.
• Focus Timer:
  – Efficient work mode: Based on the Pomodoro technique, we set a timer consist of a twenty-five minutes concentration followed by a five-minute break.
  – Historical focusing analysis: Review your every focused time.
•  Daily Inspiring Quotes:
  – Selected daily inspiring quote, with respect to everyone who mindfully living.
• Tide Diary:
  – Every moment is recorded by visible data report.
  – Fine sharing card makes the journey emerged.

Review

I probably need more time to adapt to this app but I find a lot of the features that it has to be interesting and innovative. I think it’s a lot easier than searching high and low for a Youtube video that has the various amount of soothing sounds that I need to study or work. This also can be used as a journal so that you can reflect on your journey.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Pzizz delivers sleep at the push of a button. Using the science of psychoacoustics, the app’s patented system plays you “dreamscapes”— a sleep-optimized mix of music, voiceover, and sound effects that changes each night, to quickly quiet your mind, put you to sleep, keep you asleep, and then wake you up feeling refreshed.

Review

This app is similar to the Tide app except this one focuses more on scheduling your naps and maintaining your focus during a certain amount of time. I found the focus timer to be a really helpful resource for just settling myself in. I don’t think the app is as helpful with distractions though and it’s more independent on the user’s part to maintain that focus during that scheduled time.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

SleepTime provides insight into your sleep patterns. By tracking your level of movement throughout the night, SleepTime generates customized sleep data in easy-to-read charts. SleepTime analyzes your movement throughout the night, graph your sleep cycles, and learns to wake you up at the perfect moment of your lightest sleep phase.

Review

I’ve had a friend use this app and they say it’s really amazing with helping them get good sleep at night. The app analyzes your sleep schedule, from when you go to bed to when you wake up and takes note of the best time in your REM cycle for you to wake up. Sometimes it’s hard for us too when up in the morning because it disrupts during a certain part of our cycle, so this app really tries to investigate the best time to wake up.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

👆Highs & Lows👇

We’re all familiar with those moments where you feel like you’ve got too much going on in your life. You feel like your on a roller coaster ride with the twists and turns that make your stomach flip. You love the feel of it but at some point, you realize the rollercoaster is still going and you just want to get off.

Some people have to deal with that rollercoaster for the rest of their life.

Life is hard and sometimes we just need something (or someone!) to help us get through it.

Sidenote: None of the apps here should be replacements for professional help.

If you are facing any problems mentioned in this post, you are not alone in your fight. Contact any of the numbers listed HERE provided by the NAMI Helpline.

Here are 5 self-help apps that can you help you through the rough times:

 

What is it?

Youper is an app that uses artificial intelligence to respond to emotional health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression. The app’s goal is to deliver effective psychological approaches that are personalized around the user’s needs.

Youper uses research to formulate the emotional health assistant to develop more personalized treatment conditions for any issues you are facing. The app does an emotional checkup at the beginning and the end of your day to record your emotions and dissect why you feel the way you do.

 

Review

When I found Youper, I was curious about how an AI could help me with my emotions. After testing it out, I found the methods that they used to be resourceful. The assistant rings you at the beginning and end of the day by asking how you feel and why do you feel the way you do. It gets down to the nitty-gritty with your emotions and will stop asking questions at any moment you feel uncomfortable. I enjoyed the experience that I had while trying it out.

The only thing about the app that I ran into was that I sometimes lost the motivation to check in with the app and it sort of badgers you to keep checking in every day. It can get a bit tiring on a daily basis.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

TalkLife is a free online peer to peer support network app that aims to provide an anonymous support forum for anyone who is struggling with anything in their life. You can be both a supporter or someone who needs support while on the app. It’s an app that is utilized for both journaling and venting purposes.

The app not only lets you voice your struggles, but it also categorizes it based on what you are talking about. It’s considered a safe place where you can talk about anything: mental health, depression, eating disorders, a bad breakup or a relationship, school or work.

 

 

Review

TalkLife is an interesting discovery. I used it for a week just to try out some of the mechanics that it had and I love the idea of a support network where you go vent about anything you want. I signed myself up as both a support and someone who needs support and my TalkLife feed was filled with people’s written thoughts. I wrote out a post just to try it out and the kudos, hugs, and support feature were a pretty interesting catch.

I do think that the social networking aspect can be a bit too much. With open forums comes the infamous ‘internet’ trolls and the report button can only catch so many of them in time. I do think talking about your problems to peers is important but it’s also complicated when your discussing your personal problems with a total stranger.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Woebot is a supportive AI app that is built around the user’s tracked mood and relies on step-by-step guidance using methods from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBI). The app helps you with tracking down your specific mood and builds 100+ evidence-based lessons, exercises, and stories from their own clinical team.

This friendly little AI not only talks to you one on one through your problems, but it also can:

• Track your emotions through friendly conversation
• Guide you through science-based techniques for a range of problems
• Help with mood management; relationship problems; grief; habits and addictions
• Personalize your conversations the more you chat
• Teach mindfulness

 

 

 

Review

I’ll happily admit that Woebot is one the cutest self-care AI that I have ever seen. They are quirky. They are always there for you. The bot even tells ridiculous dad jokes if you want it to. It’s weird because we fear for technology advancement in these kinds of fields, but I honestly find an app like this to be a step in the right direction.

The only downside I find with this sort of ties back to the Youper app. The app pushes you to engage with it every single day and it can be a bit exhausting (and even slightly annoying) for someone who doesn’t have the time for it.

• Fun Find: Don’t have enough space on your phone for this little buddy? Woebot is also on Facebook messenger!

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

SuperBetter is a health & fitness that changes the way you look at battling your life challenges. It encourages you to change your problems into quests that you can overcome with one step at a time.

SuperBetter has been stated to:

• Adopt a new habit, develop a talent, learn or improve a skill, strengthen a relationship, make a physical or athletic breakthrough, complete a meaningful project, or pursue a lifelong dream.
•  Beat depression, overcome anxiety, cope with chronic illness or chronic pain, heal from physical injury, or recover from post-traumatic stress.
• Overcome a life challenge like finding a new job, surviving divorce, dealing with a career or school setback, or grieving the loss of a loved one.
•  Help others: therapists recommend SuperBetter to their patients; university professors incorporate SuperBetter into their student’s coursework; life coaches refer their clients, and HR professionals design SuperBetter into their employee wellness incentive programs.

Review

Wow, the fact that there is an app that changes your struggles into quests is very interesting to me! This app utilizes gamification in a way that supports its users through different features such as rewarding achievements for working towards your goal and even pointing out the allies and bad guys in your challenges.

Some problems that I’ve identified were that the app is not as flexible as you want it to be. Some activities that you input the app can only contribute to one type of resilence. The filtering system is also a bit janky at the time and can be difficult to navigate the app’s quest categories.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Moodpath is an interactive depression and anxiety screening program. It tracks your psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing and generates a personalized mental health assessment that you can discuss with therapists.

Some features that the app has:

– 14-day depression screening with 3 question blocks per day
– Interactive modules to understand the psychology behind your mood
– After 14 days: Professional assessment that you can share with your GP or therapist
– Statistics allow you to keep track of your mental well-being

Some benefits that come from it:
– Reduce uncertainty whether or not you suffer from a depressive episode
– Monitor your mental well-being
– Understand the psychology behind your mood
– Use Moodpath as mood journal during psychotherapy

Review

I have not used this app personally but I have talked to several other users who’ve used it and have recommended it as a great monitor. It’s an app that provides a variety of resources catered to specific issues such as anxiety and depression.

 

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

👍New Skill, New You

As a college student with little times on their hand, how do you find the time to try anything new nowadays? We have enough time to work on 5 projects, 3 essays, 2 presentations, and only enough to grab that cup of joe before your back on the run again to work or class. How can we possibly make time for that karate class that meets during your work hours or take up coding as a new skill when you don’t have enough free time in your schedule?

Thank heavens we have our phones to help with that problem.

The app store has never disappointed me in finding something new to learn or expand on with a newly obtained skill.

Learn a new language? Maybe pick up JavaScript coding as a new useful tool to put under your belt? Or maybe you want to spice up your cooking in some way?

Here are 5 mobile apps that can help you gain some skills while you’re on the go:

What is it?

Duolingo is a multiplatform language learning app that teaches up to 37 languages with a range of 81 different language courses.  The app lets you decide you’re skill level for your chosen language and formulates a learning tree that you’re working to conquer over time.

While going through the learning nodes, you will acquire several lessons over time that include bite-sized translation practices, speech exercises, word matching, and several other activities to make the language stick.

Duolingo also utilizes its reward system in its app the requires you to gain rewards after passing levels with its in-game currency—”lingots”— to purchase bonuses like outfits (for your little owl friend) and extra lessons. The app also had a leaderboard feature to it that you can use to face off against your friends OR if you’re more of the solo learner type, you can use the practice function against bots or by yourself.

• Fun Find: I discovered while scavenging through the different languages that they also have Klingon and High Valyrian for those Trekkies or GOT thronees who want to learn how to spit some mad Klingon or High Valyrian game.

 

 

Review

The app is overall beneficial in walking you through the basics of wording and exact translations. The lessons pass you at a certain point, and that really motivated the completionist inside of me to finish them all with a 100% rating. It doesn’t overwhelm you with too much information and it follows you at your own learning pace. I do enjoy the gamification set up in the system that it’s in. It’s doesn’t get old quick and it keeps you consistent with your lessons.

However, it does have a few tweaks that you, the user, have to work out more on your end. The speech recognition feature still has a ways to go and doesn’t really give you that tool to teach you pronunciation fully. I would also like to mention that you should not rely on Duolingo wholeheartedly as your only resource for learning a new language. Although the mechanics are great, it doesn’t get into the concept of grammar and give you that face-to-face encounter that you would experience in real life.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Grasshopper is a freemium coding app that teaches you the beginner essentials to Javascript coding. It was created by Google’s Area 120 group that aimed to make coding more fun than we imagine it to be.

This app challenges you to write real Javascript through the extension of visual challenges and puzzles. Real-time feedback is given to you while you engage in the challenges and they also give you a load of tips and tricks to utilize while you approach coding.

 

Review

I am by no means a coder myself so when I learned about this app, I’ll admit I was a bit intimidated by it. However, this app understands that you have never touched a piece of HTML in your life and walks you through the process with step by step instructions. It actually makes coding, dare I say, fun to do. It uses user-friendly language while discussing the lessons and does it’s best to pinpoint any mistakes you have while coding.

I will say that the app is friendly with the user, it also has its limitations. While Javascript is the industry-standard program that companies use, the app doesn’t explore any other elements outside of that of that realm. For users that may want to travel outside that realm and into something different like Python, you won’t find that in this app. As the app states, it is a coding app for beginners so exploration of other programs will be up to the user’s end.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Sidechef is a cooking app that features over 11,000 recipes with filtering mechanics, meal planning, ingredient delivery, step-by-step photos, videos, in-app timers, and more. They call themselves an “end-to-end cooking platform” that essentially means the app can help you through the entire cooking process.

When maneuvering with the app, you can work it alongside with your meal preferences and your diet. You can also create quick, easy shopping lists for your grocery store runs or have the ingredients delivered to your front door.

Review

I really wished I would have discovered this app before I got into college. Boy, would this have bettered my cooking by the long run. Pinterest is a great website to nab all your easy go-to recipes but this app can be the Goliath of cooking. It’s got it all. The recipes, the delivery of ingredients (if you want to pay extra), the visual step-by-step guides, and even tips to better your dish. This app welcomes a range of skillsets, beginners to professionals, to try out their spectrum of recipes.

The only downside I would find with this app is that it doesn’t provide all the nutritional facts that you need. The app has certain recipes that you cannot trade out ingredients unless you know the replacements for it. You’ll have to do your own personal research outside of the app to discover what you will or won’t like.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Bivy is an adventure app that is used to record, track, and share different trails that people have ventured through. You can find new adventures near your location and follow the adventure details of others who have also traveled through those trails

You can keep track of all your locations you visited along the way and rate the travel on the app, notifying other users of your experience. 40,000+ adventures are fully mapped out for users to look at.

The app has over 17 different adventure types, hiking, biking, kayaking, skiing, rock climbing, and several more. The app also has a built-in profile feature where you can share your location with friends to make it safe for your travels.

Review

As a person who doesn’t know a lick about adventuring outside, this app made me realize all of the range of options for travel out there. I would call this more of a “summer” app that you can play around with. This app is pretty open to people looking for an adventure but doesn’t know where to start. I haven’t been able to traverse huge mountains or kayak across lakes but the app offers you to explore the location around you. I also really enjoy the tracking feature that marks you speed and distance traveled so far, this motivates me a lot while traveling!

I’ve found that the filter features can be a bit wonky and sometimes can’t filter specific factors that you would want to incorporate into your adventure. It’s sort of frustrating because you can find one type of adventure but not another.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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What is it?

Lumosity is a free brain training app that stimulates your brain activity through fun and interactive puzzles. It offers over 40 games that test your critical thinking, memory, and problem-solving skills. This app also challenges your mental muscles through a range of activities that require your focus.

With 40 brain games to train your cognitive and academic abilities, you can also explore different modes that curate around what you enjoy and what you may need to work on. You can poke around workout mode which picks out games that tune with your habits and preferences.

This app relies a lot of its core assets on 100+ leading researchers, clinicians, and teachers from across the world. The app expands it’s training tools based on recent human cognition discoveries.

Review

This app is a blast when you need one of those brain workouts. It sounds weird to say that your brain needs to work out to stay active, but based off of this app it really does test the cognitive abilities that you use in your everyday life. I like how the exercises and puzzles are catered to your preferences, whether it’s memory enhancement or attention span adjustment, this app makes it’s your brain workout enjoyable.

The one issue that this app has is that over time, it grows old fast. Once you’ve mastered the first 10 or so games, you sort of grow bored with it. That’s the challenge with apps nowadays is that they need to keep up with their audience’s learning curve along with their attention.

Check out the iOS version here & the Android version here!

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