My smartphone. I’m addicted to it. I cannot imagine my life without it. Convenience and accessibility all wrapped up into a device that fits in the palm of your hand. But technology gets a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to our concentration. I’ve sat in several lectures where all forms of technology were banned. Some see this as a way to remove distraction, and it definitely is one method. But there are tons of apps out there which can turn your smartphone into a fantastic study aid. Here’s my review on some of the Top Study Apps I’ve tried!
Keeping Track of Time
Forest
I was introduced to this app through a friend – and it has revolutionised the way I work. It’s a timer app, with a twist. You decide how long you want to concentrate on a task, and then grow a cute, little tree as the timer goes. The real trick to this app is that anytime you click off it (i.e. USE YOUR PHONE), your tree will wither. So in order to grow that luscious, thick forest – you gotta focus. Conclusion: bye, bye phone.
Goodtime
I’ve mentioned this app before in my blog on the pomodoro technique, which you can read here. But since it’s like the holy grail timer for me, I’m going to feature it here too. Sometimes, I like to use my phone in tandem when I’m working, for example having 2 screens to copy something down, or using it as a fast calculator. Either way, this app is a good alternative to Forest as it lets me access my phone with the timer still on. The reason I love the app over the standard timer is because it also has 2 amazing settings. One is that it can turn off your wifi as soon as the timer is set, and the other is that it can also turn on Do Not Disturb. Together, this gets rid of all those annoying notifications and distractions that can disrupt your flow.
Quality Time – My Digital Diet
Ever wondered just how much time goes by when you are in the depths of Pinterest? Or maybe you fell down the Twitter hole one too many mornings? This app has got your back. It measures how long you spend on your phone, per app, each day. This way, you can keep track of your biggest time drains. It also has a helpful feature which logs how many times you unlock your phone in a day. Using this app made me way more mindful on how I used my phone.
Forming Habits
Loop – Habit Tracker
The amount of insights this app gives is what makes it onto the list of Top Study Apps in my eyes. Loop is a simple, easy to use habit tracker whereby you can set which habits you want to form, along with the frequency you want to do it. For instance, you could set studying programming to 2 hours a week. You can also set a specific question such as “Have you programmed for 2 hours this week?”, and a time when this little reminder will pop up as a notification. Alongside this, you can colour code each habit, and also get detailed specs into the habit strength, history, your best streaks, and frequency. This is a great way to understand what is working for you, and how to optimise it.
If you prefer something a little more engaging, another great habit tracking app is Habitica. For the gamers of you out there, you’ll love it. Habitica is a RPG habit tracker, where you can set different tasks. Upon completion, your character gains XP and levels up.
Organisation
CamScanner
This app is one I don’t use that often – but time and again it comes up, and basically saves my ass. Hence why it deserves a place in the Top Study Apps. CamScanner allows you to take photos of documents with your phone’s camera, and then converts these into PDF files – it even has easy upload options to the big cloud server names such as Google Drive & Dropbox. In general, if you are the type of person who is constantly sending meeting documents, or study notes to friends – this app is for you.
Google Keep
The Google apps are classic. User-friendly, well designed and also readily available on most major smartphones. Keep is an awesome note-taking app, allowing you to pin up quick and easy messages/reminders while on the go. I’ve used this a lot to keep my mundane life admin all in check – think required readings & notes to my supervisors. It also lets you set reminders for the notes, meaning that you can write it out, schedule it, and forget about it until it is most important. I also really enjoy the colour-coding and label features which allow me to keep everything organised and flowing.
These have been my Top Study Apps so far during my university life. If you fancy trying them out, all the links are provided on the app name. What are some of your Top Study Apps? Let me know in the comment section below!
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