Best Apps for College Students
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Most college students hit the campus with some sort of digital device in hand. Those devices can hold some of the best study tools. It’s all about knowing which apps are the best apps for college students. That digital device can be a big distraction, or a strong study and productivity arsenal. It depends on how you use it. The apps below make college life easier; however, the majority of the apps listed aren’t just best apps for college students. They are apps that are equally as useful for daily life after college as well. In fact, many of these apps are ones I use daily and weekly.
Best Apps for College Students
#1 EasyBib
You finish your paper but you can’t go to sleep just yet. Now you have to tackle the citation page. Creating your bibliography page just got easier with EasyBib. You can create an accurate MLA, APA, or Chicago style citation quickly. Simply scan the bar code for your book, or type the name of it to receive the correct citation. It’s that easy!
In-App Purchases: No
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#2 Dictionary.com
This has been the #1 English dictionary app since 2010. I love the audio pronunciations. There is also an advanced learner’s dictionary that provides additional context. Did I mention that feature is free?!
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#3 Merriam-Webster
How can you go wrong with Merriam-Webster? This app also has audio pronunciations. The word of the day is a fun feature. And, they give you a number of example sentences so you can see the word used in context.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#4 RealCalc Plus
Nothing is worse than settling in to do your calculus and realizing your scientific calculator is missing. This typically happens during your midnight study sessions. RealCalc Plus is a real life saver! It’s designed to look and operate exactly like a real hand-held calculator. It has all the standard scientific functions plus fractions, degrees/minutes/seconds, history, memories, customizable unit conversions, and constants. You can choose from a number of display styles and formats. RealCalc Plus supports binary, octal and hexadecimal calculations, and has an optional RPN mode. It’s an easy to use scientific calculator. But, if you get stuck, help is available right within the app. You won’t find that in your hand held calculator!
In-App Purchases: No
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#5 Quizlet
Quizlet is the leading education flashcard app. Create your own flashcards or choose from millions created by other Quizlet students and teachers on thousands of subjects. With each set, you can play games such as Scatter and Gravity as well as test your memory with multiple-choice sample tests generated by the app. This is a powerful study tool.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#6 Chegg
College textbooks can be expensive! Chegg lets you find rentals of textbooks you need! Use the app to search for books you need and put in an order. Returning books is as easy as putting your books back into the box and placing the label on the box. And, you can rent those college textbooks you don’t need again through Chegg as well.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#7 Scribd
Scribd is essentially the Netflix of books. But, it’s more than books. In addition to textbooks for your literature class, you’ll find more than 1 million books, audiobooks, and documents. Most recently, Scribd added 10,000 comics and graphic novels to its subscription service from such publishers as Marvel, Archie, and IDW. Having this vast library of resources at your fingertips is worth the $8.99 monthly fee. Did I mention the app lets you store books to read offline across your phone, tablet, and computer?! This means you always have the resources you need to finish that assignment. You can’t say that about a physical book.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#8 Studious
College is an exciting but new transition, and remembering new class schedules and routines, in addition to all the other changes, can be tough. Studious helps take away the stress of missing a class. Simply enter all information about your class, time, professor, and location. Studious will remind you about the class. It’s a great way to make sure you don’t run late or miss classes the first few weeks when you’re adjusting to your new schedule. You can also enter important assignments and test dates so you can stay on top of assignments as well.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#9 iStudiez Pro
iStudiez Pro is a scheduling wizard. This app is amazing. It keeps track of your deadlines, grades, and more, and it syncs all the app data between Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Windows PC. You input in the app on any of your devices; your data is seamlessly synced to all of the others where iStudiez Pro is installed. Another great feature is Google Calendar events can be shown in iStudiez Pro. Don’t use Google Calendar? Share the app’s schedule to other calendar apps. In addition to adding your courses to your schedule, you can add instructors with details such as their office hours and contact information. There are colored labels for those who function best when things are clearly labeled and color-coded. Use iStudiez Pro to calculate your grades and track your GPA progress. The GPA calculator is comprehensive and works with percents, points, and letter grading scales. There are so many other features to this app. Be sure to add this one to your list of must-have apps!
In-App Purchases: No
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#10 DropBox
Dropbox is a free service that gives you access to photos, documents, and videos that you upload. It takes minutes to install Dropbox on your computer, then you can save any file to your Dropbox account. You’ll have access to it instantly across all your computers, iOS, and Android devices.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#11 Tiny Scanner
There are times when you need to send a document. Tiny Scanner is a scanner app that turns your device into a portable document scanner. With this PDF document scanner app, you can scan documents, photos, receipts, reports, or just about anything. It scans everything as an image or PDF. One feature I love about Tiny Scanner is it gives you the option to crop and color-correct your images before you export them into PDFs. It also lets you set page sizes for PDFs (letter, legal, A4, and more). Don’t let the name fool you; this app has all the big features you’ll need.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#12 Flipboard
News and updates from around the world, all in one place. Keep up-to-date on the latest news you want to hear by reading the stories and articles you want to read. You can also view videos and photos your friends are sharing. Start by selecting a few interests and tap any of the tiles to create your personal magazine. You can connect your social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Google+ to see what friends are posting and easily share articles with them. It’s easy to save the things you find on Flipboard.
In-App Purchases: No
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#13 Evernote
Evernote will make you a homework wiz. Truly! If you’re not using it, you really need to try it. Evernote syncs all your notes – text, audio, photos, videos – so you always have your resources to study, regardless of where you are. You can access them from any device. Getting started with Evernote can be a bit overwhelming. Jumping in with both feet can feel a bit like drinking from a firehose; but there are plenty of tutorials available and it’s pretty intuitive. So, it’s easy to become an Evernote wiz in no time. The free version of Evernote offers tons of helpful features and is an affordable option for college students on a budget. The premium version is jam packed with even more useful features. If you have an extra $69.99/year in your budget, the premium version is well worth it.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#14 Circle of 6
It’s a topic we want to avoid but, if we’re honest, most of us have been in situations where we’ve felt uncomfortable (and I mean the scared kind of uncomfortable). That feeling can happen when it’s dark and you’re in an unfamiliar area; this could even mean your own college campus. Or, maybe you’re wishing you had friends around and weren’t alone with this person you just met. Something just doesn’t feel right. Circle of 6 helps you stay safe by connecting you to six trusted contacts, whenever and wherever. You can use the pre-programmed “come and get me” message with your GPS location, or easily call national and local emergency hotlines in critical situations. It’s an app we all hope we never have to use, but definitely want to have installed so it’s there if we need it. Some reviewers have mentioned their frustration about the six people requirement. Please note that, although it’s called Circle of 6, you don’t actually need six people. You can easily double up on the contacts you enter. Please don’t let the six contacts hold you back from using this app!
In-App Purchases: No
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#15 Skype
Microsoft’s Skype is a reliable way to connect with faraway family and friends via text, voice, and video. But, did you know that video interviews and meetings are a real part of the business world? So, it’s a good idea to get your feet wet now. You can practice by using Skype as a valuable study tool. In addition to text, voice, and video, the file sharing feature Skype offers makes it a powerful study app. Face it, no one wants to wander out for a group study session on a cold late night in January. Skype is also great for putting together a last minute study session or connecting with a classmate when you find you need something for a project. Struggling with a class? You’re likely to find a tutor who offers lessons via Skype. Or, maybe you excel in a subject and offer those lessons yourself. Wouldn’t it be great to show that on a resume!
Skype is available for pretty much any device or computer.
#16 Mint.com
Balancing money is probably the biggest learning curve to “adulting.” Many adults struggle with it. Starting out on a college budget can make for a stiff learning curve. Even if you have enough savings, it tends to disappear. Mint.com can help you control your budget and see where that money is going. You’ll get reminders for bills and even tips that will help you save money. It gives a great visual of your finances so you can be in control. The new version does have a number of credit card offers on the main screen. These offers are also located on a tab. But, Mint is still a solid budgeting app.
In-App Purchases: No
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#17 Coursera
Coursera.org is an online education site that has partnerships with many dozens of top colleges and universities in the United States, including Ivy League schools. These schools offer both curriculum course study materials and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). So why would you sign up for a course at Coursera when you are already enrolled in college? There are a number of reasons. Maybe you want to continue learning about a subject you love, but aren’t taking classes for that semester. Or, you can use Coursera’s website or mobile apps to study a selection of courses and supplement whatever you are learning at your college. What about summer learning? Get ahead by using Coursera to introduce yourself to subjects before you enter college each semester. And, you can continue learning with Coursera long after you’ve left college.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#18 LastPass
Do you struggle with all the passwords you’re expected to remember? LastPass maintains all of your passwords, logins, credit card information, and more so you don’t have to. Keep your information securely in one location and access it with one main password. One nice feature is the ability to create a profile for every credit card and address. This makes it easy to shop online. Purchase textbooks and college supplies easily with just a few clicks.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
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Looking for more ways to keep your devices protected while at college? Be sure to check out these 8 Tech Tips for College Students.
#19 Microsoft Office Mobile
This app is a no-brainer. Microsoft Office Mobile lets you access, edit, and share all of your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on your Android and iOS devices. If you want to start your homework and don’t have a laptop handy, you can create new Word and Excel documents straight from your phone. It’s a great way to take advantage of those unexpected wait times. Or, jot down ideas and notes while the information and thoughts are flowing regardless of if you’re near your computer. Seriously, this will take your productivity skills to the next level.
In-App Purchases: Yes
Supports Family Sharing: Yes
#20 WolframAlpha
Got a question? WolframAlpha has the answer. This app holds more than 10 trillion pieces of data and 50,000 equations. It uses this information to compute answers and generate reports on topics ranging from trigonometry and astronomy to genealogy and mythology. What’s best is WolframAlpha gives you graphs, step-by-step explanations, and formula details, not just basic answers to questions you ask. This app will be the know-it-all that you love to have at those late night study sessions.
#21 Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock
Waking up for classes is difficult for a lot of college students who find themselves on their own for the first time in their life. Putting this intelligent alarm clock app on their phone should be the first thing you do when settling into your dorm room. This app will track your sleep patterns by using sound analysis to track your sleep, then wakes you up when you are in a light sleep cycle to ensure you wake up refreshed and ready for the day. Here’s how it works:
- As you sleep, you go through a variety of sleep phases. The phase you are in when you wake up will determine how rested you feel.
- This alarm tracks your sleep patterns using vibration analysis to monitor your movements in bed during each sleep phase.
- You set a predefined 30-minute window in which you want to be awoken, and Sleep Cycle will find the optimal time to wake you up. Waking up during a light sleep cycle will help you feel more rested and energized at the beginning of your day.
This expansive app also includes sleep statistics and daily sleep graphs, which can be integrated with Apple Health. A variety of alarm melodies are available, and a snooze option can be activated by shaking or double-tapping the phone. For more in-depth sleep analysis, a premium version of the app is available and includes long-term sleep trends, global sleep comparison analysis, weather information, a heart rate monitor, Philips HUE light bulb connectivity, and a sleep aid.
#22 CampusBooks Textbooks
College textbooks are so expensive! CampusBooks is your go-to app to score the best deals on your textbooks. The app allows you to search multiple booksellers all in one place by searching by ISBN, author, title, keywords, or by using the built-in barcode scanner. And at the end of the semester, you can easily sell your books on the app and score a little extra spending cash. With this app, you’re sure to find the lowest priced textbooks when buying, and you can sell your books for the highest price possible when you’re finished with them.
#23 Wunderlist
Staying organized can definitely be a challenge in college. Luckily, there’s an awesome app that will help you stay on top of things simply by pulling out your phone or tablet. Wunderlist is an easy-to-use task manager app that makes it simple to capture and complete your to-dos. With this handy app, you can:
- Add, organize, and schedule your tasks from any device
- Set due dates and reminders for important events (like tests or project due dates)
- Add details to your to-do list using subtasks and notes
- Create different lists for home and school
- Share and collaborate on lists with friends and roommates
- View today’s tasks at a glance by swiping down from any app
- Save web pages and articles for easy reference
#24 Khan Academy
Khan Academy makes it simple to learn just about anything for free. With thousands of videos and articles on subjects from math and science to history and politics, you’re sure to find something interesting on this educational app. So why would you sign up for a course at Khan Academy when you are already enrolled in college? There are a number of reasons. Maybe you want to continue learning about a subject you love but aren’t taking classes for that semester. Or, you can use the app to study a selection of courses and supplement whatever you are learning at your college. Khan Academy is even great for supplementing classes you’re already enrolled in. With quizzes and unit tests, you can prep for your final exam and get instant feedback on your progress. What about summer learning? Get ahead by using Khan Academy to introduce yourself to subjects before you enter college each semester. And, you can continue learning with Khan Academy long after you’ve left college.
#25 Got It PhotoStudy
College assignments can be difficult, and you never know when you’ll be working late into the night on your homework. That’s where Got It Photostudy comes in. It guarantees that you will get help on your math, physics, and chemistry homework, 24 hours a day. All you need to do is:
- Take a photo of your algebra, geometry, trig, calculus, physics, chemistry, ACT, or SAT math homework problem.
- Connect to a study expert in seconds for a 10-minute chat session.
- Access the tutoring chat session history for a refresher.
The app’s tutors are required to go through rigorous training and are continuously audited to make sure they are delivering the highest level of homework help. Each expert has a degree in math or science, so you know you’ll be getting quality homework assistance every time.
#26 Grammarly
College students rely heavily on their phones and tablets, which means they’re probably writing important emails and assignments directly on their devices. Make sure everything your college student writes from their device is mistake-free by having them install the Grammarly Keyboard. As your student writes on their device, Grammarly checks their message for grammar mistakes, contextual misspellings, punctuation issues, and even offers vocabulary enhancements. Grammarly can also be installed on their computer for additional homework assistance.
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