apps

5 Free Apps to Have on Your Phone

Posted on by Genna Gincel

1. Calm by Calm.com

This app is great to help you de-stress!  Through guided meditation and loads of calming music, this app helps you relieve stress, fall asleep, and relax.  This is a great way to deal with the stress you’ll be under at school.  Whether you’re anxious about a test, midterms, finals week, or overwhelmed by all of your responsibilities, this app can really help you feel calm, focused, and ready to take on the world!

calm

2. Venmo

 Do you ever find it hard to split the bill when you go out to eat with friends or when you buy groceries with your roommates?  Venmo lets you link up your bank account to the app so you can send money directly to someone else without having to worry about taking out cash or splitting up an odd number.  Don’t worry, it’s completely safe and no one can gain access to your account, but you.  You can even set a passcode for the app itself so only you can get onto it!

venmo

3. Your Bank’s Mobile App (This could be PNC, Bank of America, Chase, etc.)

 This will make your life so much easier!  Many of these apps allow you to deposit checks from wherever you are by taking photos of the front and back of the check.  You can also set up transfers, track your activity, and check your balance.  These apps are so convenient and make it so easy to manage your budget.  It really comes in handy when you’re out and about and need to check your balance!

pnc

4. Airline Apps (United, JetBlue, Southwest, etc.)

 If you fly home for breaks or are going on a big spring break trip, these apps are great!  You can book a flight, check the status of a flight, check-in, and get your boarding pass right on your phone with them.  You never have to worry about forgetting or losing your boarding pass because it’s right on your phone!  You just scan the bar code on your mobile boarding pass at security and at the gate and you’re good to go.  These apps also send you notifications of any delays or gate changes.  You can even change your seats and make upgrades through the app.  And if you make an account, you can get rewards for your miles!

airline

5. Google Maps

 If you don’t already have Google Maps on your phone, you should download it ASAP!  It has turn-by-turn GPS directions, gives you the option to choose between public transportation, driving, walking, and biking directions, check traffic, and drop pins to help you find your way back if you’re walking, hiking, or lost!  This app is a lifesaver!

googlemaps

The Top Apps No College Student Should Live Without

Posted on by Lindsay Lush

app

Our generation has time and time again been labeled as technology obsessed young adults. Our elders often scold us for always being on our phones and tablets. We are constantly criticized for not paying attention and spending too much time downloading the newest apps or creating a profile on some hip, new social media site. However, over 70% of high school graduates in 2012 enrolled in a college or university, and more of us than ever are actually graduating college and going into a high paying career field. Say what you want, baby boomer generation, but in my opinion, our generation isn’t doing so bad. Although technology often gets a bad rep, for the modern day college student, it is a useful resource that can make all of our lives MUCH easier. Check out these top rated apps that every college student should have.

Quizlet: It’s no secret that no matter how early you start studying, you’ll still end up waking up at the crack of dawn the morning before a test wishing you had studied more. The Quizlet app allows students to access flashcards and many other study tools from their phones that they can use for test preparation on the go.

My Fitness Pal: Fight off the freshman 15 with this handy application. Track calorie intake, exercise times and even receive support from other users trying to lose or maintain their weight.

Mobile Banking: This is a big one for us college students. If your bank has a mobile app, make sure you have it! I have the PNC Virtual Wallet app and I would be completely lost without it. You can transfer money between your accounts, check your balance in real time and even get quick cash from mom and dad!

Mixologist: Aka free bartending classes. This app has unlimited drink recipes in various categories that will liven up any party. My personal favorites? The low calorie and holiday drinks categories.

GroupMe: To those without iPhones, this app is a life saver. Before I got the 5s, I was a droid user and hated when I would get added to an iPhone created group message. They came to me in separate, annoying tests that drove me crazy! With GroupMe, you can stay in the group text loop without needing an iPhone and without wanting to pull out your hair. It’s also great for group projects or to talk to more than 10 people at once. My sorority pledge class has one to help us all stay in the loop!

Moocho: This fairly new app is gaining popularity quickly among the college scene. Moocho is made specifically for saving college students time and money.

Groupon: Whether you’re looking for a cheap spring break getaway or the best deal on a massage, the Groupon app is tailored around saving you money on your favorite products and services.

I personally have each of these apps and don’t know how I survived before them. Know of any more awesome apps that college students shouldn’t be living without? Let us know in the comments section below.

College Student Probs: Homework Help Apps

Posted on by Elizabeth Suh

iPhones are useful for many things: Internet surfing, FaceTime, Instagram, Temple Run… But did you know they can also boost your grade?

Here are a few apps that can make classes and other responsibilities less of a headache for you:

  • iHomework:
    iHomework is an app for iPhone and iPad and costs $0.99. It is basically an electronic agenda or planner, so it’s less for you to remember in your head. You can record your assignments that are due that week or month, record your grades, list your classes, class times, and links to reading sections. The app also calculates your grade.
  • Free Graphing Calculator:
    Speaking of calculating, this app may save you some money by performing some functions that an expensive graphing calculator may do. It can square root, cube root, nth root, natural log, graph up to four equations at once, convert units, contains constants for scientific calculations for physics, and more.
  • Quick Homework Help:
    This free app, along with a Brightstorm membership, gives you access to 3,000 videos in math, science, humanities, instant math answers, and test prep. The videos are categorized by textbooks or subjects and are made by teachers. It’s a way to clear up some things or review before an exam on your own time.
  • Evernote:
    This is another free app that lets you create and sync notes, save and share files, record audio notes, and create to-do-lists. It’s also useful for things outside the classroom, such as grocery shopping and keeping track of bills and receipts.

There are a lot more apps and websites out there that can help reduce stress and clutter. But let’s be honest here: What you really want is to be able to beat your score on Temple Run in between reading your class notes without doing more than lifting your thumb.

Must Have Apps for College Students

Posted on by Kelly Craig

Got a Smartphone?  It seems like this line has replaced the old Got Milk? phrase.  Although iPhones and Driods and other smartphones have had a bad rep when it comes to their effect on education, there are ways to put your phone to good use in the classroom and library.

Since all college students seem to be on a budget of some sort, I will narrow the list of best apps to have in college (to use productively) by only sharing the free apps.

gFlash+ Flashcards and Tests: This has been named the best free flashcard app! Instead of carrying around big stacks of flashcards, they can all be on your phone.  Yes, those thick clumps of flashcards do make you look smart, but so do a pair of non-prescription glasses.  Plus, this app will gain you hipster points as it is an eco-friendly alternative to using all those index cards and ink.  This app will not only let you create and edit your flashcards, but you can download information from a Google Docs Spreadsheet, add images and sound clips, track your improvement and more.

College getting expensive?  Interested in topics other than your major/minor but have no time to fit them into your schedule?  iTunes U provides full access to free courses created by top notch professors at real universities.  Even Ivy League quality courses are available.  This app gives you access to audio, video, books, documents, presentations… all of the course materials.  Just don’t get too lost in the app and miss the classes you’ve paid for!

Evernote is a mobile app that works across the iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre and is web sync friendly.  Taking notes has never been easier, but instead of just textual information, add voice, photos, locations and tags.  Using an electronic version of note taking gives you the ability to share information with peers, professors, and friends.

College students have been stereotyped to know nothing about current events and more than enough about pop culture.  Instead of getting into the statistics of how uninformed we are, let’s just start a new trend and make a news source our homepages.  Whether it be CNN, BBC, or Huffington Post, download a free news source app to stay in the know.

So you and your friends are looking to get off campus but you’re not sure where to go.  Download Urbanspoon to see all of the restaurants in the area.  You can narrow your search down by price, distance, and/or type of cuisine.  They are paired with Google Maps to be sure that you do not get lost getting there.  They also provide information about the restaurant such as how many others liked it, the phone number to call for a reservation, etc.

Quick! You have class in ten minutes!  Get up! Get Dressed! Wait, what’s the weather like?  What should I wear?  The Swackett app helps you decide what clothes are weather appropriate for today.  This app reminds me of a mother telling a schoolchild to grab an umbrella or put on a warm coat before rushing out the door.

-TravelBug

I’m reading Essentials of Meteorology: An invitation to the Atmosphere