Apps that Simplify a Student’s Life

Translator: Sahara Rós Ívarsdóttir

For most of us, our smartphones are undoubtedly the friends we hang out with the most. They follow us wherever we go and are meant to simplify our lives. Down below we’ve highlighted a few apps that do just that. Stop scrolling and start using technology for something useful! There are apps that can help people with almost anything in life.

Be Focused – Focus Timer

A few teachers at the University of Iceland have recommended the Pomodoro technique, which involves working in intervals and taking breaks in between. There are many apps that offer this technique, but Be Focused – Focus Timer is one of the best and simplest – and it’s free. It can be especially helpful when you’re reading something dry and not particularly interesting – it happens to everyone who studies at university level. To use the app, you adjust the time according to how long you want each interval to be, for example study intervals of 20-30 minutes and breaks in between for 5-10 minutes. You can also adjust the number of intervals you would like to have throughout the day and put in a long break after a few sessions. The app keeps track of all of this for you and it can be encouraging to have an overview of the time you spend in your studies. This way the app helps you attain your goals.

Headspace

Meditation is gaining more and more popularity around the world, and it’s no wonder, because it is scientifically proven to be a great way to calm your mind, feel better and become more productive. Headspace offers a great variety of meditations you can choose from, according to how you feel and what your objective is, everything from relieving stress to getting inspiration. You start from scratch and receive simple guidance throughout each meditation. In this way, the app works well for those who are taking their first steps in taking stock of themselves. Headspace is also very helpful if you want to add meditation into your daily routine since the app sends regular notifications to remind you to meditate. The only drawback with the app is that it’s not free, but you can try it for 10 days without paying.

Insight Timer

This meditation app is totally free and offers an endless variety of meditations, as well as talk shows. You can practice yoga nidra, get better sleep, listen to relaxing music and much, much more whether you are a beginner or more advanced. When you tune into a meditation you can also see how many people you are meditating with at the moment – and where in the world they are situated. It’s like social media for people who meditate. In the app you can also find discussion forums where people can discuss anything under the sun.

Natural Cycles

For anyone who menstruates! This app works as a natural contraceptive where you can see which days you are fertile, if you put in the right information regarding your menstrual cycle. This app has received multiple certifications, including from German inspection company TÜV Süd, as a safe contraceptive and it’s considered just as effective as birth control pills.

Leggja (Park)

This is a useful app if you drive in Reykjavík and often use metered parking. You can pay for your parking space in a simple way in the app. You only pay for the amount of time you are parked, so you don’t have to decide beforehand how long you will use the parking space! You can also keep track of the time on the app.

Tiny Scanner

It’s 2018 and scanners are unnecessary. With this app, the camera on your phone will suffice to scan your documents and convert them to JPG or PDF format, just as if you’d used a real scanner for the job.

Wunderlist

For the crazy organized ones or those who want to organize their lives better. Very simple to use and helps you keep track of everything you need to do and remember in your daily life. It’s also a clever way to keep lists of movies you want to watch, books you want read or groceries you need to buy.

Tasty

For food lovers! Those incredibly inviting food videos you often get carried away with on Facebook are all accessible on this app along with the recipes. The recipes are shown step by step in the videos, so it’s impossible to mess up the meal. In the app you can also create a folder to store your favorite recipes. Very simple and clever!

Moment

We all know that the phone, which is sometimes said to simplify our lives, can also be a time thief. If you suspect that you’re suffering from a phone addiction, Moment is for you. Who hasn’t had a hard time concentrating on their studies because they’re so addicted to their phone? Moment helps you conquer your phone addiction by keeping track of how much time you spend on your phone every day and how often you pick it up. The app runs in the background and notifies you if you’re crossing the time limit, and in it you can also find all kinds of interesting information. It can be interesting to see statistics of your phone usage – maybe you need to step up your game?