The iPhone comes with some fabulous native apps, but there are many more to choose from on the App Store. Here are some of my favorite third-party downloadables that help me get through the day.
1 Pocket for Reading the News
My go-to app for reading news and articles is Pocket. This is not your traditional news app with a news feed that you scroll through and abandon after reading the headlines. Rather, it is a handy way to build a library of news, essays, and media from across the internet which you can revisit and read (or listen and watch) whenever you want to.
Pocket is easy to use; all you need to do is click the “Share” button on any news article or media that you want to save and select Pocket’s app icon. You can then save items and build a library of news and media that you may want to revisit under the umbrella of one app.
What I love about Pocket is that you can sort your saved media by recently saved, oldest saved, shortest read, and longest read. You can also highlight items from your list, and scroll through Pocket’s recommended reads and collections to pick up tidbits for your library. Every part of this app feels like stacking the bricks for your personalized collection of news that you can collect and read when you feel like it.
Pocket is free to use, with a premium membership option ($4.99/month or $44.99/year) that offers features like unlimited highlights, premium fonts, tags to organize saved media, and a permanent library of everything you ever saved.
2 Do! for a Compact Checklist
When it comes to keeping my productivity levels high, there is no other app like Do!, which I have been using for more than three years now. The app lets you create a checklist of tasks, schedule each task according to date and time, and sort them by groups.
What I love about Do! is the way you can scratch off tasks as you complete them by double-tapping. Although this might not seem like a big deal, the satisfaction of seeing a fully scratched-out task list is gratifying, to say the least. The realistic ballpoint pen sound effects as you write and cross off tasks are also a nice touch.
Do! lets you set notifications, group tasks by color, and pin priority tasks to the top of your list. You can add your checklist as a widget on the Home Screen or Lock Screen, which is pretty convenient. I also like to use this app as a makeshift grocery list maker, which has proven to be very effective.
You can use Do! for free, and the app also offers a premium, one-time purchase option at $5.99 to remove non-disruptive ads.
3 Goodreads for a Virtual Library Card
If you are an avid reader, Goodreads is a must-have to keep track of your reading progress. This free app helps you discover new books, authors, and lists (such as editors’ picks), check reviews, search for new books across genres, and best of all, maintain a virtual “shelf” of the books you are indulging in. It is a place for bookworms to see what is trending and get some solid recommendations curated by critics.
I like that Goodreads also lets you participate in reading challenges, which really motivated me to hit my reading goals this year. You can create new shelves of books, name and sort them according to genre, and update your reading progress. You can also rate and review books you have read, join groups, scan books, and add friends.
4 Audible for a Library of Audiobooks
If you want to start listening to audiobooks, Audible by Amazon is the best app to start with. I was a little skeptical when I started, but this app quickly became one of my favorites after a month of exploring the vast collection of curated audiobooks that span many genres. Audible offers a library where you can save your favorite audiobooks and podcasts, create a wish list, and access collections. One thing I like about Audible is its original stories, which expand the app’s library beyond what you are already expecting.
With Audible’s premium plan ($14.95/month), you get unlimited access to the app’s catalog along with credit that lets you keep titles from the app’s premium selection.
One of my favorite wellness apps is Headspace, a relaxation app that offers audio nuggets that ease you into the art of meditation. This is a great app to use if you are a beginner at meditation since it lets you start slow and steady with shorter audio sessions and a relaxed schedule. Headspace assigns meditation activities for each day that you can space out, and includes a blend of meditation guides, focus music, and “sleepcasts” before bed.
You can also explore the Headspace library, which offers audio playlists for sleep, moving, music, stress, and more focus areas. The app also offers collections and programs that suit a range of needs, and its popping colors are very pleasant for the eyes.
What I love about the app is how convenient it is. Using Headspace feels like having a pocket companion for meditation, which I have not come across when digging through meditation videos and podcasts on other apps. Headspace lets you sign up for monthly check-ins, view your history, and keep track of your favorite exercises.
The free version of the app lets you access a limited library of exercises and audio. Headspace offers monthly ($17.99/month after a 7-day trial) and annual subscriptions ($89.99 or $7.50/month after a 14-day trial). You can also get a 30-day guest pass and share Headspace access with new members.
Another productivity app that I love working with is Focus Keeper. The feature that I love the most is the focus timer, which is a convenient Pomodoro timer that splits your productivity sessions into customized work intervals with interspersed short and long breaks (after four focus sessions).
This feels different from using your iPhone’s timer because it resets between work and breaks automatically until you reach your productivity goal, which adds a sense of accountability. The app offers a to-do list maker, a routine calendar to keep track of your measured focus sessions, and a tracker to see your progress over every day, week, and month. I recommend using the routine calendar to explore and add habits like reading, meditation, exercise, and more.
The app is free to use, with a premium version ($3.99/month or $34.99/year) that lets you access detailed data, music for focus sessions, goal focus, customized break times and intervals, and more.
7 Fabulous for Building Habits
Possibly one of the most interesting apps on my phone, Fabulous is an immersive app that lets you build habits and work towards self-improvement through a range of interactive activities. After you customize your personal goals (practicing mindfulness and reducing social media usage were mine) and sign a virtual contract to commit to these goals, you can dive right into daily routines by actioning your personalized plan.
This includes a motivational letter and a habit tracker for specific goals like water consumption, exercise, meditation, and even taking vitamins. You can log your mood, listen to daily coaching audio, and set up routines for each part of the day.
I like the app’s “Journey Roadmap,” which lets you unlock a string of growth “events” as you consistently progress. But by far, the cherry on top of this all-in-one self-care app is the Fabulous Journal, which weaves in the productivity aspect.
Fabulous offers an annual subscription of $39.99/year after a 7-day free trial.
8 SimpleCal for Keeping Track of Your Day
And finally, the app I use to keep track of each day is SimpleCal. It is pretty much what the name says: a simple calendar that offers versatile ways to customize your personal schedule. I like to play around with the theme colors and dark and light modes, as well as assigning different colors to weekends and weekdays.
These small details come in handy when adding events because I find that keeping track of your month is so much easier with a pleasant layout. You can explore grouping events by color, adding a weather forecast for up to a week, numbering weeks, and locations for events.
You can sync SimpleCal with iCloud and Google Calendar, apart from syncing it with your iPhone’s Calendar app. The app is free, with a one-time ad-removal option priced at $14.99.
You can explore thousands of third-party apps and see what suits your iPhone needs. A good place to start is the App Store’s iPhone Essentials list, which I like to use and discover some killer apps that fit like a glove for my iPhone experience.
