College is a big, new world for freshman—dorms, unsupervised free time, advanced classes. Technology can definitely help even the most frightened of freshmen become acclimated to a new life.
There are plenty of helpful apps for creating flashcards and forming homework schedules, but here are 5 apps for your smartphone to help with the rest of life, too.
IFTTT Free
“If This, Then That.” This cool program syncs your different devices and apps to create the perfect recipe of reminders for your life. If you are at a certain location, you will be reminded to do something, just by linking the Google Maps and Reminders apps. If it is below freezing, your alarm will go off a little earlier so you can scrape the ice off the car windows. If you get tagged in a pic on Facebook, you can get a notification immediately so you can do some quality control. With the new world of unpredictability that is college life, this is an app that you’ll want.
Snap2PDF $2.99
Take a picture of a handout, textbook page, or file on your smartphone, and the app will convert it to a PDF file. Now you can upload the file to your computer, search the PDF for keywords, send it to a classmate, and print off extra copies. It’s like a scanner for your phone! And you’ll definitely appreciate that searchable PDF when study time rolls around.
Sleep Cycle $0.99
This nifty app acts as a bio-clock, keeping track of your sleep cycles through motion sensors. When you sleep, your body drifts in and out of light sleep and deep sleep. Your body moves and acts uniquely during different sleep cycles, so the motion sensors in your phone track these movements to determine your sleep phase. The Sleep Cycle app will wake you up within a 30 minute window during your lightest sleep phase, so you feel most refreshed. Now, even your shortest nights will feel like a relaxing, 8-hour sleep session.
Study Buddy $0.99
Reach your studying goals with the Study Buddy. The Study Buddy app keeps track of your study time, including any breaks and distraction. Log your Facebook and Instagram breaks on the app, then continue studying. It then computes your efficiency over various study periods and provides tips to increase your overall productivity. This is the perfect app for the student who wants to make their study time more effective, and a great wake-up call for the “multi-tasker” who should really just be focusing on the reading for bio.
EasyBib Free
Let’s be honest, the worst part of any research paper is the citation list! Use EasyBib to create MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations for your next assignment. Just scan the bar code or type in the name of the book, and the app will produce the citation. Email the citation to yourself for later reference, or copy it straight into your bibliography or works cited page. If only there was an app for the rest of the paper, too.