Credits: It’s a Boy Thing journal card by Cluster Queen Creations
I sheepishly confessed in a January 2012 article that I didn’t own a cell phone. My family was planning a big road trip in the summer of 2012 though and that motivated me to pick one up. The convenience of that little flip-phone must have been the push I needed to jump into technology wholeheartedly because I picked up my first ever smartphone in February. What a life changer! It’s been less than two months and already I wouldn’t want to go back to not having one. It’s so handy.
Like most people with a new smartphone, I immediately starting looking for the best apps. Over the years, Steph and Katie have written some great posts about favourite apps:
- Daily Digi iPhone App and A Tour of Our New App
- Smart phones, iPhones, and iPads for digital scrapbookers
- Using a smartphone to make more time (and material) for scrapping
- Telling, Collecting, and Sharing Memories with Just Family
- Confessions of a 365 Quitter
I thought it was time to do an update on useful apps. I left it as a simple list so that any new smartphone owners reading this can quickly run through the list. Wherever I could find links for the Android or iPhone version of the app, I put them beside the app name.
(As always, before downloading anything, do your own research to make sure it will work with your device and is safe.)
Email and Social Apps
- Gmail (Android / iPhone)
- Twitter (Android / iPhone)
- Facebook (Android / iPhone)
- Facebook Messenger (Android / iPhone)
Entertainment and Music
- Feedly (Android / iPhone)
- StumbleUpon (Android / iPhone)
- SpringPad (Android / iPhone)
- Pinterest (Android / iPhone)
- Kobo eReader (Android / iPhone)
- TED Talks (Android / iPhone)
- YouTube (Android / iPhone)
- Shazaam (Android / iPhone)
Scrapbooking and Memory Keeping
- The Daily Digi (iPhone)
- Layout A Day (iPhone)
- Memory Jar (Android / iPhone)
- Collect (iPhone)
- Everyday.me (iPhone)
- Gratitude365 (iPhone)
News
- CNN (Android / iPhone)
- BBC News (Android / iPhone)
- Flipboard (Android / iPhone)
- CBC News (Canadian) (Android / iPhone)
- The Weather Network (Android / iPhone)
Photography Apps
- Camera+ (iPhone)
- Instagram (Android / iPhone)
- Over (iPhone)
- Montage (iPhone)
- VSCO Cam (iPhone)
- Flickr (Android / iPhone)
- Incredibooth (iPhone)
- Photo365 (iPhone)
- Snapseed (Android / iPhone)
- Phonto (Android / iPhone)
- Repix (iPhone)
- Picfx (iPhone)
- Afterlight (iPhone)
- Travelgram (iPhone)
- Flayvr (iPhone)
- Pixelgarde (Android / iPhone)
Productivity and Utility Apps
- Evernote (Android / iPhone)
- Weave (iPhone)
- Motivated Moms (Android / iPhone)
- Google Drive (Android / iPhone)
- Dropbox (Android / iPhone)
Games
- Angry Birds (Android / iPhone)
- Cut the Rope (Android/ iPhone)
- Where’s My Water? (Android / iPhone)
- Boggle (Android / iPhone)
- Scrabble (Android / iPhone)
- Plants vs. Zombies (Android / iPhone)
Shopping Apps
- Checkout 51 (Canadian) (iPhone)
- FlyerFlo (iPhone)
- Red Laser (Android / iPhone)
- RetailMeNot (Android / iPhone)
- AnyList (iPhone)
Health and Food
- MyFitnessPal (Android / iPhone)
- WebMD (Android / iPhone)
- SparkPeople (Android / iPhone)
- Allrecipes (Android / iPhone)
That’s a lot of apps! And yet I’d love to hear about YOUR favourites! Please share your most-loved apps in the comments so that other readers can find them too. 
