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ThreeGoodThings
Developed by a 2 member team, this app is a minimalistic gratefulness journal. Instead of being packed with distracting and tedious questions (I am looking at you, X, Y and more) it does exactly what it says. The main screen has 3 empty lines for you to fill on what were 3 good things that happened to you that day and how it made you feel.
The UI is so pleasant and excellently made for such a simple app. You can export your entries as a PDF (which they remind you to do monthly, since the app does not have a logging in system to store your data in their servers) which I prefer. You can set daily upto 3 daily reminders too! The paid version unlocks locking your journal (look what I did there?) and themes.
Available on the play store and the app store. One of my best finds, I rate it 5/5!
Bear
I am obsessed with notes apps. I have tried so many of them. Notion, Obsidian, Apple Notes, Evernote, Google Keep, Standard Notes (honestly, this one is good too, maybe I’ll write about it some other day) and more that I cannot remember right now. At this point, I have mostly seen it all in terms of what they can offer and I usually stick to Notion & Apple notes. So, I was really surprised to find another one (~DJ Khaled) and being so excited when I used it.
I absolutely loved the UI, to a point where I was so upset on removing the default notes that come up when you download the app initially. The devs knew what they were doing when they made this one, for its cute bear drawings and built in bear stickers roped me in from minute 1. It’s a Markdown based notes app (yay!), but easy to use even if you don’t usually use Markdown. The mostly monochromatic UI with the occasional red in the underlines, cursor, also the greatest font of all time?? + highlighting (* swooning *) + the ability to add drawings and the surprising bear motifs when you use different parts of the app - absolute joy. At this point, I think it’s clear that in terms of features, the app is quite similar to most notes app, but just much much elevated in terms of execution.
You can even control Typography settings and add web content. The pro version unlocks locking the app (again), themes, app icon styles and icloud syncing.
Available only on the app store, I rate this 2017 Apple Design Award winning app a 5/5!
FocusPomo
One of my favourite pomodoro app for studying during exams, FocusPomo’s tomato-ey delightful UI with amazing haptics(!!) keeps me hooked onto getting more tomatoes XD (the more you study, the more cute tomatoes you get). The free version is perfect for me because it takes away a lot of the unnecessary features that a lot of pomodoro apps have (which personally I find distracting and excessive) and leaves you with an app that does exactly what it’s supposed to do. The welcome screen is probably one of the best interactive UI’s I have come across in apps. Also love the font <3
FocusPomo plus unlocks iCloud syncing, charts, widgets, stopwatch mode and a lot more. The app reminds me of the Pomo Up app (perhaps because the design elements appear almost identical, atleast to me) which is also a personal favourite (I used this all the time last semester). Pomo Up also had in-built posture tracking using airpods which I couldn’t try due to lack of said airpods.
Available only on the app store, I rate this 5 tomatoes out of 5!
TickTick
Literally the only to-do list app that I have ever liked. The app is very convenient to use. All you have to do is open the app, press the ’+’ button to add a task by voice (you can also add manually but I prefer this because I am lazy). All I have to say is ‘Shop groceries tomorrow 5PM’ and it automatically adds the task to tomorrow’s calendar, sets a reminder for 5PM and assigns it to an eisenhower matrix based on your other deadlines! The app comes packed with amazing widgets which sometimes I have to refresh to update things, not sure if this is an universal experience.
While writing, I just suddenly realised that I don’t really know what the premium version offers which means I have never been shown a pop-up or a banner about ‘upgrading to premium’ which is so nice of the dev/(s). You can check out the premium version here.
Available on the app store and the play store, I rate this 4.7 out of 5.
Why not 5?
Because why would the tasks get added to the default list - Inbox instead of the user created list? I believe there should be no Inbox and every task should automatically get added to the list made by user. Yes, you can select for which list you think the task should go into, but that made the experience slow and I found that annoying.
Smiling Mind
I have been searching for a free yet really good meditation app for quite some time and I found it finally at Smiling Mind. Built by a non-profit (seriously, how amazing is that?) from Australia, the app contains many many modules of free meditation content for kids, teens and adults (honestly, sometimes I listen to the kids meditations too and they are so good!).
I used to use Headspace (before they locked out all of their free content), Calm (before I ran out of my 1 year free subscription - otherwise Calm is pretty good too). There are some other free alternatives that I have tried albeit briefly - Medito (Free and Accessible) and Atom (Was a favourite, is no longer entirely free).
Available for phones and the web, I rate this 5 out of 5!
How We Feel
I have gatekeep-ed this app for 3 years. This completely free app is a very very good supplement to CBT or an app that just lets you track how you feel throughout the day. The premise of the app is simple- you set 2-4 reminders (as you prefer) and the app reminds me you to check in. However, this is where the app goes from simple to chef’s kiss.
The app is built as a part of an ongoing research at the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence and the product team is led by the co-founder of pinterest, Ben Silbermann. It combines research and product development at its finest.
The animations along with the haptic feedbacks makes it one of the smoothest apps I have ever used and the emotion descriptions along with other features of the app such as their tools, weekly reports, connecting with your friends is probably why it’s still one of my favourites despite using it for years.
The app stores all of your data locally and you can choose to anonymously share your data with the researchers at the HWF Research Project.
Available on the play store and the app store, it’s a 5/5!
Like A Dino!
A very recent addition to my favourites, Like A Dino! is a minimal piano tiles styled game, instead the dinosaur eats the tiles and its neck grows longer XD. Built by the amazing @super_toki, the standout features are the cute storylines, fonts and songs!
Available on the app store and the play store, I rate it a 5/5 💗