TECH APPS
3 AI Apps I Will Be Renewing (and Ditching) in 2025: As a Growth-Minded Professional
Official Purge Time of the Year
I care a lot about who I share my email with when signing up for apps, and I’m even more careful when it comes to paying for their premium subscriptions.
Regardless, when the credit card statement comes in, I suddenly find myself drowning in subscriptions I barely remember signing up for. The culprit — AI apps.
If you are anything like me and lurk on Product Hunt religiously to scout tech apps, firstly, hello new best friend and secondly, I hope you’ll agree they’re the worst offenders.
Every month, another shiny tool promises to revolutionize your workflow, boost your productivity, or basically turn you into a superhuman.
With Christmas so close, it’s time for me to play Santa Claus for AI apps — checking apps into a Nice vs Naughty list. Those that have truly helped me level up, will cherish the digital sqft on my phone for another year. Others will get the digital lump of coal.
Let the reckoning begin! 🚀
1. AcceleratEd
This app even made it to my 3 Apps to Make You the Smartest Person in the Room list that I wrote couple of months back. Since so many of you gave positive feedback on it, it had to make the cut.
Non-fiction books pack a lot of information related to career, personality development, health, finance, etc. Whether you’re picking up a business classic, a memoir from a visionary leader, or a book on a skill you want to master, the habit of reading is one of the most powerful investments in your personal and professional growth.
In reality, most of us are drowning in books we never have time to read, thanks to our busy schedules and personal commitments at home. This is where AcceleratEd shines.
With this app, I have read over 100 books in 2 months, as it allows digesting an entire book’s key ideas in just 7–8 minutes (more if you are listening). We’re talking full-length business, self-help, or non-fiction books — condensed into a format that actually sticks in your brain.
P.S. If you are interested in my key learnings from reading so many books, you can read the article here).
But it’s not just about speed reading. The feature that sealed the deal for me, that other apps don’t provide, was their built-in AskTed chatbot. It is like having a personal mentor who can deep-dive into those key concepts. Want to understand the practical applications of Jeff Bezos’s business strategy, or the meaning of financial terms like EBIDTA, p/e ratio, etc. in an ELI5 manner, or break down a complex idea? AskTed walks you through it, making sure you’re not just skimming, but truly understanding.
The latest release has also thrown in meditation guides that are perfect for those moments when you need a mental reset. My fav of the lot is Focused Attention and Stress Relief. Likewise, they offer sleep stories to lull you into sleep after a long day.
Apps Being Replaced: Blinkist for book summaries (read this article to know why) and Headspace for meditation. AcceleratEd has effectively killed two birds with one stone, combining deep learning insights with mindfulness in a single, streamlined app.
2. Curio
We’re working to fix news with a personal AI news companion that lets you take control (Curio’s tagline).
If you get easily overwhelmed with the barrage of 24/7 breaking news, anxiety-inducing headlines, and rabbit holes stealing your focus, Curio is for you.
It acts as your personal AI assistant that reads through The New York Times, The Economist, and tech publications, then serves up the most critical insights in minutes. No more scrolling through lengthy articles or getting lost in endless paragraphs. Curio’s AI understands nuance, context, and significance — it’s not just about shortening text, but about delivering the real essence of each news story.
The app’s AI brilliantly condenses news from top publications into crisp, digestible summaries that cut straight to the core of the story. It does so by combining audio clips from across its catalog in response to users’ queries. In simple words, zero hallucinations guaranteed!
Unlike traditional newspapers which throw everything at you whether you like it or not, Curio’s Daily Edit feature allows you to create your personal AI newspaper. While it changes every day, it contains only the news you care about.
Pro tip: Be as specific as you can whilst setting preferences in the Daily Edit.
Bad example: Artificial Intelligence
Good Example: I’d like to learn more about the use of agents in the field of generative AI. Outside of that, I am also interested in any new research on food habits and managing anxiety and stress.
Bear in mind, the newest version of Curio is only available for download on iPhones.
Apps Being Replaced: Apple News and traditional news aggregators. Where those apps just collect articles, Curio actually saves time and helps you understand them with AI-powered precision.
3. Claude by Anthropic
ChatGPT is great for a lot of things, especially since you can get a lot done on the free tier. However, allow me to make a case for why Claude is miles ahead of other AI writing assistants.
Unlike ChatGPT’s one-size-fits-all professional tone, Claude offers a chameleon-like ability to switch writing styles. Need a witty blog post? A formal academic paper? A creative short story? Claude adapts. And, while generating this text , it captures the exact voice and tone you’re looking for.
The contextual understanding is also next-level. Claude doesn’t just spit out generic responses, but it actually understands (whatever that might mean for an AI) the nuance of your request. And, I love that it builds the content step by step, message by message instead of all at once.
Likewise, I am equally impressed with its skills as a coding assistant (as are so many others on Reddit). As a data scientist using ChatGPT for writing complex BigQuery commands (think windows functions, lots of CTEs, etc.), I found its code overly complicated. Claude’s code not only ran on the very first instance without re-prompting, but it is also simpler to understand at first glance.
Overall, Claude feels less like a tool and more like a collaborative partner for research assistance, creative brainstorming, and complex problem-solving. It won’t replace human creativity, but it’ll push your own creativity into overdrive.
Apps Being Replaced: ChatGPT — hands down. Where ChatGPT gives you bland, uniform responses (even with its newly launched writing assistant), Claude provides nuanced, adaptable, and genuinely helpful interactions.
And there you have it. Three apps that are worth every dime — to keep you armed with insights from thought-provoking books, intriguing news on topics you care about, and a brainstorming buddy to help you code and write top-notch content.
Happy learning 🚀