5 Incredible iPhone Apps in 2020
Apps to make your day more productive, focused and entertaining
Streaks
$4.99
When it comes to getting into new habits, some initial motivation is, in most cases, not enough to make you commit to them. For me, getting into an exercise routine and meeting my daily study goals were habits I wanted to build, but found it difficult to keep up… until I found the app Streaks.
At first glance, Streaks looks simple and bare-bones, but beneath the straightforward landing screen, there’s tons of functionality. Streaks lets you create tasks and goals to achieve regularly (daily, or on certain days during the week). By keeping up your streaks, you’ll be less likely to break the habits you’re trying to build. On the statistics page, you can view your progress and reflect on what you need to do to improve your habits.
The end goal should be to not need Streaks at all since you want to get into an automatic routine of getting things done. But it can be a good way to get into the mindset of building a lasting habit if you find it hard to cultivate one.
Audible
30 day free trial, then from $14.95/month
Audiobooks are becoming more and more popular — and for good reason. By being able to listen to our favorite books, we’re no longer limited by how much time we have during the day. With Audible, you can absorb knowledge while also getting things done, such as doing the dishes, cleaning, or going for a run.
Audible has a huge library of both books and podcasts, and you’ll be sure to find whatever book you’re looking for on Audible. For $14.95 a month you get 1 credit each month that you can redeem for any audiobook, regardless of price, which is a great deal. Here you can get one audiobook for free as the start to your Audible membership.
If you go ahead and get started with Audible, a pro tip is to slowly increase the speed at which you listen to books. I started out at 1.0X speed and quickly found it way too slow, so over time I ramped it up to 1.8X which I find to be the most comfortable speed for getting through a book reasonably fast while still absorbing the information.
Apollo
Free
Reddit can be a great source of deep discussion and entertaining content. If you’ve never heard of Reddit (which is probably unlikely), it’s a forum platform where users can create forums or post in already existing ones. The topics range from world news to the most niche subjects you’ve never heard about. Subreddits, as the forums are called, such as r/photoshopbattles or r/moviedetails are a good way to spend a few minutes to take your mind off a busy day.
If you’re a frequent Reddit user you might not have heard of the app Apollo. It’s essentially a Reddit client that improves the experience of browsing Reddit greatly. With a much cleaner UI, better comment sorting system, and many more features, you’ll want to go with Apollo over the native Reddit app.
Calendar by 44
Free
I’ve tried a handful of calendar apps, and most of the time they are either too crowded with too much information going on at once or too bare-bones where I feel that they’re lacking features. Calendar by 44 hits the sweet spot of being just in the middle.
Calendar by 44 is about being able to change your schedule with the least amount of effort possible. It has a beautifully simple calendar view, and tons of functionality while still showing you only what you need to see. According to 44, the company behind the app, the aim of the app is for it to be usable with only your thumb and to offer a simplistic take on the calendar.
It feels like Calendar by 44 shaves away the unnecessary details of some calendar apps and adds functions that others lack. It’s a great combination of beautiful design and great functionality, and definitely worth a try.
Hour Blocks
Free
I’ve been trying to move away from the to-do list and towards scheduling my tasks in a calendar, but I find there are benefits to both that partly get lost by only using one of the two systems. Hour Blocks has a new take on your daily tasks.
By showing your tasks as a to-do list, but at the same time in a day-by-day format, Hour Blocks brings you the best of both worlds. I find the app to be quite nifty when I need a very basic overview of what I need to get done. I’m not sure if the app is ready to replace my to-do list app (or calendar for that matter) just yet, but it’s got great potential to become a core part of my productivity toolset. The clean UI is one of Hour Block’s strongest features, which is lacking in many other scheduling-apps. With a clean and basic UI, it achieves clarity when you might feel overwhelmed or busy.
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