Edited By: Joy Jiang
As the New Year comes into full swing, we try to stick to our resolutions for 2018. If you’re someone whose phone is practically glued to your hand, apps are a great way to track your resolutions. Whether it’s tracking your calories, organizing your transit better, finding new music to listen to, or trying new recipes, here are some apps that might help you get on track to completing your resolutions for 2018!
1. MyFitnessPal (App Store / Google Play)
This is a calorie count app that I’ve been using since last summer. One of the most prominent features of this app is that it has the option of inserting your own food entries, and comes with a database of millions of foods from different cuisines all over the world. This was especially helpful for me, since my diet mostly consists of Indian food, and other calorie count apps tend to be a bit Eurocentric with their meal options. You can also use the barcode feature to scan the barcode of any packaged food that you’re eating, and it automatically downloads the nutrition details! It also allows you to enter your weight regularly and adjusts calorie intake goals according to your specific body type. It even counts calories lost during various physical activities (you can link it up to a step-counter app to keep track of the calories you lose walking). It’s a great app if you want to ease into dieting.
2. Elevate (App Store / Google Play)
There are tons of game apps out there to keep yourself occupied on the TTC or to relax before a midterm, but this one is a pretty awesome and helpful one. It’s a brain training app, and it tests in five categories: writing, speaking, listening, reading, and math. The exercises are pretty straightforward, and you unlock more games and study materials for the categories as you level up your score. The app presents a short training routine everyday, consisting of three exercises from three random topics. It takes less than five minutes, and can make your mindless game-playing a bit more productive!
3. Transit (App Store / Google Play)
As a commuter, this app basically saved me this year. It has the routes and timings of most major transit systems in the GTA, such as TTC, MiWay, Oakville Transit, GO Transit, Zum, etc. One of the most prominent features is being able to track your route live without data as you travel (especially useful for people without data plans). It also allows you to set a timer to five minutes before your bus or train arrives, so you can catch it on time. It’s pretty much the best app to have if your route to school is unbelievably ridiculous (like mine is).
4. 8tracks (App Store / Google Play)
I know most people are into Spotify, but I’d personally like to recommend 8tracks. It’s great for listening to playlists without any interruptions, and there are some wonderfully curated playlists on here. It’s especially great for finding some study playlists (I personally love this one, consisting of video game soundtracks). The only rule? You can’t skip songs more than three times. But that works out well too, if you’re ready to hear songs that you’ve never heard before.
5. Tasty (App Store)
If you have Facebook or Instagram, you’ve probably seen one of those Tasty videos where they make food in a way that seems super easy and fun, but you’re too lazy to actually get up and make. For this reason, I recommend downloading the actual Tasty App. It has all of the recipes in their videos, as well as categories for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc. The recipes are very easy-to-follow because you can swipe through each instruction and each instruction includes the corresponding section of the recipe video. It’s great if you want to learn some new recipes, or get started on cooking itself. Unfortunately, this app is currently not available for Android phones.
6. Vocabulary Builder (App Store / Google Play)
If you’re studying for the GRE, or you’re just interested in building your vocabulary like I am (although I do have to start studying for my GREs, but I digress), this app is great. It has different categories and levels to test yourself in. Most importantly, when you get a definition wrong, it records it, and brings it up later in the round to reinforce your understanding of the definition. It’s a great app to kill time and learn something new.
7. Goodreads (App Store / Google Play)
One of the most common resolutions for people these days is wanting to get back into reading books. The Goodreads app helped me greatly with this. In addition to containing thousands of reviews for pretty much any book, it also has trackers to help you achieve reading goals for every month. The app can also help you track what books you have read, are currently reading (including what percent you have read), and want to read soon. Book recommendations are given based on this information. You can also find books on the app using a barcode scanner! It’s a wonderful app for anyone who wants to keep track of their reading going into the new year.
All of these apps are great for any of your new year resolutions, but they’re also wonderful to have in general! So get 2018 started by updating your phones with any of these free apps!
All app screenshots credited to the author / Header Image