10 smartphone essential apps

1. WhatsApp

If you only have one messaging app, let it be WhatsApp. This convenient service enables you to send messages, emojis, pictures, files, locations, and more, all for free and without eating into your text allowance. There is functionality for group chats and a web app, and because it connects to your phone number, there is no need to worry about signing in and out. Plus, WhatsApp recently started rolling out a voice calling feature so that you can save on your minutes as well as your texts.

2. SwiftKey

Once you have started using SwiftKey, you will wonder how you ever managed without it. SwiftKey changes how your keyboard works: instead of tapping every individual letter (and, half the time, missing them entirely), you swipe your finger from key to key, and the app works out what word you mean. That makes for faster and easier typing – and prettier typing if you download one of its custom keyboard skins.

3. Google Maps

We all know Google Maps is pretty darn useful on a browser, but you are essentially walking around with your sat nav when it’s on your smartphone. Turn on GPS in your phone’s location settings, and the app will plot exactly where you are on its map. Then from there, you can get directions, explore what is nearby, complete with pictures, customer reviews, and opening hours, and even see live traffic conditions.

4. Dropbox

Do not risk losing those important files. Dropbox gives you up to 2GB of free of any file or up to 1TB if you upgrade to Pro. Drop all your photos, notes, audio recordings, and so on into the Dropbox folder, and they are safe and secure and ready for you to access from any device. Sharing options also mean you can invite other people to access a folder, giving you a wonderfully safe and easy way to send files to each other.

5. Duolingo

Even though it has been in our lives for a while now, the Duolingo app is still a great way to test the water when learning a new language. Through a series of bite-sized lessons, you can practice speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills in a fun and appealing ways. Start with verbs, phrases, and sentences, and spend a few minutes or longer building up your language skills each day. Mangetout, Rodney, mangetout!

6. Tiny Scanner

As smartphones are fast replicating many of our PCs and laptops’ tasks, it makes perfect sense to install a scanner app on your handset. Tiny Scanner enables you to save documents such as receipts or bills, such as PDF, JPEG, or PNG, by turning your handset into a portable scanner. With lots of features and settings to adjust, it is a great app for document scanning and sharing, and it also supports major cloud hosting platforms such as Dropbox and Evernote.

7. LastPass

The security of your smartphone is hugely important and should not be taken lightly. That said, how many of us follow the age-old advice of creating a different password for each account? No problem, a secure password manager, such as LastPass, will do the heavy lifting of securing all your various passwords in an encrypted vault, protected by one master password. Available in free and premium versions, LastPass is intuitive and easy to use, and you can access your secure vault from any internet-connected device via their website.

8. Pocket

We’re big fans of any app that makes sifting and compiling the river of content that flows through our smartphones more manageable – that is why we love Pocket. Previously known as Read It Later, Pocket allows you to save pages, videos, and images found on the web and look at them later. You can tag and archive content through an easy-to-use user interface, and best of all, most apps of this type will charge you for offline syncing, whereas Pocket does not.

9. Castbox

Podcast listening has surged in recent years, and there are lots of apps that enable you to manage podcast content. iPhone users have the behemoth iTunes at their disposal, whereas Android users need to look elsewhere. Offering over one million free podcasts across various genres such as Arts, Business, and Drama, Castbox’s clean, navigable interface and efficient audio search functionality make it hard to beat. Supported by Amazon Echo, you can sync multiple devices, and all podcasts are searchable by tags. It also comes with over 60,000 radio stations to hand – both online and FM.

10. VLC Player

VideoLAN’s VLC Player is an absolute must if you use your phone for watching a video. This open-source app can play pretty much every kind of multimedia file known to man, including all those weird ones you’ve never heard of, as well as radio and network streams. It also has a nice clean interface for browsing your files, so it is perfect as a music player, with the ability to make playlists, sort by artist, and so on.