My Most Used and Favorite Apps
June Beauty Favorites
Instagram – I love seeing little pics of moments from my friends and bloggers that I follow. And I also love inspiration from brand type accounts like West Elm or Real Simple.
.
Vsco – This is what I use to edit my photos before putting it up on Instagram. There are a lot more options for filters and even basic adjustments than what Instagram offers.
.
Evernote – This is where I keep an ongoing “to do” list, grocery list, and reminders. It integrates with all my devices so I can add something to my list on the computer, and it will sync with the note on my phone!
.
This American Life – Justin and I aren’t big into any shows, or really watching TV in general, and with all the projects around the house sitting in one place just feels like we’re wasting time. I love this app for listening to really fascinating or interesting stories. So, we can be working with our hands but listening to a story.
.
The Wonder Weeks – I used this a lot with David, and find myself referring to it this time around with Luke. David is pretty much at the end of the calendar, but Luke is just starting the cycle of growth spurts. Even if it isn’t exactly accurate, it’s interesting to see what your baby either just went through or is about to go through.
.
My Utmost for His Highest – During a rare still moment, I’ll check this app. It offers a daily devotion with a verse and a paragraph or two of expounding upon that verse. It’s very short, and I appreciate how the writing isn’t overly flowery and wordy. It’s straight forward truths about the Gospel.
.
Bloglovin’ – This is what I use to check my daily reads, although I hate reading them within the app. So I just use this to keep up with the blogs I love and click through to read them in Safari.
.
I love discovering new ones too, do you have a favorite that I haven’t listed above?
comments
I love Cornell’s Bird Finder app. If we see a new bird in our backyard, I enter in the size, main colors, and where I saw it, and I get a list of possible matches. There are photos, maps, and basic info about each bird, along with recordings of their calls. We’ve learned a lot about the birds that visit our feeder!
That Cornell bird app is awesome! Thanks for the tip!
I love any.do for my to do list and have their calender (cal) app to. It syncs with google calender and is so pretty and user friendly.
Cookspiration is a cool app that has recipe ideas that you just tap in the time of day, what kind of food you’re feeling like, then BAM a list of every changing recipes appears for inspiration!
I definitely need to check out Vsco…keep hearing such good things about it!
Laura
http://www.24-7style.com
Loves this post<3 Instagram is definitely a must have<3
follow for follow?:)
xoxo
http://hilarynirvana.blogspot.com/
Let’s see, the apps I use the most are: She Reads Truth, Instagram/Facebook, Aviary Photo Editor, Snapseed Photo Editor, Wordpress, Amazon, Kindle, Pandora, and I’ve been working on learning Spanish, so I’ve been using an awesome free app called Memrise.
Going to have to check out that Utmost for His Highest one. This American Life sounds interesting also.
She Reads Truth and my weather app 🙂
Oh! And mustn’t forget Pinterest! 😉
https://www.pinterest.com/aleassa/
I love SheReadsTruth!
I use my podcast app a lot. I listen to Real Simple, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, and Stuff You Missed in History Class are my current favorites.
I also use Timehop and My Fitness Pal a couple of times a day.
And one I don’t use daily, but is definitely important in the south, is the Red Cross Tornado app. The tornado warning alarm is the ONLY thing that wakes me up during a storm.
Kate! Do you use the Target app Cartwheel? I think it makes shopping a bit more fun and you save some money…every little bit helps!
I just discovered LifeCake. It’s a private app where you can upload all of your child’s photos and it stores them all by the age the are. It’s like the baby book I didn’t fill out! Plus, you can share your stream with family so they can be notified when I new photo gets added. It’s perfect. I love looking back and seeing how itty bitty my 15 month old was last year.
Thank you!! Clearing out my iPhone now – this app is EXACTLY what I needed!!
I love lifecake as well!
It’s so nice that you can share photos with family by sending them the link instead of always emailing pictures and the fact that it automatically figures out the date and age of your child is a nice bonus!
My daughter Joelle is one day younger than David so I always looked to see what he was up to and would laugh when you posted something and she was into the exact same thing . I also loved checking with The Wonder Weeks to see how my daughter was changing and the types of things she could do, and I could do to encourage her. With baby #2 arriving early November I am going to also look at the app Baby Sparks.
I feel ya on being over the flowery wording of devotionals, especially the ones for women. Not every other sentence needs to reference “my heart.” (And I get that paying attention to one’s heart is a biblical principle, but still. I hope you know what I mean & I don’t just come across as a hater of devotionals haha 😉 )
I hear you!
I tried to find the devotional app but when I put that title in my App Store (Apple) it took me to an app that I think is a Bible??
What are some of your favorites from This American Life?
We just discovered Square’s new app- Cash. It’s FREE and you can easily send payments to friends (text to invite, you each add your debit and you can flow money back and forth). It’s Square so it’s secure 🙂
I also like GPS for the Soul by Huffington Post (related to her book Thrive- awesome read). You can create your own guided meditations that are 1-2 mins long. I add scripture for a quick focused prayer session.
Sunrise is a great multi-calendar app. Simplified Planner also just came out with a great app! Finally, we use Good Budget to follow the Dave Ramsey budget system– works great!
You and Justin need to listen to the Serial podcast on This American Life. We listened to the entire thing from Memphis to Gulf Shores round trip! It’s addicting!
We both did already–that was great!
Youversion Bible app and the youversion Bible app for kids
so i’ve had the youVersion bible app for awhile. they did an update recently, and i discovered yesterday that it READS TO YOU!!! and the reader has a nice voice – it’s not computery or overly emotional, but heartfelt enough to keep me paying attention. LOVE IT.
I am definitely going to check out, This American Life. Their about page has me intrigued. Thanks Kate!
Target Cartwheel, InstaQuote for making graphics for my blog, and ISE (One Second Everyday)–Kate you need this app with two babies. Please check it out. You take just one second of video everyday and this app stitches it together for you so at the end of the year you have a really cool six minute video.
I didn’t know My Utmost for His Highest has an app. I love that book, such good (like you said, not-watered-down) truths!
I use Afterlight to edit most of my photos, but like VSCO too. I also use Yelp a LOT, and I second the Target Cartwheel app. Another good one is Shopkick…it rewards you for checking in at different stores and scanning products. You can earn gift cards to stores like Target or even Starbucks. Hey, anything to get a free drink at Starbucks, right 🙂
RecipeGallery is AMAZING! It’s a great place to compile all your recipes, especially if you have loose ones on random pieces of paper like I did. You just take a picture of the recipe and picture. If you have notes written on your recipe then you don’t lose those. You can also add additional apps. AND, if you often share recipes with family and they have the same app you can easily send it to them and it goes to their app already formatted. My mom and sisters and I love to share recipes with this app. AND (I seriously could be a spokes person for this app. lol)…you know how you see a recipe on facebook you want to try, but to ‘keep’ it you have to ‘share’ it. I’m not really into sharing stuff on facebook too much, but if I see a recipe I want then I just take a picture of it on my laptop with my ipad. Or if it’s on your device you could do a screenshot. Whichever. It sorts recipes for you and is searchable. It’s really great. : )
Other than some already mentioned, I also use these a lot:
Gas Buddy – uses your location to find the least expensive gas near you, also good if you drive a car that needs special fuel such as diesel
Tick – I think this was a paid app? It is a terrific but simple list-making tool
My Radar – gives live weather radar for your location and is a lot more reliable than other weather apps
White Noise – I only use this when we travel but it’s a lifesaver for drowning out noises in a hotel, etc.
Keep – a great app/website for saving products that you want to remember or purchase in the future; it works a lot like Pinterest but is only for products, no tips, receipes, etc.; I like that it streamlines things so I can quickly find an item I wanted to check out in the store when I’m standing in the makeup aisle
I love the app Gloo. The app has great questions and fun activities to do with your spouse. It is an intentional “get to know you better” app and helps build intimacy with your partner. It has some great stuff that is fun.
I’ve just started using VSCO and really like it! My photos look so much better now!
Kristi | Be Loverly
Anylist is my favorite grocery list app. Aside from just lists, you can input your favorite recipes either manually or from the web and make grocery lists from the recipe by tapping on the ingredients you need. Also there is a meal planning calendar which I love. I used to do all my meal plans for the week on paper and now there’s an app for that! 😉
I love the app Voxer, you can send live or recorded voice, text messages and photo’s instantly (like a walkie talkie). I use it all the time to talk to my sister, who lives a few hours away. It’s nice because with two little ones running around I don’t always have time to sit and chat on the phone, this way she can send me messages and I can respond whenever I get a chance and it’s a little more personal than a text message. You can also send messages to an entire group, we use it to plan get together’s etc!
Another great podcast is Sorta Awesome
You have to get Timehop with your little ones. Mine are now 6 and 8 and I look forward to every morning seeing what happened 2, 3, 4 years ago. The videos are so cute!
We just moved as well, so I’m loving our neighborhood group on the Nextdoor app. We’ve already used it to find lawncare, an electrician, babysitters and other happenings in the new hood.
Thanks for the heads up on VSCO – I have been playing with it all evening.
I have been all about Bloglovin lately! I love it on the computer to read through all my blogs. Between that, Instagram, and my email app, I am totally technologically fulfilled!
Bloglovin’ and Instagram are love <3 I really love using the app "Happier" 🙂 It's like Facebook with random ppl and only happy statuses. I love it! Really lifts your spirits.
http://www.GlossyFinds.com
Thanks for the tips! I just installed Bloglovin’ and wow was I missing out! Way easier to keep up with everyone!
One app I enjoy but need to use more often is AchieveMint.
Cozi – family calendar. It will more help when the boys are older. I have three teenage girls and we can all enter our information and see it in one place.
Does anyone know a good app for your phone videos? I would love to be able to take all of the videos of my babies and have them uploaded to a dvd. 🙂
Let me know if you find an answer to this !
I share a love for almost all of these apps too! I will be downloading My Utmost for His Highest, I have been looking for the right app to enjoy when you have those free moments. Xo, Stephanie
Love your list of apps! Wanted to share my favorite app- Headspace. It’s a wonderful meditation tool…first 10 days are free, then there is a small subscription charge. I feel it’s money well spent!