So I have decided for the sake of brevity and my sanity to not try and give a long discussion of what makes an app "best" or what would make it on to a "best list" instead I decided to point out notable apps. For each of these apps to simply say what it does or why it is notable. Most, if not all of these apps, are available for both iOS (Apple) and Android. They are all free unless I list a price. I did not include games because that is an entirely different animal. They are listed in no particular order.
Circle of 6 - A safety app that sends friends or family a pre-written emergency message if you are in trouble to up to six people it includes your current GPS coordinates.
Facebook - The king of all social media, if you are into that kind of thing.
Youtube - Watch videos of all kinds: instructional, music, clips from TV or movie, classics, independent movies, video game play, and so much more.
Facebook Messenger - Also one of the most popular / used apps, you can message people that you don't have a phone number for. You can video or voice call and there are lots of cute stickers / GIFs.
Google Hangouts - Video chat with up to 12 people at once or use it as a messenger that is accessible by computer and phone.
Hootsuite or UberSocial - For Twitter power-users or people managing multiple social media accounts.
Signal - send encrypted text messages and make encrypted VOIP (voice over internet protocol) calls has some other hand privacy features.
Wickr - encrypt messages and files and set a deletion date to any file, picture, message that you send.
Periscope - Twitter posted videos, most of the time they are live, comedians and musicians have posted some great stuff.
Bandcamp - find some really interesting independent musicians and purchase directly from the artist
DeaD BeeF Player (Android only) - for audiophiles or people that take their music very seriously, extremely customizable and tons of features.
Hulu - There is some free content but subscription necessary for most things. Great television show coverage and movie selection getting better.
Netflix - Subscription necessary, known for movies but have created some great original content.
Sling TV - Watch 65 cable channels for $20 a month on all your devices.
Slacker Radio - Music streaming, curated by a combination of computer algorithm and human selection.
Spotify - Subscribers get almost any song they can think of and even an offline mode. The free route requires you listen to playlists, artists, albums, etc in shuffle mode and commercials every 30 minutes.
Songkick Concerts - Import your favorite artists from other music apps, then find out when they are playing near you, buy tickets in-app, and even see what time musicians are playing at a festival.
Google Play Music - Allows you to play all music you have purchased (with Google or elsewhere) in a cloud playing account, access user and algorithm generated radio stations. If you subscribe access to most songs and You Tube Red a new service that gets rid of commercials and allows music to play in background so that you do not have to keep the app open.
Aviary or Snapseed - A photo editor that allows for some interesting effects.
VSCO or Effects Studio - for people who really want to get their photos just right, users can do a lot with this photo editing app and can share their creations with other photography fans, hobbyists, and professionals.
Flickr - It has photo taking / editing but it is most useful for cloud storage / photo sharing.
Instagram - Picture based social media platform.
Instacollage - Make a quick collage out of pictures to share with others or for personal projects.
Vine - Fascinating, funny, weird, eight second videos.
My Fitness Pal - Track your calories, exercise, and weight, connect with friends that can cheer you on to a healthier you.
SleepBot / Sleep Cycle - These apps tracks how well you sleep and will wake you around a certain time based on how lightly you're sleeping. There are premium features that can cost $2.99 - $4.99.
Nike Running - Track your running, see how many miles your friends have run, track the mileage on your shoes, integrate your music into your running, set and break personal records, and more.
Run Keeper - There are two running apps that are used by runners, this is the other and it does all the same stuff.
Yummly - A cooking and recipe that has a really slick layout and some nice features.
Untapped - If you like beer this helps keep track of what you've had, reviews of ones you're considering, and it has some cool social features.
Yelp - Look at reviews for everything from book stores to water parks. Best known for restaurant reviews you can check out reviews for service providers and other business types.
Duolingo - An amazing app that helps you learn any of 26 languages through games. The app will remind you to practice.
Google Maps - one of the best map apps allows users to find pedestrian, bicycle, mass transit, routes in addition to driving directions. It also shows a good amount of location information: hours, pictures, reviews, and more.
Waze - find the best route; get information about accidents, obstacles, speed traps, closed roads, etc. Users can find the best price of gas and location information.
Google Translate - Take a picture of a sign or page from a book and it will translate it. Two way voice translation. Type translation for 90 languages!
Pinterest - A social media platform where users create boards that have pictures of items that represent websites with more information. Good for finding ideas, recipes, art, and so much more.
Shop Advisor / Red Laser- These shopping apps help you find the best price and the best time to shop and get the best deal.
Calibre Companion (3.99) The best eBook / eReading app, you can organize and customize more than any other app of its kind.
Comics - The go to app for reading digital comic books.
Flipboard - Find great news stories about topics that you are interested in and curate categories for further reading or for others to browse / follow.
Pocket - Save webpages and articles for future reading, including offline.
OverDrive - The first and best library eBooks and electronic audiobooks app.
Axis360 - Library eBooks and digital audiobooks, it is very good at digital picture books.
Stitcher / Pocket Casts ($3.99) Both are for listening to podcasts, and Pocket Casts is the best and it has some really great features including the ability to listen on multiple platform where you left off but for those people that do not want to have to pay Stitcher works really well and has some cross platform support.
Firefox - One of the best mobile browsers, it supports extensions and has helpful privacy tools.
Chrome - What I really like about Chrome is the ability to have bookmarks and historical look ups available on my laptop, desktop, phone, or tablet.
Weather Underground / Yahoo Weather - There are a lot of really good weather apps, these just happens to be my favorite.
Wikipedia - There is so much you can learn from Wikipedia and for basic fact checking they are really good. {Full disclosure: I donate money to the Wikimedia Foundation}
Astro File Manager (Android only) - Delete, move and organize files within your device or import items from other media on to your device.
Google Photos - Back-up an unlimited number of photos, and what is really cool is Google will create videos or edited versions from your photos using its "Assistant" feature.
Microsoft Office Lens / Cam Scanner - These scanning apps make it possible to send people PDF versions, make copies, and use the Optical character recognition (OCR) to edit or import text.
Swift Key Keyboard - Some people find it faster / easier so swipe type. If you do not like the stock keyboard on your device try this one.
Push Bullet - Share files between devices or with friends easily.
Seconds - Create timers for exercise or projects, if you want the ability to save them for repeated or future use it costs $4.99 for that feature.
Charity Miles - If you are a cyclist, runner, or walker, this free app logs your miles and donates money to a charity of your choice.
Shopkick - If you shop, window shop, or have to go with your significant other this app gives you "kicks" for going into stores, scanning products, and/or making a purchase. The kicks are redeemable for gift cards.
iBotta - Get rebates for buying things at stores (most of the items are grocery store related).
Star Wars - There was a lot of great content for fans of the series on this app. If you have a Google Cardboard there were some amazing virtual reality videos.
Last Pass / One Password (subscription costs vary) - These apps provide users with the most secure ways to make passwords, store them, and have form fill capabilities.
Evernote - Users can type notes / documents, hand draw, record audio, take pictures, save content from websites, and so much more. The more you learn how to use it, the more you will love it.
Google Drive - Save your files and make them accessible to yourself or others on almost any platform. Users can set permission on files to limit what others can do with a file. Integrates with other Google products seamlessly.
Khan Academy - Learn art, business, economics, math, science, and much more with videos and interactive activities.
True Caller - shows you the name and information of people that are not on your contact list, shows you when numbers are from "spam callers", has some other helpful tools
So I have been thinking about what my predictions are for 2016 technology-wise, here is a list:
Virtual Reality will begin to become mainstream
Internet Speeds will start to drastically improve in major metros
Battery life / charging will become a focal point for smartphone innovation
Hybrid devices (think Surface Pro) will continue to be pushed more by tech companies
Gaming hardware makers will continue (maybe more so) to try to make money on backward compatibility
The wearables market will lose some device makers that just could not cut it
- So, this time next year we will look back and see how accurate I am.
