Best Apps of 2016

I decided that I would limit my list this year to free apps and not include game apps. There are some apps that I left off the list because they seemed too niche for most people; the kind of app users only need in a certain situation and then delete it later; and apps that have had major issues in the last year (crashes, data loss, questionable future). I tried to give the main reason the app is on the list and eliminated any app that is not available on both Android and Apple phones. Doing all of that is tough, there are some great apps that are perfect for really specialized tasks or are available but only for Android, iPhone, or they cost money. If I forgot one of your favorite apps or you think... why isn't this on the list! Please let me know.

I linked the name of the app to it's website where the developer usually explains the app, has tutorials, and links to the app's download link for each platform. If they don't have a website (or the website does not link to the app downloads) I added the links to their spot in the App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android). One of the issues with apps is that many apps do not work on all versions of the operating system. If you have an older phone you may find that less and less apps are able to be used on your device. I see this happen more with Android apps but it can also be true of older Apple devices. In some cases users can "side load" an app but it may not work correctly and it does take some more advanced technical skill.

Outlook - great calendar and e-mail integration

Gmail - (iOS and Android) upgraded user interface and graphics make it even better     

ProtonMail - encrypted e-mail that allows multiple security features

Facebook - (iOS and Android) Live video, groups, and almost everyone you know

Instagram - (iOS and Android) adopting some video features,updating the interface, and cutting down spam makes it better

SnapChat - it's where everyone under 30 is, group chats added, and users can save their snaps

LastPass - one of the best password managers is now free on mobile, plus interface upgrades

Chrome - (iOS and Android) one of the best mobile browsers improved the amount of memory it uses

Opera Mini (iOS and Android) - the fastest light weight browser with the best privacy features

Waze - a navigation app that gives users traffic and location information, and remembers where you parked

Google Maps - (iOS and Android) the information it can provide about locations on top of its navigation keep it great

Opera VPN - a free Virtual Private Network can come in handy on free Wi-Fi, easy to use

(Facebook) Messenger - video messaging (now includes groups), stickers, and encryption if you want it.

Signal - the best messaging app for the privacy minded, full encryption

MyFitnessPal - (iOS and Android) user interface upgrades

and added features

SwiftKey - a great keyboard that learns how you type and the remembers things you frequently type

Gboard - (iOS and Android) best keyboard if you're a frequent emoji user

Spotify - the best at suggesting new music and playlists, ease of use, and developing exclusive content

Netflix - improved interface, download option, and new exclusive content

YouTube - (iOS and Android) Video content that runs a wide

spectrum. For the younger generation it is indispensable.

Prisma - turns your photos into art and adds new modes frequently

Google Photos - (iOS and Android) save your photos and your devices space, users can edit photos, make videos, and more

PicsArt - Lots of photo editing options, fun stickers, make a meme

Photoshop Fix - the Photoshop features most people use

YouCam Perfect - the ultimate selfie app with all kinds of photo editing features specific to creating the perfect selfie

OverDrive - when it comes to library eBooks, it's the best available

Hoopla - music and videos available from your library

Duolingo - learn a language, their new chat bot helps with conversational language

Pocket - save articles and find new things to read, easy to use interface, multiplatform

Nuzzel - (iOS and Android) find articles through social media connections and the "discover" feature, create your own newsletter based on what you are interested in, reccomend, or read.

CamScanner - scan documents, send them as pictures or PDF, easy to use

Heirloom - scan old photos and share them with family or friends

Yummly - (iOS and Android) find and share recipes easily

Evernote - (iOS and Android) still the best productivity app user interface-wise

Google Keep - (iOS and Android) best productivity app storage-wise

Google Hangouts - (iOS and Android) best video chat app, works with pretty much every device

Fitocracy - learn new workouts, get plans based on your goals, share your progress

My Asics Running Coach - running plans for every distance and adjusts based on your schedule and goals 

Nike+ Run Club - user interface upgrades, additional features, running community, better Apple Watch integration

Strava - the best tracking app for cycling and hiking

WhosCall - caller ID app that helps you avoid scam and spam calls

Cash - send people money by using your debit card powered by Square, nice for splitting a check

UnTappd - beer ratings, reviews, and a community of users. Sale and event notifications are handy.

Mint - the best personal finance app hands down just got some nice graphics and feature upgrades

Weather Underground - crowd sourced information helps it be accurate, the smart forecast allows you to set conditions and it will show you when those are met. Great for runners and other pastimes.

Weather Channel - background is a nice local photo, provides a lot of helpful information in a quick easy to use screen.

NPR One - National Public radio's app has a lot of great content. This app brings both local and national shows, recommends things you'd like, and allows you to share great stories you find.

Yelp - (iOS and Android) lets users know what businesses are available around them and reviews from users

Google Translate - (iOS and Android) 100 languages translated from audio, handwriting, or typing.

ESPN - (iOS and Android) scores, sports news, and content from their magazine, radio, and television channels

Want to know more, see what I read:

Popular Mechanics 23 Best iPhone Apps: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/apps/reviews/g1805/the-23-best-iphone-apps-to-download-now

CNet 100 Best iPhone Apps: https://www.cnet.com/topics/mobile-apps/best-mobile-apps-ios/best-photo-apps-for-iphone/

Time's 50 Best Apps of 2016: http://time.com/4549647/best-apps-year-2016/

New York Times 2016 in Review, Best Apps: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/technology/personaltech/best-apps.html

Digital Trends 100 Best iPhone Apps: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-iphone-apps/

Fast Company 10 Best Apps of 2016 https://www.fastcompany.com/3066678/tech-forecast/the-10-best-free-apps-of-2016

PC Magazine 100 Best Android Apps 2016 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393097,00.asp

PC Magazine 100 Best iPhone Apps 2016 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391521,00.asp

Most Notable Apps of 2015

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.

Math Apps

This week I caught a news report on TV that was talking about how Math Apps are now becoming as big a change as calculators were for students. They mentioned one app in particular which is where I will begin my reviews:

Photo Math – (free: Android and iOS) take a picture and it will solve the problem, well that’s how it’s supposed to work but I found that for many equations it will simplify an algebraic equation but not solve for the unknown variable, and it does not work with hand written equations. The news report I watched said that students would be able to cheat or would not need to learn math because of this but the app is not that good. Even if it did you would still need to understand the basic concepts, logic, and type of thinking because it applies to problem solving in a host of other subjects. It has some limitations but could definitely help and it’s free. Nice design, layout, interface.

My Script Calculator – (free: Android and iOS) you hand write the equation and it will solve it for you. Go through the tutorial because it needs you to write things in a certain way, but one you learn the tricks it really works well. I had to turn off the auto solve because it wouldn’t allow me to finish writing before it would try to start solving. I really liked this app and I’m interested in other apps they make.

MathRef – ($1.99: Android and iOS) this is for the student or professional using advanced math. It has all the bells whistles of a graphing calculator with a beautiful interface and a lot of options. All the people that have reviewed it online love it, looks like they continue to add features which is nice.

Dewalt Mobile Pro – (free: Android and iOS) for the person working on home improvement to the construction professional it will take measurements and tell you square feet, volume, area, and has all kinds of tools: codes, reference, calculator, conversions, etc. Great ready reference tool.

Numbler – (.99: iOS) it’s like the game “Words with Friends” (or if you are not familiar with that it’s like Scrabble) with numbers. Your job is to make equations with a higher value than your competitor. It will help you refresh your math skills and give your brain a workout.

Digits – (3.99: iOS) this is more than I usually pay for an app but I might buy it because it meets a need: a calculator that keeps a tape (a record) of all your calculations and then you can tag, label, e-mail, store, or print them. You can also add comments and highlight things on the “tape”. I think it would be great for accountants or just at home people working on their finances like me.

Bonus:

Facebook released another app this week and it’s called Rooms (free: Android and iOS). It is like the chat rooms from the days of AOL and the early Web, but most rooms require an invitation so there is only 5 (at this time) openly available rooms for everyone, hopefully this will be fixed in the future. I think this shows a trend of app makers going back to things that were popular like chat rooms and bulletin boards and updating the display / interactivity to make it meet our current sensibilities. I think you will see a lot more retro based apps in the future. There have been several that have recycled old ideas and put them in a prettier and easier to use package.

Best Fitness Apps

Running:

Nike+ - tracks your runs, integrates with different music sources, maps your run, connect with friends, speed workouts, badges, trophies

Map My Run – integrates with website to track all your workouts, maps your run, charts and graphs of run data, connect with other running friends

RunKeeper – track your pace, map your run or cycling, gives calorie count, tracks weight loss, connects to various fitness devices and heart rate monitors, running plans

Zombies, Run! – (1.99-3.99) episodes have you being chased by Zombies, you are acting out a story that  infuses music on your device, points for hitting your goals gets you things to help you survive the zombie apocalypse

Charity Miles – run, walk, or cycle and for every .1 miles a donation is made to a charity that you choose from the menu

Road ID – creates a emergency alert wallpaper for your phone that you can put on your lock screen while you are out on a workout, it sends tracking info to a designated person, and it alerts up to 5 people in case you stop moving for more than 5 minutes. This is a great safety app for when you are out on the streets or even in the woods.

Cycling:

Strava – can be used for running, hiking, and cycling, maps your workout, has speedometer / odometer for cycling, download hiking maps, compete with others, keep track of equipment miles and maintenance, connects to certain fitness devices

CycleNav – unique navigation on handlebars, bluetooth enabled to give you directions; tracks speed, time, calories

General Health / Nutrition

MyFitnessPal - tracks weight, calories, activity, connect with friends, shows nutrition, and charts progress.

Sleep Cycle (.99) – tracks your sleep: how much, how deep, you can track things that affect your sleep, wakes you during light porion of sleep       

SleepBot – tracks your sleep, multiple alarms, multiple charts / graphs, remider to go to sleep, sound recording option, sleep debt log, data analysis, export data

Argus (iOS only) – motion tracking, take photos of your food to count calories, log water in-take

Moves – tracks your movement through out the day, eats up battery life on all phones earlier to iPhone 5S.

Workout:

Six Pack Abs - (free, 4.99*) videos / HD avatars guide you through 20 exercises, upgrade to get and additional 50 exercises, 6 workout routines, integrates your music for workouts, and connects to MyFitnessPal app to track calories

Johnson & Johnson Official 7-minute Workout (free, 5.99*) – 36 exercises, 13 workouts, custom workout feature, incorporates your music, has audio & visual instruction

MapMyFitness – 600 exercises, for running / cycling you can pick pre-planned interactive routes or design your own, get statistics on workouts, share with an online community, sync with fitness trackers

Gym Pocket Guide – day-by-day weight training schedule lets you select a program: fat loss, muscle building, or bulking up; Nice workout library with exercise descriptions, images, and instructional videos.

Lose It! – calorie counting, exercise log, connects to other apps and devices, beautiful interface

Looking for App reviews or the best App in a particular category try: http://appcrawlr.com/ or http://www.appolicious.com