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

Securing Your Digital Life

So much of our lives now occur on smart phones and computers that if they were to be compromised a lot of personal details could be gathered very quickly. The list below is not comprehensive but a starting point. I will start with easiest and most important and go to most difficult and less important.

Tip #1 Enable a passcode on your smart phone.

If you are using a thumbprint, that is pretty good but recent court cases show that the government can force you to open your phone with your thumb / finger print however they cannot force you to give a passcode. It has also been easier for hackers and other security researchers to find a way past print readers than the passcode system.

Tip #2 Enable two factor authentication on your e-mail.

Your e-mail can be a single point of weakness. Weak passwords, leaving your e-mail signed into a computer, or accidentally revealing your password by reusing it on a site that gets hacked can leave your e-mail open to access. What’s the big deal? Well, your e-mail address is usually where users send password reset requests at other websites. Your e-mail can also provide a treasure trove of information from your previous correspondence and save e-mail, such as where you shop, bank, work, relatives, friends, social media accounts, and much more. Once in an attacker usually changes the password to lock you out and proceeds to do as much work as possible before you can alert the proper people. Two factor authentication only allows you or the person who has access to your smart phone to have the the two keys: your password and the one time computer generated code.

Tip #3 Use strong passwords and a password manager.

Hacks on a multitude of websites illustrate just how many weak passwords people use such as Password1234 or 123Abc. The best thing to do is to use a phrase that has letters, numbers, symbols, and upper / lower case such as !ts@lways5unny. There has been a debate about whether password managers are completely safe because users are putting all their passwords in one place and some have been hacked, but it is much safer than reusing passwords or using weak passwords and the hacks on these password managers yielded unusable information. I recommend LastPass it has so many great features (password generator, secure notes, two factor, alerts you when a site you use has been breached, security audit) and now it is free to use on both computers and smartphones https://www.lastpass.com/

Tip #3 Use HTTPS when visiting websites.

Websites with HTTPS are using a more secure web browsing protocol. You can easily make sure that you are using HTTPS when available by installing an extension HTTPS Everywhere for Chrome https://goo.gl/IDZ1I and Firefox https://goo.gl/DduiT4

Tip #4 Use a secure messaging app that encrypts your messages.

Apps like Signal, WhatsApp, and Wickr provide end-to-end encryption which means that only the people sending and receiving the message can read a message because they have the computer generated keys to unlock the code encasing the message. If you want links to these messaging apps, to see a list of others, or to learn more visit: https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard

Tip #5 Use encrypted e-mail.

There are e-mail programs that allow you to use PGP encryption to send and receive messages but users usually have to be pretty tech savvy to do it on their own. Now there is an easy solution that works both online and on your smartphone. ProtonMail was developed in Switzerland at CERN and uses some of the industry best encryption and security. Easy to use and free at: https://protonmail.com/

Tip #6 Turn on full disk encryption or use an encrypted cloud service.

Both Windows https://goo.gl/khqIGi and Mac https://goo.gl/AVYgQh have built in full disk encryption that ensures that only the person with the password can read / use files stored on your computer. If you are more of the cloud storage type there is a very secure, very inexpensive solution with SpiderOak https://spideroak.com/solutions/spideroak-one

Tip #7 Sensitive searches should not be done on Google.

I am a fan of Google but they collect a lot of data on their users. If you are doing a search that you do not want to receive ads related to or made a part of the profile that Google has about you use DuckDuckGo https://duckduckgo.com If you want to erase your Google search history, check out this article https://goo.gl/DnwWnh

Tip #8 Incognito Mode / Private Browsing isn’t completely anonymous

Unfortunately there is a lot of information that can still be gleaned from you even when browsing the Internet in this fashion. Use the Tor browser or a Tor enabled app for your mobile device. This will allow you to hide your IP address (where you are physically) and will delete any cookies / cache after you end each browsing session. Learn more at https://www.torproject.org

Sources that helped:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/technology/personaltech/encryption-privacy.html

https://medium.freecodecamp.com/tor-signal-and-beyond-a-law-abiding-citizens-guide-to-privacy-1a593f2104c3#.z2wrj18kb

EXTRA {in the news} :

Facebook has had a hands-off approach letting fake news be handled the same as real facts. Some feel that Facebook has a duty to protect its users from misleading information. The articles below discuss these discuss the issue in far more depth and get into some basic education about media literacy.

Probe reveals stunning stats about fake election headlines on Facebook https://goo.gl/mM5ylg

From Hate Speech To Fake News: The Content Crisis Facing Mark Zuckerberg https://goo.gl/KWVQEK

I write fake news that gets shared on Facebook https://goo.gl/YgKUil

An Extremely Helpful List of Fake and Misleading News Sites to Watch Out For https://goo.gl/InpdYL

Quiz: Can you spot the fake stories? https://goo.gl/1jnYNd

In the war on fake news, school librarians have a huge role to play https://goo.gl/2fcWdv

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.