| Mind Mapping Applications | | |
| MindNode | Makes brainstorming and organizing ideas easier. It has an incredibly simple interface that closely resembles mind-mapping programs for PC or Mac. | $14.99 |
| SimpleMind | One of the highest-rated mind mapping applications. It has intuitive design and functionality, allowing users to gather their thoughts with precision and ease. The paid version is more polished and allows users to email the maps they make. | Free & $6.99 |
| Guided Mind | Relax and get guided through meditations on a variety of topics dealing with the stresses and challenges of day-to-day life. | Free & $0.99+ |
| Note Taking Applications | | |
| Notability | Taking notes with a stylus is starting to make sense. A couple of things that set apps like Notability apart are that users can write more freely as opposed to constantly worrying about spacing and can upload PDFs that can be highlighted as well as commented upon. | $8.99 & $0.99+ |
| GoodNotes 4 | Another fantastic note-taking app that’s essentially Notability with a different interface. | $7.99 |
| Evernote | A one-stop shop to collect notes, files, web clippings, and images with the ability to access them on virtually any device. Collect and find your information easily. It’s a great tool for researching, planning events and everyday organizational use. Collaborate with others on projects using the sharing features. | Free & $4.99+ |
| Sound Note | Type or write out your notes while the audio recording is synced to each word or pen stroke. Tap on the word and then the play button to playback what was being said at that moment in the audio recording. Share your audio recording and notes via email, Dropbox, or transfer directly to your computer. | $4.99 |
| AudioNote | Synchronize your notes with the audio recording of your lecture and take hand-written notesImport lecture slides as the background to your notes. Compatible with Apple/Android O.S. | $12.99 |
| Microsoft One Note | Take all your notes by typing, writing with a touchscreen, importing pictures, videos, web links and other resources. Divide up your classes and work by notebook, section, and pages. Using OneDrive online, share your OneNote document for others to work on and interact with and search your notes for the ability to easily find what you need. | Free |
| NotesPlus | Very much like the prior two apps. The major difference is that NotesPlus offers users far more options for customization, and allows users to browse the web without having to close the application. | $9.99 |
| Scheduling and Organization Applications | | |
| IStudiez Pro | User-friendly organizational app that helps keep track of a student’s courses, readings, homework assignments, grades, and overall schedule. Paid version is more refined and user-friendly. | Free & $0.99+ |
| Remember the Milk | This program sends you reminders about all the stuff you have to get done. It can be set to send either text messages or emails. RTM is available for PC or Mac as well. | Free & $39.99 |
| Microsoft To Do | A scheduling app that allows for list groups (folders), steps (subtasks), file attachments and sharing and task assignments. | Free |
| My Homework Planner | Track your homework, tests, projects, and lessons and set and receive reminders when assignments are due or tests are coming up. Set up your class schedule within the app. Sync your information with any of the available devices. | Free & $0.99+ |
| Todoist | Track big and small deadlines, personal tasks and goals as soon as they pop into your head. Prioritize your tasks with priority levels, track your progress and built habits with recurring due dates like “every Monday”. | Free & $3.99 |
| TickTick | Schedule an agenda, make memos, share shopping lists, collaborate in a team or develop a new habit. Set recurring tasks, create checklists within tasks and label tasks by priority. | Free & $2.99+ |
| Google Keep | Organize thoughts into lists, reminders, or notes through the use of labels color coded notes on Google Keep. Attach pictures and audio to notes. Share with friends and sync across devices or access via web browser. | Free |
| Productivity Applications | | |
| Tide | A timer to assist with productivity, sleep and deep breathing. This app has a relaxing interface, minimalist design and calming nature sounds. | Free & $0.99+ |
| Forest | With every session that you remain focused on this app, a gamified tree will be planted! Leaving the app before the timer has finished, causes your tree to wither. Use this app if you need enhanced motivation to study.
| $1.99 & $0.99+ |
| Focus Keeper Free | With this app, use a timer to stay productive and stay focused. | Free & $1.99 |
| 30/30 | This app is similar to Pomodoro, but it has a different look and interface. | Free |
| Productive | Productive helps you build a routine of life-changing habits. Set personal goals, track your progress, and motivate yourself. | Free & $2.99+ |
| Trello | Create boards to organize anything you’re working on, use them solo or invite coworkers, friends, and family to collaborate, customize workflows for different projects, and much more. | Free & $4.99+ |
| Strides | Track all your goals and habits. It is also a SMART goal tracker, with reminders to hold you accountable and charts to keep you motivated. | Free & $4.99+ |
| Pearltrees | Save web pages, photos, files, docs, PDF, notes and organize them into beautiful collections. Explore and share lots of content on your favorite topics. | Free & $1.99+ |
| Unstuck | Offers up personalized digital tools and content to help you get from stuck to unstuck. | Free |
| Simple Habits | Need help getting motivated to floss your teeth, comb your hair, or get a few minutes of exercise in during the day? With Simple Habits, users can make a list of habits they want to form, and check off the ones that they do each day. The app will keep track of how many days in a row each one has been completed. | Free |
| BeFocused | Stay on task by breaking up individual tasks with intervals, separated by short breaks. Create tasks, configure breaks and track your progress throughout the day, week or custom period. | Free |
| PomoDoneApp | Sync tasks, create tasks, break and switch between tasks within one timer. Stay focused then track and analyze how long things are taking. | Free |
| HabitMinder | Form healthy habits by tracking your hydration, exercise, healthy eating, breathing/ mindfulness and much more. Reminders will notify you when it is time to complete your habit. | Free & $19.99 |
| Pavlok | Pavlok aims to help you keep track of your progress whether that is forming new habits or breaking bad habits. Track the number of zaps to understand when you are doing that bad habit using a wearable wristband. There is also a health kit where you can monitor your sleep patterns. | Free & $39.99 |
| Self-care Applications | | |
| Mint | Assists users with keeping track of their money. Sync Mint with your online bank statements, and access all of your accounts from one place! | Free |
| Calm | This app uses realistic landscape scenes and guided meditations to help improve anxiety management, concentration, and emotional regulation. Using www.calm.com/usc you can receive a 10-day free trial of Premium! | Free & $14.99+ |
| Breathe2Relax | Ever been curious about breathing exercises and whether they will help you manage stress? This app provides an introduction to guided breathing as well as some of its potential benefits. | Free |
| Relax Melodies | Fall asleep using nature sounds, white noise, brainwaves, guided meditations and bedtime stories provided within this popular sleeping application. | Free & $4.99+ |
| Melly | Melly makes meditating fun by rewarding you every time you take a break or need to focus on a task. Set an intention or let the time run without touching your phone to earn Karma points that can be used to build your zen garden. | Free & $0.99+ |
| Breathing Zone | A mindful breathing exercise that slows your breathing rate to calm you down and help you feel more relaxed. | Free |
| Educational Apps | | |
| Flashcards+ | Users can make digital flashcards, study them, and save them to their device for future reference. | Free |
| Quizlet | Allows users to make flashcards or use ones that have been made by others. Just search your topic, and use the study tools that others have published about it. | Free & $11.99+ |
| Ted Talks | Browse and view thousands of prerecorded talks to help with research, brainstorming, or to just relax. | Free |
| Khan Academy | A portable teacher of sorts. Users can search a topic and watch an audio-visual lecture regarding it. Lectures are first-rate, and are very good at breaking down difficult concepts. | Free |
| Wolfram Alpha | Input a math question, and this app will give you the answer as well as a step-by-step breakdown of how it got the answer. | $2.99 & $6.99+ |
| Study Blue | Study virtually any topic with this on-the-go flashcard study aid. Create your own flash cards or use one of the “over 150 million” notes and cards already created by others uses. Test yourself and get your score of how many right and wrong answers, with the option to focus more on the items you don’t know. Study on the go using your mobile device | Free |
| ModMath | Write and solve equations with a piece of virtual graph paper to improve speed and legibility. Virtual graph paper creates a pencil-free format in which to complete arithmetic. Solve basic and complex math equations. | Free & $2.99+ |
| Duolingo | A friendly and easy to use language-learning app that helps you learn and practice over 23 different languages through fun & bit-sized lessons. | Free & $1.99+ |
| Reading and Vocabulary Apps | | |
| QuickReader | App that trains users to speed-read. Comes with access to an online bookstore with over 2 million books, including all those classics you said you’d get to “one day”. | $4.99 |
| Vocabulary HD | A vocab-building app that has 500 words and five levels of difficulty. | Free |
| Capti Narrator | Convert documents and webpages into text-to-speech. Upload documents from Dropbox, Google Drive, Clipboard, Instapaper, or Web Browser and listen to document immediately or save it into your playlist for future listening. Adjust speech rate along with the choice of built in voices; additional voices for purchase. | Free & $1.99+ |
| Spritz | Test your reading speed using Spritz to find your optimum reading speed to use in partnership with Readsy. Increase or decrease the test reading speed to find your balance of speed and comprehension. Spritz custom interface called the Spritzlet, adjusts word position and red letter placement for increased focus, attention, and comprehension. Various websites and apps have the Spritz/Spritzlet embedded in it. | $2.99 & $3.99+ |
| Grammarly | Eliminate writing mistakes and contextual errors, spelling errors, and poor vocabulary usage. Find the right word you are looking for with synonym suggestions. Learn from your mistakes to avoid them in the future. Grammarly works anywhere on your Chrome browser, including emails, essays, social media posts and more. | Free & $29.99+ |
| Pocket | Save the latest stories, articles, news, sports and videos from any device to read for later. You can read, watch or listen to any content while you work out, commute, walk or just relax. Think of it as a reward for cranking through your work. | Free & $4.99+ |
| TexttoSpeech | Produces natural sounding synthesized text from the words that you have entered in. With 36 different voices to choose from and the ability to adjust the rate and pitch, there are countless ways in which the synthesized voice can be adjusted. | Free & $4.99 |
| Beeline Reader | Improves reading speed and reading ability for readers. | $1.99 & $3.99+ |
| ReadMe! | Has the ability to increase reading speed with ease. It dramatically improves reading fluency for readers of all levels, including those with dyslexia. | Free & $1.99+ |
| Spreeder | Spreeder tracks your reading so you can see your improvement. You get detailed reports on the time you spend, your reading speed, and how things change over time. It eliminates bad reading habits, such as regression. | Free & $4.99+ |
| Natural Reader | Natural Reader is a text-to-speech app that reads webpages, documents, and e-books aloud to you with quality, natural-sounding voices. This is a great tool for dyslexic learners and learners with other reading difficulties. | Free & $0.99+ |
| Grammar Up | Improve your grammar, word choices, and vocabulary. This app was designed as a prep tool for the TOEIC English proficiency test. Paid version, which includes more questions, is also available for $4.99.
| $4.99 |
| Browser Extensions | | |
| EquatIO | Write math expressions, formulas and quizzes. Dictate, type or handwrite math equations to have them automatically uploaded to a Google Doc or another document. Makes math digital and turns expressions into clear, accurate on-screen formulas. | Free |
| Insert Learning | Transform any web page into an interactive lesson by inserting questions, videos, sticky notes and more. | Free |
| Quizbit | Simple and easy way to craft questions and vote using micro: bits that wirelessly relay answers to your computer. | Free |
| HabitMinder | Form healthy habits by tracking your hydration, exercise, healthy eating, breathing/ mindfulness and much more. Reminders will notify you when it is time to complete your habit. | Free & $19.99 |
