Students are frequently on their smartphones, whether it is in class, while they wait for something, or trying to look busy to avoid an awkward situation. If they are on their phones so much, they are likely using an app.
According to Statistia, in 2015 Android users could choose from 1.6 million apps while Apple’s App Store contained 1.5 million apps and remained the second-largest app store. According to Time, the top three downloaded apps in 2015 were Facebook, YouTube, and Facebook Messenger.
Here is what some students from the University of Northwestern – St. Paul said about their favorite apps:
Sophomore Austin Deem said his favorite app is Instagram. “I enjoy the artsy side of it. I follow mostly photography pages and enjoy scrolling through it to pass time.”
Senior Marissa Barry said her favorite app is also Instagram, but there is another app she likes called “Happify.” “It’s an app about happy things like happy games, people writing what they are thankful for, inspiring and positive stories, and just positive things like that.”
Sophomore Logan Roush said his favorite app is Imgur. He said, “It’s like Facebook for people who are internet savvy. It’s news, recipes, pictures, and a lot more. I like that the content is always changing, and it is full of entertaining things that you can show your friends.”
Senior Elaina Holmes said her favorite app is Pinterest. “I love baking and D.I.Y. projects, and Pinterest is a great way to get ideas for both of those. Also there are a ton of cute cat pictures and gifs, and pins from all of my fandoms so I can stay entertained during particularly dull lectures.” She uses it multiple times a day and says her favorite feature is the category search feature.
She said, “If I just scroll through my timeline there are a ton of wedding and baby pins from my friends, but if I click the “Geek” category I know I’ll like a lot more of the pins since they all have to do with Sherlock, Harry Potter, LOTR, etc.”
Broadcast Studio Technician and Communications professor Brad Johnson said that he uses his iPad more than his smartphone, and he uses the Mail app the most. He likes it because it integrates nicely with the Exchange server at UNW and makes email very easy.
Senior Jeffrey Lloyd said his favorite app is the Gif Keyboard. He said, “It’s an additional keyboard for texting with gifs. It’s fun to send to people since it’s like an alternative emoji and it’s funnier. You can have a lot of inside jokes with your friends because of it.”
Want to try some new apps? Here are a few that lifehack.org says college students need! Any.do helps organize and plan your life and can sync with multiple devices for easy access anytime. Mathway can help give a step-by-step guide through math problems just by entering your task into the application and seeing if the solution works for you! Easybib is a fast and easy citation generator with multiple styles available. Lastly, Mint is a popular app to help put together a budget to ease the stress of monthly college expenses.
