Indispensable additions to your phone are free.
Whatever your needs, there’s bound to be a free smartphone application that fits the bill.
One of the best things about a smartphone is the amazing apps you can download and use, many of which It’s surprising how varied they are too. You can get awesome utilities, handy apps to make your life easier, productivity apps to get you organised and make you more productive, and for when the work stops, there are great games too. Whatever you’re after, there’ll be a handy zero-cost app to help.
Random Number Generator
FROM nickjd331.github.io
FOR Apple Watch, iPhone
This app is perfect for when you need a random number. Set the smallest and largest number possible, then tap the Generate button for a random number within these parameters. You can play an entire game of Dungeons & Dragons without ever rolling a dice. A small – and entirely optional – IAP removes the adverts.
Photomath
FROM photomath.com
FOR Android, iPhone
Remember the episode of The Big Bang Theory where the team produced an app that could solve equations? This does a similar job, but instead of going for high-end scientific formulae, it concentrates on education. Photomath can help you with your algebra, calculus, trigonometry, geometry and more, by taking you through the calculations.
Google Arts & Culture
FROM artsandculture.google.com
FOR iPad, iPhone, Android, online
If you’re interested in art, museums and culture in general, this is the app for you. Google Arts & Culture curates art treasures from over 3,000 institutions throughout the world. You can take guided tours narrated by experts in their field, find museums and art galleries near your current location and even translate information about exhibits at the tap of a button. There are 360° videos, virtual reality tours and Street View integration to explore too. At some of the museums you can point your camera at select artworks and read about them, and sport, natural history and science are also covered. It’s a fun and comprehensive free app.
BBC News
FROM App Store
FOR iPad, Android, iPhone
The BBC is one of the world’s most trusted news sources, and you can get an app offering its news reports for free, with no IAP or need for a TV licence. Read the latest national and world news stories, watch videos and check out what’s going on in your local area. Choose your favourite subjects and have them appear on the My News page.
Duolingo
FROM duolingo.com
FOR iPad, iPhone, Android, online
Duolingo is the internet’s most popular way to learn a new tongue. Over 40 languages are available, including the fictional High Valyrian and Klingon. Every course is free, but more features are available if you pay for a subscription. Its bitesized lessons can be studied in a spare few minutes, and game-like challenges keep things fun. You get to meet cartoon characters along the way, and you can add fellow learners to your Friends list and monitor each other’s progress. Learning a language is not easy – don’t expect Duolingo to do the work for you. But if you’re prepared to put the effort in, it gives you all the tools you need.
Calendarium
FROM piotrknapczyk.com
FOR iPad, iPhone
History fans will love this. Calendarium lists the things that happened on today’s date throughout history, offering a short sentence or two on each event. For example, on 16 November, England’s Henry III died (1272), the Battle of Lützen is fought during the Thirty Years War (1632) and the US Federal Reserve Bank opened (1914). For more information, tap an event for links to the Wikipedia pages.
Wordle
FROM nytimes.com/games
AVAILABLE Online
OK, we’re cheating here. Wordle isn’t an app, it’s a website, but everyone’s playing it and this is the best way to do it. On your phone, direct your browser to the Wordle website. When it opens, tap the Share icon. Scroll down the menu that appears and tap ‘Add to Home Screen’. You can then save the site to your Home Screen as a bookmark, and use Wordle like an app. It’s an excellent word game where you have to work out the day’s five-letter word in six attempts or fewer. Wordle tells you what letters you have correct, and whether they’re in the right place. It’s like the old board game Mastermind, but with words.
SkyView Lite
FROM terminaleleven.com FOR iPad, Android, iPhone
The free version of this popular astronomy app lets you point your phone at the night sky and identify stars, constellations, satellites and more. You can even pick out the International Space Station and Hubble telescope. By changing the date, you can see where objects are likely to be – or were – on a set date and time too. If you like it, you can upgrade using an IAP for even more for a low one-off payment.
Radiooooo
FROM radiooooo.com FOR iPad, Android, iPhone, online
Radiooooo (that’s five ‘o’s, if you’re counting) describes itself as ‘a musical time machine’. Set a decade between 1900 to the present day, then pick a country by tapping it on a map of the world. Not every decade for every country is represented, but where it is, you get to listen to sounds from that time and place. Choose a slow, fast or ‘weird’ tune to listen to, and even set the decade at 2070 for a prediction of how music will go.
Cloud Battery
FROM alanyan.ca
FOR iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, iPhone
This neat little app keeps an eye on the current battery level of all your Apple devices. As long as they’re signed into the same iCloud account, their current battery strength is displayed in real time, and it can send low battery warning notifications. A small IAP removes the adverts and brings customisation options.
Alarmy
FROM alar.my FOR iPad, Android, iPhone
Alarmy does more than sound an alarm in the morning. It can help you sleep better, with bedtime reminders and sleep sounds, before kickstarting your body and mind the next day. You not only choose a sound or haptic for your alarm, but also a ‘mission’, such as a maths problem, memory test or simply a shake of your phone to turn off the alarm. It’s all designed to stimulate you into being more alert, making sure you don’t nod off to sleep again.
Filmic DoubleTake
FROM filmicpro.com
FOR iPad, iPhone
With Filmic DoubleTake you can turn your iPhone into a multicam studio. Depending on the model iPhone you have, you can take footage from the wide-angled and telephoto lenses at the same time, giving you simultaneous long and close-up shots. You can film yourself doing it too, using the front-facing camera. It’s great for budding directors.
Pluto TV
FROM pluto.tv FOR iPad, iPhone, Android, online
Just in case you don’t have enough TV to watch, Pluto TV brings you more than 130 new channels as well as catch-up TV for free. No bills, no IAP, no hassle. Content is curated into categories such as Living, Sitcoms, Music, Documentaries, News, Kids and more. There’s a decent on-screen guide for Live TV, and if you switch to on-demand viewing, there’s plenty of movies and TV shows to choose from.
Speedtest by Ookla
FROM speedtest.net FOR iPad, iPhone, Android, online
If your broadband connection isn’t performing as well as it should and speeds are much slower than you’re paying for, get Speedtest by Ookla to check it. The app tests download and upload speeds, which you can then check against what your ISP says your speeds should be. Note that advertised speeds are for optimal conditions so your own test speeds are bound to be marginally lower.
what3words
FROM what3words.com FOR iPad, iPhone, Android
what3words divides the world into 3m squares, and gives each of them three unique words that you can share to help pinpoint your location. If, for example, you’re lost on the moors, you can get the three words for your location and send it to rescuers who can then find it with their own what3words app.
OneFootball
FROM onefootball.com
FOR iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Android
If you like your football, you’ll love OneFootball. You can identify your favourite club and international sides and get alerts when they’re playing a match for kick-off, half time, goals, send offs and more. English, European and US leagues are catered for, and you can read all about your team’s news too.
Skype
FROM skype.com
FOR Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android
If you want to make video and audio calls over the internet with people who don’t use Mac devices, Skype is a good alternative to FaceTime. It’s cross-platform, and internet calls and messages are free. Up to 49 people can join a Skype video chat, and if you want to call landlines and use SMS messages, you can add credit.