12 Of The Best Apps To Help You Upgrade Your Life

Apps are everywhere. Apple has a reported 1.76 million of them in their App Store, and Google Play has even more with 2.65 million apps. Want to learn a new language? Find a new Thai restaurant? Budget to save more money? There’s an app for that.

In the Apple App Store, the most popular categories are: Games, Business, and Education. In the Google Play Store, Games is #1 as well, with Education in 2nd, and Business #3.

Some other fun facts about apps from Business of Apps:

• A whopping 96% of respondents said they spent 13 hours a week engaging with social media and video-sharing apps such as Instagram and TikTok. 
• Two in five US adults are now using health apps. That’s up 6 percentage points since 2018.
• TikTok was the most downloaded app globally in 2022, with 672 million downloads.
• Free apps make up 94.1% of the Apple Store
• Free apps make up 96.7% of the Google Play Store

I don’t know about you, but I have A LOT of apps on my phone – 136 to be exact. Apparently that’s well above the average person. According to SimForm “an average person has 40 apps installed on his phone. Out of that 40 apps, 89% of the time is split between 18 apps. This means, more than half of those apps remain unused.” 

We all have our favorites, and the GetUp Crew is no exception. Here, we share our favorites to upgrade your life.

 

• Ramiro recommends - 5 Minute Journal App

  ‎5 Minute Journal: Self-Care

  ‎The Five Minute Journal uses proven principles of positive psychology to make you happier in 5 minutes a day with the guided gratitude journaling format "There are plenty of benefits to journaling, whether you take time to write out your full thoughts or just spend a few minutes jotting down the t...

  5 minute journal: it’s an easy way to get yourself in the right mindset. You start off the day w 3 things you’re grateful for and 3 things you’ll do to make your day great. Before you go to bed and remind yourself of 3 great things that happened and even how you could’ve made the day better. You can even add a photo from your day to remind yourself that there’s ALWAYS something to be grateful for. Not only do I recommend this first, but if you could only download one app from my list, make it this one.

  Download from Apple Store. Free with in-app purchase options.

  Download from Google Play. Free with in-app purchase options.

   

• Ramiro recommends - Masterclass

  ‎MasterClass: Become More You

  ‎LEARN FROM THE BEST. BECOME YOUR BEST. Cook like a pro, write a book, sell a TV show, run a company, and more. Get access to insights and guidance from renowned icons, artists, and legends. 200+ INSTRUCTORS Learn from today's most brilliant minds with classes on writing, business, arts & entertai...

  Learn about ALL types of subjects from experts in the field. And when say all types of subjects I’m talking about science, writing, arts, music, even food! I’ve watched classes on comedy, voiceovers, resilience, communication, food, leadership and even thinking like an FBI profiler (because why not). The lessons are brief and easy to digest. I’ll listen to it multiple times throughout the day.

• Ramiro recommends - Peleton

  ‎Peloton: Fitness & Workouts

  ‎Work out where you want, when you want. From strength and meditation, to outdoor running and yoga, the Peloton App makes fitness classes and workout tracking fun and easy. No equipment needed. WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU? * Take your workout with you: Find a variety of workouts to fulfill your fitness g...

  It’s not just about the bike. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need the bike to use it. There’s all types of workouts on there and you can filter it by what type of workout you want to do (strength, cardio, running, yoga, meditation, etc), the length of time you have to workout and even your favorite music or instructor! So again, no bike, no problem…

• Pebbles recommends - Daily Bean

  ‎DailyBean - simplest journal

  ‎DailyBean is a simple diary app for those who want to record their daily lives easily. Record your day with just a few tabs! DailyBean provides these functions. ○ Monthly calendar that gives you a glimpse of your mood flow Take a look at how you feel during a month with five mood beans.

  I am in LOVE with this app! As I’ve mentioned on the air before, I have suffered from depression for years, and some anxiety as well. In my discussions with my therapist, we’ve talked about keeping some type of mood tracker in order to look for triggers and trends to how I’m feeling.

  I recently came across Daily Bean, and I am hooked. It’s basically a simple daily diary of your day. There’s a free and in-app purchase option (I did spring for the extras), where you record most things by icons. This includes: your mood for the day, what emotions you felt, hobbies, health, events, chores, weather, and more. There’s also a place to record your sleep, upload up to 3 photos, and there’s a note section to record anything else you want to remember for the day.

  You can bring up the timeline to see a feed of your weeks and months. And you can also check out analytics that will show you rankings of each category, activies

• Pebbles recommends - Insight Timer

  ‎Insight Timer-Meditate & Sleep

  ‎* Apps of the Year Winner - TIME magazine and Womens Health * * More time is spent meditating on Insight Timer than all other meditation apps * * Happiest App in the World - Tristan Harris * The number 1 free meditation app. Guided meditations and talks led by the world's top meditation and mindful...

  If you’ve thought about adding meditation to your life, this is my absolute favorite meditation app. I know that there are others that get more attention. I’ve tried them all, and I find this one to be superior. I love it so much that I spring for the yearly $59 dollar fee to unlock all their premium content. But honestly, you don’t even need it. There’s so much great free content that if you don’t want to pay, you don’t have to.

  You can search for specific meditations based on: type (sleep, gratitude, self-love, etc.), length of time, time of day, instructor and more. You can even create your own presets by choosing the length, sound, and bells.

• Pebbles recommends - Pinterest

  ‎Pinterest

  ‎Pinterest is a place of endless possibilities. You can: - Explore new ideas - Find new trends - Try new things Explore billions of ideas to turn your dreams into reality. On Pinterest, nothing is impossible: Finding easy recipes for cozy weeknight dinners? Discovering the secret to the perfect wint...

  I know that Pinterest can definitely be a “time-suck” if you’re just looking around. But I’ve used it for so many specific reasons, that it’s helped me to “upgrade my life” by: sparking creativity, organizing events, develop healthy habits and more.

  I have boards for: planning my trip to South Korea, veggie-heavy recipes to try, curly hair tips, and more. While it’s definitely easy to waste time on Pinterest, I’ve found that it’s been a much more positive space for me.

• Melissa recommends - YouTube

  ‎YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream

  ‎Get the official YouTube app on iPhones and iPads. See what the world is watching -- from the hottest music videos to what's popular in gaming, fashion, beauty, news, learning and more. Subscribe to channels you love, create content of your own, share with friends, and watch on any device.

  I use this app daily to do research, pass time, watch movies and to relax myself. There’s been times I’ve used it for mellow music to sleep at night.

• Melissa recommends - 5-0 Radio Police Scanner

  ‎5-0 Radio Police Scanner

  ‎The largest collection of live police, firefighter, aircraft, railroad, emergency, news, and ham radios. Be the first to know about weather, news, and crime updates. Thanks to our fans for making 5-0 Radio the #1 most downloaded police scanner app on the market. This app is one of top 100 most down...

  This is for the nosey neighbor that wants to know what’s goin’ on. You get to listen to police scanners in your city. So whenever I hear sirens, I turn it on to be nosey.

• Melissa recommends - California Psychics & Tarot

  ‎California Psychics & Tarot

  ‎Connect with a psychic in minutes! It's easy to get your first live psychic reading & tarot reading today! California Psychics provides the best psychics and the highest quality readings, guaranteed. The California Psychics & Tarot app provides users with psychic readings and tarot card readings fr...

  Yes I’ve paid for a psychic before to give me a reading. They’re relatively inexpensive and the two I’ve talked to were pretty dead on.

• Leroy recommends - Apple Music

  Apple Music

  Stream millions of songs in lossless audio at no extra cost. Download your favorites and play them offline. Start listening for free today.

  I am music and music is me. It’s a major part of my life. What I really like about Apple Music is a specific playlist I listen to throughout the day and as a sleep at night. I love to share so the name of the playlist is ‘Sleep Sounds.’ It is hours and hours of ambient and atmospheric music that will help you relax and rest.

• Leroy recommends - Garage Band

  GarageBand for iOS

  GarageBand for iOS has everything you need to play, record, and share incredible music on your iPad or iPhone - now including Sound Library.

  So, like I said…I am in love with music. The GarageBand app allows me to be musically creative. It’s a passion of mine and it automatically lifts my spirit when I’m messing around within the app.

• Leroy recommends - Notes App

  ‎Notes

  ‎Notes is the best place to jot down quick thoughts or to save longer notes filled with checklists, images, web links, scanned documents, handwritten notes, or sketches. And with iCloud, it's easy to keep all your devices in sync, so you'll always have your notes with you. Features Powerful note-ta...

  Whenever I have a random thought, want to organize a plan, make a list, or write about whatever, I go to my Notes App. I will always prefer pen/pencil to paper, but this app is still clutch.