There are apps out there for literally everything, some good, some bad. However, today, we’re focusing on incredible lifestyle apps that help you with all different elements of life, to help you feel great and in control of your life! From meditation to diet, sleep to motivation, we’ve got everything covered. So, get ready to feel inspired!
Why Choose Apps?
Before we get onto the lifestyle apps that we’d recommend, we thought we’d briefly cover why you should choose apps. Firstly, so much time and development goes into an app that it often provides a much more thorough experience than a website can, not to mention the experience is usually much more personally tailored as a result of that development. Apps can be highly tailored to become what you need them to be, you can add favourites to come back to things later and overall it’s just great having everything in one place, which is great for you and a brand’s reputation. There are apps for quite literally everything you can imagine, and whilst spending loads of time on your phone isn’t great, making sure that the apps you’re using when you are on your phone are beneficial to your lifestyle can really make a difference to your everyday life, how you think and how you feel.
A good tip to help make sure that you are using your phone a healthy amount is to set screen time limits, either overall or for specific apps. For example, if you go on your phone a lot before bed (which can really disrupt your sleep) then you can set a screen time limit to stop you going on your phone after a certain time. Or, if you know you are guilty of sitting and scrolling on social media a lot, then putting a limit on a specific app can also work well too. You shouldn’t feel guilty for going on your phone, but looking for ways to replace some of your screen time with healthier habits can be really beneficial. So, give it a go, reduce your screen time and focus on using beneficial mobile apps when you are on your phone. You’ll feel great for it, we’re sure!
Calm
First up we have calm, a great meditation app. It’s designed to reduce stress and anxiety with its range of features, from guided meditation to soothing music, southscapes and plenty more. You can do a free 7 day trial and then this is a paid subscription, however for how much it costs, it can be really transformative. There are also plenty of famous faces who take part in their Sleep Story series, including Jennifer Garner, Idris Elba, Harry Styles, Michael Buble, Matthew McConaughey, LeBron James and Laura Dern to name a few!
MyFitnessPal
Next up we have MyFitnessPal, a great app with fantastic free options that help you to keep track of the foods you’re eating. Whilst it does track calories, you can also track all of the macronutrients and micronutrients you’re eating in your diet too, so if you wanted to focus on eating more protein and iron for example, it’s a great way to help you pick up on what kinds of foods you need to be doing to get there. You can also track your progress as you go. If you’re trying a new recipe online, you can also import it, to save you finding all the ingredients manually. You can also save your favourite recipes to save you lots of time!
Sleep Cycle
The power of sleep can’t be underestimated, as it has an extremely positive influence on all areas of our life, from how we feel to our mental health and brain function, physical health and recovery. With sleep cycle, it helps to track your sleep better and improve your health, by analysing your sleep patterns, detecting things like snoring and sleep talking, then offer feedback on improvements. It is also designed to gently wake you up with features that support your circadian rhythm.
Strava
Everyone seems to be joining the running hype this year and one app has a lot to do with it; Strava! Strava is a free running app that allows you to track your fitness activities, from running, swimming and riding through to indoor sports and water sports. For it to work with water sports or swimming you’d need a waterproof watch that can be synced up, however for everything else your phone will pick it up. Something that many people really like about Strava is the sense of community that it has, as you can add and follow people and comment on their runs to help encourage each other. If you’re struggling with the accountability element of exercise, this is a great way to go about it.
Todoist
Do you find yourself forgetting about things or missing small tasks that you knew you needed to do? Well, Todoist is a task management app that is centred around to-do lists to help you get organised, whether you use it for work or just life in general. It’s great for planning schedules and keeping everything in one place, so when a new task comes up that you need to remember to do, simply add it to your app and then you will make sure everything gets done. It’s simple to use and highly effective, so give it a go if you tend to be quite forgetful and you’ll soon see improvements.
Moving in a slightly different direction, if you’re looking for inspiration of any kind, then Pinterest is the place to be. From recipes to home inspiration, outfits to jewellery, makeup to organisation, people are constantly posting stunning photos that are so great if you’re looking for inspiration for an outfit for a party or how to decorate your bedroom and don’t know where to start. You can set up different boards and save pins to them, for example you could have one with great inspiration for different bikini sets for your holiday, have one with makeup drawer organisation ideas and then another for healthy and quick midweek meal recipes.
Motivation
If you’re into your quotes and like to have some quick motivation available, then download Motivation, a daily quotes app. This is such a wonderful, positive space that provides lovely motivation for people, whether you’re feeling great and want that extra boost to push yourself, or you’re going through a difficult time and want that bit of reassurance that you’re on the right path and healing. A really lovely feature is that you can add a widget to your home screen on your phone and then you’ll automatically see these lovely quotes!