Sarvi's Favourite Apps
Tiiinnnndddeee…. Only joking. in this little piece I’ll be summing up my favourite wholesome apps of all time. They’re all worth a try if you want to improve your lifestyle, stop procrastinating and just generally start taking control of your life.
Whenever you want to focus, you plant a tree that’s meant to fully grow by the time you want to be done. You can set the time from 10 short minutes to 2 hours.
When you plant the tree seed you can’t leave the app without causing your tree to wither away. During this time you can lock your screen and focus on what you have to get done.
Once the time is up and your tree has fully-grown you can label your tree so that you can keep track of what/how long you’ve worked on a particular task. You also get some virtual coins which you can save up to buy prettier trees with flowers etc.
Perfect for:
Those of us who can’t help but keep checking our phones constantly when we should really be focusing on working towards a deadline.
Keeping an account of the actual ‘productive’ hours of your day-to-day life.
Weak points:
Only really works if you’re somewhat already organised and like seeing fully grown trees in your daily forest instead of withered trees.
Facebook chat heads pop up and you can easily reply without withering your tree; so it might be a good idea to disable chat heads.
This app was developed based on actual science at Duke University’s behavioural economics lab to make sure you stay on track with building new healthy habits.
From drinking water first thing I get up to doing more exercise and fitting in meditation into my life, this app has honestly changed me. I love that everything they claim is backed up by actual science. I also love the fact that I can track my progress on a day-to-day basis. It has so much to offer like power naps with coffee and more. I find it totally amazing and mind blowing that it’s completely free!
Perfect for:
Those of you who enjoy a personalised interaction with an app and open minded people looking to enhance their lives just that little bit more by making new healthy habits and staying on track.
How it works:
The app comes with a few pre-set breathing exercises, however you can create your own.
You can set the length of the exercise and start practicing mindfulness
The change in sound of different bell sounds reminds you to either hold your breath, breathe in or out.
Perfect for:
Those of you with some mindfulness experience already.
Designing breathing exercises tuned to your own breathing pattern or your own preference.
Can be a little difficult to learn the different sounds to tune your breathing to, it does eventually become pretty intuitive
It’s not a guided meditation so it may not be suitable for those who haven't done mindfulness before
How it works:
This app has such a beautiful sleek design that is very intuitive and simple to use. I find the widget on android pretty useful also. I currently use the widget on my phone alongside my Google calendar widget.
Perfect for:
Those who enjoy having a to do list which provides alerts, instant updates across different devices and an ability to create folders of tasks.
Those who struggle to keep to deadlines; you can create folders which breakdowns your large task into smaller manageable chunks, you can then set deadlines with reminders for each chunk and make sure you keep track of everything.
Weaker points:
Having to pay for a nicer background for the app. Though I guess a cute little puppy will do? (You’ll understand what I mean when you download it)
The app does get some pretty getting used to but once you’ve played around with it for a while then it becomes straight-forward.
To track your runs all you have to do is press a button and leave your location on. If your phone has GPS then you can turn your data off, if not then you’ll have to keep the data on.
You can follow your mates and see their recent activities, cheer each other on by passing on ‘kudos’ which are essentially ‘likes’
After every run you complete you will be able to compare your performance on a particular trail to your previous runs or even compared to everyone who has ever ran that trail. It can be quite fun to see yourself on a public leader board for the day.
I personally have also set the settings so that I receive a notification after every kilometre I run which can be so motivating when you’re doing a long run.
Strava is also pretty perfect for Cyclists.
Perfect for:
Those of you who want to track your runs. The app is pretty out there already but if you haven't heard of it then definitely give it a go. You will find many of your friends are already probably using it.
Weaker points:
Like any other great app, strava comes in the form of free and in the form of premium. Some of these premium features include “setting weekly goals”, “beacon” and “live performance data” these however come at a yearly payment of £44.99 or a monthly payment of £5.99.
Header Image courtesy of GotCredit, via flickr. License here.
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