Living in 2016, pretty much everywhere you look, someone is holding a smartphone. On that smartphone are various apps, some of which are fun, some informative, some helpful, and some just plain bizarre. Every app has a purpose any way you cut it, and they each elicit different reactions from person to person. Here is a short guide to apps on smartphones and their purposes.
1. Snapchat
Whether it be the streaks, photographs, or videos, Snapchat has it all. Snapchat, although seemingly odd in theory, is a fun way to connect with friends.
2. Instagram
Instagram is like a personal brag sheet of photographs, oftentimes creating a competition for likes. There is also the popular finsta, or fake Instagram, which at one or two times has gotten out of hand.
3. Tumblr
This app allows users to blog straight from their fingertips and create their own world. I think of it as a giant magazine that you get to create from various pictures. Very addicting.
4. "Words With Friends"
For those of us who enjoy popular board games such as Boggle or Scrabble, here is the app for you. You can play solo, face to face, or virtually with a friend and have the time of your life creating game after game of scrabble. If you hit the word of the day, you will be raking in those points!
5. "Pokemon Go"
This is the one app that I have never used and refuse to use, but after hearing feedback from my friends, I know a bit about the game. Running around your location trying to pick up characters and points, this game seems to be very consuming both in data and habit.
6. "Geometry Dash"
This is a fun game that moves very fast and requires lots of focus and attention. Users must move geometric shapes across a landscape and make them jump, slide and run at various points of the maze. There is upbeat music and various levels for minutes of fun.
7. Charity Miles
This app is useful because a person can use it pretty much anywhere they go not using a car, boat, train, or plane. Just log in, select any charity you support and as you move by foot, the charity receives money. The more you move, the more money donated. This is really great for me when bike riding and I use it constantly. It is really fun to see your money grow as well as get exercise.
8. Whitagram
This app helps users edit their photographs and create lovely borders around them. This app is great for printing photos I take, as well as for re-posting them to social media. A lot of photo editing apps cost cash, but not this one. If it’s free, it’s for me!
9. SkyView
SkyView is an app that allows you to hold your smartphone into the sky during the day or night, and match up whatever constellations you are underneath. I really enjoy this app because of its amazing talent, but also its beauty.
10. "Dumb Ways to Die"
This is another guilty pleasure game of mine, a highly competitive game that incorporates the themes of life and death. You start out with three lives and then compete in games. The music gets faster as you pass levels and the goal is to make it as far as you can. This game is great for passing time because every time you end the game you just want to start again.
I hope this fun guide helps you decide which apps are your favorite and helps you decide which new apps to download! This list could go on and on with the thousands of apps in existence, but these are some that I feel deserved a special recognition.
