Top Apps for Students

Gone are the days when your laptop was just for typing up essays, and the only time you got your phone out in lectures was to message your friends. Whether it’s boosting your study skills, staying safe on nights out, or working out who owes for pizza, there’s an amazing app to help you out. Give our favourites a go and we promise you’ll never look back!

Productivity

One word: Evernote (Windows, Android, iOS). With this one simple, elegant app you can take notes, write to do lists, organise Office docs, PDFs and photos, and collaborate on research. With tags, notebooks and an impressive search function, you’ll never lose anything ever again. Evernote is available across all platforms, making it easy to access your notes wherever you are.

If you’re easily distracted – and let’s face it, who isn’t? – then Freedom (Android, iOS, web) is here to save you from your friends, the news and funny cat videos. Use it to block distracting websites and apps for set periods of time, so you have no choice but to concentrate. You can also make a schedule so that distractions are blocked for the same period every day.

Another way to boost your concentration is to take regular breaks. 30/30 (iOS) lets you schedule slots of work and play throughout your day, with strict time limits. You’ll work harder in the study slots, and won’t feel guilty about your time out. You can set up any task for any time period you like, so you can plan your entire day, right down to showers, cups of tea and replying to messages.

Study

Referencing is a nightmare – you can spend hours trying to figure out where each comma, capital letter and bracket goes. Take the stress out of it with award-winning app RefME (Android, iOS, web). Scan the barcode on the back of a book, or clip a URL from your browser and RefME will churn out the perfect reference in whatever style you choose. Simple.

Exam Time (Android, iOS, web) helps you study the smart way. You can plan your study time, make notes, presentations and mind maps, and streamline your revision with your own quizzes and flashcards. ExamTime’s community GoConqr also gives you access to over 3 million other resources.

Fed up of that grubby scrap of paper with your timetable on? My Class Schedule (Android) and Class Timetable (iOS) will make sure you always know where you should be. Both feature colour coding, reminders and a task list for your assignments.

Nights Out

Circle of 6 (Android iOS) is a discreet app that will help you stay safe. With just two taps you can get send a preset message to up to six trusted friends, with a map of exactly where you are. This could be vital if you’re lost or in a dangerous situation, but can also be handy if you need an important phone call to get you out of an awkward date.

Drunk Mode is another must for nights out. Avoid cringe-worthy messages by hiding certain contacts in your phone, track down friends who have wandered off, and find taxis and walking routes to get you home safely. Set how long you want it to run for, and you can’t disable it unless you’re sober enough to solve a maths puzzle!

Wandering the streets in search of a cash machine is never fun. ATM Hunter (Android, iOS) will quickly show you exactly where the nearest one is, and give you a map to get there safely.

And if you’re always losing things, Find Find My iPhone and Find My Android Phone will help you hunt down your pesky phone the next day.

Money

Getting the hang of budgeting is one of the biggest challenges of being a student. Your loan gets paid in at the start of each term, and it’s down to you to make it last. On Trees (Android, iOS, web) is a user-friendly app that uses colour coding and charts to help you keep track of your money and see what you’re spending the most on.

Make the most of your student discount with NUS Extra (Android, iOS, web) and Uni Days (Android, iOS, web). Unidays lets you search for online and in-store discounts for all kinds of products, whilst NUS extra also has a handy map feature that shows you exactly where you can find the best deals near you.

Never bicker with your flatmates about money again! Splittable (Android, iOS, web) helps you keep track of exactly who owes what. It’s great for working out your weekly shop, last night’s takeaway, or supplies for your next party.

Student Life Sorted

These apps help take some of the stress out of student life, so you can concentrate on having a great time. Make things even easier with our award-winning accommodation. Bills are included so you don’t have to worry about who pays what, and there’s loads of useful services on site such as a laundry room, wifi, TVs with Freeview, and maintenance staff.

Look at our accommodation pages to find out more, and keep an eye on our blog for more advice on student life.