8 best apps for students that’ll make life and learning so much easier

A study found that the average person spends around three hours and 15 minutes on their phones daily. 

Usually, this time is spent scrolling through social media, reading news, watching videos or playing games. 

But our phones give us so much more than that. 

In fact, downloading some of the best apps for students could improve your life and learn new things along the way. 

That’s because apps have revolutionised how we approach learning and managing our lives. These apps offer many benefits that simplify tasks and enhance the learning experience. 

Whether you want to stay fit, meet new people, learn a new language or create a to-do list, there is an app out there to help you. 

And a little help can go a long way when you’re trying to balance classes, assignments, and your social life. 

Still, how do you narrow down the best apps for students when there are over 8.09 million apps in the market? 

Don’t worry; we have narrowed down the best apps that will make life and learning much easier.

Why have developers gone on to develop these apps?

Online learning has gained popularity, especially after COVID-19. It accelerated the adoption of websites and apps for learning.

To keep up with this, developers have stepped in to provide platforms and tools that facilitate online learning.

These apps offer students the convenience of accessing educational resources, tools, and support from their smartphones or devices. This also eliminates the need to carry around heavy textbooks and allows students to access information anywhere at any time.

Students today have busy schedules with many commitments, including studies, sports and hobbies. These apps ensure that they stay on track. Whether it’s creating to-do lists, creating plans, or learning a new language, these apps offer it all.

8 best apps for students to make learning easier

1. Duolingo

Whether it’s your passion for acquiring knowledge or enhancing your skills for professional reasons, the Duolingo app is perfect for you if your goal is to become proficient in a new language. 

This app employs a gamified structure, offering exercises and modules that enhance your reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities in your chosen language. 

Duolingo boasts an impressive selection of over 40 language courses, spanning widely spoken languages like English and Spanish to more niche options like Welsh, Irish, and Swahili.

Countless students globally have successfully learned English, German, and Portuguese, among others, through this exceptional language-learning platform, readily available on both app stores.

Duolingo has become extremely popular and has amassed over 300 million users since its launch in 2011. 

The app significantly simplifies the language acquisition process. It uses a practical and effective approach, guiding learners through reading, speaking, and listening exercises in their target languages.

The learning experience is made enjoyable through various challenges, games, and a point-based system that keeps you motivated.

Duolingo is available for free, though you will have to endure the ads. Alternatively, you can opt for Super Duolingo, a paid version that removes ads.

2. Coursera

If you ever missed pursuing the course of your dreams, now is your chance to do so. 

Coursera is a platform that allows you to engage in any course of your choice from world-class universities through online channels. At the end of this, you will gain not only the knowledge and skills but also a degree, diploma, or recognized professional certificate.

Coursera offers over 4000 courses provided by 150 universities, including ones from prestigious institutions such as Yale University, University of London, and Stanford University, as well as tech giants including Google, Meta, and IBM.

It is a premier education app endorsed by numerous web developers and programmers seeking online learning and mastery of diverse programming languages. This is largely due to the platform’s extensive collection of excellent courses that provide certifications by renowned universities.

Coursera is one of the best apps for students as it focuses on ensuring they graduate as career-ready individuals ready to become professionals in their field. This increases your appeal to potential employers and your chances of securing employment. 

You can also use this app offline, allowing you to download course videos to your device, allowing you to study and learn from anywhere, even when you do not have internet access. 

3. Headspace

Are you looking to try out meditation as a way to relax? Headspace is the perfect app for you. 

The app was designed to provide users with mindfulness and meditation practices.

It offers a variety of guided meditation sessions, mindfulness exercises, and relaxation techniques to help users manage stress, improve focus, enhance sleep quality, and foster general well-being.

Headspace offers a structured approach to meditation, making it accessible to both beginners and those familiar with meditation. 

The app provides themed meditation packs focusing on specific topics such as stress, anxiety, sleep, focus, and relationships. 

When using the app, you will be given a timetable to follow for better results.

So say goodbye to your stress by downloading this app that is available on Apple and Android. 

4. Grammarly

Whether English is your native language or you are still learning it, we all struggle with grammar. As a student with many assignments to complete, this could be a problem. 

Rest assured, Grammarly is here to ensure you don’t make any mistakes and save time. 

Grammarly is, without a doubt, the best tool for checking your grammar and spelling. All you have to do is install the Grammarly browser extension, which will automatically identify grammar and spelling errors in your writing. 

This is the perfect tool for students as it can be integrated with other popular apps, such as Google Docs, Gmail and Microsoft Office. 

The free version offers enough features to help you ace that assignment. It will correct spelling mistakes, confusing grammar issues, or incorrect punctuation. You can even tweak it to sound casual, more academic or professional.

5. Notion

There is no denying that Notion is one of the best apps for students.

Whether you need to take notes, track your habits or manage your tasks, Notion can do it.

The best part is that it is compatible across all platforms, allowing seamless synchronisation between your phone, tablet, and computer, ensuring you can access your notes conveniently from any device.

Its most impressive feature is its ability to generate templates for multiple uses, including simple checklists and big projects.

Notion facilitates real-time collaboration, allowing teams to collaborate for group work. This involves cooperative work leaving feedback, delegating tasks and reminders. The app allows you to save online articles and PDFs, create to-do lists, scan physical documents, and even extract text from images.

Educational plans are free for students, particularly those affiliated with their school email addresses.

However, it should be noted that while Notion is exceptional, it can take some time to learn how to use it and its many features.

6. Blinkist

Between assignments, lectures and maintaining your social life, finding the time to spend hours reading a book can be difficult. 

Not to worry, with Blinkist, you can now keep up with university and your personal life while enjoying a good book. 

The Blinkist app offers extensive summaries of many non-fiction books across 27 categories and podcasts. The app also provides the option to listen to audio versions of these books.

This app is designed to help summarise books by breaking them down into bite-sized chunks of knowledge you can enjoy on the go.

While you might lack the time to read a lengthy 300-page book on a significant subject or skill, you can certainly spare a few minutes to listen to a concise 15-minute summary of one of its pivotal chapters.

You may not have hours to read a 300-page book, but with Blinkist, you only need a few minutes to read or listen to a 15-minute summary of its key chapters. 

The app also allows you to enjoy reading your preferred books, even when offline.

7. Ted

TED is one of the best apps for students as it offers knowledge spanning a range of subjects beyond the confines of a traditional classroom. 

These short and insightful talks cater to students’ busy schedules, offering bite-sized opportunities for intellectual growth.

What truly sets the TED app apart is its ability to inspire and broaden students’ horizons. The talks, presented by experts and thought leaders worldwide, convey valuable information and share personal stories, struggles, and triumphs.

The platform offers concise talks by prominent figures in various fields who recount their personal and professional journeys. 

The best part? Users can download videos for offline viewing, making them accessible anywhere at any time. 

What’s more, the TED app features all videos in one location. 

Beyond videos, the TED app offers podcast shows and courses spanning various topics, ideal for learning on the go.

8. Habitica

As a student with assignments and deadlines, staying on top of your work is essential. Breaking down your tasks is the best way to ensure your work is completed on time.

Habitica serves as a solution, helping you to stick to this practice while monitoring your productivity at no cost.

Habitica is not like other habit-tracking apps by converting the process of building habits into an interactive role-playing game. 

When you finish your habits, you can enhance your character’s level and acquire new equipment.

You can form groups with fellow Habitica users, allowing collaborative efforts to battle virtual bosses. This feature incentivises you to stay committed to your objectives, even when demotivated.

This app allows you to create personalised tasks categorised as habits, daily routines, to-dos, and rewards. The game’s progression is closely linked to your task completion, making consistency necessary. 

As you complete your daily tasks, you can check them off, collect experience points, and discover items like potions and eggs. 

Habitica is one of the best apps for students looking to create new habits while having fun.