Listen up, ladies! This article is for you. Now that I’ve had my iPhone for a good six months, I can say with certainty that I’m never going back to your regular old dumb phone (a.k.a., the opposite of a smart phone). I am completely hooked–I’d say that in the first few months alone, I probably downloaded 50 or 60 apps. Now, however, I’ve managed to do some spring cleaning and hold on to the apps that I really do use. Sad as I was to see my virtual dog go, he was probably dead by the time I deleted the app anyway.
Now that I’ve cleaned out my library, I feel quite qualified to share with you what I believe to be the five apps that every college girl should have. And the best part? I didn’t pay a cent for a single one.
1. Period Diary by Nanobitsoftware – This is a little awkward, but we’re all girls here. Whether you use an electronic or paper planner, you probably forget to mark down your cycles about 90 percent of the time. I know that before I downloaded this app, I was lucky if I remembered to mark mine down once a year.
Period Diary is a lifesaver! It’s discreet and shows up as “P.D.” with an icon of a flower on your phone. Mark down on the virtual calendar when you get your period and when it ends, along with your mood, symptoms, weight, and temperature at the time. You can also add a little heart to remind yourself when you were last sexually active.
You can then view your future predictions for when you will most likely get a visit from Aunt Flo next, which changes from person to person based on your average cycle between periods — which the app calculates as well. There’s also an area that will tell you when you’re fertile and ovulating.
2. Class Timetable by Ice Media Creative – This is a must-download for anyone in college, male or female. If you tell me that you know your schedule by heart on the first day of each semester, then you either have a photographic memory or are lying.
This app marks the end of your days of racking your brain for room numbers or walking around with a huge, printed-out schedule. Mark down your classes, what time they take place, and any other notes you may have (I generally like to put their locations in this section).
The only complaint that I have is that the classes are shown in a list format, and it’d be nice for them to be laid out as an actual timetable on my screen. Then again, it is a free app and apart from that small detail, it’s really great. If you know of an app that does have this feature, however, I’d love to hear it.
3. Facebook/Twitter/Your Social Networking Platform of Choice – For “this lecture is so boring” and other appropriate status updates.
4. Words With Friends by Zynga – I don’t care how much you think Scrabble is for old people. If you don’t play Words With Friends, you’re missing out. Game fads come and go, but there’s something about playing this word game electronically that just never gets old. Maybe it’s the fact that virtually everyone with a smartphone–and everyone with a Facebook, for that matter–has at some point played it. I’ve always loved word games, but even friends that never read Harry Potter will play a game of Words with me.
I’ll be honest; I don’t know what it is about this game that’s so much fun. I particularly like the fact that while it is slightly addicting, it isn’t one of those games that you can never put down. Games can stretch on from days to weeks, and you can casually play a move every once in a while without losing interest. A game like this is a rare find, and one to hold on to if you ask me. Long live Words With Friends!
5. Simple Truth or Dare by Stofle Designs – Go ahead and call me immature, you know you love it! There are tons of Truth or Dare apps out there, and this happens to be one of my personal favorites. It has a pretty good selection of questions and tasks, and it is fun to play at a party or with a small group of friends. An important feature allows you can change the rating level (G-R), aka the awkwardness level, of the questions. If you want to keep your night fun but void of cat fights, I’d recommend setting the game to PG-13. If you’re going to explore the R-rated questions, let’s just say that you should make sure that all members of your group are single.
What are your top five apps that you recommend to other girls in college (free or paid)? We need to stick together, so go ahead and share the wisdom!
