Six of My Favorite Apps for iPhone 📱

I recently purged my phone, but THESE are the apps that made the cut

Aug 06, 2024

I recently published a post sharing a few ways I reduced my screen time, one of which was removing erroneous apps from my phone.

Of course I had to keep apps I use for business (mostly Microsoft To-Do, Google Calendar, Shopify, Canva etc.) and apps that are required for life (Government ID, banking, healthcare), but aside from that, very few apps survived the purge.

So, you might be curious, which apps made the cut? Below are six iPhone apps I really love:

📝 Google Keep

This app is similar to Apple Notes, but I personally prefer services outside of the Apple Ecosystem and LOVE that this one makes it super fast to add images or capture voice notes (great for those of us with tons of ideas in our heads!). I use Keep for capturing random bits of information — screenshots off Instagram, excerpts from articles, quotes, or random ideas. I love that you can color code each note, and apply a label to it so it’s easy to view all the notes you have for a specific topic. Since it’s a Google product, its search capabilities are great, allowing me to easily find that note I saved about the food preferences of Octopuses. It has a Mobile and Desktop version so it’s easy to access from anywhere. Check it out.

💆🏻‍♀️ O-P-E-N

After losing my dog in April I attended therapy, and doing daily breathwork to help alleviate anxiety was something my therapist recommended. She was able to give me a 30-day trial to O-P-E-N and I found it really helpful! I’ve been using it consistently for about 6 weeks and love that it has so many short (3-5 minute) sessions. Check it out + try it free for 30 days with my referral link. Note that a 12-month membership is $150, so remember to cancel after the trial if it doesn’t suit you!

✏ Tally

This app helps you keep a “tally” of quite literally anything. You just tap the colored “square” to add a tally. I keep it easily accessible on my phone’s home screen so I can add to it quickly. It can act as a simple habit tracker, but I personally use it for tracking quantity of certain habits such as alcoholic beverages per month, or big picture goals like books read per year or countries visited over a lifetime. Check it out. Pro tip: if you need to edit the tally, long press and select “Edit Tally”. But to adjust the count (like if you accidentally tap twice) you need to tap the name of the tally and adjust there.

🖼 Tezza

I worked in social media for over a decade, so my phone used to be overrun with photo editing and graphic design apps. However, after learning about Tezza last year I pretty promptly deleted all the other ones I had. It has such a beautiful interface, subtle and creative edits for your photos, and an easy way to copy + paste edits to a bulk selection of images (ex. give all your Greece vacation photos the same treatment in seconds!) which is such a time saver. Check it out.

⌚ Bit Timer

This is by far one of the best timer apps I’ve ever discovered and I’ve been using it for at least 5-6 years. It lets you identify intervals for “work”, “rest” and “repeating”. I often use it for working out (circuit workouts, run/walks etc.) but also find it really useful for timing focused work sessions. Love its simplicity! Check it out.

😴 Noisli

I think I’ve been using this one for close to a decade! It’s essentially a white noise app, but lets you custom-mix various sounds (coffee shop noise, forest sounds, rain, wind etc.) to get the exact mood you’re looking for. It’s great for sleeping, but I often use the coffee shop or thunderstorm sounds when I’m working. Has both a Mobile and Desktop version. Check it out.

💬 Are there any app that you’ve used for years or have found really helpful? I’m always interested in discovering new ones and would love to hear about it in the comments.

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