My 5 Favourite Apps*

The one piece of technology I’m always in fear of losing these days is my iPhone. I’m not onto an iPhone 7, having started at the 4 (prior to that I swore by Sony Eriksson and then a Blackberry). I remember when I phone was just a phone, for calling and texting. Then you could take photos with it and use it to store music, these days however it’s a mini computer. I use it to send and reply to emails, keep up to date with friends and secure work for myself. I’d be completely lost without it.

For me what sets my iPhone apart from all other phones is it’s easiness and it’s app availability. There has never been an app that I couldn’t find for the iPhone and I have apps for everything. Carphone Warehouse recently did some research on the types of apps people like all across the country and the data was incredibly interesting. I was shocked to see that Facebook beat out Google for the top spot, but I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Gmail was the countries favourite mail app. Up in the north where I live Booking.com was a favourite app, where as in the South the KFC app came second in their top three. More women use diet and fitness apps than men but for men it’s all about internet connectivity. The top gaming app downloaded last year was Pokemon Go, and yep I have that.

Today I’m going to share with you my five favourite apps on my iphone, which was really hard to narrow down given I have a lot of apps for all different things so I’ve decided to go with the apps I’d download first if my phone ended up wiped.

Instagram
I’m a really visual person so my first go to every day and throughout the day is Instagram. I have two accounts, my first one that I made back in 2010 and my Livvybird Adventures one where that I use to document LM’s life. I love photographs and I’m constantly taking them so it’s no surprise I like to look at other peoples too. I also use it to shop and find things I’d like to buy through haul photos and small shops. Over the last year it has started to annoy me with it’s crappy algorithm meaning my photos don’t show up on people’s time lines and that stops my accounts naturally growing, it also means I see less of the photos I want to see! Hopefully one day Instagram will stop being so lame and fix this.

Disneyland/Disney World Apps
Although I don’t use these on a daily basis like I do Instagram, they are completely invaluable for trip planning and while I’m on holiday. They show wait times, maps, opening times for restaurants and show times. The Disney World one also lets me book dining, FPs and link up to my friends and reservations. At the moment they don’t get opened as much as they do when I have a trip coming up but I recommend them to everyone who is planning a trip.

InstaEditor
The in app editing for Instagram isn’t the best so I have InstaEditor for touch ups and colour balancing. It’s my favourite photo editing app and I have tried a fair few including paid ones. I just like how easy it is to use and although it’s no perfect like using an on computer editing software it does the job and is great for a free app. You can also use it to create your own memes, something I have played around with but i’ve never actually used it. It’s still fun though!

Pokemon Go
Yep, I still use it. Not as frequently as I used to but it’s still on my phone and I do open it once a week at least, more when there is a special event on. I’ve caught and evolved tons of Pokemon and it’s been a great time killer for my sister and I when my mum kicks us out of her house early but neither of us want to go home yet. We tend to drive around with the kids, catch Pokemon, hit up the gyms and Pokestops. It’s been great for bonding and both LM and my nephew have ended up huge Pokemon fans.

Gmail
I was torn between picking another social media app (I use Facebook & Twitter a lot but more through boredom not because I particularly need to or enjoy it. So i’ve gone with Gmail because it’s actually an app I couldn’t live without. Getting my emails to my phone is crucial to being self employed. The market is so competitive and if you don’t reply straight off the bat you could lose out on a job. As I always have my phone on me it means I can reply straight away, even just to register my interest. I’m not going to lie, it’s also great for finding out when a sale is starting soon even if you don’t check your computer in a few days haha.

I could have picked so many more, like the social media apps, or hotels.com, or eBay, or even Tinder. But these are probably the apps I’d download first if I got a new phone, or they’re the apps I’m most likely to recommend.

What are your favourite apps?