BY REGAN MIES
The best apps add to our lives rather than distract us from them! If you hope to spend Summer 2020 connecting creatively with family and friends, reading new bestsellers or learning to meditate, try these eight great apps for moms and make the most of your time.
Psst… If you’re looking for apps that your kids will love, check out The Best Free Virtual Games Kids Can Play With Friends and The Best Math Apps for Kids: Free, Paid and Subscription-Based!
Apps for Connecting with Friends and Family
Compell’d offers a creative and expressive way to keep in touch beyond simply sending a quick text or email. The innovative new app is on a mission to “embolden people in doing what matters, ignoring what doesn’t, and sharing the richness of their lives with one another.” The Compell’d app makes it easy to share experiences with people you trust rather than strangers on the internet; sharing a recommendation that you know a friend will love leads to a moment of instant connection. Collect your screenshots, notes, open browser tabs, texts from friends and dog-eared magazine pages, then turn them into streamlined, functional lists that you can keep for yourself or send to friends and family.
Chances are you’re familiar with Zoom, whether your kids have been using it to keep up with remote learning or you’ve been using it while working from home. Beyond the standard desktop download, Zoom can be used for flexible connection as well. Download the Zoom app onto your phone to take connection beyond your desk or couch. With the Zoom mobile app, you could chat with a friend while taking a walk or spend virtual time with your parents and extended family while having a picnic in the park.
On Draw Something, you and your child can draw and guess doodles with family and friends. The app, similar to the classic game of Pictionary, encourages creativity and connection. When prompted with words from themed categories, you or your child will create a quick doodle or a virtual masterpiece and send it to friends and family, who will try to figure out and guess the prompt for points. If weekly Zoom sessions with grandparents are getting old, Draw Something is an option to connect in a new and exciting way.
Apps for Book Lovers
Through Libby, you can effortlessly download free audiobooks and eBooks onto your phone, iPad and Kindle! Sign into the app through your local public library and get reading. Libby’s interface is simple, intuitive and easily customizable, so you can create your own perfect reading experience. Listen to the newest bestseller while relaxing on a walk or pull out your phone to read the next summer hit in all the small moments of free time throughout your day.
Join the Book of the Month Club to “read more, search less and save moolah.” Starting at only $9.99 per month, get a brand-new hardcover shipped right to your door! Every month, choose which book you’d like out of a diverse, hand-picked selection of five novels, or easily skip a month whenever you’re feeling behind on your reading list. On the BOTM app, you can keep track of the novels you’ve received, pick out next month’s book, share your reviews and see what your friends have been loving as well!
If you’re looking for more fun subscription boxes for you and your family, check out Subscription Boxes to Get You Through Quarantine!
Over 35 million members of Goodreads use the free app to receive and share reading recommendations, discover new favorites and keep track of all the books they’ve been reading. On the app, you can set your own yearly reading goal and cheer on friends as they update their reading status. Join this summer to write reviews, follow your favorite authors and connect with fellow book-lovers!
Apps for Self-Care and Meditation
Headspace offers hundreds of guided meditations, the topics of which range from managing stress and anxiety to improving sleep, productivity, and exercise habits. The app provides users with a new meditation delivered to their phone every day, two-minute mini-meditations, “SOS” sessions for moments of panic, a wealth of stories and soundscapes to help you fall asleep and more fun features. Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars on the app store, Headspace has already helped thousands track and improve their mental health. Membership pricing ranges from $12.99 per month to $69.99 per year after a free trial, but if you’re unemployed due to the current situation, you’re eligible to try Headspace Plus free for one year.
Balance, a personalized audio meditation app, will consider your meditation experience, goals and challenges before using their library of thousands of audio files to make a custom meditation just for you. The more you use the app, the more personalized and effective your meditations will become. Balance also offers progress tracking, 10-day meditation plans and bite-sized single meditations for those small moments of stress throughout your day. A subscription costs $11.99 per month or $49.99 per year.
This story first appeared on newyorkfamily.com.
