Most Helpful Apps for University Students

By Khalid Arif

Share Your Board

• Not that I want to discourage you from taking notes in class, but if your wrist happens to hurt from all that scribbling, ShareYourBoard promises sweet relief. Simply take a picture of any white board in sight—it helps to snag a good seat toward the front of class—and this app will adjust the white balance to give you a crystal-clear snapshot of that day’s lesson. Then it’s up to you to decipher your professor’s chicken-scratch. (Free for Android)

iStudiezPro

• This powerful scheduling app won’t get you an A in bio, but it will help you ace time management. iStudiezPro allows you to input your class schedule and homework into a built-in planner, then alerts you of approaching deadlines, keeps track of your grades, organizes your extracurricular schedule, and counts down to your next class. Now if only it counted down to happy hour. ($2.99 for iPhone)

DrinkOwl

• Make dull, dry Wednesday nights a thing of the past. DrinkOwl not only finds all the open liquor stores and bars in your neighborhood, it also lists the up-to-the-hour specials at each place. Perfect for cash-strapped college students in major metro areas. New Yorkers, may you never fork over $15 for a rum and coke again. (Free for Android and iPhone)

PicPlz

• Any student with a Facebook account and a winning smile knows that photos are the lifeblood of the online college experience. And sometimes—actually, most times—it’s better to be behind the camera than to boost your tag count. PicPlz boasts an impressive array of hip, professional photo filters, from Polaroid chic to 1970s vintage, all of which instantly polish up your pictures—and brighten up your friends’ feeds. (Free for Android and iPhone)

Study Buddy

• Analyzing Beowulf with a full slate of football on TV is an agonizing assignment for the easily sidetracked. That’s where Study Buddy comes in: Every time you take a break from obsessing over Ulysses—whether it’s answering a call or cueing up a song—the app records it as a distraction and logs a “Graph of Study Efficiency” to let you know how focused you really are (and to tell you to get the hell back to work.) Consider it your own personal taskmaster. ($0.99 for iPhone)

Amazon Student

• A stack of college textbooks can cost more than major surgery. This Amazon app will keep your wallet nice and fat: Snap a photo of your book’s barcode, and it’ll tell you how and where to get it cheaper. Best of all, you can sell back your old used textbooks in exchange for Amazon gift cards. (Free for Android and iPhone)

• If you’ve got an iPad, you can also eliminate the textbook entirely by browsing through Apple’s iBooks 2 store where you’ll find cheaper, digitized versions of the same tomes. No more breaking your back—or the bank. (iBooks vary in cost, but many are around $15 each.)

Scoutmob

• Sure, pizza’s cheap and convenient, but so is real food—if you can find it. Scoutmob (think of it like Groupon on the go) brings you the newest, most budget-friendly deals at dozens of off-campus restaurants. The second you walk into any eatery, your GPS-enabled phone will alert you if there’s a Scoutmob deal on the menu—or if there are better dining discounts in the vicinity. (Free for Android)

Textalyzer

• Two ingredients that never mix well together—alcohol and bitterness—can be an even more toxic combo when technology comes into play. Which is why Textalyzer exists: to prevent you from messaging your ex when you’re several scotch-and-sodas deep. First, enter your “forbidden list”—those folks you fumble through your contacts to find every time you’re hammered. Then, when last call rolls around, you’ll have to complete a series of tough memory and concentration tests if you want to unlock the list and make some bad decisions. It’s the sober babysitter you never knew you needed. ($0.99, iPhone)