Favorite Apps

Books
  • Marvin
  • Gerty
  • Goodreads: (Free) social network for book lovers and book database combined. Love it!
  • Scribd: (free trial, subscription) is like a netflix service for ebooks. Although Amazon Unlimited does a similar service, I feel like Scribd has more of the books I discover and want read on Goodreads. I have also found many great books to help with personal research. 
  • Kindle
  • eBook Search Pro
Creativity
  • Craftsy: (free, in-app purchases) this site has hundreds of classes for all different crafts and hobbies; my favorites are related to knitting, tatting, jewelry making, drawing, photography, cooking and baking. Paid classes have the instructor (often a talented, popular author or artist) actually answering your questions and are longer than the free classes. I've found some pretty good free classes and enjoy some of the paid ones. There are also regular sales (I usually wait till classes are 30-50% off for a limited time).
  • Writer's Lists: beautifully organized lists covering many ideas useful for fiction writers. 
  • Creative Writer: (free, in-app purchases) is app is like 2 in 1. You can use it as a writers notebook or say you have an app that you write in that you already love... you can add install the custom keyboard. Depending on what you're trying to write, you can change the collective theme of the words you choose such as words geared for recipes or words geared for poetry. A few of those packs a free and there is a collective writers pack available for small in app purchase. I have a lot of fun with this app.
  • Graphio
Knowledge
  • Duolingo: (free) clean ad free, fun level based learn a foreign language app. They support even some less common languages.

Cooking & Nutrition
  • Paprika: (paid) I love that this app allows you to import from the safari browser or the built in browser. I also love the conversion tools built in (accessed with the options box). 
  • Wholesome: this is a color pallet nutrition data app of natural foods. Also learn how best to prepare or select produce.
  • How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: there are so many helpful instructions, for basic techniques as well as an extensive recipe database you can filter specific dietary needs. 
Fitness
  • Zombies, Run!: (paid, in app purchases) This app is a lot of fun. With some imagination and the story playing while you run, it really makes running fly. You have several story episodes in a season and each season is a one time in app purchase. You can also unlock certain features (I love the interval training for instance). While you run you collect supplies and materials to build your base. I'm not a huge zombie person but this game rocks!
  • Ball Strike: (free, in app purchase) using your devices webcam, you kick and punch virtual balls that pop up on screen around you. My kids love this. Unlock the rest of the levels with one in app purchase.
  • Fitbit: (free) 
  • Fitbit Finder: (free) this uses your device's bluetooth signal to track the general location of your device. If you're prone forgetting where you last had yours, this app is helpful. I also like that it's free of ads and free to use but allow for donations if you're feeling grateful.
  • My Medical: (paid) keep track of medical events like appointments, surgeries, prescriptions, measurements etc for every member of your family.

Utilities, Organization
  • Pushbullet: (free) find a webpage on your phone you want to see on your PC? Send it using the push action in your device's safari to have chrome open it instantly on your PC. On your PC you can also send a page or file to all your devices. Try it to see what I mean. This has become one of my most used apps. 
  • TODAY Calendar by BRID: (paid) this is a really cool graphical representation of a calendar. Features I love: how many days to an event, if you don't get a task done you can push a button to do it later, the monthly calendar actually writes the name of the event (not just a dot) and beautiful habit integration. 
  • Home Routine: this app breaks down your home in to "zones" to clean a little each day to keep it clean. You can customize it to your needs.
Games
  • Terarria: (paid) this is a sandbox crafting game that's a lot of fun. If you want to play with others around the world, you will need the Terraria Multiplayer App. The Terraria Wiki App and The Terraria Helper apps are my favorite for on the go offline information.
  • Craft the World: kind of a mix up of sandbox crafting and tower defense where you control a clan of dwarves to do your bidding. I love the graphics and the game is a joy to play as well. You can craft by recipes you discover or sequentially through a tech tree. This game is still fairly new and also available on steam. 
  • Join It: (paid) This is a fantastic puzzle game. you can set your puzzle 4-300 pieces on your phone and 4-500 on your ipad. If you have kids, you can make the pieces auto rotate to the right position so you just have to move them into place. What I like about it is I don't have to worry about the kids or cat messing up my work and I can continue a puzzle while I'm out of the house. There are so many settings and I can add my own photos. It's a lot cheaper than the traditional puzzle with unlimited possibilities. A 300 piece puzzle on that small of a screen is a challenge in its own.
  • Harmony 2: (paid) You know those paint color cards at home improvement stores? Well you're arranging color blocks so that they end up looking like one of those cards. Yes the first version is fun but the second takes the relaxing albums to a new level and you can play by color theme (that way you only get blues if you're in a bluish mood for example). There is also a night mode that helps you fall a sleep that is not present in the first harmony. 
  • Color Word Search: (free, in-app purchase) this is my favorite word search app visually. The type face is appealing and it really makes use of the whole screen. The app is free to play 
  • Shades: (paid)
  • Farm Frenzy: (paid)

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