The best apps of 2023

Emily Midgley - My 8 year old was doing her heritage project for school and decided she wanted to learn Finnish. Duolingo is so easy to use and she has really been enjoying using it!

Clau C - Whenever I need to practice french or italian, this is my go to!

Cindy Hawkins - Duolingo is a fun way to brush up on my Spanish!

Clau C - I love listening to different playlists and podcasts depending on my mode.

Mandi Pacer - I love using Spotify for my shop and while I am at home cooking, cleaning, or working on various tasks for my small business. I don't pay for the premium subscription. While the ads can sometimes be a nuisance, this has become the best way to stream music and listen to various artists depending o...

Carol Mullins - Great ap for quick and fun identification of artist and song and then adding to Apple Music Playlist in two quick taps.

Victoria Grinde - This must sound a bit harsh but who doesn't have this app! I love that you can connect your Target card and scan it at the store. Awesome when you forget the card and want that 5% discount. I love that you can scan items to see if there is a discount that you can apply when you check out. I think...

Julie Joyce - An app that lets you choose from tons of discounts on items at Target, Download the app, scroll through all the different departments, choose the deals you want and scan the barcode at check-out. The deals change weekly, so there is always something new. I saved $37.90 in the last 30 days.

Carly Canter - I love this app. Just like wandering the aisles of Target, I can scroll through this app for HOURS! I also love that Target offers drive up now and I have noticed I spend a lot less money as long as I do not step foot inside.

Emily Midgley - I use the free version of Canva to quickly design images for my business, and also for many of the volunteer roles I take on. I love that they have so many free templates across most of the social media platforms. If you know the company's style guide, you can easily adapt the colors to be on brand.

Elexa Martinez - I love Canva for creating social media content, graphics, posters, flyers, and even party or event invitations. I have always found something to work well for my needs out of the free options. It is very easy to use and you don't have to be a graphic designer to make content with canva. I also re...

Clau C - This app makes designing so much fun! I use the free version and it's amazing.

Emily Midgley - Goodreads is my go to app for keeping track of my book club reading list. I love browsing reviews from friends to get ideas of new books I might like. If you love books, this is must have app.

Victoria Grinde - I like going to Goodreads for book recommendations. I have also worked with an author and getting their books listed was super easy!

Elissa Tompkins - I love Goodreads! I always check the site out before starting a new book!

Elexa Martinez - We absolutely love our library here in Austin and the Libby app offers so many books and audio books. We literally us the libby app every day. The read alongs with my younger child that turn Epicture books into readalongs, the ebooks for chapter books on our iPad and then audio books in the eveni...

Molly Pearcy - Libby is a must have app for an avid reader! I use it to download digital books to my device so I can read anywhere. It has also been great for my kids. Libby is very user friendly which allows them to browse titles on the own to find what they are interested in. The kids particularly love being ...

Adam Doppelt - Use this free app to open up the amazing world of library e-books. I started doing this a few years ago and it's a big hit in my family. Most public libraries support Libby. Place books on hold, wait a few weeks for the app to notify you, and then read on your phone or kindle. This really feels l...

Victoria Grinde - One of the best things we have purchased for my 7 yr old. So many great educational and fun games!

Catherine Hazen - My girls love to play Osmo! It offers so many different games and with interactive, hands on learning. It's just so different than anything else on the iPad which is fun for kiddos!

Brooke Piszczor - Probably my favorite app for my big kid (4yo) -- very creative & educational while keeping his attention & moving his hands & making him think critically! So many positives! I am a big fan! Great Christmas gift! Makes me feel a little less guilty about screen time ;) #mamawin

Emily Midgley - The Waze App is a must have for all road trips. It gives you the fastest routes, alerts you to accidents and police, and makes it easy to reroute if need be. I don't go anywhere without Waze.

Carol Mullins - Waze is the way to go with directional maps. Some of the great features. Immediate input from users. Well, passengers of users. So if an accident is blocking traffic, road hazards, speed traps, or car on the road, you know immediately and it redirects you. Always calculates the fastest route if t...

Dagan Martinez-Vargas - I usually use Google Map when on highways, but use this when I need to go off highway....

Carly Canter - Best site to clean out your closet and make a little money. I have sold and purchased so many things from different sellers.

Melissa Gallagher - I've recently become a bit obsessed with Poshmark. Poshmark is an app (also have web-based functionality) for buying & selling clothes, often secondhand but sometimes new too. I try to shop sustainably, which can be expensive, but secondhand clothing is a great way to keep things out of the landf...

Kali Thompson - a good place to sell clothes you don't want anymore!

Cindy Sersig - I subscribe to Beachbody. Their Beachbody On Demand App works on my Apple products and Amazon Kindles. There are so many different workouts to choose from and the trainers are so good at explaining modifications if needed.

Carol Mullins - I signed up last year and was doing PIYO, Slim in 6 and also like the nutrition guides and schedule of workouts. I am limited to low to no impact.

Brittany Menestrina - Beachbody on Demand is great to mix it up. I love Autumn C from 21 Day Fix and 80 Day Obsession and then I also like Workout Trainer!

Beachbody on Demand is great because there are a lot of variety but there is a charge. If you go this route save yourself the hassle and just do the year subscrip...

Elexa Martinez - As a school room mom, a buyer of vintage and antiques as a hobby and just doing favors for friends. Venmo makes it super and convenient to exchange funds instantaneously. It took quite a while for me to find something I could trust.

Mandi Pacer - As a small business owner, and on a personal level, I love having this money transfer app at my fingertips! In any given week I use this at least a dozen times.

Erin McDonald - I'm a babysitter & nanny in and out of many homes and Venmo has made professional payments soo quick and easy! On a personal level paying friends back or splitting bills is also a breeze with Venmo.

Carol Mullins - Good app to find local bike and hike trails. I'll be using this summer at some public land hikes.

Brittany Menestrina - I love this app as well! Its great since people are always adding to it so any problems with the trail are always up to date.

Carly Canter - I recently started hiking and this app has been a LIFE SAVER!! I ended up signing up for the Pro membership(totally not necessary if you're just looking for hikes in the area!), and I love that I can download the maps to use offline! It has current reviews of almost all trails for current conditi...

Cindy Sersig - I use Relax Melodies. You can mix your favorite sounds (free version available). You don't have to leave your phone open for it to play and it doesn't drain your battery.

Dagan Martinez-Vargas - use this all the time! if it works in a massage salon it will work in the bedroom.

Nadia L'Bahy - I love the nature sounds and white noise for falling asleep, and how they go on for hours until you close the app.

Mandi Pacer - You are always sure to find unique, handcrafted wares and gifts when you shop on Etsy. I love being able to shop and also sell my handmade items online for only $.20 a posting! I am a big music buff and have fun some real treasures of all my favorites created by small businesses and local artists.

Brittany Menestrina - I’ve been losing myself in Etsy lately! The products are beautiful and I’m just blown away by the talent that these artisans have!

Erin McDonald - So thankful for Etsy! I think a benefit of COVID has been the desire to buy intentionally and support other small businesses. Every gift I get for clients or friends in the last two years or so has been from Etsy.

Elexa Martinez - My husband and I use Mint I really like and how it pulls data directly from our account to show us exactly how we are spending.

Elissa Tompkins - I really like how connected Mint is. I don't really have to worry about tracking anything.

Michael Lafears - This is a great financial tool to track your financial health

Mandi Pacer - I utilized this in Grad School and since starting a local business and it helps keep everything organized more efficiently rather than just on sticky notes.

Erin McDonald - I'm addicted to list-making and Trello is amazing. I actually prefer the desktop over the app and I even have a board with email drafts all nicely organized and can be expanded. I usually make an End Of Year board where I keep track of the tasks I want done by the end of the year.

Kristie Presten - This is fantastic for getting work done! The digital kanban style of keeping a Backlog and moving things over to "Do This Week", then "In Process" (for longer projects) and eventually "Done" keeps the process moving forward.

Amy Posner Wolff - Insight Timer is my favorite meditation app. I love all the options: guided, music, live, yoga, etc. there is community around the world. You can join for $20 a year and/or on donation basis. I'm on 70 consecutive days. I love it!

Allison H - Guided meditations and yoga - super helpful for getting to sleep.

Megan Popa - This is my favorite app for meditation! I use it every day. I typically just use the timer, which is customizable with different starting and stopping bells and everything. Plus thousands and thousands of unique guided meditations!

Elissa Tompkins - Khan Academy is an excellent learning application for my boys. It's very intuitive to their learning abilities and adjusts promptly to keep them on the right track.

Paula Claure - This app is amazing for kids, they have a lot of resources, they even have a lot of songs from super simple. We love to see how my little one learns about reading, math, logic, emotions etc. What I love too as a homeschooling mom is that they have a lot of printable so we can do them together. Th...

Allison H - Super powerful app - especially for how inexpensive it is.

Emily Law - Such a fun app to take my school notes in!!

Alyssa Nguyen - Great app for those just learning to draw and advanced artists! So many cool features and easy to use

Cindy Hawkins - I love using Shutterfly.

Susan Smith - If you are looking to make something special for a graduate this year, I highly recommend the Shutterfly books. They are pretty easy to do and the recipients have them for life. Great to celebrate a sports season!

Brooke Piszczor - Shutterfly is the top of my list for making family calendars at Christmas time to yearly memory books for our family library. I have purchased photo magnets for our fridge & so much more! They have great sales/discounts & personalized items around every corner.