Now that you’re in college, it’s time to leave the iPhone bubble wrap app and other gimmicky noisemakers behind. If you own an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you can get ahead of the game with some of the most productive apps around. This list of twenty-five essential free — yes, free — iPhone apps for college students provides you with an edge.
The list below is categorized by organization, productivity, tools to stay in touch both on and off campus, and some money management apps. Each link is listed alphabetically within those categories and leads either to the Apple App store download or to a trusted site where you can gain access to the apps.
Organization
- EasyTask Manager: This app can be run on Mac or Windows, and you can sync multiple computers with EasyTask on your iPhone. Create lists that show you what is due, overdue and completed.
- Evernote: if you are familiar with Evernote, you know that you can use this site to take notes, create lists, search through images and share your documents. This app is seamlessly synchronized across all the devices and platforms you use, including Evernote for Mac, Evernote Web, and Evernote for Windows.
- SugarSync: No matter if you use a Mac, PC or both, SugarSync allows you to access all of the files on any of your computers without having a single file stored on your iPhone. This app works in tandem with SugarSync desktop software (Mac or PC) which securely backs up your files online and makes them available to you via your iPhone or iPod Touch. Desktop software comes with a thirty-day free trial.
Productivity
- Dictionary.com: The favorite online dictionary is available now for your iPhone and iPod touch. The app takes several minutes to install over a connection; however, once downloaded, you gain access to reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com including more than 275,000 definitions and 80,000 synonyms.
- gFlash+ Flashcards & Tests: Create flashcards from notes and share them with friends using any two-column Google Spreadsheet. Use text, images, foreign language characters and more to create sets that can help you learn anything from chemistry to zoology.
- Instapaper Free: Save Web pages for offline reading. Great for long articles and blog posts that you find during the day and would like to read, but don’t have the time when you find them.
- Stanza: This ebook reader is touted as one of the best around, and it’s free to download to your iPhone and iPod Touch. Use it to download from a selection of over 100,000 books and periodicals and read them on your phone.
- StudyBlue: When paired with a free StudyBlue.com account, users can take their notes, flashcards and other study materials with them wherever they go.
- Ultimate Thesaurus: Enter any word to get synonyms, antonyms, related and similar words.
- Verbatim 1.1: Verbatim uses a simple approach to help you memorize texts word for word. Use this app to help memorize monologues, poems, presentations, scripts, speeches and more (great idea for your PhD dissertation final defense!).
Stay in touch
- Facebook: Stay connected with this app, which provides the same functions you find on Facebook on your desktop. Use your iPhone to start a conversation with Facebook Chat, check your friends’ latest photos and status updates, look up a phone number, or upload your own mobile photos to Facebook while on the go.
- Free Wi-Fi Finder: JiWire’s Global FREE Wi-Fi app uses your iPhone’s GPS and network triangulation capabilities to locate free Wi-Fi Internet access anywhere in the world.
- Google Mobile: This link leads to everything Google for your mobile phone, including search, maps, Gmail, YouTube and the new Google Buzz.
- iLicious: Retrieve all your favorite links, browse bookmarks, tags, network and view your inbox and subscriptions for Delicious with this free app.
- LinkedIn: Get your professional network on now, well before you enter the workforce or start a career. This social networking site can provide you with a safety net and an open door to interviews if you work it right. Get the latest updates and messages from your network and keep them up-to-date with your status in real-time.
- Skype: Download this free app to make free Skype-to-Skype calls from any WiFi zone. See who is online, and send and recive instant messages on the go.
- TweetDeck: This app can prove to be your mobile browser for staying in touch with both Twitter and Facebook. Create groups, search Twitter, manage multiple accounts and post away. Add location to your tweets and sync your existing TweetDeck columns with your desktop.
Off Campus
- Eventful: Learn about events near you, including the names on the venues. Get email event alerts tailored to your interests and use the iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s location awareness to locate events near you.
- Pandora Radio: Want to relax? Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it. Pandora on the iPhone is fully integrated with Pandora on the Web.
- TripIt Travel Organizer: TripIt Travel Organizer puts all your travel plans right on your iPhone no matter where your travel was booked. Share your itinerary with friends, family and colleagues on TripIt, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- YPmobile: With millions of local directory listings and event listings nationwide, you can count on this app to find the most popular businesses, services and events near you or wherever you’re going.
Money Management
- BigWords: Use this free app to compare all the best textbook stores at once. You may find the cheapest textbook deals on the planet with this tool.
- Carpool Calculators: Ridesearch.com offers free calculators that can help you to create a carpool, determine how much money you could save in gas by carpooling and to see how much money you would owe on one carpool trip.
- ClearCheckBook: Manage your finances on the go with this free app. Create an online account first (free) and synch your iPhone entries to your Web account. Never bounce a check again, and create categories and budgets to recognize your current limitations.
- Local Gas Prices: LocalGas.info provides accurate & up to the minute gas prices for USA and Canada. Compare the best rates for gas any time of the day.