25 Best Apps for College Students: Productivity, Studying, Learning & More

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Here’s our list of the best apps for college students:

Best Apps for University Productivity

1. Todoist

Todoist is my favorite everyday tool, and I’m not alone: over 10 million people use this to-do checklist app for staying on top of things and keeping up their productivity. It’s a to-do list, sure, but it’s so much more than that. You can create different projects, add tags, due dates, reminders, and teammates, get daily and weekly progress reports, and integrate it with multiple apps you probably already have, such as Dropbox and Amazon Alexa.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android • Chrome (ext.) • Windows 10 • macOS

2. Evernote

Evernote, at its very heart, is a note-taking app. But it’s a note-taking app on steroids, to be honest. With the ability to create multiple notebooks for different college classes, sync across devices, share and collaborate with classmates, save images, take voice notes, and much more, it’s really a perfect app for university students to stay organized and productive.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android • Windows 10

Related Read: 15+ Free Online Learning Platforms & Tools to Use to Study From Home

3. Trello

Trello can be used by anyone for anything, and that includes college students for college-y tasks, as well! I’ve used it myself to organize my writing tasks in an easy-to-comprehend kanban layout. People also use it to renovate their homes, organize upcoming travel itineraries, and even to plan their weddings! You can use Trello to create as many boards as you want, populate each board with different lists and individual tasks, collaborate with your classmates, and even integrate it with other apps, including Google Calendar and Slack.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

4. Forest

I’ve seen a lot of people use this simple app, and it makes sense. If you’re looking to stay focused but need some gamification to follow through, Forest is the best app for you. The gist is this: when you’re ready to focus, you plant a tree seed. Then as you work, your tree begins to grow. If you can work all the way until it grows into a big, strong tree, hurray! If you check your phone to see Facebook or Instagram, your tree dies. It’s a great way to help you undo the constant phone-checking habit we’ve all succumbed to.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: 18 Types of Scholarships to Explore for Your College Needs

5. Google Drive

We all already have the Google Office Suite with our Gmail addresses for free, which already give it an advantage. But, with its super-powerful and seamless collaboration features on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps, it’s easier than ever to work on group assignments with classmates. When you’re done for the day, save it to a shared folder on Google Drive where everyone and your professor can access it.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Top Classroom Organization & Study Apps

6. MyStudyLife

MyStudyLife is one of the best apps for college students looking to take control of their lectures, classes, homework assignments, exams, and more. With a gorgeously designed mobile and web interface, you can plan your weekly schedules, get important reminders, create to-do lists, and keep everything synced across multiple devices.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: 10+ Tips on How to Stay Healthy Studying From Home

7. iStudiez Pro

iStudiez Pro is a favorite app among college students for its wide variety of features. There are live tiles and alarms to keep you on top of upcoming assignments, a classroom and college planner, university grade tracker, and a digest to get all your information as an overview at one glance. On top of those features, it has one of the best homework planners available on the market, with the ability to set priority levels, due dates, and even how much weight it carries towards your overall grade!

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android • Windows 10 • macOS

8. Cheatography

Not an app to help you cheat! Cheatography is all about cheat sheets, and with more than 3,500 of them available in a variety of subjects, they’re sure to have one for you. Whether you’re studying computer science, business and marketing, or sociology, Cheatography has plenty of cheat sheets to make your study sesh a breeze. And, if you can’t find one you’re looking for, help the next student by creating a cheat sheet and submitting it to the site!

Find this app on these app stores: Web Only

Related Read: Scholarships 101: Everything Students Need to Know About Getting a Scholarship

9. Habitica

Are you struggling under the weight of your various college tasks and responsibilities? Habitica makes it easy to manage your daily college to-do list, life goals, and your everyday habits with a gamified experience for fun. Use it to prepare for university reports, group assignments, and other college tasks and keep track of them effectively as you progress towards the finish line.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

10. Adobe Scan

As a college student these days, you’re probably used to everything digital and accessible from your smartphone or university laptop. Unfortunately, perhaps your university isn’t so up to date with their learning material and documents. Adobe Scan lets you easily capture documents as a handheld scanner, fixes them up, and lets you save them as digitized files. If there’s a large whiteboard equation you want to save for later, you can take multiple pictures, stitch them together, and save them all as a single, seamless PDF. On top of that, its powerful OCR engine recognizes text in images, making searching a breeze.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: 25+ Studying From Home Tips for Productivity and Success

Best Mindfulness, Meditation & Mind Mapping Apps for College Students

11. XMind

XMind is a full-featured app for creating mind maps that are easy on the eyes. The Outliner feature helps you organize various facts, ideas, and thoughts floating around your mind, while the theme editor lets you view everything in a way that’s personalized just for you. Also, if you’re not sure how to get started with mapping your mind, there is an entire mind map gallery with templates you can download for free!

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

12. Headspace

Headspace is the top mindfulness app for college students, with plenty of guided exercises, meditations for relaxation and calming, helpful videos, breathing exercises, and much more. For college students, it’s perfect for any time of day, with wake-up sessions, stress release and motivation boosters throughout the day, and sleeping aids to help you get a great night’s rest before your next busy day at university.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: 15 Books to Read Before College

13. SimpleMind

More than 8 million people around the world use SimpleMind, one of the best cross-platform mind mapping apps for college students and young professionals.With SimpleMind, you can create multiple mind maps on one page, page size is unlimited, and you can even add images, video, and voice memos to take things to the next level.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

14. Stop, Breathe & Think

Stop, Breathe & Think is one of the best meditation and mindfulness apps for university students. It’s got a fun design and powerful features, such as emotional check-ins, personalized recommendations, breathing timers, and more. Keep track of your emotional progress in the app and explore dozens of other activities to help you grow, broaden your perspective, and find peace during your stressful college life.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: 25+ Books for College Students to Read

15. Spotify

Everyone’s familiar with Spotify, and you likely are already a subscriber. However, it’s more than just music and recommendations. From study playlists to help you get in the zone to nature sounds to lull you to sleep, Spotify has it all. With their growing podcast library, you can even follow educational programs to give you that edge at school or in your professional life.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Top Learning Apps for University Students

16. Quizlet

Quizlet takes old-school flashcards, modernized them, and digitized them to make for one of the best learning apps for university students. There are flashcards to help you study, learn new languages, practice for tests alone or with your classmates, and even games to test your level of comprehension.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: How to Use Goodwall’s Web Profile to Score a Scholarship & Get Into Uni

17. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha knows everything about almost anything. Powered by a powerful computational engine with expert data points in its database and tweaked algorithms, it can give you comprehensive answers to your questions. If you want 3D molecular models, domain-specific measurements (e.g., shipping container dimensions, tracheal tube size), biographical data on past government leaders, or advanced mathematical formulas, this is the tool for you.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

18. Brainly

Brainly is a complete online community for students to help each other with tasks, learning, and studying. Whether it’s mathematics, history, chemistry, or another school subject, college students can use this app to get the answers and support they’re looking for, a crowdsourced information portal, so to speak.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

19. Duolingo

Duolingo is one of the best language learning apps available, and you can use it completely free to practice 35+ languages. Whether you want to brush up on your Spanish, challenge yourself with Hungarian Magyar, or learn Klingon before the San Diego Comic-Con, Duolingo has it. With fun gamification, intermittent quizzes, and motivational tools, it’ll have you speaking a second or third language in no time. 

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

20. Dictionary.com

I love Dictionary.com and its sister site, Thesaurus.com, and their app is just as awesome. I subscribe to their word of the day, keep up with their blogs on grammar, slang, and writing, and save words for later use in my articles. 

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Other Great Apps for College Students

21. Mint

Are you looking for an app that lets you budget and track your expenses while in college? Mint is the right app for you. Put out by Intuit, makers of the popular TurboTax software, Mint has features to help you with every aspect of budgeting for college life. Link your various bank accounts to get a single dashboard of everything in one place, set limits and alerts to help you stay on track, and get expert tips on how to best manage your spending habits.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Related Read: 15+ Easy Ways on How to Save Money in College

22. Brain.fm

I only recently discovered Brain.fm, but it’s been so helpful that I’ve purchased a subscription, so I definitely recommend it as one of the best apps for college students, young professionals, and anyone else looking for soothing sounds for work, sleep, or mindfulness. Brain.fm is all about functional music, using science-backed methods and proven approaches to produce sounds that enhance your ability to sleep, relax, meditate, and focus. There are various environments for each mood, from beach sounds to the pitter-patter of raindrops, all interlaced with melodic tunes to create soundscapes that work.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

23. Circle of 6

Circle of 6 is a great safety app for college students, perfect if you’re walking home from the school library late at night or walking through an unknown neighborhood after a night out with friends. The app connects you with six nearby friends, and keeps them just a tap away for any situation you’re in. If you need an interruption from someone harassing you at the bar or you are feeling depressed, you can hit the appropriate button and get your friends to provide the assistance you need. There are even special hotlines to call for every need, including Spanish-language assistance, LGBTQ guidance, and more.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android (Update: app seems to be removed from app stores at the moment!)

24. Sworkit

During your college years, you’re busy cramming for exams and trying to make it through lectures without falling asleep. For many of you, the only real exercise you might get is by running from one class to another. Sworkit is a great way to stay on top of your fitness routine, whether you are looking to lose weight, build muscle, increase your endurance, improve your flexibility, or just stay fit overall. There are a variety of workout plans to choose from with 400+ unique workouts and 800+ different exercises.

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

25. Goodwall

Last but not least, it’s us!

Goodwall is the perfect app for college students because it’s an app built specifically for students, young professionals, and entrepreneurs. Join over 1.4 million people from 150+ countries around the world to give and receive support, ask and answer questions, build meaningful relationships, find inspiration, gain recognition, showcase your achievements, and so much more.

Also, on the Goodwall Blog, you’ll find tons of helpful tips and guides to help you through your university years and advice for starting your first jobs once you’re out!

Find this app on these app stores: iOS • Android

Well, that’s all for now on our list of best apps for college students, and we hope you’ve found several that will help you! Got any questions, feedback, or other great college apps to add to our list? Let us know below in the comments section, and thanks for reading!