With 2018 Coming to a Close, Here Are Our Favorite Apps of the Year

Published on: 04 January 2019 Last Updated on: 24 February 2020
favorite apps

Every year, people from all over the world download hundreds of billions of apps.

Which ones are actually worth giving up space on your phone or computer for, though? How do you know which apps you should download and which ones you should skip?

Read on to learn about some of our favorite apps of 2018. You can use this list to help you decide which apps to look into and which ones to pass on.

Google News:

Google News

Every day, we’re bombarded with news stories and it can be hard to keep everything straight. Even if you watch the news every day, you can still end up missing major events.

Google News is a great app that helps you keep up with the latest news stories. It’s well-designed and easy to navigate.

It also strikes a good balance between personalizing your news feed and showing your varying perspectives on popular topics.

Otter Voice Notes:

Otter Voice Notes

featured image: youtube.com

Do you hate typing out notes on your phone, computer, or tablet? Are you tired of looking for those little scraps of paper that have important pieces of information scribbled on them?

Try using voice memos instead. Otter Voice Notes is an app that uses AI to learn your voice and transcribe your voice memos so you can return to them later.

You can also go back and add notes and photos for context so your memos are easy to understand when you need them.

TikTok:

TikTok

featured image: saferinternet.org.uk

Apps don’t always have to be about function. There are plenty of fun apps that you ought to consider downloading.

One of the best apps of 2018 is TikTok. It may not have been developed in 2018, but TikTok made a major comeback this year.

This fun app is free to download and makes it easy for you to make all kinds of fun and hilarious videos with your friends and loved ones.

Hotspot Shield Free:

Hotspot Shield Free

featured image: phpnuke.org

Apps aren’t only for your phone and tablet. There are also some great apps out there that can help you stay organized and protected while using your computer.

Of all the Mac apps available on the app store, Hotspot Shield Free is one of the best. This is especially true if you frequently rely on public Wi-Fi.

Hotspot Shield Free is an app that secures your computer and internet browsing when you connect to the Wi-fi network in restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, and other public places. It allows you to choose the IP of a specific country and access services that might otherwise block you.

BuildFire:

BuildFire

featured image: problogbooster.com

Did you know there are apps out there designed to help an app creator make their own app?

If you’re interested in building your own app but aren’t sure how to do it, BuildFire is a great tool to have in your toolbelt.

BuildFire gives you the option to build your own app from scratch or work with a certified professional who will do all the heavy lifting for you. The choice is yours!

Adobe Premier Rush:

Want to edit videos on the go? If so, you need to download Adobe Premiere Rush today.

This app is easy-to-use and can handle multiple video clips at once. It offers all the same tools as a professional video editing software, but it’s intuitive and perfect for putting up high-quality videos.

You also don’t need to have the paid desktop version of this program to make use of the free mobile app. If you do have the paid version, though, you can sync it with the app to work on projects no matter where you are.

Asphalt 9 Legends:

Another fun app to download when boredom strikes is Asphalt 9 Legends. This game will take you back to your childhood arcade days, but with much better graphics.

This racing game is easy-to-master and features a realistic lineup. It’s the perfect game to play when you want to relax, zone out, and have some fun.

Filto:

There are tons of free photo editing apps out there, but they’re definitely not all created equal.

Filto is one of the best free photo editors that will let you add a variety of filters and effects to your photos and videos. It’s easy-to-navigate and provides you with both subtle and more extreme editing options.

Filto also lets you re-size photos and videos to the perfect aspect ratio.

1Password:

With reports of hacking coming out every day, password security is more important than ever before.

If you’re willing to pay to keep your passwords safe, consider downloading 1Password for your computer.

It’s not a cheap app by any means, but it allows you to create a master account for all your passwords and confidential information. As a result, you only have to remember one password instead of dozens or even hundreds.

This is an especially useful tool for those working in the corporate world.

Heimdall Parental Control:

Worried about your child’s mobile device usage? Now, you can use your own phone or tablet to exercise more control over what they use and how often they use it.

Heimdall Parental Control is an app that you install on both your child’s mobile device and your mobile device. Then, you can control various aspects of their usage. For example, you can block specific content or the installation of new apps.

Many of the features on this app are free. You can also pay for a premium version if you want even more control over what your child sees and how they use their particular device.

Want to Learn About More of Our Favorite Apps?

These are some of our favorite apps from 2018. But, there are lots of other great apps out there, including older programs that we use on a regular basis.

If you want to learn about other great apps, be sure to check out the technology section of our site today.

There are tons of helpful articles here that will teach all about the best personal and professional apps you ought to be using.

Read Also:

 

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Mac Apps

7 Essential Apps for Your Mac in 2020

Choosing applications for a new computer from Apple or updating a set of programs on an existing Mac or MacBook, the user always faces a choice. Buy expensive and fancy software or give preference to a free alternative? To choose something from novelties or to establish the programs checked by years? Use regular applications or look at third-party products? Read also: Best iPhone Spy Apps Without Jail Breaking Although Macs are natively well equipped with software and applications, it is not always possible to do what you want using only software built into Apple computers. Limitation in the playback of audio and video formats, or incompatibility of FaceTime with competing devices of the brand, find a list of the best Mac apps and essential software to install on your Mac. Here are 7 Essential Apps for Your Mac in 2020: 1. Safari: macOS natively embeds the Apple web browser safari. Connected to your iCloud account, it syncs your data easily between all your Apple devices. Discussions around which browser for Mac is better, most likely, will never be resolved. Computers Apple comes with a proprietary browser Safari-in it, users get such functions as Siri, payment with Apple Pay, video in the mode "picture in picture", the ability to turn off the sound right from the tab bar and others. Use this browser is convenient if you also use Apple mobile devices - bookmarks, browsing the history, tabs are synchronized by iCloud. 2. Hotspot Shield Free: For a comfortable and secure Internet browsing, it's worth looking closely at programs that help you manage connections. VPN-service Hotspot Shield Free will help to secure the computer when connecting to public Wi-Fi points. The application allows you to select the IP of the country you want to use, establish an automatic connection, and access services that can be blocked. The only downside - free of charge per day is provided up to 750 MB, for a greater amount of traffic through VPN will have to pay. 3. Sophos Home: Even if you know the basic rules of secure Internet browsing, installing an antivirus is still worthwhile in order to protect against accidental risks when working. One of the convenient free options will be Sophos Home. Antivirus protects against malicious software and phishing attacks, and also offers parental controls. It is noteworthy that the program records attempt to access web pages added to the blacklist. 4. 1Password: If you are willing to pay for the security of passwords, we recommend you try 1Password. For $81.41 the user gets the opportunity to install the application on 5 devices and use synchronization by Dropbox or iCloud. The advantage of the service is that it is possible to create a single master account for managing passwords and other confidential data - that is, in essence, you will only need to remember one password. However, the high cost makes it more suitable for working in the corporate environment than for personal use. 5. PDF Reader Pro Free: Most programs for working with PDF files on the Mac are paid, but a good free solution will be the program PDF Reader Pro Free. The application supports annotating files, tagging, filling out forms, and merging multiple PDF files into one or splitting one document into several. It is also important that the program allows you to convert PDF files to iWork, Microsoft Word, and a number of other formats. 6. Telegram: Facetime and iMessage installed on a Mac perform most of the tasks associated with communicating on a Mac, especially if iOS devices are used in parallel. However, their big drawback is in connection with Apple platforms, which limits communication with the owners of Android and Windows-devices. Therefore, it is worth installing a free cross-platform messenger for third-party developers on the Mac. Their choice is great - Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram, and so on. 7. Alfred: A regular application Spotlight can perfectly search for files on the Mac and execute fast commands, but if you do not like it for some reason, you can try the free application, Alfred. The program can quickly perform calculations, search the Internet, find any text, image, or file that you previously copied. The application is self-learning and gradually begins to give priority to results depending on the user's preferences. Read also:  Top 5 Digital Wallet Apps For Android Top Apps To Help You Manage Your Money

READ MOREDetails
Mobile App

How to Use Your Mobile App to Improve Your Trading

The markets are always moving. The 5 trillion a day currency markets are trading hands 6-days a week, 24-hours a day. Make use of a mobile app that can make things easier for you. Traders who want to keep abreast of price action need to pay attention to market changes, especially when the markets are volatile. The best way to keep on top of market movements is to use a mobile application. These applications have several tools that can help you make your trading decisions including educational tools and technical analysis. Test Drive a Mobile Application: Some of the best mobile application feels like you are using a desktop. The app performs in a way that allows you to quickly navigate the platform without having to stop and think about how to execute a trade or perform analysis. Before you start to rely on your broker’s mobile app, you should test drive the application using a demonstration account. A demo account allows you to trade capital that is no real. So, if you make a mistake it will not cost you any of your funds. Evaluate the Educational Aspects of a Mobile Application: One of the great benefits of a mobile application is the educational material evaluate on the app. This generally includes videos and access to articles that you can read while you are on the go. If you are waiting for an appointment or have a few minutes to spare, you can pull up the videos on your broker's mobile app and take a deep dive into different types of analysis that are offered on their mobile application. Using Technical Analysis: Some of the more sophisticated mobile applications provide technical analysis tools on their mobile application. This could include adding moving averages, adding momentum indicators or even oscillators. Some mobile application even provides you with the capability to draw trend lines. Its recommended that you spend some time testing your mobile app and performing some of the analysis that is offered with the mobile application. Not only can you develop new trading strategies with your mobile app, but you can also follow the markets and perform risk management using the technical analysis tools available on your mobile application. For example, you might have a stop loss level below the 50-day moving average, but without your mobile app, you would not be able to see if the price tumbled through the average or bounced. By using your mobile app, you can evaluate the trend in the market using technical analysis tools. Execute Trades: One of the issues that a forex trader can face is having the ability to execute a trade while you are on the go. This is where a mobile app can be a great tool. Not only can you perform the analysis you can execute trades wherever you have access to cellular communications. The markets are always moving. The 5 trillion a day currency markets are trading hands 6-days a week, 24-hours a day. Traders who want to keep abreast of price action need to pay attention to market changes, especially when the markets are volatile. The best way to keep on top of market movements is to use a mobile application. These applications have several tools that can help you make your trading decisions including educational tools and technical analysis. Read Also: Trading Contracts For Differences How To Open A Forex Account And Start Trading Forex Stock Forex Trading Wisdom: Talk Yourself Out Of Bad Trades Investing And Trading 101: Investment Ideas For Newbies Top 9 Forex Trading Tips For Beginners That Save You Money Securing Mobile App Development With Blockchain Technology

READ MOREDetails
Google Translation Accuracy

Pros and Cons on Google Translation Accuracy

Every person learning a new language through a class or instructor is told right from the beginning today not to use Google translator. It’s a powerful tool for a quick understanding of words or phrases written in another language, so many people think it’s also just as good for translating their language into something else. However, while the power of Google makes their translator fast and comprehensive, it’s also inaccurate. Unfortunately, instead of putting in the extra effort, a lot of students use Google anyways thinking it’s a viable shortcut. The tool gives them away because it is inherently incorrect from the perspective of a native speaker. And most language teachers tend to be native speakers. So, cheating gets caught very quickly and exposed, which is unfortunate. Students caught this way end up embarrassed, usually drop the class or try to get out of it, and then never try to learn a new language again. Another potential translator ends up lost to what never came to be. The Intention of Google Translate: As an online free tool, Google Translate was basically made available to help people find information. It’s consistent with Google’s general product delivery as a search engine. Used in that context, Google Translate works just fine. It carries the ability to roughly translate well over dozens of languages between each other and others. And that makes the tool particularly useful when just trying to understand content from a website or a message sent in another language. Even with the limitations of Google Translate, one can at least figure out what the message is basically trying to communicate. Google Translate also comes with other benefits as well: It’s free and has no cost to use. Just like Google’s search engine, Google Translate works just as easy to access. As long as one has Internet access, he or she can get to the tool through Google’s website, similar to other apps provided by the site. Google has made sure all of its tools work extremely fast with very strong online support. The only problem anyone will have will be based on their own bandwidth and Internet support. It can handle thousands of queries hitting it at the same time, and the tool can handle as much as is copied into it all day long. A typical translator at best moves about 2,000 words per day, fully translated. Google translate is able to adapt and evolve over time because it utilizes a statistical tool that lets the tool’s reference database grow with use and translations. This programmed approach creates matches between words between different languages which it then references again and again with future searches. The Downsides of Google Translate: The first big problem with the online translating tools is that meaning and the relationship to context are lost with Google’s software. It doesn’t know how to automatically sense, understand and build in context. As a result, anything that is even remotely structured or otherwise complex ends up looking like gibberish. The general message will be understood most of the time, but it won’t be anything close to being accurate. This kind of sloppy translating doesn’t happen with professional translators who are worth their salt. Google’s ability to translate is only as good as its database reference pairing words together. So, word for word, if the database has it, will match up. However, that still doesn’t help when one is trying to translate entire phrases or paragraphs correctly. The more common languages in the West tend to be stronger and better in terms of reference. Languages that are far more distant or less used will be harder or may even be non-existent in Google Translate. Google has a poor record when it comes to grammatical accuracy. Again, this comes from the fact that Google’s reference is only at the world level, not the phrase or sentence. As a result, it will frequently produce conversions that have serious sequence and grammar problems easily visible to the native speaker. Worse, Google doesn’t have anything built-in that can fix translation errors, even when identified. There’s no button one clicks on to tell Google the translation is wrong and how it should be fixed. Without that feedback loop, the Translate tool can’t improve on its own. How Google Translate Should be Used: For the average person, Google Translate works very well just to get a basic idea of what someone or a website might be saying in another language. It provides a user a quick understanding. However, there is no place for Google Translate in the professional translating world. It fails even a basic translation passing level. On the road or traveling, Google Translate mobile can be handy as well just to figure out a quick phrase in a pinch. But for essay and document work, it should be avoided. For these types of translations, your best option will still be to hire a professional translation agency. Read Also: What Should my Content Cover to Rank on Google? How To Use Google Ads To Your Advantage The Basics on Google Local Algorithm

READ MOREDetails