10 apps that are changing our lives

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Lifehacker employees share mobile services that help turn chaos into order, meet people and find interesting places while traveling.

1. Notion

Notion is a cross-platform service with a bunch of tools that replaces most of the task managers and note-taking. The application will help organize a single space for any data and will save those who are tired of being torn between shopping lists, work tasks and free notes in different programs.

Notion is an all-in-one harvester: tasks, calendars, lists, databases. I had a big problem with databases for a long time. You need to collect a lot, a lot of information on different topics, but every time something goes wrong and everything is lost. And last year I discovered Notion and was able to calm the chaos. Now I store everything there: from articles to examples for courses. The only thing left to do is to wait for the Clipper for Safari, and in general I won't get out of there.

2. TripAdvisor

One of the must-have travel apps for reviews of cafes, restaurants, attractions and accommodations. The service database contains millions of reviews, and you can use it in any tourist country.

Tonya Rubtsova Author

I love the TripAdvisor app. On any trips, I choose a cafe through it: I read reviews, look at pictures of dishes. Okay, the menu and prices can be found on the website. But only TripAdvisor will tell you that in this cafe, tourists are ripped off like sticky, adding a 30% tip to the bill, and in another - they bring cold food and are rude. Or, conversely, that the hospitable host pours home wine for free. In the era without TripAdvisor, on vacation, you had to go from cafe to cafe, see what kind of cuisine there was and whether you could afford it. Now - set geolocation, set filters with preferences, read reviews - and you immediately know where to go! Fire! I often write reviews myself in the app. For example, recently in a village on the Italian-Swiss border we were charged an additional 2 euros for ordering one pizza for two. Pizza cutting tax! Of course, the TripAdvisor community was immediately alerted to this egregious case.

3. Trello

A task manager based on the kanban system. This concept involves arranging tasks in cards, cards in columns, and columns on boards. The service is suitable for both multi-user projects and for monitoring the execution of personal everyday affairs.

Yuri Nikityuk Creator

Now I remember to buy certain products in the store and I always know what I have to do today. Trello helps me break down the chronology of work, where I should start and where I should end. Previously, I led the boards alone, now my girlfriend is connected, and she already sets me tasks in the cards.

4. Pocket

Cross-platform lazy read service. Bookmarks in Pocket can be marked with tags - this will help you not to get confused in the saved pages.

Pasha Prokofiev Author

For too long I could not decide between Safari and Chrome and used one or the other browser. First of all, my bookmarks suffered from this strange war: I simply did not know where exactly I had saved the last unread article. The fight ended in a draw: I use Chrome on my computer, and Safari on my iPhone. This means that the problem with bookmarks would not have been solved if not for Pocket. It's a lazy read service with a handy Chrome extension, and it's easy to add a link to it from mobile Safari. Now the entire directory is stored in one place, I go to it through the application on the iPhone and through a separate page in the computer browser. It is very convenient.

Pocket Mozilla Corporation

5. Tinder

The most famous online dating service for geolocation, which offers to mark with swipes those who you liked. If in response they swipe you, then a "match" will occur, and you will be able to continue communication and make an appointment.

Alexander Somov Art Director

Once upon a time, a good friend of mine started using Tinder, and we all trolled him, said that he was a bastard. But later he found a wife like that. My two serious relationships started with this app. With him, a new layer of fun and meeting people came into my life. Dating apps are great. In the future, we will all find each other only in them.

6. Uber

One of the most popular taxi services in the world and the main competitor of Yandex. Taxi and Citymobil in Russia. It is easy to mark the point of departure and destination in the mobile application, and waiting for a car lasts from a couple of minutes. You can pay for the trip with a card.

Sergey Neuman Sales Manager

The taxi apps led by Uber have completely killed me from buying my own car. Combining taxi and metro rides is much more convenient and economical than servicing a car. In addition, having your own car is a waste of time and additional costs for paid parking.

Previously, to order a car, you had to call the dispatcher and wait a long time. Uber has revolutionized the situation. Now I call a taxi, closing the door, and at the exit from the house a car is already waiting for me.

Uber - Book a Ride Uber Technologies, Inc.

7. Telegram

Favorite messenger of the Lifehacker edition. Its ecosystem with thousands of channels on various topics, useful bots and bottomless storage in Saved Messages - all this turns Telegram from just a convenient messenger with crazy sticker packs into a universal machine for performing a number of tasks.

Pavel Fedorov Chief Editor

I have been using Telegram every day since its release. Usually a messenger is a story about "writing a shopping list and chatting with friends." For me, Telegram is a lifestyle. Here work, communication with family and friends, business, databases, reference books, and very soon, it seems, also money.

Probably, if they put a gun to my head and made me leave only one third-party application on my smartphone, I would leave Telegram, because it can replace many, many other things. If you know how to use it.

Telegram Telegram FZ-LLC

Telegram Telegram FZ-LLC

8. Google Maps

A mapping service from Google will report traffic jams, help you find places based on reviews and, if necessary, download the desired part of the map for use without the Internet. And Google Maps also has a street view mode so you won't get lost with it.

Oksana Zapevalova Editor

When smartphones were not yet available, a trip to an unfamiliar city was a real challenge for me. I found it difficult to navigate and constantly asked for directions from the locals - unnecessary nerves and a waste of time.

With the advent of smart phones and Google Maps, everything has changed. You just plan the route and follow the prompts of the application. You especially appreciate this opportunity abroad, where a language barrier is added to the spatial disorientation. But, to be honest, in my hometown, I also sometimes resort to using the program. It's good that now you don't have to take a steam bath, wherever you are. Thanks google!

Google Maps - Transport & Food Google LLC

Google Maps Google LLC

9. Yandex. Music

A streaming service that provides access to all the world's music on a monthly subscription. One of the advantages is advanced individual playlists, which are compiled depending on user preferences.

Yuri Nikityuk Creator

I used to look for new groups through VKontakte publics, now I press one button and turn on a playlist consisting of cool new products. Each like of a track brings the algorithms of the service closer to the ideal, since on their basis it ranks all other performers. I use Yandex. Music all the time: I turn on electronics in Radio and concentrate on work tasks.

Yandex. Music and podcasts Yandex LLC

Yandex. Music and Podcasts Yandex Apps

10. Quick commands

An iOS application that adds something like hotkeys to a special widget - buttons that the system uses to perform a sequence of actions. Many ready-made commands are contained in the service library, others can be made by yourself or downloaded from the Internet.

Pasha Prokofiev Author

I started using this service before Apple bought it and it was called Workflow. This is a special thing for creating macros on iOS - sequential algorithms that perform some useful action. Here are a few commands that I added: "Turn on the alarm clock" (sets four alarms), "Coffee timer" (triggers after 2 minutes - about how much coffee is brewed in a Turk), "Music timer" (stops playing tracks after 15 minutes), Play Playlist (plays songs from a special selection) and Call Mom. Each of the commands works by pressing one button in the application widget.

Apple Quick Commands