There are 2 ways to deal with your New Year resolutions. You can either try to progress using books, pen, and paper or just download an app and do everything twice as effectively. No matter what your goal is, there is an app for that on the App Store or Google Play. We selected 8 top-rated smartphone applications from different categories that will help you to get fitter, healthier, to deal with stress, get tons of inspiration, and learn something new. Open the app store on your device and get ready to download them!

1. Happify – Be More Optimistic

As you can assume from the app’s name, it’s goal is to make you happier. Happify is based on unique meditational games designed to keep your mind away from negative thinking. Regular use of Happify can help you learn to deal with stress proactively, reduce anxiety levels, and boost the overall happiness rate. It includes higher optimism and self-evaluation. The app’s design lets you record your progress using the mood scale and move towards your life goals with better thoughts. You can get Happify on the App Store and Google Play for a $14.95 monthly subscription fee.

2. Calm – Meditate on The Go

The Calm app is another stress-reduction assistant that can help you to relax before going to bed or to concentrate on your current tasks to accomplish them faster. The Calm method includes various meditations and mindfulness exercises with descriptive guides. If you are facing mild sleeping issues, try Calm’s sleep stories to chill down and fall asleep faster. If you have some important work that requires concentration, go to Calm’s music library. It features unique soundscapes for concentration to help you focus. 

Together with NBA experts and the team’s absolute star LeBron James, Calm team developed a Mental Fitness course that’s focused on relaxing meditations. You can download the app on Google Play and the App Store. The monthly fee is $14.99. 

3. Duolingo – Pay to Learn Languages

Duolingo is one of the most effective free language-learning services ever and also the biggest of all. The mobile version of the service provides 27 complete language courses. The list includes the widely used languages and many smaller languages, including Greek, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish, Hawaiian, and many others. 

The entire learning experience is based on immersive language games. They include gamified listening, writing, spelling, and other exercises. The minimalistic interface makes interacting with the app simple and effective, letting you concentrate on the material. According to scientific research that involved regular users and students who don’t use Duolingo showed that daily users could learn much faster than students in classes. If you want to try it, get Duolingo for free on Google Play or the App Store. The ad-free version will cost you $6.99 per month, but ads are not too annoying. 

4. Vanido – Sing & Relax

Vanido developers are avid researchers of shower singers! They figured out that people who sing regularly usually have a better mood and fewer destress episodes during the year. And you don’t have to be a pro to benefit too! Just sing along and enjoy yourself. 

However, if your heart seeks for a clearer tone, you can download Vanido and hone your skills. The app is designed to help you learn something new about music every day and use your gadget as a microphone. Vanido features a bunch of singing quests that are aimed to teach you to feel the timing and the true pitch. The free version of Vanido provides you with 3 free lessons per day. If you want to unlock everything from the start, prepare $39.99 to buy a year subscription. 

5. TED App – Smart Talks

Over the last decade, TED Talk has become a voice of innovations and progressive thoughts. The show hosts politics, engineers, social activists, Now you can watch recordings from the show not only on YouTube but through the dedicated TED app too. It’s a totally free service that provides you with direct access to thousands of exciting that cover a wide range of topics. Unlike the YouTube channel, the app is supplied with real-time subtitles in 20 languages, including English for foreign language learners. You can get the app for free on the App Store and Google Play for free and without ads. 

6. The Sculpt Society by Megan Roup – Shape Up

Similarly to language courses, personal fitness training costs a small fortune. Luckily, you can save your money and stream lessons online with The Sculpt Society by Megan Roup. The app includes a library of workout classes that take from 5 to 50 minutes to complete. The exercises include a lot of dancing for cardio activity and short classes for charging up or pumping up separate groups of muscles. The Sculpt Society by Megan Roup experience is available for $19.99 per month on the App Store.

7. Aaptiv – Audio Workouts

While the previous app offers you to watch how to work out, Aaptiv will provide you with audio guides. It lets you practice several sports, including yoga, elliptical, running, and even boxing. No matter how experienced you are in each of these disciplines, Aaptiv can be both simple and draining if you want. The monthly price of this app for Android and iOS users if $9.99.

8. Google Keep – To-Do Lists

Google Keep is a simple to-do notepad that lets you synchronize all your notes on multiple devices. In Google Keep, you can make short notes and create notifications to follow your daily plans and accomplish everything in time. It’s a single list, available for all platforms that you use for work. Besides, you can share memos with your colleagues and family members!

Your Turn

Now that you know a bunch of new apps, you have nothing to do but to download at least one and start developing. They’re so easy to take and use, so why not try? Which of the apps on the list will you get first? Or maybe you’re using some of them already? Join the conversation in the comments and share the list with people you know to give them an idea of how to get better too!