5 Healthy Apps for Your Phone
Written By: Taylor Rao
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If you feel like your smartphone is attached to the palm of your hand, you’re not alone. And while sometimes, you can justify the time spent scrolling in the name of work, research or planning, let’s face it –a lot of times our phone usage comes out of habit, and isn’t always being used to benefit our overall health.
According to Reid Health, adults should limit screen time outside of work to two hours per day, and that the average adult spends somewhere around 11 hours per day on their phone or device. So, step one might be to limit time on your phone, but perhaps there is also an opportunity to skip the time spent on social media and replace it with the use of smartphone apps that are good for you.
When it’s time to take a break from social media apps, you can set a daily time limit on your phone to manage your access without cutting off use completely. And then, in that downtime, you can visit a variety of different mobile apps that are working to support your brain function, make you smile, and improve your overall daily life. Here are 5 apps that are a healthier alternative for your daily dose of screen time on your phone.
BeReal
Cost: Free
BeReal is a social media app, but it doesn’t function the way your Facebook and Instagram feeds do. BeReal was designed with the idea of minimizing endless scrolling, and being able to view real moments from your friends’ lives versus the often curated, picture perfect posts you see on other apps.
Once a day, the BeReal app will notify you that it’s time to take your daily photo. You only have one chance to take the picture before time runs out, which means no matter what you’re doing at the moment, it’s time to capture what is going on in your world at that time. You could be folding laundry, dripping sweat from a dog walk or in the middle of meal prep, but it doesn’t matter! Your real friends will appreciate you keeping it real.
And plus, once you’ve viewed your friends' BeReal photos for the day, that’s it. There’s a promise of no more content or a feed of excess photos beyond the daily limit.
Calm
Cost: $69.99 yearly subscription
Calm is credited with being “the world’s healthiest app,” and has over 2.5 million 5-star reviews on the app store. This app is dedicated to all things mental health and can assist you with meditation, sleep, and more. You can download mindful music to assist in providing positive energy while you work or work out, or you can listen to bedtime stories or words of advice from mindfulness teachers.
Instead of feeling FOMO when you scroll through social apps, Calm allows you to feel supported throughout the struggles you’re facing, and provides words of affirmation that will remind you to keep going, focus on the positive parts of life and to put your physical and mental health first.
TRY DRY
Cost: Free
TRY DRY: The Dry January app is an app developed across the pond in the UK that has made its way stateside for all the right reasons. Initially designed to help folks stay on track with their ‘Dry January’ goals. TRY DRY is a way to track your progress in staying alcohol-free –whether it’s for a week, a month, or even longer.
You can set different goals for yourself that revolve around how you’d like to change your relationship with alcohol, from cutting down drinking during the week, to complete a streak of a sober month or to limit the amount of drinks you have in one sitting. The app will cheer you on and reward you with progress badges along the way, taking the stigma out of staying sober and encouraging you to forge a healthier path (and one that will put some money back in your wallet, too.)
Good News Network
Cost: Free
How many times have you felt impacted mentally by negative news media? Sometimes, it feels like all of the news coming out of the world has a dark tone to it, and it can be difficult to simply look away and not let the negativity creep into your own life.
If you don’t want to tune out from the news completely, download the Good News Network app on your smartphone. This is a media outlet dedicated to sharing positive, uplifting stories to boost your spirits rather than tear them down. When you read something that makes you feel good, chances are you’ll want to spread that positivity with someone you love and keep the happy news train going.
Lumosity Brain Training
Cost: $14.99 per month
This app is a popular brain training program, which offers opportunities to improve your brain flexibility through a variety of games ranging from science-related topics to math, languages and more. Reviews say these games are both challenging and fun, and participants vow that cognitive ability increased after spending time on the app.
Examples of games you can find in the Luminosity Brain Training program include one called ‘Trouble Brewing’ where you are tasked with filling multiple coffee orders at once from a busy coffee shop and another game called ‘Train of Thought’ where you are responsible for guiding a number of different trains to their respective train stations.
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