Smart Phone Applications for Women
By: Kirstin Kennedy
I, like most of the connected world, am obsessed with my Smart Phone. It is my alarm clock, my note pad, my music player, and, of course, my communication device. Smart Phones, by their very nature, are practical because they keep us constantly connected to business, clients, friends and family. And while they’re great at keeping us organized (life’s never ending mission, right?), there’s no reason why we can’t enjoy all this clever technology too. There is a plethora of apps available to make us seemingly smarter, more organized and efficient women, which is an absolute necessity in this fast paced world we live.
I found the following apps through the Apple Application Store, however many of them are also available and compatible for Android phones. The best thing about downloading applications on Smart Phones is the access to free apps. Some of the most practical and fun applications are free or cost under two dollars each. They will stay on your phone for as long as you want them to and will update for free when the software develops further.
Apple breaks down their applications into twenty different categories: games, entertainment, utilities, social networking, music, productivity, lifestyles, reference, travel, sports, navigation, healthcare & fitness, news, photography, finance, business, education, weather, books, and medical. From these categories, the Apple Store provides options to view the Top Paid, Top Free, and Release Date, which provides the projected dates for new apps before they come out. This makes the store simple to browse and easy to find exactly what you are looking for.
There are apps out there that are fit to fix your lifestyle. The “P Tracker,” a free Apple application, does just that for women. Before I got my Smart Phone I never remembered to track my menstrual cycle, but now, “P Tracker” does that for me. All you have to do is tap the front page on the first day of your period as well as the last, and the application will outline your projected fertile period, ovulation date and expected period time. The application will track it on the calendar so that you are never again left calculating what is going on with your cycle.
“P Tracker” will also allow you to answer questions, each day, about how you feel. By filling out your symptoms of that day you can become more aware of what is going on in your body and when. All you do is fill out symptoms and levels of achiness, backaches, bloating, body aches, cramps, spotting, headaches, neck aches, and tenderness of breasts. Also, for each day, you can choose your mood — from angry, calm, depressed, flirty, happy, and sad. For me, this application has been a total relief. It makes me much more comfortable when it comes to planning and managing the chaos of “Mother Nature”.
Another great, not to mention free, application is “Nike Training.” This workout app is intense. Enter the app and choose workouts between getting lean, toned, strong, or focused. Within each section, you choose from beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Even the beginner section forces you to work really hard with the help of a trainer. The app provides over 70 different workouts with a trainer and your choice of music. After every completed workout, you unlock a certain amount of points for which you can open new workouts, healthy recipes, and more training advice. This makes sweating fun. This app gets my absolute approval. Doing the 30-45 minute workout really refreshes my daily mood.
After you workout, eating obviously comes next. Well, there’s a free app for that too. The AllRecipes Dinner Spinner answers the daily query “What do I make for dinner” that you plague yourself with around five o’clock. The app provides three categories: Dish Type, Ingredients, and Preparation Time. The combinations are always tasty. When the combination of the three comes up, the app displays the matches from AllRecipes’ website. It is a really fun way to find new recipes. Best of all, the recipes provide you with all of the nutrition information that goes into the meal.
A great supplement to the Dinner Spinner is the “Mixology” app. Similar to the spinner, “Mixology” makes different cocktails and mixed drinks based on what you are looking for at any given moment. This is especially cool because you can pull it out any time that you are in the mood for a new concoction. I also recommend it when planning a party because it provides you with such a variety of ideas and combinations.
Something that is really fun to have on your phone is your Netflix or HBO account. Through these two free applications, you can watch what you want — when and where you want. Because of the 3G Network, Smart Phones are always connected to these resources. I love it when the internet at my apartment goes out and I can still use my Netflix account. Of course, the applications are only free if you already have an account with the two companies and pay their separate monthly fees.
Another great general thing about the apps is that they connect you to the world. The NPR app is a great way to listen to podcasts provided by the network from all over the country. All other major news apps are often free as well. These news sources provide you with breaking news updates and anything else that you would find on the main website. Facebook and Twitter apps are free as well and are easy to use.
New applications for Smart Phones are always developing. There are so many apps all designed to keep you healthy, happy, and best of all, organized. Have a great app that you want us to know about? Post here and tell us what you love about it!
Kirstin Kennedy, an undergraduate English major at the University of Pittsburgh, is an A&E staff writer for the Pitt News and the business coordinator for the Pitt Writers Club.