As the year rushes by (as every year before did and every year since will), I was reflecting how addicted to my phone I have become. Rather than reduce my use of the phone to focus on real life, I decided to list the top ten apps that made my phone that much more addictive and tons more useful. Some of these apps are not new but they continue to be indispensable for me (excluding social media apps here):

1. Since I can’t remember everyone’s birthday, nor will I ever attempt to, the “Birthdays” apps helps me to be the good friend that I am without using much brain power to ensure I wish the right people happy birthday at the right time. It imports some of the lists (like outlook) directly but you can manually add birthdays as you go (and as you figure them out) and never worry about remembering them again. It’s free and easy to use without the ad overdose syndrome.
2. “101 Juicing”; I went through my juicing detox phase years ago, but since then I do the random juicing and this app helps sort them by ingredient and type, very useful. A small upfront fee to pay (one time) very user friendly and easy to navigate.
3. “30 Day Fitness Challenge” gives you muscle toning exercise with tutorials to do them properly and timers all built in. It’s free and easy to use. Of course I was not able to keep up with the 30 day challenge but the odd day I’m feeling ambitious I pull it up and do a few muscle toning exercise enough to make me sore and regretful the next day. Includes different intensity levels as well.
4. “Samsung Notes” is limited to Android, but any notes app really. Include it as a widget screen that I can pull up and update at least 10 times a day as I check things off and add more tasks in. Easy to use, not too much fuss and can have several note categories. Only issue is to delete blank lines is annoying since I have to type something, highlight it and then cut it in order to delete the blank line, unnecessary effort really.
5. “I Heart Radio” gives me lots of music options streamlining into my phones and right into the ears. Different genres, easy to search and browse through the various stations.
6. “Piktures” app for photo gallery is great, easy to categorize and share photos, built in editing, and more importantly built in secure folder with password to keep whatever photos you want hidden accessible by a pin or a fingerprint.   Free with minor ad screens (not bad at all) or pay to have the ads removed – I’m still using the free one).
7. “Timesecured” is a new great app to send sensitive and confidential information to others based on a time trigger or used as a future guarantee that your loved ones get the last will and sensitive information upon your death. Great if you want to make sure, the right people have the right information on your death but don’t want them to access your stuff or have that confidential info now. Worth checking out the free trial period, and after that a minor monthly fee to cover the costs of securing your data until the time comes you need to release it. Easy to use, very user friendly and simple interface.
8. “Fiverr” is very useful if you have a small business and need freelancers to do anything from logo design, to infographics, to other services from accounting to training. All searchable and sorted by service with upfront fees agreed on to avoid any confusion. You can even advertise your side business as a supplementary income doing freelance work that you love for others, great idea and very useful.
9. “Spark Post” is wonderful for those into graphics design and find photo editing software too bulky and hard to maneuver for the smartphone screen. This is made for the smartphone and has a quick easy to use interface-making photo editing that much easier. Powerful for its size and capacity.
10. “Shazam” is an oldie but a goldie. I still don’t know how this genius software functions, but it helps me find the name and artist of any song in different languages. Great app, free to use, and has a high accuracy rate. Love this one and have been using it for a while now, not sure I can ever stop.

Any other great apps you want highlight worth checking out?