As a student, I have found out there are certain apps I can’t live without. These apps play a big role in my student life by making everything generally easier and more comfortable.

I am an Android user and lover. So the links I will provide will for the Android Apps. If you use Windows or iOS, I am pretty sure all these Apps are in your various stores/markets. I hope African students, and more-so Kenyans, find this list helpful.

Timetable – this app simplifies your class schedule for the whole week, month or semester. It syncs across all your Android Devices. If you have CATs or Assignments, it will schedule them for you and remind you to read/submit the various tasks. It will also remind you about class before the lecture starts, and about deadlines that you are supposed to meet.
Do you forget to put your phone on Silent Mode or Vibration when going for a lecture? This app will do it for you just before the lecture starts. Do you forget your course codes’ or lecturers’ names? You’re perfectly covered.The app has wonderful widgets for your home screens which show your classes or exams or assignments. Life is really really easy with this app. Check it out on Android. I am not sure if it is on iOS or Windows.

Pocket – Do you ever find something online but can’t read, view or watch it at the said time? Well here is where pocket plays a big role. Save literally everything and sync them across all your devices from the laptop to your phone/tablet and access them some other time whether online or offline from articles to news stories, blog posts, videos, recipes or any web links. The app even goes a step further to read out loud what you’ve saved when you are too lazy to read everything. Don’t worry about finding anything as it perfectly organises everything in tags and even highlights “best of”, “long reads”, “trending” posts.
I can’t make it through a day without Pocket. Every night before I sleep, I take a look at all I saved during the day. The app also acts as my reference page.

Google Keep, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Slides and Sheets – These Google Apps are simply must haves. I doubt any one can manage a life without all the above. For emails, I generally switch between the Gmail app and Inbox by Gmail app. Both are wonderful. I also use Mailbox as it helps me clear my unread quickly without toggling between tabs. Google Calendar reminds me of birthdays (LOL) and important semester dates, exam weeks etc. It has a really decent widget.
Sheets, Slides and Docs sync all my office files on Google Drive and give me sweet time between devices. When having group assignments, they come to the rescue especially when we cannot meet physically.

Adobe Reader – Though it has been crashing most of the times on my phone, this app saves me in many situations. Maybe the laptop battery is out and I have to read a .pdf book or I am travelling and a big device is just too funny to carry around, Adobe Reader comes to the rescue. I can read in Night or Day modes, fill out forms and sign PDFs. I know there are better apps that allow one to convert docs to PDFs and vice versa but if you just need a good reading experience I trust this and the next one.

UB Reader – this is the Universal Book Reader. It allows you to read EPUB and PDF files. Very attractive interface that makes you love reading.

Pushbullet – Can you live without Pushbullet? I can’t. This app syncs all your notifications from your phone to your computer. Whether it is an incoming call or a text message. You’ll never miss an important notification just because you’re on the laptop and your phone is a mile away. The app also enables you share links, pictures, files etc across your devices or to your friends. If you have a picture on your phone and you need it on your Chrome, just push it.

Messaging Apps – I don’t think any student in this world can live without messaging apps. I use Telegram and WhatsApp. My personal view is that Telegram is better than WhatsApp. I have this article here to outline all that. As a student, you need to stay in touch with classmates, discuss, argue out, send and receive documents, apps and files plus many other things. You need to know whether the lecturer will make it to class or not. Messaging apps solve the problem.

There you have it. Throughout my period in uni, I have found the listed apps very useful. I hope they help you too.

Do you know of another app I may not know of? Feel free to mention it in the comments section below. Remember to also spread the knowledge with fellow students.