We Pick The Best Five Of Google’s Top Apps For 2017

Google has announced its favorite apps for 2017 and some of them are great. Others are a wee bit niche; Socratic might be handy if you’re a high school student, and it’s undeniably impressive tech, but once you’re out of high school, it’s probably less useful.

So, which of these apps are the most useful, fun, or otherwise awesome? These are our five picks among Google’s faves.

Notin

Notin is only a “hidden gem” according to the Goog, but it’ll probably be your app of the year. Just open the app, type in a note, and it makes it into a notification. That is, your note sits on your phone, easily accessible even if it’s locked, and you can just swipe it away when you’re done. It’s great for on the fly lists like grocery lists, holiday shopping lists, and brief sets of directions, and ideal for quick reminders.

Qapital

Qapital is a very different approach to saving. Essentially, it’s a very flexible saving app that lets you set rules and goals. First, you pick a goal, be it concert tickets or saving for a house payment. You can round up from your purchases and put it into a high-interest checking account. You can deposit $5 into your savings whenever you go to the gym. Whatever you want to design, you can do it. It’s a unique take and since it’s FDIC insured, it’s a clever way to save.

Tandem

https://twitter.com/lavcr/status/923098670605545472

The best way to learn a foreign language is to speak it. But that is extremely difficult to do, and AI-driven programs aren’t exactly native speakers. Tandem solves this by pairing people who speak a language with somebody who wants to learn it, and vice versa. So if someone who speaks French wants to learn English, they find an English speaker who wants to learn French. You learn the language, and the culture, from how it’s spoken, by somebody who wants to learn.

It’s one of those neat, unexpected ideas that might help you pick something up.

SpotAngels

Most of us hate parking in a strange city. It’s not just finding a spot, there’s all the mores, the local laws, the many, many ways you can wind up with a ticket. SpotAngels takes the crowdsourced model of Waze and applies it to these, tracking street cleaning hours, no parking areas, and a litany of other data about where you can park, when you can park, and how much it’s going to cost you.

Be My Eyes

Finally, Be My Eyes lets you do a good deed right from your phone. The app lets the visually impaired do a quick video call to a sighted volunteer to help with a simple task, stuff like what a sign says, whether food has expired, and so on. It’s a little thing, but if you want to volunteer, but can’t find the time, this will let you make somebody’s day just that little bit brighter.

Got a favorite we missed? Let us know!