Over 50,000 new apps are released every month, creating an onslaught of options for users looking to enhance their phone's capabilities. Good news: we're here to help.
As experts in tech since 2008, we've watched the evolution of smartphones and their apps since the Apple App Store first opened. In the process, we've learned the differences between essential apps and their fly-by-night counterparts. In this round-up, we're collecting the best new apps for Android and iPhone so you can unleash the full power of your phone.
Every month, we root through the app stores, searching for the best new apps for your phone. We're not just regurgitating the Android and iOS charts: we're recommending the tools we've added to our phones—ones we know, from our own experiences, have improved our day-to-day lives. Read on and find out how you can do the same.
How we picked the best apps for October
WhistleOut searches for Android and iPhone apps that are easy to use and affordable. We evaluate apps through hands-on testing and rate them on a five-star scale based on the following criteria:
- User experience: We search for apps that enhance the user experience, improving the power of your phone and making your life less complicated. The apps we recommend are intuitive, allowing users to put them to use as soon as they open them.
- Price and value: We select apps that charge minimal download fees and tend to favor apps that don't charge anything. We do include some apps that charge fees, though we guarantee that they're worth the price tag.
- Efficacy: App developers like to talk a big game; we test their products to see if they deliver on their promises.
- Practicality: Your phone has a limited amount of storage, so you don't want to clog it with single-use apps that don't improve your day-to-day life. We reward apps that are worth their weight in data.
- Privacy & security: We evaluate the permissions an app requests, sussing out the legitimate from the suspect. We also scour user reviews on relevant app stores to see if customers are reporting security concerns and investigate the veracity of those complaints.
Best Apps FOR
iPhone and Android
Just Run: Zero to 5K
Get off the couch and in control of your health
Free from Apple and Google, with paid features available
The Just Run app puts you through the paces of building a running routine.
Running can be daunting, and getting started may seem impossible. But as a part-time couch potato, I can confidently say Just Run made breaking into the running world easy. And here’s the kicker: the full training program is completely free. Unlike the trendy Couch to 5K (C25K) fitness app, which requires a premium subscription for actual results, Just Run immediately gives you unlimited access.
Image: Jessica Santero
Just Run: Zero to 5K walks you (literally!) through step-by-step training sessions over the course of nine weeks to help you get active. When you open the app, you’ll be prompted to choose your goal. You can either go for the viral couch to 5K challenge or push yourself and opt for the intermediate 10K choice. It's perfect for beginners and even runners with experience looking to increase their distance goals.
Image: Jessica Santero
The nine-week program is divided into three detailed weekly sessions, with your daily schedule incorporated. Don’t be afraid; you certainly will break a sweat with the walk-run intervals, which will gradually help you reach a full 5k by the end of the program.
All you have to do is click start and get moving. This app makes sure you don’t skip-out on your work out by incorporating the data from your health app and using your GPS location to track your distance. Feel free to connect it to your smartwatch and feel the relief when it beeps to signal your rest time.
Image: Jessica Santero
Just Run is free to download, though there are minimal ads that might disturb your workout zen. That said, you can purchase the one-time-pay premium fee of $3.49 for more features like personalized coach voices as they instruct you while training.
It’s about time you joined run-club. With this app, you can have your cake and eat it, too—so long as you eventually lace up your sneakers.
Recommended by Jessica Santero
Lola
Up your productivity with this novel take on lofi beats for studying
Free from Apple
The Lola app lets you focus on a chosen task by offering serene music and relaxing visuals.
I spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen. After a while, I’d like to look at anything else, which usually happens to be the endless distractions on my phone. The only thing that really helps me tune in and focus on my writing is instrumental music. The problem is that sometimes searching for the right soundtrack becomes its own distraction.
Image: Kevin Kearney
That’s what sent me searching for a lofi music app. In the past, I’ve used the popular “lofi beats for studying” videos (and their many iterations) as my soundtrack. The only problem? YouTube is loaded with its own bright, shiny objects. Sometimes, opening up the website sends me down a wormhole that leads me far, far away from the task at hand. That’s why it only took me a few seconds to appreciate Lola: the app takes the basic elements of those YouTube videos (ethereal instrumental music and repetitive but calming animation) and rejiggers them into something like Apple’s Focus Mode, allowing you to choose a task (Focus/study, Chill/relax, or Sleep/nap) and set timers, including those based on the popular Pomodoro method.
Image: Kevin Kearney
The more you use the app for your tasks, the more vivid the image will become, with images gradually appearing in the frame, like an expanding painting. Along the way, you can journal how you’re feeling and track data on your productivity. Thankfully, the app doesn’t sell this data; it’s simply collected in-app for your own use. It will ask to connect to your Spotify account, which will power the music while you’re using the app. For the most part, we’re not concerned about that permission, though we don’t love that the app will force your Spotify account to follow artists you listen to while using Lola, though we had no trouble simply unfollowing them when we noticed this quirk.
Recommended by Kevin Kearney
Structured
Plan your days with this beautiful tool
Free from Apple and Google, premium subscriptions available
Structured organizes daily tasks in an aesthetically pleasing interface.
Structured is the ultimate all-in-one productivity solution. It effortlessly combines your calendar and to-do list, allowing you to manage every aspect of your day in a single app. Whether you're a creative professional planning a photo shoot, a tech enthusiast working on coding sprints, or a busy parent juggling family errands, Structured adapts to your needs.
Image: Aletta Coke
The app offers standard time intervals, but you can also set custom durations, making it perfect for those who use productivity techniques like the Pomodoro method. (Hello, that’s me!) You can also set reminders and dictate tasks for quick and easy input.
Structured is also a feast for the eyes, with its visually stunning and interactive design, including a unique countdown clock that changes colors as time passes. This visual representation of time is beautiful and incredibly practical, helping users stay focused and understand how they're spending their day at a glance. You can color code tasks and use personalized emojis, allowing you to add some flair to your tasks.
Image: Aletta Cooke
While Structured excels at daily planning, it currently lacks a weekly view similar to iCal or Google Calendar. Upgrading to a Pro plan allows for integration with those calendars, though, allowing for a better overall experience. Still, the free version is enough to get you organized and motivated.
Recommended by Aletta Cooke
Widget GO!
Customize your iPhone’s Home Screen
Free from Apple, with paid features available
The Widget GO! app enhances iOS 18's new Home Screen features.
The release of iOS 18 in September offered entirely new ways to customize your iPhone. For the first time in the device’s history, you could move app icons to specific places on your Home Screen and change the color of your apps. Widget GO! allows you to take these customization options to the next level.
Widget GO! is a Home Screen customization app. It includes dozens of wallpaper options and specialized widgets. These are also “themes” that include wallpapers and special icon designs for some of the most popular apps on the iOS store. These icons act as shortcuts for your app. The icon lives on your Home Screen while the app is in your App Library.
Image: Max McCaskill
When you download a theme, the app offers instructions on how to apply your wallpaper and download your app icon collection. It also explains how to download and customize special widgets, like new clock designs, quotes, and games. The addition of iOS 18 has offered even more compatibility with these features. Now, even apps that don’t have special icons can be adjusted to match your device’s Wiget GO! theme. Plus, you can organize your icons and widgets any way you want.
Image: Max McCaskill
The app worked extremely well and gave incredibly simple instructions for downloading my items. I will say that some icons had a noticeable lag when jumping to an app or had an additional menu I needed to approve. I have stricter security features for some of my apps and that was the cause of the problem. If you have an app you need to sign into, I’d recommend relying on an iOS 18 theme for customization instead of a Widget GO! icon.
Widget GO! is rated as 4.5 out of 5 with over 3,000 ratings on the iOS app store. It does require access to your Photos app and downloads to provide your icons and wallpapers. However, you can limit how much access the app has through your Settings.
Widget GO! and its basic theme options are free. A membership with access to premium themes and deluxe artworks for wallpapers starts at $19.99 for a year. If you’re creative, you can get plenty of use just from mixing and matching free themes with your own apps and iOS 18. However, some of the premium themes are very nice and make customization much easier.
Recommended by Max McCaskill
How WhistleOut reviews apps
Our mobile experts scour the app stores every month, looking for the best new apps for Android and iPhone. Before recommending an app, we use the app for at least one full workday, testing its basic functionality and evaluating whether or not it delivers on its promises. From there, we weigh the app's pros and cons, and then determine whether or not it's a worthwhile download for basic cell
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Easy to use
Great apps simplify your phone. We selected the tools that don't require a complicated instructional manual. phone users. -
Affordability
The internet is filled with expensive price tags, but we're not buying what they're selling. We leaned into inexpensive, quality apps. Extra points if they're free! -
Hands-on testing
We played around with these before recommending them, ensuring they're worth your download.
From there, we weigh the app's pros and cons and then determine whether or not it's a worthwhile download for the wider population of cell phone users.
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