No matter your interests – from hiking to home cooking, from family to film history – there’s an app to keep you connected to your passion.
Read on for a list of eight great apps that will let you keep your favorite things at your fingertips – whether you’re home or on the other side of the globe.
Must-have App for Road Trippers:
WAZE
Whether you’re navigating New York City avenues or the streets of São Paulo, Waze offers drivers real-time information from other drivers, sparing them the agony of delays and hazards. Sign on and join other drivers in your area who share traffic and road information, saving everyone time and frustration on their daily commute or vacation adventures. Get alerted before you approach accidents, detours, or traffic jams. It’s also easy to find the cheapest gas station on your route, thanks to community-shared gas prices. “It’s like a personal heads-up from a few million of your friends on the road.” Learn more at www.waze.com.
Must-have App for Yogis:
YOGA STUDIO
The next time you’re on the road – vacationing, visiting family, or traveling for work – and find yourself missing your weekly yoga class, simply pick up your phone and strike a yoga pose. With the Yoga Studio app, you pick the kind of yoga class you want (strength, flexibility, relaxation), your level (beginner, intermediate or advanced) and the amount of time you have (20 minutes, 40 minutes, or longer) and it creates a class for you. You can create unlimited custom classes with full video and stay on track with class scheduling. Discover over 280 poses, with detailed info and advice for each pose. Learn more at www.yogastudioapp.com.
Must-have App for Music Fans:
SPOTIFY
With Spotify, you can listen to your favorite music – and discover new artists – wherever you are. Shuffle through the songs of a specific artist or album, or start with an artist you love and let Spotify select one great track after another for you. You can also browse through amazing, ready-made playlists to suit every music mood. Your “Discover” page will regularly suggest new music for you, based on your listening preferences. Learn more at www.spotify.com.
Must-have App for Beer or Wine Lovers:
NEXT GLASS
Next Glass is a craft beer and wine discovery app for those who would like to taste something new and different. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed upon walking the beer and wine aisles, or if you’ve picked bottles based on eye-catching labels, brands, or critic reviews, only to get it home and taste disappointment – this app is for you! After you download Next Glass, you will rate several wines or beers that you like and dislike. The app then uses that information to compare to its “Genomic Cellar,” a growing database of more than 23,000 bottles of wine and beer. The next time you head to the liquor store, you can simply scan any bottle of beer or wine to see if Next Glass thinks it’s a good match for your taste preferences.
Must-have App for At-home Chefs:
BIGOVEN
BigOven is a recipe organizer, grocery list, and menu app in one, giving you access to over 350,000 recipes at your fingertips. Get inspired by seasonal recipe collections, find top-rated dishes from other BigOven cooks, or find a quick and easy recipe to prepare for a last-minute dinner. BigOven simplifies the meal planning process, allowing you to drag and drop recipes onto a calendar for a day, a week, or a month. The app can even convert your recipes into a simple list, sorted alphabetically and by department. Learn more at www.bigoven.com.
Must-have App for Hiking Enthusiasts:
ALLTRAILS
With 50,000 trail guides in the U.S. and Canada alone, it’s not surprising that the AllTrails app has more than 1.5 million users. AllTrails is an easy way to find trails near you, wherever you are. If you’re seeking a gentle stroll through nature, a moderate hike with amazing views, or a challenging trek with major elevation gains, this app will send you on the right path. You can even create your own trails with GPS tracking, photos, and text, and save them for later or share them with your hiking buddies. For the more experienced hikers and climbers, AllTrails also has events, such as the World Elevation Challenge, in which participants compete and track their progress in real-time as they scale the likes of Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro, Mount McKinley, and Everest. Learn more at www.alltrails.com.
Must-have App for Film Buffs:
MOVIE VAULT
There are countless apps that make it easy to stream familiar and widely published movies to our smart phones. But true film buffs want to dig deep and discover movie gems that are buried in film almanacs, databases, and catalogs. These rare flicks never made it to the mainstream video stores or online services, which makes them that much more special to those who appreciate film history. The Movie Vault app puts these forgotten films at your fingertips. Users can browse the virtual wooden shelves lined with authentic box art to find the classic work of John Wayne, Cary Grant, Laurel & Hardy, Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor, Alfred Hitchcock, Judy Garland, and many more. You can save movies in your queue for later viewing, or pause the film you’re watching as needed. Movie Vault works on your schedule. Best of all, since all of the movies in this database are in the public domain, you’ll pay no additional charge to watch as many movies as you’d like. Click here to learn more about the Movie Vault app.
Must-have App for Connecting with Loved Ones:
WHAT'S APP
WhatsApp Messenger is a mobile messaging app that allows you to send and receive messages with your friends and family for free. WhatsApp is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, and Nokia – and all of these different phones can send and receive WhatsApp messages at no charge. Users can create groups and send each other unlimited images, video, and audio messages. So, if your siblings now live scattered across the country or the globe, you can create a WhatsApp group called “Siblings” and instantly connect with all of them 24-7. Share family news, make holiday plans, or simply reach out and say hello more often. Learn more at www.whatsapp.com.
Do you have a favorite app that keeps you connected with your passion? Feel free to share it with your friends and neighbors by adding a comment below.