August 24th, 2017 | Updated on March 8th, 2024
There are so many apps in the Education category of the App Store, but trying to discover new apps can be time-consuming and unrewarding. The App Store has tried to offer different options for discovery but with the sheer number of education apps available it is easy to spend hours trawling through hundreds of unrated apps as you try to work out which ones are worth downloading.
“Educational” is a broad term. When it comes to mobile apps, there’s a diverse range of software that falls under the umbrella of education. You could peruse the top educational offerings in any app store, but locating the best ones — and those that aren’t merely a fad — is more difficult than you think.
Here we’ve tried to take the work out of discovering the best educational apps by compiling a list of the top apps for use in education:
1. Star Walk
As an augmented-reality app of sorts, Star Walk is an elegantly designed mobile stargazing app of the highest quality. The app follows your device’s movements in real-time, offering views and providing info on more than 200,000 stars, constellations, and other celestial bodies. Moreover, the app possess a remarkable calendar of celestial events and lets you view the night sky during different time intervals.
Review : Extremely nice app! And what the H*ll, it might be a bit pricey with everything added up, but it just seems to do everything right! And the Info you get on Objects in friggin’ awesome!!! If I had one complaint, it would be to get a closer view of Satellites (see what they look like) and actually watch them.
2. EasyBib
Any and every writer knows that bibliographies aren’t for the faint of heart. They’re less so with EasyBib, though, which is an app that functions as a basic citation generator. It allows you automatically create and export citations in a matter of seconds using more than 50 different source types, not mention more than 7,000 citation styles (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.).
Review : Oddly enough, my cheap phone is not having any of the issues everyone else is reporting. App working smoothly, camera did job in seconds. There are a few bugs & annoying things etc., and app hasn’t been updated in a while, but for me it does its job.
3. Ready4 SAT
Ready4’s series of test prep apps, like Ready4 SAT, goes well beyond just drilling you to answer practice questions. It actually aims to teach you the material and test-taking tips in mobile-friendly chunks, so that you can study whenever and wherever you have your smartphone. This free app even tries to match your potential SAT score with schools and academic programs around the world, just in case you need extra motivation to study.
Review : This app is LIT. Out of the three I’ve tried, Ready4 is the best! I tried 2 other BIG NAME SAT prep apps, and I regret wasting my time. Now, I’ve recommended Ready4 to three of my friends! We all are already doing better and the future seems brighter!
4. Photomath
For high-school students who just need a bit more guidance on how to isolate “x” in their algebra homework, Photomath is essentially your math buddy that can instantly solve and explain every answer. Simply snap a photo of the question (you can also write or type), and the app will break down the solution into separate steps with helpful play-by-play, so that you can apply the same principles to the rest of your homework.
Review : Very powerful apps!! If there is a widget or floating calculator then it will be perfect!! Really hoping for this feature. Keep it up!!
5. GradeProof
Most students don’t have a personal editor to show them how they can improve their writing, one sentence at a time. GradeProof’s AI offers concrete ways to improve your style, check for originality, as well as identify complex grammatical issues that other word processors often miss. While the app itself is free, you’ll need to upgrade to the $10-per-month GradeProof Premium to unleash the full power of this pocket writing coach.
Review : When I use my laptop I use grammerly. I have a genetic illness that causes a learning disability that makes grammar rules and spelling hard to remember. This illness also caused painful deformities in both hands and wrists. And I have been using the iPad more and more. And I have been desperate for an app like grammarly! I really love this app!
6. edX
Higher education is no longer exclusive to college students or contained within Ivory Towers. EdX makes it possible for anyone with a smartphone to learn from distinguished institutions such as MIT and McGill, and maybe even earn a certificate while you’re at it. You can tune into online lectures, take quizzes, and complete assignments at your own pace, all without having to worry about getting a student loan.
Review : The app is really good but I have issue with the storage option which is not added in the app settings. it would be really nice if the option for selection of storage location for downloaded video files can be included in the next updated version, this will help those of us who have less storage capacity to download videos and save to sd-card. Secondly studying will be very efficient if lecture notes can also be stored for offline use. Looking forward to seeing improvement in the next update.
7. My Study Life
School life is complicated. To help you stay on top of your schedule and often conflicting deadlines, My Study Life is more than just a day planner and school calendar — the app even sends reminders to your mobile device whenever you have upcoming deadlines. As one of the few ad-free agenda apps on the market, My Study Life’s colorful interface gives you all the info you need regarding your day at a glance.
Review : I’ll give 5 stars, but I wish the calendar planning were more easy to use. I don’t know, it took me some time to get it right. There are some options that are scattered. In general, the best app for study planning. After you get it right, you can easily be organized. It helped me a lot. A lot.
8. Mendeley
If you already use Mendeley Desktop to manage your research citations and collaborate with classmates, then the Mendeley app is a no-brainer. After all, the app is a PDF reader that lets you annotate and search across the journal articles you need for your paper or your class readings, directly on your mobile device. Once you’re back at your computer, the app will also sync your mobile notes to keep you organized.
Review : Seeming to be encountering some sync issues of late, but I’m sure that will be rectified in the near future. Otherwise, excellent resource in my opinion!
9. OneNote
Now that Evernote is charging users who want to use its app on more than two devices, Microsoft’s OneNote is looking like a decent alternative for your mobile note-taking needs. It helps that the app is usually pre-loaded on new Windows 10 devices, and works across all platforms. Not only can you can record a lecture and snap photos while “handwriting” your notes with a stylus or pen, but you can back up your class notes to OneDrive and Office 365.
Review : It’s good. Just one particular niggle really annoys me. When you’re making a list using bullet points or numbers and start writing, it uses you first letter typed twice. So you have to type your first letter, delete it and start again. Very annoying! Everything else is spot on.
10. Periodic Table
More than just another interactive periodic table, this Periodic Table app from the Royal Society of Chemistry incorporates everything from podcasts to videos to help you learn about the elements. Don’t worry about being overwhelmed by all the information though, as the app showcases different levels of data to satisfy everyone, from a novice to an AP Chemistry student.
Review : LOVE the app but what’s not making it 5 stars is that the elements 113, 114, 115, 117 just been officially named and I would like the information on the elements updated to date with video.
11. StudyBlue
Studying is the mainstay of an education. With StudyBlue, you can create and share a plethora of mobile flashcards, study guides, and quizzes, or choose from an extensive collection of student-authored flashcards and flashcard decks. Afterward, accept the score you earn or try again to top it.
Review : I love study blue. It helps me in tutoring allot and tell me things that I wouldn’t know by just using flash cards
12. Dropbox
Moreso a tool for organizing your education than receiving it, Dropbox allows you to access all your photos, documents, and videos on nearly any device. You’re given 2GB upon signing up, with options for styncing and adding files to your favorite list for offline viewing on the go. It’s very useful for sharing files.
Review : Great review the task details and shak vaji kore dibo college and shak you busy tomorrow but jhal a great time in the task please let us know if there is any way to make it to class today due you for a great time with you and I will have sent you a great day and a good time in my life I’m not going to make it to work today but I can you in my prayers and thoughts you have sent this but I think it will work out and then I think we can do that for a while but I can get it will
13. Math Duel: 2 Player Math Game
Two can have fun at the same time! Math Duel: 2 Player Math Game is one of those fun educational games where two players fight each other mathematically. Cool game for kids and adults is here!
Review : I like it because my favorite subject is math. I love it because it helps us solve in mind faster and it is very challenging.
14. Screentime Ninja
Screentime Ninja automagically blocks the device after a pre-set amount of time, but lets the kid earn more play time by solving math problems which are tailored to his/her school curriculum. If the child cannot solve a problem, Screentime Ninja will show how to solve it.
Review : The basic idea behind this app is fun and attractive, using cute ninja girls and maths questions to motivate kids to earn more minutes. However, it is not as user-friendly as it could be. 1. Kids cannot “switch user” themselves without the parent’s password. So parents cannot leave the device to more than a kid when they need to leave the children alone.
15. Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle is one of the more traditional learning apps. The service has an untold number of reference guides, how-to books, self-help books, text books, and more. You simply buy them, download them, and read them. It’s delightfully old school, but some people enjoy that. Books are generally less expensive than their physical counterparts. Your device can also store tons of them without running out of space. Those who don’t like Amazon Kindle have other options. Google Play Books and Nook by Barnes & Noble are both excellent options as well.
Review : If you’re a bookworm, this app is a life saver! As an Amazon prime customer, I get several good deals on books, some even free. This app also allows me to instantly sync ebooks checked out from my local library’s website. No more leaving the house and worrying about late fees if I forget to return on time! I’ve been using this for over year and love it!
16. Coursera
Coursera is an online school of sorts. It has a variety of lessons and classes that you can take. Each one educates you on a different topic. It boasts well over 1,000 courses ranging from math to science and even technology stuff. The classes have lectures, reading assignments, and video content.
Review : While the option to download videos for offline use is wonderful, it would be even more wonderful if it worked reliably. Too often, when it’s time to access the videos, I get “Something is wrong with the downloaded video file. Would you like to re-download the file?” I’m usually not in a good downloading place.
17. Duolingo
Duolingo hit the ground running in 2014 and never looked back. It’s a language learning app with a lot going for it. It teaches you languages in bite sized chunks through little mini games. The lessons get harder the further you go, but it always manages to stay fun. It supports over a dozen languages. The developers also boast that 34 hours in this app is equal to a semester in school. It’s completely free to use.
Review : Great app for language learning, also MOST IMPORTANTLY its encouraging. This is what I feel makes it so successful, because even when you make small spelling or accent errors it encourages you to try again, and thats what learning is all about! It also allows you to test your knowledge of the language frequently, AND the lingots you earn help you learn new phrases.
18. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a popular online resource for learning. It teaches more traditional subjects like math, science, physics, economics, and more. The app boasts access to over 10,000 videos along with various lessons and courses. You can use it to learn new concepts or brush up on older stuff. Khan Academy’s big claim to fame is that it’s completely free to use with no fees or hidden costs. That makes it one of the best learning apps for academics on a budget.
Review : Mad people are calling this app boring. Leave studies no if you find study boring. This app has actually helped me in my AS and i don’t take tuitions because Khan Academy is everything. Thank you Sal Khan! The downloads are a bit buggy though.
19. Lynda
Lynda is an online learning resource founded by Lynda Weinman. It’s very similar to apps like Udacity, Coursera, or Udemy. It does have a much heavier focus on technology and work-related skills. They have stuff to teach you how to code, how to design and create a website, or even more basic stuff like recording music for production or Microsoft Office skills.
Review : Should add a Notes feature similar to desktop on this app. So users can take down notes when watching videos on the go. Will make it easier for us when there’s no need to switch between Lynda app and our phone’s Notes app.
20. SoloLearn
SoloLearn is a developer on Google Play. They have a large selection of learning apps that teach computer programming. They support web languages like HTML, more common languages like Java or C++, and even some more specialized stuff like Python. Each language has its own app and each app is completely free. Eventually, you’ll need to graduate to something a little more complex.
21. Udacity
Udacity is one of the more intense learning apps on the list. It is a lot like Udemy or Lynda. You can enroll in courses and learn new things. However, the difference is that Udacity focuses on in-demand job skills such as computer programming, app development, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more. They do have free courses, but the big stuff will cost you some money. Each course comes with a nano-degree that shows that you completed the studies.
Review : Not able to make video full screen as it comes back to normal state within 2sex automatically. Its not tracking my course development in offline mode and automatically starts d lesson from d first video everytime.
22. Udemy
Udemy is one of the more popular course-style learning apps. Like many, it focuses on skill based learning. It has courses on things like Adobe apps, Microsoft apps, and you can even learn things like public speaking, cooking, and other stuff. There are a variety of courses for free or you can pay to get one of the more in-depth ones. The courses usually revolve around video lectures with video examples.
Review : Udemy is a great platform for accessing tutorials. However the app is very unreliable, it crashes frequently, and even though you’ve downloaded videos from a courses you occasionally get the message that offline content isn’t available. But when it works it’s quite decent, at least the downloaded courses are saved as .mp4 -files, so you can watch them when the app isn’t working.
23. YouTube
YouTube is probably the best thing that ever happened to learning apps. The service is usually relegated to viral videos, music videos, news, and entertainment. However, you can find instructions on how to do virtually anything on YouTube. That includes things like changing the oil in your car, figuring out a problem with your computer, and there are educational channels with tutorials on virtually anything you can think of. The only thing you have to pay is a minute or two of your time to watch ads.
Review : Stop changing the layouts and theme jesus christ. You’s are not making it easier for anyone to use the app if you keep changing everything that doesnt need to be changed. If you’s like change so much then might aswell add a theme/colour setting that people can change on their own. Because this update made youtube look ugly as hell.
24. TED
It’s rare that an organization truly makes you think. The TED app lets you peruse more the entire library of more than 1,700 TED Talks videos, introducing you to intriguing presentations and revolutionary ideas from education radicals, tech geniuses, business gurus, musical legends, and the like.
Review : Thought-provoking, mind-exploding, easily digestible lectures that make you yearn to binge watch them. Wish talks could be downloaded to external storage, e.g. SD card, and would be nice if the app could be moved to the SD card as well.
25. Evernote
We’ve touted Evernote more than once. The free productivity app gives you the tools for taking photos, crafting notes, creating to-do lists, and recording voice reminders, all of which you can tag for additional organization. The app even syncs content across multiple devices.
Review : For the past few weeks I noticed that Evernote was pretty buggy. Lots of notes synced incorrectly and some became duplicates of each other while deleting the other note. When I finally reached out to customer support, I was impressed with how hard they tried to fix the problem for me. They emailed back and forth to make sure that everything was back to normal and told me that they were aware of the problem and were working on finding a solution.
26. Studious
For most students, school doesn’t stop when you leave the campus grounds. Fortunately, Studious offers a quick method for organizing homework and exams via their due date, allowing you to see what’s on deck in the upcoming week and add assignments with a simple shake of your device. You can even use the app to jot brief notes and email your professors.
27. Due
You can think of the aptly-titled Due as a robust alarm clock, one that functions without an account or Internet connection. With Due, you can set reusable countdown reminders and implement both daily and weekly reminders that capitalize on nearly 60 alert tones. Moreover, reminders sync across your devices and automatically shift as you cross time zones.
28. Learnist
In many ways, Learnist kind of acts like a social network for knowledge. You can browse an organized collection of text and video content, much of which is sequenced into lessons covering thousands of topics. Learnist has it all, too, whether you’re looking to learn a few movie-making points courtesy of Gus Van Sant or simply want some insight into the early life of artist Salvador Dali.
Review : Good All around Good All around way to catch up on news, tech, movies, happenings, and more.
29. CamScanner
Turn your mobile device into a portable scanner with the CamScanner app. Simply take a photo of the page you wish to digitize, and the app will give you the option to convert it into a PDF/JPEG file, store in the cloud, and even print or fax the document. Best of all, it can extract the scanned text (Optical Character Recognition) and make your PDF files searchable.
Review : It’s amazing working, any where,any time we can use, send mail r uploaded doc.for office purpose.without scanner mechine. Some times not available scanner that time we can use, scan clarity.very nice, photos pic if wants print it will get very dork. But its very clearly images/doc/photos will get printouts. No need of expenses I advise to everyone.
30. Quizlet
As the name implies, Quizlet is an app specifically tailored for marathon study sessions. It’s fairly no-frills, sure, but the rudimentary app allows you to create your own personal flashcards — using text, images, and audio — or browse a wealth of user-created quizzes spanning nearly any topic you can think of. The straightforward interface and setup process just adds to its appeal.
Review : The new app is great! I get bored very easily by memorizing words, but this app makes it fun and easy to do it. I prefer this one to Duolingo app!
source : digitaltrends.com, teacherswithapps.com, teachthought.com, androidauthority.com
