5 essential apps to help make your life easier

Organisation in the palm of your hand

Whether you need to sort out your to-do list or get to grips with your finances, take a look at this selection of handy apps.

5 apps that can help make life easier

Pushed for time? We’ve rounded up some of the best apps for busy people, available on Android and iOS.

Sort that to-do list

It makes sense to have a to-do list on the go. The free (and highly rated) Todoist app lets you list tasks and share them with up to 5 people – perfect to bring everyone together for family projects! There’s also a paid-for version that sends you location-based reminders and charts how productive you are.

Don’t pay over the odds

Shopping around is one of the best – and easiest – ways to save you some money, and the free PriceSpy app does the cost comparison for you. Just type in the name of the product you want to buy and the app will show you prices from thousands of retailers. Or if you’re out shopping and see something you like, you can scan the barcode to work out whether you could get a better deal elsewhere.

Keep the kids occupied

The award-winning Hoop app is a firm favourite with families looking for new ways to fill weekends and holidays, with more than 700,000 parents having downloaded the app nationwide. Aimed at people with children aged 11 and under, it suggests things to do based on your location and children’s ages. The app lists more than 70,000 family activities each month and can help you find everything from toddlers’ groups to creative workshops and family concerts across the UK.

Organise your travel

Planning a holiday? All-in-one travel manager TripIt collates travel information from your confirmation emails for flights, hotels, rental cars and more. It puts them together in this easy-to-use app, so that all you have to worry about is getting excited about your holiday. The app’s free, with optional in-app purchases.

Make dinnertime more social

The DinnerTime Plus app disables devices during mealtimes, so the family can spend quality time together. While it’s on, you can’t access the internet or send messages – a great way to encourage good, old-fashioned, round-the-table conversation. It’s free, but offers in-app purchases.

In case you were wondering, we don’t have a commercial relationship with any of the companies that produce these apps, we just really like them. That means we don’t accept any liability for the content. And we’re sure other ones are available too.

Manage your money

It can be easy for monthly income to disappear on bills and everyday spending. One solution can be to open a separate account, and transfer an amount of money into this account every month straight after payday to cover all your regular payments. This way, you’ll know that whatever’s left in your current account is available for spending (or saving). You can set up standing orders easily with the Barclays app². For more budgeting ideas, visit our money management pages.