One of the best things about mobile phones is that they can keep us entertained for hours. And, what’s better is that often the entertainment is free!
So, if you’re looking for a way to spend some time as the winter sets in and the nights are dark early, or you spend a lot of time commuting – then here are five apps that can help you spend your time in the most enjoyable way.
GoodReads – Find, get, and share books you love
- Rate and review books as you go
- Keep a track of everything you’ve read and what your opinion of it was
If one of your personal challenges has been to read as many books as possible, and you’ve got some opinions and advice for people, then GoodReads will let you open an account so you can rate and review what you’ve read.
But you can also start tracking what you’ve read and what you want to read. It’s great for people who want to make a quick note of books they see that they want to read but have yet to have the chance to (and keep forgetting to buy!).
There are also reading challenges set by the community, and you often get personalized recommendations based on what you’ve read, rated, and liked.
GoodReads is a great app for people who want to read more or those who read loads, which has some great features and is totally free.
Jackpot Party – Includes bonuses, free spins, free coins, and lots of treats
- Play a huge range of quality games for free
- Get access to guides which offer advice on each game
If gaming is more your speed, then Jackpot Party is a great free option. You don’t need to download the App to play, but you’ll get the best gameplay from it. Jackpot Party offers completely free slot games, and unlike pretty much all the other slot apps, you don’t need to register, and there are no limits to what you play.
The website offers guides to help people play, so if you’ve never played slots before, then they make it super simple. They offer a few ways that you can get free coins, too, the first is by downloading the App, and the next is by checking out their social media, where they have trivia games and another way to win more coins too!
Swell – Talk anytime on any topic, no preparation, no equipment, no scheduling
- Easily create your own podcasts
- Get tailored content based on your interests
The Clubhouse app is one of the niches but popular social media platforms that communities started using to communicate with more than just texts and photos. Having live conversations and sharing – because sometimes audio is the preferred option. Swell takes that premise and runs with it.
Swell enables users to listen to mini podcasts and record their own – called Swellcasts. Since they are only short, it encourages things like reviews, new music opinions, interviews, or directions to the news or the happenings in the world.
The App matches the content you’ll like to your profile by asking a couple of questions about what you are interested in – although you can search for other things too, so you’re not locked into your interests.
Like other social media and podcasts, you can follow the users you listen to often and leave voice replies to other people’s posts. If you want to build up an audience and community of your own, you can create invite-only groups.
Just like most social media and similar apps, when they first start, there aren’t a lot of users – but it does allow you to grow as it does.
Flipboard – One place for all the stories you care about
- Streamline your social media highlights
- See only what you need – saving yourself hours of scrolling
If you are overwhelmed by all of the different social media channels and want to dedicate time to checking only some of them, then Flipboard has the answer. It takes all of your social media feeds and streamlines them into one magazine.
Content from your Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Facebook will all be in one place – and one of the best features is that you can add RSS feeds for your own topics of interest.
The magazine is a completely personalized experience and cuts the work out of trawling social media – so you get to see only what you want and don’t get bogged down with the rest.
NASA – Showcases a huge collection of the latest NASA content
- Get notifications on some of the biggest upcoming events
- Get HD streams from outer space
The NASA app is quite exceptional when you consider that it is free. You get notifications about upcoming cool things to see, NASA TV, tweets, featured stories, missions, videos, and breathtaking images.
The incredible streaming comes from the High-Definition Earth Viewing experiment based on the International Space Station.
A fun thing that the app tracks are the Earth-orbiting satellites in both 2D and 3D. There is plenty more to explore, and the NASA app is incredible for those who love to have their minds blown a little.
With a mobile phone and an internet connection, you never need to be bored again! Explore the world of free apps, and go beyond the standard ones like music streaming apps and big social media apps. And be sure to check out the App of the day or the trending apps because there are often huge free gems in there.
