Latest news

The most useful free apps for students

Download these apps to your smartphone to make student life as easy as possible.

Now, more than ever before, we find ourselves in a time where accessing useful software and tools from your phone is essential. As students across the country adjust to a university life entirely online, we’ve spent some time researching the best apps out there to make things a breeze.

There are currently thousands of apps sitting in the store, but with so many to choose from and around 2,500 new releases every day, how do you know what you’re missing out on?

Many are littered with adverts or have sneaky in-app purchases, so aren’t strictly ‘free’ – but we’ve pulled together the top 10 most useful apps that we think will make student life a heck of a lot easier.

From connecting you with the family back at home to ensuring you never miss a deadline again, these apps are all absolutely free to download, so they won’t even cost you a penny.

Microsoft Office

You might already know about this one, but we wanted to include it anyway to make sure you know it’s accessible on your phone. It’s probably not practical to work on your essay from your phone all the time, but it can come in super handy when you’re out and about and have that lightbulb moment.

UniDays/Student Beans

Okay, so there are technically two different apps there, but they’re the same idea with but different offers so let’s allow it. Both UniDays and Student Beans are discount apps that are available exclusively to students. Simply confirm that you are a student, and then enjoy access to endless discount codes and freebies from some of your favourite stores.

Uni Calculator

Received a grade back that you’re not happy with and want to know how it might affect your final grade? Fear not, the Uni Calculator app allows you to input your current grades and will tell you what grades you need going forward to get that end result you’ve got your heart set on – all is not lost.

Too good to go

The Too Good To Go app aims to fight food waste by allowing users to purchase unsold food from shops at closing time for a heavily discounted rate. Download the app, enter your postcode and it will pull through a list of participating businesses.

BigOven

Ever looked in the fridge and thought, what on earth can I make with a tin of baked beans, some eggs, and a bit of butter? Pop all your leftover groceries into BigOven and it will pull up a list of recipes, saving your bank balance and the environment in the process.

RefME

Who doesn’t hate writing references for essays? Download this app and it will allow you to scan the barcode of the book you’re citing and create the citation in the format you’re using. You’re welcome!

Viber

It can be expensive trying to keep in touch with friends and family who live in another country when you’re studying in the UK. Anyone two people who have download Viber can communicate across the app absolutely free, whether it be via phone call or video message.

My Study Life

Designed to make your study life as easy as possible, this app is a cross-platform planner for both students and lecturers.It allows you to keep on top of your upcoming exam timetable, lectures and essay deadlines all in one place.

Beam

Do you often travel home on Virgin Trains? Beam allows you to get free entertainment on your smartphone any time you are onboard one of their trains., with a selection of movies, TV shows and games to choose from.

Splitwise

Easily split your shared bills with Splitwise. Whether it’s for household bills, shopping, or meals out, keep a track of any money you’re owed/you owe your friends with this app, avoiding any uncomfortable conversations about that tenner you haven’t got back yet.

Okay, so you might not want all 10 apps, but we hope that you found at least a couple of these free apps useful.

Think we’ve missed any apps that you couldn’t survive without? Let us know so we can update our blog.

Written by the Nurtur team