My Favorite iPhone Apps

My iPhones and I have a love/hate relationship. Sometimes I hate the controlling, insidious way it sneaks into my every move, and I am very aware that my worst days emotionally are usually the days I spend the most time on my phone. Chicken or egg I wonder – but there are also some really amazing apps I love to use on my phone that add to my life. I guess as with everything, that elusive word (balance) comes into play here. It is about policing your emotional state – when you are into your third hour of food porn on instagram (guilty) and you are wondering why/if you exist; it is time to back away slowly and do something real! On that note… Here are my favorite apps!

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1. Moment

This is a tracker; it tells you how much time you have spent on your phone, and specific apps this time was spent on. You can program it to give you little warnings every 15 minutes, and alarms that go off once you are over your daily allowance. I set mine to 1.5 hours of screen time, and go over it pretty much daily. But it is interesting to see how much of your time is spent on each specific app, and it is a good reminder to keep your screen use to a minimum.

2. Insight timer

I use this to meditate each morning. You can use guided meditations, or just do your own thing (which is what I do). I especially love the features that tell you how many days in a row you meditated, and how many other people meditated with you using the app. It adds a nice sense of community even in phone land.

3. Headspace

This is the only guided meditation app that I like to use. I like his voice, and I learned how to meditate using this app. Now I use it every now and again – maybe when I am flying or stressed and finding it hard to get my brain to calm down.

4. Podcasts

I love podcasts! I am absolutely obsessed. I will walk for hours in a day, and always choose walking as my transportation. Thus podcasts are the ultimate walking buddy. My favorites are: The Rich Roll podcast (vegan/wellness themed inspiration), My Dad Wrote a Porno (exactly what the title says, and makes me laugh so hard people stare at me), The Savage Lovecast (relationship talk show), Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein (Buddhist talks for westerners) and FoundMyFitness (extremely smart scientist talking about the science behind aging. I am lost 80 percent of the time, but she is amazing!)

5. Spotify

Because music is amazing. I have recently been on a Turkish psych binge and it makes me happy.

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And there you have it! Note the dearth of social media apps. This is because I don’t have them on my phone anymore. I tend to use instagram sparingly, and save all my posts for one big staggered upload (or just use my husbands phone) because I don’t trust myself to not get lost in the abyss of self-comparison. I feel like our phones should add to our lives, not detract, and social media can suck me dry sometimes. Plus you can get food porn online!

 

Love,

Bridget