Over 50,000 new apps are released every month, creating an onslaught of options for users looking to enhance their phone's capabilities. Good news: we're here to help.
As experts in tech since 2008, we've watched the evolution of smartphones and their apps since the Apple App Store first opened. In the process, we've learned the differences between essential apps and their fly-by-night counterparts. In this round-up, we're collecting the best new apps for Android and iPhone so you can unleash the full power of your phone.
Every month, we root through the app stores, searching for the best new apps for your phone. We're not just regurgitating the Android and iOS charts: we're recommending the tools we've added to our phones—ones we know, from our own experiences, have improved our day-to-day lives. Read on and find out how you can do the same.
How we picked the best apps for May
WhistleOut searches for Android and iPhone apps that are easy to use and affordable. We evaluate apps through hands-on testing and rate them on a five-star scale based on the following criteria:
- User experience: We search for apps that enhance the user experience, improving the power of your phone and making your life less complicated. The apps we recommend are intuitive, allowing users to put them to use as soon as they open them.
- Price and value: We select apps that charge minimal download fees and tend to favor apps that don't charge anything. We do include some apps that charge fees, though we guarantee that they're worth the price tag.
- Efficacy: App developers like to talk a big game; we test their products to see if they deliver on their promises.
- Practicality: Your phone has a limited amount of storage, so you don't want to clog it with single-use apps that don't improve your day-to-day life. We reward apps that are worth their weight in data.
- Privacy & security: We evaluate the permissions an app requests, sussing out the legitimate from the suspect. We also scour user reviews on relevant app stores to see if customers are reporting security concerns and investigate the veracity of those complaints.
Best Apps FOR
iPhone and Android
Nowy: AI Travel Social Planner
Supercharge your trip planning with the power of AI
Free from Apple and coming soon to Google
One of my favorite things in the world is traveling. Unfortunately, one of my least favorite things is planning to travel. Looking at logistics, adding up prices, and timing out itineraries stresses me out. I was recently in the process of planning for a trip later this year, so I decided to try and find a free app that could help.
I came across Nowy, which harnesses the power of AI to create a customized vacation at your desired location. The app offers options that tweak the way it creates your trip. You can add specific dates, your budget, and the number of adults and children going. That way, the app can prioritize activities during certain times of the year and may exclude options not appropriate for children. You can also select “destination preferences,” such as historical sites, foodie venues, and museums. There’s even an option to pick an overall vibe for your trip that might keep you off the beaten path or on a fast-paced adventure.
After you input all your information, the app takes a few seconds to create a trip. The results are extremely detailed. It’ll recommend specific hotels and day trips that were picked to meet your budget and trip requests. Even better, you can book directly from the app, so there’s an extra layer of convenience. I will note that Nowy doesn’t include flight options, so you’ll still have to figure out that kind of information yourself.
I was impressed with Nowy. It was easy to operate and offered plenty of useful features. I was planning a trip to Peru and had already done two days of research before I tried the app. It only took Nowy 30 seconds to create an itinerary that was very close to mine and even included some day trips I hadn’t come across. That said, I think Nowy works best as an ideas generator. Some of the destinations it included on back-to-back days were hundreds of miles away from each other. It might be possible to make that work, but you’d be extremely pressed for time and one delay could ruin your trip. Most travelers will be served best by using the trip it generates as a starting point for their own research and going from there. Just having a few ideas can save you hours of planning. Even better, if you realize you do like the trip it generates, remember you can simply book it all in minutes directly from the Nowy app.
Recommended by Max McCaskill
Poolsuite FM
Your personal summer DJ
Free from Apple
Imagine blending the retro charm of a 1990s Macintosh computer with the refreshing ambiance of a poolside martini, all set to the backdrop of the perfect summer playlist. Enter Poolsuite FM, the iOS radio app that perfectly captures this unique blend of nostalgia and relaxation. Whether you’re at work or sunbathing in Tahiti, Poolsuite FM will bathe you in chill.
The fun starts the instant you open the app and realize it's more than a curated radio. A pixelated simulated live stream begins—women in 1960s-era bikinis, poolside cocktails, and roller skaters play on a loop. You can interact by tapping on the PoolCam to take your own photos with Poolsuite’s vintage filter.
While Millennials may be most charmed by the pixelated, tile-based graphics reminiscent of the Oregon Trail era, I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t appreciate Poolsuite FM’s retro allure. Everything from the classic Game Boy font to the 1,000-track unlock feature gives the app a 1990s gameplay feel. You can even change the display color by choosing from various Themes with cheeky names like Saved by the Shell, Green New Deal, and PoolBoy 3210 (an AOL screen name throwback).
It would be one thing if Poolsuite were simply an aesthetic goldmine, but with an array of commercial-free dance-pop radio stations, Friday Nite Heat being my favorite, it’s easy to find the perfect playlist for a summer pool party or to alleviate your office blues. You can even organize all your favorite tracks into one station.
For a dose of nostalgic vibes and great music, look no further than Poolsuite FM. Download this app before your friends do and get cool cred where credit is due. And be sure to check out Poolsuite FM for desktop for even more delightful features.
Recommended by Alissa Bird
Noisli
Craft your perfect background soundscape
$2.99 on Apple
If you're like me, you can't stand silence, but sometimes music can be too distracting or evoke the wrong emotions at inopportune times. For as long as my professional life has had me stationed at a desk in front of a computer, I've relied on some form of background noise to maintain my focus and keep the creative juices flowing. That's where Noisli steps in as a game changer.
Noisli isn't just another white noise generator; it's a robust tool that lets you blend and customize a variety of high-quality sounds to create your ideal working or relaxing atmosphere. Whether it's the calming rush of a waterfall, the gentle hum of a fan, or the ambient chatter of a coffee shop, this app allows you to mix these sounds to your liking.
The user interface is straightforward, making it easy to combine sounds and adjust their intensities to match your mood or task. The app also features a timer, which is particularly useful for those who practice time management techniques like Pomodoro.
For just $2.99, Noisli offers a complete suite of features without the need for a subscription, providing great value. It includes a wide array of sounds and the ability to save custom mixes, making it a must-have for anyone seeking to enhance their auditory environment. Whether you're trying to drown out distractions or create a peaceful environment for meditation, Noisli provides the flexibility to craft your perfect soundscape.
Recommended by Angelo Ilumba
Discogs
Clean out (or build out) your record collection
My mother-in-law is involved in a years-long deep clean, which is a nice way of saying she's trying to remove all of the junk from her house. In the process, she’d like to make a few bucks. This month’s project? The second-floor closet that’s packed wall-to-wall with vinyl records. She didn’t have a big enough lot for a used record store to buy and she’s been frustrated in the past with selling on eBay. I recommended the most obvious place, the go-to online record store: Discogs.
Discogs has been online for over two decades, but the app has only been around for a few years. For the most part, it’s a more mobile-friendly version of the site, though the app does offer a few additions that have simplified my mother-in-law’s process. The most notable is the camera feature, which scans a record’s barcode and then identifies the artist, title, and all other relevant information for the release. This streamlines the listing of items, allowing you to find all of the relevant information for a release, including its market price, in a few seconds. While I wish that the app would auto-populate these fields (hopefully, that will be the case with future updates), it's not terribly difficult to transpose the information from the app into the fields.
If you’re interested in stocking up on records (or cassettes, CDs, 8-tracks, and pretty much any physical audio form you can imagine) rather than shipping them out, the app is just as helpful. You can create a Wantlist of titles and set notifications for their availability (or, as I like to do, when they drop in price) and discover other records being traded by similar users. If you’re getting tired of the Spotify algorithm and have always admired your friends with milk crates of LPs, Discogs is the best way to start building your own collection.
Recommended by Kevin Kearney
How WhistleOut reviews apps
Our mobile experts scour the app stores every month, looking for the best new apps for Android and iPhone. Before recommending an app, we use the app for at least one full workday, testing its basic functionality and evaluating whether or not it delivers on its promises. From there, we weigh the app's pros and cons, and then determine whether or not it's a worthwhile download for basic cell phone users.
-
Easy to use
Great apps simplify your phone. We selected the tools that don't require a complicated instructional manual. -
Affordability
The internet is filled with expensive price tags, but we're not buying what they're selling. We leaned into inexpensive, quality apps. Extra points if they're free! -
Hands-on testing
We played around with these before recommending them, ensuring they're worth your download.
From there, we weigh the app's pros and cons and then determine whether or not it's a worthwhile download for the wider population of cell phone users.
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