sciencetech-blog

Google

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: Free

Forget using a web-browser to get Google: just a single tap of the app's icon takes you straight there. And you can search without having to type by asking Google questions via your device's microphone. The app provides onscreen answers and even talks back with the latest information.

Google Maps

Apple, Android

Price: Free

Most Android users will have Google Maps pre-installed on their devices, but it's a must for iPhone and iPad users, too. Apple's maps aren't quite the disaster they were, but they're still not a patch on Google and they don't have Google's voice-activated search.

BBC Weather

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: Free

One of the best-designed and easiest-to-use weather apps around. It automatically locates you and gives hour-by-hour local weather for the rest of the day and night, plus less detailed forecasts for a week ahead. Enter locations around the world for news of what's happening elsewhere, too.

National Rail Enquiries

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire 

Price: Free

This official Network Rail app provides times and status (delays, cancellations etc) of upcoming departures from every UK station. You can also plan rail journeys. Windows users should try the 'Rail Planner' app (£3.99).

Skype

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Download Skype, set up a user name and with just a click of your mouse you can video-call any other Skype user, anywhere in the world free, via the internet. It's a revolution in face-to-face communications. For a small fee, you can also call landlines and mobiles.

Daily Mail Online

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire 

Price: Free

We don't like to boast too much, but Mail Online is the world's most visited English language newspaper website. Now you can access its unique blend of up-to-the-minute news, celebrity gossip, Femail features, award-winning sport and a 24-hour rolling picture feed in an app named among the best of the year by the Google Play Store.

Daily Mail Plus

iPad, Android tablets, Kindle Fire

Price: Free

Designed specifically for tablets, Daily Mail Plus is the new way to enjoy the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Every day's edition is reproduced in full, including Weekend, You and Event magazines, with added picture and video content not available in print editions. A free 30-day trial is then followed by a £9.99 monthly subscription.

Facebook

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

One in six of the world's population uses Facebook, so this is as essential as social media gets. The Facebook app keeps you up to date with friends' posts via a News Feed, notifies you of new friend requests, comments and 'likes', and allows you to post status updates and photos via easy-to-use buttons.

Twitter

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Twitter's instant, abbreviated format, with its 140-character limit is perfect for mobile devices. The app lets you post tweets and photos and send personal messages as well as tracking all your favourite tweeters.

Instagram

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: Free

Instagram uses your phone's camera to take square photos, styled using any one of 20 filters that give different effects from lurid colour, through faded Seventies tones to pure black-and white. Then post the results online to be seen by 150 million Instagram users around the world.

YouTube

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

YouTube has been pre-installed on some devices, but if it isn't on your screen, it should be. The app gives you access to all the countless videos on YouTube, so as long as you have internet access, you'll always be entertained. And you can upload your own videos, too.

TuneIn Radio

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

TuneIn radio turns your device into a radio that can pick up any station, anywhere on the planet. Just use the search facility to get access to your local radio from a distant beach. Or hear music, news, chat and sports from around the world. Also listen to archived shows.

Spotify

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Spotify puts more than 20 million pieces of music at your fingertips. Listen for free to whole albums, create your own playlists, or just dip into Spotify's pre-chosen selections. The free version plays adverts between tracks, but for £9.99 a month the Premium service is advert-free and you can listen offline, too.

eBay

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Anyone who has ever bid for anything on eBay knows how vital it is to be in on the action in the final moments before the auction closes. Having the eBay app on your phone or tablet means you need never miss out.

Sky Go

Apple, Android

Price: Free or £15 to £40 per month

A must for Sky TV viewers, this app lets you watch the channels you see at home on your phone or tablet. An extra £2.50 a month (£5 after 12 months) buys Sky Go Extra which lets you download material to watch offline. If you've not signed up to Sky there are Sky Go packages from £15 to £40 per month.

WhatsApp

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: Free

WhatsApp is essentially a text-only version of Skype, using the internet to send text messages free. Once you sign up, WhatsApp searches your address book for friends who also use it and you can connect with them for instant messaging at the click of a button.

1Password

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

Problem: you can't remember all your online user names and passwords. Solution: 1Password. It creates an online 'vault' where you can store password and account details. It even generates new passwords and holds them for you. All you need to remember is one password to open the vault. 1Password takes care of the rest.

Dropbox

Apple, Android 

 Price: Free

Dropbox is not the most glamorous app, but it's incredibly useful. Just save a file into Dropbox from your computer, then access it on all your mobile devices — perfect for working on the move, or taking notes to a lecture or meeting. It also saves your photos for syncing to other devices.

Kindle

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 

Price: Free

If you prefer e-books to paper, then Amazon's Kindle store is the place to buy and download them. And now you don't need a Kindle Fire to do that because virtually all tablets can get the Kindle app and you can have new books within seconds of placing your order.

Around Me

Apple, Android, Kindle, Windows

Price: Free

Around Me finds your location then shows you where to find anything from a coffee shop or a cash machine, to a hotel or a hospital, and how to get there. Perfect for when you're in an unfamiliar place and do not want to depend on random passers-by for directions.

BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD

Apple, Android, plus Kindle Fire for BBC iPlayer

Price: Free

Imagine, even ten years ago, being told it wouldn't matter if you missed a TV show because you could see it online. Not only that, but you could do it on your phone or tablet. Now you can, free, and it's great.

Virgin TV Anywhere / Sky Go

Apple, Android

Price: Free to subscribers

If you subscribe to one of the big satellite/cable TV systems, you can download their apps to keep watching on the move. For £5 a month more, Sky Extra allows you to download shows to watch offline.

Netflix

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free to subscribers

Netflix started life as a subscription service for online movies — the internet equivalent to the old video rental shops. In the past few years, though, its branched out into original programming, with hit, hip series such as House Of Cards and Orange Is The New Black.

Sky Plus

Apple, Android

Price: Free

This app makes your phone or tablet a portable Sky+ controller. Scroll through TV schedules and set your Sky box at home to record. Or download via Catch Up and On Demand facilities and they'll be waiting for you when you get home. 

GAMES

Angry Birds

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free / £2.29

In January, Angry Birds passed 2 billion downloads, so the world now knows about those crazy birds and their war against green pigs. The Angry Birds games now cover land, sea, sky and space, plus there are tie-ins with Star Wars and the Rio cartoon films. It's the best app game ever.

Minecraft Pocket Edition

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: £4.99

Minecraft is a gaming oddity. It has clunky, old-school graphics and players collaborate to create their own worlds and keep them alive in an endless game with no winners or losers. Yet Swedish schools use it as a teaching aid and it's so popular, Microsoft paid $2.5 billion to buy it.

Candy Crush Saga

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: Free

Candy Crush Saga is an utterly addictive puzzle game in which you rise through 400 levels by clearing grids of brightly coloured sweeties. There's just one problem: it's really hard to win without buying add-ons to help you complete each level. And it's just amazing how those 69p purchases add up. Beware!

Wordfeud

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

There is an official Scrabble game for £2.99, but Wordfeud is a near-perfect copy of the classic format, and it's free. You can play solo by challenging the app, or take on friends.

Sudoku

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire and Windows

Price: Free

Sudoku's a must for any game-lover, but there isn't one dominant Sudoku app across all formats. The top-ranked versions on Android and Windows are both called Sudoku Free, but they're not the same. The best Apple version, Sudoku2, has particularly nice graphics. 

KIDS AND TEENS

My First Numberjacks

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: £1.49

The Numberjacks are a set of colourful, animated numbers from the BBC's children's channel CBeebies. There are three Numberjacks apps, all designed to help infants learn their numbers and have fun. And with lots of games and counting aloud, Mum and Dad can join in, too.

Dipdap

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: £1.99

Dipdap is a funny little animated man who goes for walks and has adventures. You can draw his spaceship and watch it fly into the air, or paint a lawnmower that chases him back across the grass he's just mown. As enchanting for adults as for children.

Revision App

Apple, Android

Price: Free

Revision App is a one-stop shop for GCSE, A-level and university students. There are free flash-card tests on English, maths and the sciences, more than one million downloadable Q&A cards and — for £4.99 — 56 video tutorials on key aspects of core subjects. So now your bright young things have no excuse for slacking!

Steller

Apple

Price: Free

Steller is like a much more sophisticated, creative Instagram (see front page of Essential apps). Users take photographs and alter them with filters. But then they arrange their images into albums, then publish them online to share with their friends. The results can look fantastic.

Paper by 53

Apple

Price: Free

This onscreen sketchbook turns your finger into a pencil, pen or paintbrush and was iPad App of the Year in 2012. A magical feeling when you draw with it.

YOUR HOME 

Crime Map England & Wales

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

If you're moving to a new area, you need to know if it is safe. Crime Map shows the location and category of every reported offence in any given month. For 69p, an augmented reality feature shows you the exact locations of crimes when you point your phone at the street in front of you.

Kirstie & Phil's House Hunter

iPhone 

Price: £2.99

This is the closest thing you'll get to a private visit from Channel 4's intrepid house-finders. With lots of video clips from the stars giving practical advice, it's a comprehensive guide to working out how much you can afford, deciding what kind of home you want, then finding and buying it.

Zoopla Property Search

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 

Price: Free

For Zoopla, read Snoopla. This app shows you properties for sale or rent in any area, what recently sold homes went for and what they might now be worth. Indispensable to househunters.

Houzz

Formats: Apple, Android, Kindle Fire 

Price: Free

A must for the stylish decorator or home builder. It's packed with countless stunning interior and exterior design photos, marked with green tags that tell you what you're looking at, who makes it and how to buy it. Houzz even finds designers and tradespeople in your area.

IKEA catalogue

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

See and buy virtually all Ikea products, with embedded videos and pictures showing styles and colours. You can see how items from the catalogue would look in your home, share ideas with friends and scan pages in the printed catalogue to download even more ideas and info.

Clinometer

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Turn your smartphone into a spirit level. You just hold your phone on the surface or object you need to check and the app will tell you the vertical, horizontal or diagonal tilt.

GARDENING

RHS Grow Your Own

iPhone 

Price: Free

This Royal Horticultural Society app is filled with expert advice on growing 40 vegetables and fruits. But it's available only on iPhone and to get more plants you have to buy four packs of veg, fruit and herbs at £1.99 each.

Garden Bugs

iPhone, Android 

Price: Free

A guide to a gardener's worst enemies: the pests and diseases that attack your plants, from slugs and bugs to fungal infections and blackspot. If something's attacking your garden and you want to know what it is and what you can do about it, this is a good place to start.

Gardenate

iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle 

Price: 99p to £1.49

If you want to grow your own veg, then Gardenate is well worth having. It has a long list of vegetables and a few fruit, giving detailed instructions for cultivating, tips on using them in the kitchen and a monthly calendar to tell you what to do and when. Ideal for green-fingered beginners.

TRAVEL ABROAD

Skyscanner

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

a comparison site that searches other travel sites to find the cheapest offers. There are separate Skyscanner apps for flights, hotel rooms and car hire. But all enable you to find and book the best offers for the dates and places you require.

Airbnb

Apple and Android

Price: Free

An online exchange for people with spare rooms or properties to rent, and travellers in search of a bed, Airbnb has more than 800,000 rentals (including 3,000 castles!) in 192 countries. The app shows you properties and puts you in touch with owners. A 'Find a place tonight!' facility suits spontaneous types.

XE Currency

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: Free

If you're going abroad, you'll need a good currency converter and this one is arguably the best. Rates are refreshed throughout the day and it's easy to convert sterling into any world currency (and vice-versa).

TripAdvisor

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Bad publicity about the trustworthiness of some of the reviews on which its hotel and restaurant ratings are based has hit TripAdvisor. But it is still the best way to find a place to stay or eat and its ratings are, by and large, reliable. The app works well, particularly on tablets.

Triposo

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: Free

This World Travel Guide app harvests information from the internet to compile good-looking, fact-packed guides — including sightseeing, dining, directions and bookings — to more than 25,000 destinations.

WorldMate

Apple, Android, Windows 

Price: Free

all-in-one travel organiser. Forward confirmation emails for travel and hotel bookings to WorldMate and it creates a detailed in-app itinerary with all your info. You can book flights and rooms, check in, track flight updates and there's a currency converter and tip calculator.

Citymapper

Apple, Android

Price: Free

multi award-winning guide to getting around ten great cities, including London, Paris and New York, tells you how to get from A to B, when the next bus or train is due and sends links to friends to show them where and when to meet. 

Duolingo

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: Free

The 2013 iPhone App of the Year, with a sky-high Android rating, Duolingo is a free course in six major European languages. Simple, entertaining tasks help you translate new words and phrases, while a points-scoring system makes you want to keep going. A bright, modern, effective way to learn.  

Expedia Hotels & Flights

Apple, Android

Price: Free

Worth £6.4 billion, Expedia is the world's biggest travel website. So if you want to scan flight and hotel options, compare prices, make bookings and keep a record of your trip, Expedia's app is a safe choice. It's well designed and bookings qualify for Nectar points.

UK TRAVEL

AA Lifestyle Apps

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: Free

The AA motoring organisation has made a bold move into apps by converting its familiar printed guides into seven separate free apps, for hotels, restaurants, B&Bs, caravan and camping, pubs and days out. So there's no need to clutter up glove compartments with guides any more — just download an app and away you go.

Thetrainline

Apple, Android, Windows

Price: Free

If you want to make a UK railway journey, thetrainline will give you times of trains, details of changes, the cheapest ticket and the ability to buy it. It also has a neat 'next train home' function. So what it does, it does very well.

UK Bus Checker

Apple, Android, Kindle

Price: Free/£2.99

The days of waiting helplessly at a bus stop, wondering when the next one will turn up, are long gone. You can find the nearest stop, which routes use it, and when the next one is due.

Hailo

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

Once you've set this up, you can forget waiting on the street and instead hail the nearest cab from the app, track its progress to the pick-up point, then pay automatically with your credit or debit card. So far, Hailo operates only in London and Manchester.

FOOD & DRINK

Mary Berry Bakes

Apple

Price: £2.99

Mary Berry (pictured right) has become baking's Delia Smith: the cook we all turn to for can't-fail recipes. Here are 70 of her cakes, biscuits and buns, plus some general baking tips. You can transfer Mary's ingredients to an in-built shopping list, so there's no danger of forgetting anything, and there's a built-in timer, too.

Jamie's 20 Minute Meals

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: £4.99

JAMIE OLIVER is celebrity Marmite, but love him or loathe him, he's a great communicator. This app has lots of easy-to-follow recipes for quick-to-cook food. But the real selling points are Jamie's handy video guides to 17 basic kitchen techniques, from slicing an onion to cooking the perfect steak.

Ocado

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: Free

All the major supermarkets have apps, but Ocado, conceived from the start as an online delivery service for food and household goods, is arguably the best. Browsing and buying is simple, your earliest delivery slot is stated before you start and a one-click function allows instant purchases.

Supermarket Wine

Apple, Android

Price: 69p/99p

Hunt out the best wine bargains in your local supermarkets with this clever app. It offers a selection of special offers, lists wines recommended by other users and allows you to select and buy almost 400 chosen by colour, grape country of origin and price, all reviewed by experts.

Vivino

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

Open up Vivino, take a picture of a wine label and instantly the app will tell you all about the contents of the bottle, with factual information and drinkers' reviews. It's perfect if you're out at dinner and want to know more about what you're drinking, and it helps you track your purchases.

Mary Berry: You've seen the star, now get the app

EATING OUT

The Good Pub Guide 2014

Apple

Price: £4.99

If you're looking for a good pub serving decent food and proper beer, this app will find one near you, give details of food, facilities and child-friendliness, then show you how to get there. For Android and Kindle Fire users, there's a Kindle e-book of The Good Pub Guide (£6.99).

Urbanspoon

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows

Price: Free

This is a worldwide guide to more than one million eating places rated by more than 20 million users. Search for eateries by cooking style, price and time of day, check out the newest or most highly rated places, or use the Slot Machine function: shake your phone and let the app choose somewhere for you to go to eat.

HEALTH AND FITNESS

NHS Health and Symptom Checker

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

This app doesn't beat going to a doctor, but if you feel poorly, it's a good place to start. Symptoms are listed under more than 40 headings, from 'abdominal pain' to 'wounds'. Click the relevant link, enter personal details then answer questions to determine what might be wrong and what to do next.

FoodSwitch UK

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

Created with the help of several medical research centres and backed by Bupa and the NHS, Food Switch aims to help users eat more healthily. Scan barcodes on food packaging and it will show green, amber or red scores for fat, saturates, sugar and salt. The greener your food, the healthier you'll eat.

Nutracheck Calorie Counter +

iPhone, Android 

Price: Free

Another NHS recommendation, Nutracheck's database contains calorie counts for more than 10,000 food items, so you can scan food barcodes to get instant calorie information, then plan meals, track your calorie intake and also work out how much energy you're using through exercise. It's a real aid to any weight-loss campaign.

Echo 112

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

Field-tested for two years by Swiss emergency services, Echo 112 links you to the emergency services wherever you are in the world when you press its red SOS button. It provides peace of mind for travellers in the back of beyond, or the infirm and elderly alone in their homes.

Sleepbot

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire 

Price: Free

Sleepbot watches over you when you're in the Land of Nod. Put your phone under your pillow and the app logs when you move around while asleep or snore, tracks your sleep patterns and calculates your 'sleep-debt' — the difference between the amount of sleep you get and the amount you should aim for. Its 'smart-alarm' wakes you when you are sleeping lightly to avoid the shock of waking from deep sleep.

Relax Melodies

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire 

Price: Free

Testing this app was a tricky business, as it's so blissfully snooze-inducing it's hard for eyes to stay open. A selection of natural wind, water and bird sounds can be mixed with gentle music to create the perfect relaxing background to ease that stress away and bring on the deepest sleep. 

Accupedo

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire 

Price: Free

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise, and we should all take 10,000 steps a day. Accupedo is a pedometer that counts every step you take, records how far you've walked and how many calories you've burned. It even links to your music library to keep you entertained as you stride along.

SPORT

BBC Sport

Apple, Android

Price: Free

If you download only one sports app, this should be it. Every major sport is covered, with latest news, live text commentary and video interviews and highlights. If you're out and about on a Saturday afternoon, this is the perfect way to keep in touch.

Sky Sports/Sky Sports Mobile/ BT Sport

Apple, Android 

Price: Subscription only

These apps let sports addicts watch the biggest games and events on the move. But there's a catch. Sky Sports and BT Sport are reserved for existing subscribers to the respective TV channels. And an app-only subscription to Sky Sports Mobile costs up to £9.99 a month.

One Football

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

Launched as The Football App, One Football has all the latest news, fixtures and results from around the world, so you can follow leagues and cups from Albania to Uruguay. A 'My Club' function will also keep you up to date with whichever club you support and alert you to any breaking news.

Official F1

Apple, Android 

Price: Free

If the hours of TV coverage aren't enough for you, this app — and its paid-for add-ons — will provide analysis of every turn of every wheel, lap times, exclusive team radio transmissions and live commentary. Vrooom!

Cricbuzz

Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 

Price: Free

The number-one app for anyone who can't live without the latest news of every form of cricket around the world: scores, live text and audio commentaries, player profiles, tables, rankings stats . . . and more stats. If someone, somewhere hits a ball with a bat, Cricbuzz will tell you about it.

Hole 19

iPhone 

Price: Free

Hole 19 is a golfer's best friend. It tells you where every shot you've struck has gone, calculates yardages to greens and flags, tracks all your scores and provides data to improve your game. More than 20,000 courses around the world have been mapped and yours can be added on request.