The app encourages you to make a habit of practicing with a reward system and a social component. You’ll receive between one and five lingots of app currency for each day in which you meet your set threshold. You can spend lingots in the store on power-ups and fun accessories. Concurrently, the in-app social network encourages you to invite your friends to the app and compare scores to see who studies the hardest. Download For:
While you can find talks on their website or YouTube channel, TED rewards you for making its app your go-to with some convenient features, including downloading videos for offline viewing and locking your device without interrupting playback. Download For:
On Codeacademy, targeted lessons let you pick up skills one concept at a time. Code editors and interactive consoles are built into the app, so you never need to leave it or download any software. Courses are curated based on the kind of projects you want to tackle, and you don’t need to know anything about programming languages going in. Choose the direction you find most interesting, and Codeacademy presents groups of courses for you to take. Whether in a series of courses or a standalone course, each lesson features a handful of steps. Each step has a short explanation of the concept to learn and a coding exercise. At the end of the lesson is a short quiz on all the steps from the lesson, then it’s on to the next. You can take Codeacademy courses on its web app. However, its iOS and Android apps are only available to premium subscribers. Download For:
When learning new words or phrases, you’re encouraged to write a short association to use as a memory device. If you can’t think of one, you can choose from those submitted by other users. By thinking about mnemonics, you’ll build confidence and vocabulary in new languages with associations that are natural to you. Aside from this, the app’s regimen yields a gradual increase in vocabulary and concepts. Download For:
The app places a strong emphasis on diagrams and visual aids, relying on a digital drawing board to accommodate other learning styles. While it favors math and science topics, it also features humanities courses such as history and art. Whether on its mobile iOS or Android apps, online through YouTube, or its dedicated web app, Khan Academy is completely free, a core tenet of founder Salman Khan’s philosophy. Download For: Available subjects run the gamut, with extensive offerings in science and technology subject areas. Classes feature video lectures followed by short quizzes and, for some subjects such as programming, interactive online labs. Download For:
The app favors short descriptions of concepts to learn paired with a problem to solve, which incorporates those concepts. Unlike other learning apps, Brilliant doesn’t wait until the end of dense reading to test you and instead proceeds incrementally to build your toolset. Another helpful feature is the option to see the answer if you’re stumped. This feature spares you from blindly guessing and clues you into the factors that may have caused you to hesitate. Brilliant also allows you to tailor your learning experience based on what you want to get out of it. The app prompts you to choose a study style or purpose during the setup, whether it’s for boosting your career or pure curiosity. This way, it can push you the right amount for your goals. Download For:
The NASA app serves up articles and videos that teach the basics of astronomy. Where it really shines like a white dwarf is its focus on giving you a look at the latest developments from NASA’s work. You’ll learn about NASA’s latest missions, and the app directs you where to look to catch upcoming celestial events like eclipses and planetary sightings. Download For:
