Six apps to keep busy bees on track in 2026

SINGAPORE – January is a great time to get your digital life organised, which will simplify your real life. The Straits Times rounds up six apps to help you stay on track in 2026.

Apple Shortcuts

Your smart device may come with useful apps installed, such as Shortcuts on Apple’s iPhones and iPads.

With Shortcuts, busy people can create a wide range of automated actions. For instance, set the phone to enter low-power mode if the charge drops beneath a certain percentage. Or have it play a favourite playlist on Apple Music when a designated alarm is switched off or snoozed. 

There are also location-based shortcuts. For instance, shoppers can set up a shortcut to open their grocery list note when they arrive at a preferred supermarket. 

Info: Comes installed on iPhones and iPads running iOS 13 or later. 

Apple Journal

Apple introduced its Journal app for iPhones in December 2023, as a dedicated space to keep a daily log. Within each entry, photos and voice notes can be added.

Bulleted lists, bold and italic fonts, and coloured text are among the text formatting options. At the top of the screen, the app summarises the volume of entries made in the year, and the number of words penned over one’s journalling lifetime.

Crucially, the app can be accessed only with your iPhone passcode, whether that is a numerical code or Face ID. 

There are more sophisticated journalling apps out there, but for iPhone users who just want to make a habit of writing about their day without the hassle of taking a paper journal on the go, it does the job.                              

Info: Comes installed on iPhones running iOS 17.2 or later. 

Google Keep

For those who find it difficult to keep track of sticky notes, Google provides the no-frills digital solution Google Keep. It is available for both Android and iOS users. These digital Post-it notes are also easily accessed on the web, the same way one might access Google Docs and Gmail.  

Just fill in the digital sticky note – for instance, an idea for a new project – and that is all there is to it. The background colour can be changed and images added to differentiate among various notes.

A reminder can be attached too, if it is a note that needs to be revisited within a specific timeframe.

Info:

str.sg/ukko

in Google Play,

str.sg/8Kdu

in App Store

Notion     

Advanced users will likely find the above apps too simple, and will find Notion much more suited to their needs – if they are not already using it on their desktops and laptops. 

But one need not be a “power user” to find simple uses with Notion on its app, thanks to the template marketplace. There is a range to choose from, such as a reading list tracker that is much quicker and simpler than social cataloguing platform GoodReads.

For the home owner embarking on a renovation, how about a renovation template that keeps the mood board, budget, expenses, to-do list and shopping list for each space in one place? 

Those who enjoy customising can adapt the templates according to their needs and preferences. 

Info:

str.sg/3TFtj

in Google Play,

str.sg/b3un

in App Store

Hevy 

Exercise and weight-related resolutions are perennially popular every new year. Strava is a popular mobile app for fitness. However, it may not be as useful for those more interested in strength training, and less so in running or cycling.

Hevy is a “freemium” app – free for basic use, with advanced options available for a subscription fee – that helps the fitness-minded keep track of progress on weighted exercises such as deadlifts and bench presses. It can be used during workouts to log the weight used, number of repetitions done and number of sets completed. 

On the free version, up to four workouts can be created. For instance, a leg day, an upper-body day and so on. Premium users – subscriptions start at $3.98 a month – can add more workouts as well as access statistics for their progress over a period of time. 

Info:

str.sg/EmUR

in Google Play,

str.sg/5B2v

in App Store

MacroFactor

There is no shortage of calorie tracking apps out there. MyFitnessPal and Lose It! are two popular ones with plenty of free features for the light user. 

For those who prefer more robust guidance on their calorie-tracking journey, MacroFactor is a paid app that has been gaining traction among fitness enthusiasts. It won the Google Play Best of 2024 Award in the Best Everyday Essential category in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia. 

It uses a dynamic algorithm to help you adjust your caloric and macronutrient intake, based on changes in your weight and current intake.

Recipes can be added. A built-in barcode scanner can log the food consumed each day. Snap a photo of any meal for its artificial intelligence to calculate the calories, though this is obviously not fool-proof.

There are multiple subscription tiers, including an annual subscription at $103.98 a year, which gets you access to the full suite of features. Alternatively, you can also opt in at $16.98 a month or $68.98 for six months. There is no free tier.

Info:

str.sg/HdRL

in Google Play,

str.sg/uMag

in App Store