The author Jordan Gonen. Jordan Gonen
For app developers and brand marketers, a place on a student’s home screen is prime real estate.
College students spend hours on end tapping and swiping on their smartphones each and every day. Whether it’s the latest social media platform or a new camera feature, there always seems to be a buzz going around college campuses, hyping up the latest and greatest apps.
As a current student at Washington University in St. Louis, I’ve experienced that tingle you get when you and all your friends are raving over the next big thing. It truly is a magical experience.
The challenge, of course, is predicting what is coming next. While it’s often a challenge to know exactly what’s popular, it’s also very easy to get a feel for what apps are popular and which are suffering.
Here are 5 apps that have been hits as of late among college students.
Washington University in St. Louis. juggernautco/Flickr
Calm: a simple mindfulness meditation app that brings clarity and peace of mind into your life.
College is not all fun and games. In fact, it’s often really really stressful. On top of classes, homework and looming college debt, lies the fear of the inevitable post college life. We all look for places that we can release our stress and start relaxing.
That feeling of relaxation is exactly what students around the country are searching for when they come upon Calm, a super simple way to meditate and clear our mind. The app is extremely straightforward, and walks users through a peaceful cleansing process. It is the easiest way for college students to bring relaxation into their lives.
Polymail: The most powerful platform for email productivity in a beautiful native app.
The mess of dealing with multiple email accounts is a trouble that college students have been facing for years. We all have separate accounts for our personal, school, and work emails, thus organizing them in one place has always been a pain.
Polymail, available for both desktop and mobile clients, is the universal solution that makes it super easy to organize and manage multiple emails from one smooth inbox.
Tinycards by Duolingo: The future of flashcards.
Traditional memorization techniques often involves using physical flash cards or a stale web application. Students have had enough of these old methods. They are inefficient and lack modern technology.
That’s why many are turning to Tinycards, fun and colorful flashcards that reward students as they learn on the go. Their unique design and customizability can actually be a huge lifesaver when you are cramming for that next test.
Product Hunt: A list of the best new products every day.
The hottest application among students interested in business or technology is undoubtedly Product Hunt. It’s much more than just a list of the best new products every day.
On Product Hunt, students can “live chat” with famous CEOs and get an inside scoop on what’s coming next in the tech scene. It is the only place that entrepreneurial students are hanging out and learning a ton. They’ve got an impressive community of hackers and creators from around the globe that are all willing to help. Students are some of the most active users on the site.
Robinhood: Free stock trading.
Whether it’s the associated fees or complicated jargon, the stock market has always looked uninviting, especially to millennials. Robinhood is leaping over this barrier to entry by eliminating any and all fees associated with trading. They make money by investing the money you keep in your account on the platform; there are no hidden fees.
College students love the fresh design of the app, as it’s become the only way for college students to interact with the stock market. Robinhood has essentially gamified what it means to invest money, and is the easiest way for students to start saving. They’ve taken a traditionally inaccessible action and leveraged technology to help any student start investing with just a few bucks.
Jordan Gonen is a writer and growth strategist. He has been featured on Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider for his thoughts on marketing and venture capital. Jordan has worked with companies of all sizes, helping them scale and reach more customers. He is currently a student at Washington University in St. Louis, where he's studying Finance and Computer Science.
