Hottest Free Apps For 2013

Thanks to Tablets, Smartphones, iPhones and an affordable range of phones, the world today is filled with apps. There is literally an app for each and every tasks, which was not the scenario a couple of years back. In a single word, it has made life ‘simpler’. Whether it is finding a particular store or booking tickets or ordering food, there are umpteen numbers of apps available in the app stores.

Read on to know the 10 hottest apps, which you should have in your Smartphone for 2013, compiled by TOI.

Instant Heart Rate

Known to be “The Best and Health Fitness App” on Mobile Premier Awards, Instant Heart Rate measures the heart rate instantly similar to an ER room. The app uses the phone’s camera to detect the pulse from the user’s fingertip. It is the most accurate Heart Rate Monitor for any Smartphone and does not require any external hardware. It is used for optimizing the exercise and to track the progress.

It uses the flash and the camera to record blood flow in fingertips and calculates how fast or slow the heart is beating. It starts beeping with the pulse and a real-time chart will be shown for every heart-beat which exports the data to the registered users. The app version is available for free for both iOS and Android.

Swiftkey X

The keyboard app shoots up with the Swiftkey X, the world’s best prediction engine. It is an award-winning keyboard app which offers better auto-corrections and next-word predictions. It speeds up touchscreen typing because it understands the way words work together, predicting and correcting the input in a better and smarter way. Interestingly, it also learns the users’ lingo by syncing with Gmail, Facebook, Twitter or personalized blogs. It is an Android app which can be freely downloaded from Google Play.

Pocket

Pocket, formerly known as Read It Later, is an application for managing a list of articles from the Internet. It groups a list of articles into categories after the app goes through the list and discovers an interesting article, web page, or a video. The application has around 3.5 million users and about 10,000 downloads each day.
The app is available for the iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS systems. The app has been called as the “DVR for the web” by the New York Times, Businessweek and the TechCrunch. With its beautiful and simple interface, Pocket allows the users to save the lengthy articles for reading it later.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is one of the most popular cross-platform applications around the world. It ranks as one of the world’s top five best-selling apps. It is an instant-messaging application for iPhone, Android devices and BlackBerry Smartphones. Developed by California –based WhatsApp Inc, the app provides a free service to text messaging and sends more than 1 billion messages to users around the world every day.
It is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia. It uses the Internet, whether it is 3G or Wifi to message with close and dear ones. It enables sending and receiving of messages, pictures, videos and audio notes.

 TED

TED, the iPad app, is the first official mobile app released by TED which lets viewers browse almost 800 TEDTalks which runs almost 3 minutes to 30 minutes long on a wide range of topics. The app is free and can be downloaded through the App Store in iTunes. TEDTalks present talks from some of the world’s most fascinating people which include business gurus, music legends and education radicals.
An entire library is available for browsing and searching in both online and offline modes. The user can either bookmark or download the favorite TEDTalk and even share the favorite talks or playlists with friends or others. It’s freely available in iPhone, iPad and Android.

Chrome

The search giant, Google, has its version of Chrome, which is specifically for Android phones and tablets. The app is simple, lightweight and syncs perfectly with the desktop version of the browser using the Google Account. Logging into the chrome leads the user into the bookmarks, open tabs, search history and the like. The Chrome handles tabs better than any other mobile browser. It runs beautifully on Androids and also has a dedicated version for the iOS devices.

Instagram

Instagram, the online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables users to take pictures and share on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. It is free and the simplest way to create and share gorgeous photos. It transforms the very day moments into filtered effect photos. It enables sharing of photos in a simple photo stream where it can be viewed by friends and other users especially in Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Instagram, in other words, is the reinvention of photo sharing. It is the favorite of the iPhone users. It is distributed through the App Store and Google Play and originally available for iPhone, iPad and Android.

Google Maps

As referred to by CNET, “the king of apps”, Google Maps is an application released by search engine giant, Google. The app helps the user navigate and get accurate and easy-to-use maps with built-in Google local search, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, directions for public transport, street view and the like.
Google Maps helps discover the best places to shop, drink and eat as per the ratings and reviews of the other users. The user interface of the application has been completely redesigned which makes it more user-friendly. It’s available in iPhone and Android devices and Google plans to release an iPad version soon.

Rayman Jungle Run

Winner of numerous Game of the Year and Platformer of the Year Awards, Rayman Jungle run is a runner-style game play. The app is powered by the same UbiArt Framework engine. It is designed for all ages to pick up and play. In this version, the task is to unlock the Land of the Livid Dead levels. The game is designed with beautiful graphics, captivating music, smooth touch-based controls and exclusive wallpapers to unlock the device. It is available in iPod, iPhone and Android phones.

Angry Birds Space

The top mobile game of all time blasts off into space. Angry Birds meets the Star Wars, which has made it one of the popular apps. Woaah..!!!The Angry birds have landed in the weirdest galaxy. All the planets are filled with water, strange aquatic life and the Bad Piggies in boats! Check out the brand new power ups: Flock of Birds, Space Egg and Pig Puffer.The app consists of 30 levels to win the game. It is available on iOS, iPhone and Android phones.

 Seatguru

An app released from the creators of TripAdvisor; is a useful tool for the travelers. The app is considered to be the best source for choosing seat availability and airfares. The users can also avail to real-time flight status along with the free Seatguru app which also provides seating advice, in-flight amenity information and airline recommendations. Interestingly, it also works with flights in India too. The app is freely available for iOS and Android.