Your homescreen says a lot about you. Like peeking into a purse, glimpsing at someone's smartphone homescreen shows what they care about, how up-to-date they are on the latest trends, and how organized they are. But it's not static — you can always change it up. We think it's a good idea to refresh that homescreen every once in a while to reflect the evolution in your app-using habits. So each month, we're presenting you with what our homescreen looks like. These are the apps that we are using, loving...and maybe a little obsessed with. Some may be old staples, such as Netflix or Twitter, while others are apps that just launched in the App Store that week.
And while the screenshots are of the iOS version, many of these apps are available on Android and Windows Phone, too.
If you're ready to give your homescreen a face lift (or just check out what apps are rocking our world this month), here are Refinery29's favorite apps.
Entertainment
Kendall and Kylie
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a Kardashian, rising through the ranks to become Santa Monica, CA starlets, this is your app. Kendall and Kylie is surprisingly addictive, even though the app itself isn’t very original. The aim of the game is to become social media famous, which you establish by tapping around the app, doing favors for more established personalities, and eventually gaining followers. And of course, you get to customize your own avatar, too.
Color Switch
Color Switch is a tantalizing tap-based game of patience. The goal is to tap the screen to bounce a colored ball upward and collect stars. But, to get to each star, you have to time your bounce perfectly. It might sound simple, but once you get the hang of it, it's incredibly fun.
Overcast
This new year, we've been trying to catch up on all our favorite podcasts — and pick up some new, interesting sound bites, too. Overcast is a straightforward, well-designed listening app that offers some convenient customization options in its settings, including enabling shortcut gestures on your headphone remote.
Spotify
With Rdio gone, Spotify is the king of streaming music. We listen to it all the time — on the commute, during work, and when we're relaxing around the house. Offline syncing makes it a great option on travel days, while the variety of playlists (self-built or offered by the app itself) serve up the perfect tunes for whatever mood you're in.
Netflix
While we'd rather get our Netflix fix on the big screen, when we've got time to kill, catching up on some Parks and Rec or revisiting OITNB is always a great idea.
Food And Drink
Wine Spectator Xvalues
When I head to BevMo! or the grocery store to pick up a bottle of wine, I want two things: a decent tasting bottle of vino, and at a decent price. Wine Spectator’s new app Xvalues is designed to help you make that choice. The app includes a rotating selection of top, widely available wines that fall under one of four categories: Top Values ($12 & Under), Reds ($20 & Under), Whites ($20 & Under), and Sparklers ($40 & Under). You can favorite listings to remember them later, and get a look at what the label looks like so you can quickly identify it on a store shelf.
Roo
Yelp is nice for finding a bar or restaurant that’s generally good, but if you want to know more about the ambiance, it’s lacking. Roo fills that void. You and other users share what a place is like in real-time, so you can see which bars are hopping on a Saturday night, or which ones have a line so far out the door it’s not worth your time. Roo is currently available only in Los Angeles, but Boston, Austin, New York, and San Francisco are coming soon.
Productivity
Pocket
Browsing Twitter and Instagram can yield so many good reads...that you just don't have time to read. You can save them for later with Pocket. Once saved, you can read them on your phone, tablet, or laptop, with or without an internet connection.
Refinery29 This AM
When I wake up in the morning, I want a quick way to catch up on everything important happening in the world. In this regard, R29's This AM app is an excellent way to start the day. It delivers eight curated stories that you swipe through. Each is presented as only a sentence (so you get the news fast), but you can tap to get more information. It’s fast, fun, and informative, and has made its way into my list of app staples.
Sloth — Task Manager
Have trouble managing your time? Sloth is a clever, minimalist task manager that helps you stay focused on the myriad things you need to juggle each day. When the timer's up, it's time for you to move on.
Fantastical 2
At $5, you may balk at using an app like Fantastical over the free calendar app already on your phone. But let me tell you, Fantastical is leagues better than most any other calendar and to-do list app out there. This app aggregates all your calendar items in one place, including pulling in items and invitations from your email accounts. There’s a ton of customization in the settings, from the coloring, to what sort of alerts you want, to what app you want locations to open up in. You can swipe across the top of the screen to scroll through your upcoming appointments and to-dos, and get an at-a-glance look at what each day holds.
Sunshine
What your weatherman says on the TV and what the weather actually is outside can be two totally different things. Like what Waze did for traffic, Sunshine is doing for weather: It’s using users’ phones and their input to verify what the weather really is. The app’s design is also fun — you can check throughout the day to see the evolving weather conditions ahead, and watch clouds and darkness animate across the screen.
Slack
If your company doesn't use Slack for its online communications, you're missing out. The app offers a convenient way to chat with individuals or groups, share files, share links, and (most importantly) share GIFs. It's got desktop and mobile versions, so you can stay connected to what's happening in the office whether you're there, or jetting to a meeting across town.
Square Cash
We’ve been Venmo diehards for a long time, but the app does have some negatives. For one, its privacy policy is suspect, and it also acts as a middleman, holding onto your cash (and making money off of it) until you withdraw funds, which can take several days. Square Cash is a delightfully simple alternative. You can send cash to anyone, whether they have the app or not, using a debit card or credit card. Funds get transferred directly, unless you choose to hold them in the app Venmo-style.
Health & Fitness
Glow
Tracking your period doesn't have to be a chore. Glow makes it easy, intuitive, and helps us know which days we should avoid social contact of any kind (and which days you're ovulating and most likely to get pregnant).
Headspace
Part of our New Year's resolutions this year is to live more mindfully. As part of that, we've been aiming to meditate more, and Headspace is an excellent guide for accomplishing this goal.
Up By Jawbone
Many of us at R29 track our fitness with a wearable of some sort, particularly the Jawbone Up. The app is great for keeping track of your steps, sleep, and also monitoring your health trends over time. The latest band tracks passive heart rate, so you can track your resting heart rate at night. Even if you don't have a wearable, you can still use the app to aggregate your sleep, activity, and eating habits.
Social
Twitter
There's no better way to stay up-to-date on what's happening in the world than with the (for now) 140-character social network, Twitter. Where else can you see Kanye blow up at the world in real-time?
Peach
Social sharing apps are a dime a dozen, but Peach really does offer something more — and more fun. It’s kind of old school Facebook meets Tumblr, with lots of GIFs, photo sharing, and opportunities for sharing unique reactions to posts (beyond just liking or favoring). The app has a bunch of automated, built-in features too, including a cute game called Peach Ball.
Instagram
It wouldn't be inappropriate to say we have an Instagram problem.
Snapchat
It's silly, it's timely, and we love it. (And Refinery29's Discover channel is pretty great, if we do say so ourselves.)
GIPHY
GIPHY has the biggest library of GIFs out there. The app makes it super easy to find and share them with friends and coworkers.
Travel
Lyft
Uber gets most of the headlines (good and bad), but lately, we've been loving Lyft. It's casual, it's everywhere, and it's so, so cheap.
Google Maps
Google Maps is still our go-to when we're heading somewhere new. It's also convenient for finding local cafés and coffee shops when you're in unfamiliar territory. It can also help you find an alternate route when your daily commute gets jammed, thanks to automatic re-routing.
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