Apple and Google celebrated a big milestone this year.
The App Store commemorated its fifth anniversary with a fire sale of free downloads, while Google Play touted 50 billion downloads and over 1 million apps posted in the platform.
Despite the abundance of programs housed within these separate stores, quite a few slip below the radar that don't receive the recognition they deserve.
We've rounded up the most underrated apps you really should be using. Check out our top 15 picks.
Oyster is an on-demand e-book service every voracious reader should have.
Dubbed the "Netflix for E-books,"Oyster is a digital library that contains over 100,000 books for browsing. Available for the iPhone & iPad, the system requires a $9.95 monthly fee in order to download and read this extensive collection. Books can be synced between devices and the app has features like a bright light for reading in the dark. The fee is a small price to pay for the numerous options encased within this application.
Price: $9.95
Available: iPhone.
IFTTT syncs apps together to create powerful multi-tasking concoctions.
The best apps are the most simple. IFFT is one of them. By creating "recipes", IFTTT works with 75 programs to form powerful ways for your device to communicate. One experiment could be telling the built-in weather app to directly email the day's forecast to your inbox. Think of it as an app that you can program to do just about anything useful. As of right now, it's only available for iOS, but it should be expanding to Android within the year.
Price: Free
Available: iPhone.
The Moviefone app is a better alternative than the website.
By adjusting your location, the Moviefone app quickly scans the surrounding area to find the closest theater. If you see a new film emerge on the list but have no idea what it is about, the app connects you to its selection of reviews found on critical aggregator Rotten Tomatoes while watching high-quality trailers.
Price: Free
Available: iPhone and Android.
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