Joseph Black, a second-year student at Manchester Metropolitan University and co-founder of the UniDosh app, offers his take on the most useful apps for students.
Many mobile apps have been created specifically to help students organise their studies, social life and home life. Here are five apps – some of them created by students like me – that I believe can help to make university life slightly easier. All the apps listed are available on iOS and Android devices.
Prelinks
Launched in Nottingham in October 2015, Prelinks has spread quickly to 50,000 student users across six UK cities.
It delivers curated events listings from the best big-name, local and student-focused nightlife venues in each city. Users can explore their city’s best nights out and buy tickets for events, as well as meet and chat with others who share their taste in music and activities.
The events are sourced by a team of students and supporting ambassadors, who work closely with the events to ensure that the app reflects the music trends and tastes of UK students.
Prelinks was created by two school friends, Jono Linden and Lawrence McNeill, after they graduated from the University of Bristol and University College London, respectively.
Splittable
Splittable makes it easy for students to track and split shared expenses – from rent to toilet roll, utility bills to nights out. It also allows you to request and transfer money to your housemates for free.
The app recently introduced Splittable Services – a way to manage home bills and services. The first managed service that it offers is tracking energy bills. In a few clicks, you can set up gas and electricity bills for your home; then, the app will automatically split your bill among housemates and send it straight to the energy provider.
Splittable intends to add more services, covering the likes of internet access and water, in due course.
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UniDosh
UniDosh was launched in January 2017 by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and Nottingham Trent University – including me!
Students are able to provide services to their peers at a low cost. There is a good chance that an undergraduate in need of housekeeping or cleaning, tutoring, DJing, a car pool or almost anything else can find another student offering it at a student-friendly price.
UniDosh has two functions: UniBuy and UniSell. UniBuy allows students to search for many different services that fit their budget and other requirements. UniSell enables students to list the services that they wish to provide to other students to help them make a little extra money.
Evernote
Evernote is used throughout the student community to help students keep up with lecture notes, studies and group work.
Using the app, students can organise their work in a variety of formats, including text, sketches, photos, audio, video, PDFs and web clippings. The in-app camera can scan, digitise and organise paper documents, business cards, handwritten notes and drawings.
Evernote can also be used to organise your personal life by creating multiple checklists and notebooks.
The app automatically syncs between your phone, tablet and computer.
Uber
Uber provides students with a cheaper alternative to local taxis as well as the freedom to select a driver at short notice.
Because it’s a cash-free system, Uber can be slightly more convenient than other services: payment can be made by credit or debit card, Apple Pay, PayPal and more.
Requesting an Uber car is easy: you just open the app and enter your desired destination. The app tracks your location so a driver can pick you up. You will be able to see your driver’s picture and vehicle details, and to track the vehicle’s progress on the map.
After the ride, both driver and passenger are able to rate and provide feedback on each other.
Joseph Black is a second-year student at Manchester Metropolitan University and the co-founder of UniDosh.
