Stuff We Like

Our Favorite Apps of 2021

The apps we loved this year

We are, as you can probably guess, big fans of iOS apps here at Lickability. So here’s a small selection of the apps we loved the most this year—some are new, some are just new to us, and some are old staples that we’re still enjoying.

Gyroscope app icon

🩺 Gyroscope

Gyroscope calls itself an “OS for your body,” and while that’s a pretty big claim, it isn’t far off. The app blends your health data, location data, sleep tracking, and even time tracking from RescueTime into a dashboard for your body and mind. I’ve used it extensively in the last year to get better sleep, work out more, and improve my nutrition. And with new features like AI food scanning and even human coaches, it just keeps getting better.

— Matt Bischoff

Duolingo app icon

💬 Duolingo

I discovered that you can use the Apple pencil on Duolingo to write in different languages during the exercises. I’ve known from growing up that the only way I learn a language is if I write it and now I can do that 100% in this app instead of having to use a notebook at the same time.

— Michael Amundsen

Copilot app icon

💸 Copilot

Copilot gives my a simple and beautiful overview of my finances, and helps me see where my money is going. It is snappy, beautifully designed, and a breeze to setup and use. Budgets and categories are created automatically, and the only work I have to do is review the data and make decisions.

— Tom DeVuono

GameTrack app icon

🎮 GameTrack

This year, I upgraded from a spreadsheet to using GameTrack to track which video games I’m currently playing, want to play next, have finished, or have abandoned.

I used to tinker with the idea of building an app for myself to solve this problem, but in recent years, GameTrack has shown great commitment to new features and improvements, so I’m more than happy to give it a spot on my home screen. I especially like its statistics features, which include “Year In Review” at the perfect time to decide on my game of the year. The icing on the cake: it also works on Mac!

— Michael Liberatore

Power ETRADE app icon

🚀 Power E*TRADE

With meme stock mania this year, I upgraded my trading experience from Etrade’s normal app to Power E*TRADE. It’s a lot more specialized and has tons more data at your fingertips. I particularly like the paper money account you can set up through it to “practice” trading.

— Michael Amundsen

TheGrint app icon

⛳️ TheGrint

I use TheGrint as my score keeper and GPS app for golf. The app is simple to use, fast, and allows me to keep track of a fair number of stats for free. The GPS portion is great when playing unfamiliar courses and the added social features help me engage with my friends when they do well.

— Tom DeVuono

Opal app icon

📵 Opal

I downloaded Opal in an effort to reduce my screen time and use social media more mindfully. Opal lets you set up schedules for when to block certain apps, and if you’d like to take a break from that schedule, you are prompted to type out a reason why you absolutely need to use Twitter for 5 minutes. I can’t say I’ve fully succeeded in reducing my screen time on a regular basis, but I’ve enjoyed using the app either way.

— Jillian Meehan