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As always, many of this year’s best apps are ones you’ve probably never heard of. Sure, there are some big names on this list, particularly in the buzzy field of artificial intelligence, but the real standouts of 2025 innovated on a smaller scale. They give you better ways to take notes or remember things, write with just your voice, have fun snapping photos, or even indulge in some gaming classics. For this list, “apps” include desktop and mobile software, along with browser extensions and web tools. Some apps are entirely new, while others received transformative updates that make them worthy of a fresh look. Hopefully, you’ll discover something that quickly becomes a must-have. Productivity Raycast: Open Raycast with a keyboard shortcut, and you can quickly find files, search the web, access your clipboard history, paste frequently written text snippets, reposition your windows, look up emojis, ask AI questions, and more. It’s a Swiss Army knife of time-saving tools for power users, and it finally arrived on Windows and iOS this year to complement the long-running Mac version. (Windows, Mac, iOS) Payload: Cloud storage is great, but sometimes you need a faster way to send files to yourself. Payload checks your Wi-Fi network for any devices where its app is installed, then uses that connection to transfer files almost instantly, without ever leaving your local network. Previously desktop-only, Payload arrived on mobile devices this year and launched an optional online service for remote file sharing. (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) Ghost Capture App: This free app streamlines the act of adding items to your to-do list. Just long-press the little ghost icon and say what you’re trying to accomplish, and it will create a task that syncs to either Apple Reminders or Google Tasks with no extra buttons to push. (iOS) Monotype: Typewriter Simulator: If you miss (or, for that matter, remember) the feel of writing with a typewriter, this app is for you. It provides an on-screen typewriter that produces a satisfying clack with each key press, followed by a ding and the need to hit Enter (or, more appropriately, Return) at the end of each line. When you’re finished, you can copy the text into whatever document editor you normally use. Thankfully, the app allows you to delete without any Wite-Out. (Mac) Antinote: Apple’s default TextEdit app is too clunky when you’re just trying to jot down some quick thoughts. Antinote speeds things up with a clean, plain-text scratch pad, which you can pop open with a keyboard shortcut (Option+A by default). You can also create to-do lists by typing “todo” at the top of a note, or perform calculations by typing “math” at the top. It’s a $5 onetime purchase after a free trial. (Mac) Orb: Most internet speed test tools just give you a snapshot of upload and download speeds. Orb instead lets you run persistent speed tests throughout the day, providing a clearer view of overall reliability. You can even set up the app on multiple devices around the house to see where the connection is weakest. (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) AI Proton Lumo: While most AI companies keep a record of your chat history and may even share conversations with human reviewers, Proton’s Lumo AI makes a point of being oblivious. Proton doesn’t log users’ chats or use them to train its models, so the company has no way of accessing your chat history. (iOS, Android, web) Perplexity Comet: Amid a wave of AI web browsers, Perplexity stands out for its ability to navigate the web on your behalf. Try letting it cancel your subscriptions, search across multiple flight deal sites, or even put a single question to multiple AI tools to see how their answers differ. Just be careful about letting it access sensitive data. (Windows, Mac, Android) Wispr Flow: Your phone or computer’s built-in voice dictation features are fine if you don’t mind doing a lot of manual cleanup. Wispr Flow manages to be a lot more accuratesometimes eerily soas it uses AI processing to both clean up your text and learn from your writing tendencies over time. It’s also just convenient to use in short bursts with push-to-talk keyboard shortcuts. (Windows, Mac, iOS) [Screenshot: Jared Newman] Superwhisper: Another voice dictation app, Superwhisper stands out by letting you use on-device speech-to-text models with no online processing. This allows for unlimited usage without any privacy concerns while still offering handy shortcuts for push-to-talk mode. (Windows, Mac, iOS) Google Gemini: Google’s AI assistant isn’t new, but its built-in “Nano Banana” text-to-image model that arrived this year would be a killer app on its own. Start by uploading any image, then ask to render it in a different visual style, remove objects (including chain link fences), zoom and enhance, or add more images to the scene. You can even draw around parts of the image to show where the edits should go. (iOS, Android, web) Dia: The most thoughtful of the AI browsers, Dia lets you @ mention your open tabs to synthesize information from them, ask questions about your browser history, and take action in web apps like Gmail and Google Calendar. Its smartest feature, though, is its search box, which automatically routes your queries to AI or web search, based on what you write. (Mac) Sora: What if there was a social network where you didnt need to stop and wonder if something was generated by AIbecause everything was generated by AI? Thats the premise behind OpenAIs Sora. You can even create an AI doppelgänger of yourself and control who can use it in their videos (just you, just your friends, or everyone). Yes, deceptive Sora deepfakes leaking onto the rest of the internet with their watermarks removed is an issue. But at its best, the app itself is silly, fun, and not at all misleading. (iOS, Android) Photo and video Affinity: Serif’s image editing suite is a popular subscription-free alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator, and Designer, so users got nervous last year when the company was acquired by Canvaitself a subscription-driven business. This year, Canva didn’t just honor its promise to offer Affinity without a subscription, it released the entire desktop suite for free. The only catch is that you need a Canva accountand a subscription if you want to use some AI tools. (Windows, Mac) Not Boring Camera: This iPhone app offers a more fun way to take photos, with skeuomorphic buttons and knobs for zoom, exposure, focus, and more. The two-second preview of snapped photos that appears in the viewfinder is an especially nice touch, allowing you to quickly discard a bad picture while staying in photography mode. (iOS) Cassette: The self-proclaimed “Home Video Player” app offers a fun way to revisit all the footage you’ve captured on your iPhone. The app groups your videos by year, presenting them as VHS tapes on a shelf. Tapping on a cassette gives you a stream of auto-playng videos, which you can either swipe through TikTok-style or advance through with the fast-forward and rewind buttons. (iPhone, iPad) Google Vids: Google’s foray into multitrack video editing lets you combine multiple video and audio clips with transitions, voice-overs, and subtitles. Of course, there’s an AI angle, with an option to generate video clips using Google’s Veo 3 model, but otherwise it’s just an easy way to edit videos online for free. (Web) Detail: Apple’s winner for “Best iPad App of the Year,” Detail is a handy tool for professional (or aspiring) content creators. It helps record video in a variety of ways, including making reaction videos and reading script from an on-screen teleprompter, and its AI editor can help trim out unwanted bits. The real power, though, comes from being able to combine multiple iPhones and iPads for things like split-screen video podcasts, live monitoring on an iPad while shooting on your phone, and recording top-down iPhone footage while speaking into an iPad. (iOS, Mac) Camo Streamlight: The free Windows app makes you look better on Zoom calls by surrounding the outer edges of your screen in bright white. It takes inspiration from those ring lights you can attach to your screen, and while the effect is subtle in a well-lit room, it can make a big difference when the room lightning isn’t great. (Windows) Shutter Declutter: If your Apple Photos library is swimming in tens of thousands of images you couldnt care less about, youre not alone. Shutter Declutter can help you finally make progress at pruning them. It lets you efficiently swipe to delete the detritus, and reminds you each day to review pictures you took on todays date in previous years. The fewer fuzzy and/or accidental shots that remain, the more you can enjoy the photos worth preserving. (iOS, iPadOS) Security and privacy UBlock Origin Lite: Apple’s Safari browser finally has the free, open-source, customizable ad-and-tracker blocker it’s been missing. This offshoot of the venerable uBlock Origin does a great job decluttering web pages, and you can dig into its settings menu to tailor the filtering rules to your likingfor instance, to hide cookie notices or social media widgets. The same extension is also available for Chrome. (iOS, Mac) Have I Been Pwned?: For more than a decade, Have I Been Pwned? has been invaluable for checking whether your email and passwords have been exposed in data breaches. (The answer is almost certainly “yes.”) This year, the site added a personal dashboard with a full history of breaches for your email address, the types of data exposed, and optional email addresses for the next time your email is compromised. (Web) Proton Authenticator: Proton’s two-factor authentication app is what Authy used to be before it discontinued its desktop apps. It allows you to set up 2FA codes that add an extra layer of protection to your online accounts, then back up and sync them to your other devices. This makes 2FA more convenient while reducing the odds of getting locked out. (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) Leisure time WikiTok: This clever website takes the addictive infinite scroll of TikTok and applies it to random Wikipedia pages, so you can swipe through until something catches your interest. The experience is far less scintillating, but that’s kind of the point. Try using it before bed. (Web) Iconfactory Tapestry: If you’re feeling burned out by social media, Tapestry lets you stitch together a chronological feed of your favorite internet content sources. Those can include publications, YouTube channels, Reddit forums, Bluesky accounts, and even custom sources such as a Gmail inbox. (iOS, Mac) Pocket Casts: This venerable podcast player continues to establish itself as the best option that works on any device, not just those made by Apple. This year, Pocket Casts made its web player free, and it syncs your progress from the mobile app for picking up where you left off. It also overhauled its search function, added recommendations for similar podcasts, and launched searchable transriptions as a paid feature. (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, web) DOSBox Pure Unleashed: This free app drastically simplifies the previously complex task of running old DOS games on your computer. Instead of having to deal with command prompts, you can just drag and drop the files into the DOSBox window and select the .EXE file you want to run. All you need to do beyond that is supply the games, which are easily obtainable from sources like the Internet Archive and My Abandonware. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
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E-Commerce
Culture rot is when everything that once made a company good gradually starts to disappearresulting in sinking morale, low productivity, lots of gossip, quiet quitting, and overall cynicism. And it can cause big problems for everyone.
Category:
E-Commerce
The end of the year is the perfect time to take stock of where you are, what youre good at, and what you want to develop in the new year. The job market continues to be intense and competitive, so youre wise to consider hiring trends and how you can best prepare and set yourself apart. There is one skill that tops the list for getting the job, building your career, and becoming indispensable: resilience. Resilience has many forms. At a general level, resilience is about adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness to multiple situations. But when you consider it through a few lenses, it brings terrific focus to what you must be wicked good at for the brightest future. RESILIENCE WITH PEOPLE Topping the list of which skills will set you apart are people skills also known as soft skills. And while theyre called soft skills, theyre actually not soft at all since they are hard to find, hard to master, and its hard to get anywhere without them. In particular, a survey by Resume Template found that 24% of hiring managers believe soft skills are most important, followed by 62% who say they are just as important as technical skills. And data from TestGorilla found that 60% of hiring leaders believe soft skills are more important today than they were five years ago. But whats helpful to consider is that soft skills are really made up of an ability to be resilient with people. When you can listen with empathy, youre better able to respond. When you can communicate effectively with diverse groups of people, you can get more done. When you can demonstrate teamwork and collaboration, youre able to move others to action and effectively achieve objectives together. And when you show professionalism through tough issues, youll generate a lot of panache. These are all among the top-ranking skills that hiring managers want, according to Resume Template. Ultimately, resilience is required with people because youll need to be constantly adjusting to their moods or their styles. Youll also need to flex your style if you face conflict, staying calm when you feel angry, or finding a way to talk with someone even if you disagree. Build your resilience with people by focusing on listening and tuning in when youre interacting, rather than getting distracted by devices or your internal chatter. Also ask for feedback from a trusted colleague about how you interact and how you can improve. Look around for people you believe are especially good at building relationships and rapport. Consider how you can learn from what makes them effective, so you can put new strategies into practice. RESILIENCE WITH SITUATIONS Another way that resilience is a primary skill for success is that it helps ensure youre adaptable to whatever situation you face. Youll need to be contextually aware, staying in tune with shifts that might be occurring with customers or with an emerging problem. In fact, in the Resume Template survey, problem-solving was one of the top skills that hiring managers are looking for in candidates. Youll also need to manage time effectively, and this is rarely linear or predictable, requiring flexibility. The project will take longer than you thought, or youll need to wait for a teammate to give you key information before you can make progress on your task. Or you may finish with a set of responsibilities more quickly than you planned and be ready to position yourself for whats next. Time management is one of the most important skills, according to the Resume Template data. Resilience with situations also requires you to take initiative. When you see a barrier, youll need to step up and figure out how to get past it. Or when you see an opportunity, youll want to lean in, raise your hand, and volunteer to get involved. This kind of approach will get you noticed so you can get promoted or secure the next opportunity. You can think of situational resilience as grit. Its the ability to stick with things and adapt to whats needed in the moment. Its also the ability to be flexible in terms of how you apply your skills based on what the team or the organization needs and based on where you want to head with your career. Build your resilience with situations by staying aware of whats going on around you in the world, in your organization, and with your customers (whether theyre internal or external). Consistently ask yourself how you need to respond and how you can take initiative with whats changing. You can also build your situational resilience by reminding yourself that youre capable and that you can learn all the time. If you stumble, reflect on what happened and make plans for how you can improve. This will keep you in a learning mode and a resilience mindset. RESILIENCE FOR THE FUTURE Resilience is also the most important skill as it relates to your ability to learn, grow, and develop. The landscape of work is changing at breakneck speed, largely because of technology. As a result, the very best candidates are those who can figure out how to make things happen in the midst of uncertainty and keep their skills fresh and continually developing. There is also an element of optimism and energy that is part of resilience for the future. When youre investing time and effort in your own growth, youre necessarily anticipating whats next and planning on where you can go. This is a hope-filled strategy, and people are drawn to others who are powering through and engaged with the team in moving forward together. This is the true essence of leadership, another in-demand skill, in which youre motivating and inspiring others. When you demonstrate resilience for the future, youre also staying aware of trends, markets, customers, and competitors. Whatever job you do, youre constantly sensing whats changing, whats coming, and how you can respond. In the Resume Template survey, among the top 10 hard skills that leaders wanted candidates to have were data analysis, project management, and AI. A survey by Resume Builder agrees that AI is the most important skill that hiring managers want to see on résumés. But the nuances of these skills and how theyre applied will change over time. The ability to learn whats new and flex over time will be most critical to success. Build your resilience for the future by staying optimistic. There are always plenty of barriers as you look forward, but try to focus on the opportunities that are also coming up. Make plans for the new skills you want to learn. Also lean into how you use technology. Try, test, and experiment so you can develop both skills and a point of view about what works best. And engage other people, involving them and sharing te positive energy youre feeling to move ahead. THE ACTION HERO EFFECT Resilience is an action-hero skill. Think of MacGyver, who was an action hero who could solve any problem to get himself out of thorny situations. Or consider Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, surviving and achieving the objective no matter the challenge. Resilience allows you to make things happen in spite of challenging colleagues, conflicts, problems with projects, or changes in direction. You wont avoid difficulty, but youll be able to work your way through by adapting, flexing, and demonstrating resilience. Building this ability in the new year will allow you to stand out and set yourself apart whether youre interviewing for a new job, getting noticed for a promotion, or expanding your credibility in your current role.
Category:
E-Commerce
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