10 iPhone Apps to Start the New Year Off Right

by Nathan Eddy

This free, straightforward note-making app bests the competition, thanks to its strong search capabilities and effortless organization. The app helps you remember everything you need to do across all of the devices you use, saving your ideas and improving productivity. You can take notes, make to-do lists, record voice reminders and capture photos—and then search all of these notes in case you need a refresher.

Dots is a ridiculously simple connect-the-dots game that can be played in Moves mode or a Timer mode. Fair warning—the minimally designed game is highly addictive. It’s the top game app in 21 countries around the world, and you can also challenge your friends with a local multiplayer mode.

Losing weight and working out more often is the most popular and common New Year’s Resolution every year, but many people give up after a few days or weeks. Staying motivated can be tough. This app allows you to track your workout, save routines and join a community to keep your motivation up.

Lots of people have the urge to get out and see the world, but the tedious details of planning—not to mention the cost—keep a lot of people from getting on a plane. Hipmunk helps by showing you the best prices for flights and hotels, and a hotel comparison feature that also includes Airbnb rentals is a unique feature.

This free app will give you a front-row seat to all the action happening in Times Square as this year’s ball drops. Follow the events on social media, or watch live-streaming video of all the festivities. As a bonus, the app also includes a feature that lets you customize a personal countdown timer.

This is a great—and free—app if you travel frequently or live abroad where it can be expensive to get in touch with friends and family. The app lets you make free calls and texts to other Vibr members, or offers lower rates than international calls typically cost. The app also syncs with your contact list, automatically detecting who you know already has the service.

Build wealth by investing in a custom, diversified portfolio of stock and bonds optimized for maximum expected returns, and save time with automated investing services, including tax-optimized rebalancing, dividend reinvesting and automatic deposits. The app uses 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and fraud protection to keep your account secure.

Another community-based app, Snapguide is a collection of step-by-step instructions that show you how to cook, build or play new things. You can also create your own guides and share what you know how to do on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others. The guides are short, but the topics are extensive.

This fun and user-friendly energy and activity tracker helps you connect the dots between your daily routine and your energy. Juice also gives you energy tips, and offers advice on how to build new healthy habits. You can choose what activities you want to track as well, such as sleep, nutrition, mood, stress, balance and even relationships.

This app can help you or someone you love stick to a pledge to kick the smoking habit. Just enter your personal details, and the app provides real-time motivators, such as your increasing lifespan, and the return of healthy lungs, heart, brain and dropping nicotine levels.