7 Apps to Make Being at Home Bearable

So, after almost 2 months at home, we suspect you might be running out of things to keep you occupied; we’ve been seeing far too many pictures of pets in costumes looking very uncomfortable. Luckily, there are a huge number of apps out there to keep you (and Fluffy) happy and healthy, and maybe even turn this whole horrible situation to your advantage!

If it’s just purely entertainment you need, we have you covered. If you haven’t heard yet, we’ve opened up our GO TV app for everyone to use during this entire period, and a bunch of extra channels for existing GO TV customers. We have thousands of hours of movies and series on there, including tons of kid’s shows and family films to keep the little ones from redecorating the walls! On top of that, you’ll get all our interactive TV controls, so you can pause and rewind however much you need.

For those who prefer the library to the screen, Scribd currently have a free 30-day trial which gives you access to their full library of books, audiobooks, magazines and even sheet music if you fancy giving that old piano another go. For the true bookworms, it’s more than enough to tide you over while everything gets back to normal.

Other than just keeping your brain occupied, there is also a massive opportunity to learn something new. Apps such as Duolingo are a great use of any extra free time; there are dozens of languages you can start learning, completely free, and it even operates like a game to keep you coming back and improving. Best of all, it’s completely free and will continue to be long after this situation ends.

As another skill you may not know you wanted to learn, the developer of the Reaper digital audio app is offering everyone a free license that will work up until the end of June. If you ever fancied yourself as a DJ, they have great video guides and tons of resources in what is basically a professional audio mixing app. For something simpler, Drum Pad Machine is a great alternative to make something a bit more quickly.

One last skill we wanted to mention: Nikon has opened up all of their Nikon School courses for free. While admittedly there are only so many views you can take from your house, you’ll be amazed at how many incredible shots you can get just with the things you have to hand. While some courses are aimed specifically at Nikon users, many are just general photography tips and guides, so well worth a look.

For anyone missing their Zumba or Pilates classes, or just want to keep themselves mobile, a number of the biggest online exercise apps have also dropped their monthly fees to help keep the world healthy. The Nike Training App, for instance, has over a hundred workouts and exercise routines now available completely free for anyone who creates a free account. There are options for everything from cardio to muscle building and even a few that let you use your own equipment if you like.

Anyone missing their yoga classes also have some options. The Nike app does offer some yoga classes, but the best apps for this we’ve found are offered by Down Dog. They are offering their full yoga app, alongside their ‘Yoga For Beginners’, completely free until June 1^st. Their sessions are fully customisable to you, and you can track your progress as well.

In case you want to focus more on the mind than the body, there’s also Headspace, an app that provides and teaches mindfulness and meditation. Right now they’ve opened up a collection called ‘Weathering the Storm’ and made it free for everyone, including meditation, sleep and movement exercises.

So there you have it; a great collection of silver linings for the dark clouds we have at the moment. Remember, it’s not how bad the situation is, but how good you want to try and make it! Above all, stay safe, stay healthy and we’ll all get through this together!