We’re not in grammar school anymore, Toto. College is hard. You’re an adult, and suddenly your whole future is on the line. (Only sorta, but yep, it’s time to start adulting.) Don’t worry. You’ve got this. Fortunately, there’s an app for that, actually, there are several. Here are the essential apps for college students that you shouldn’t leave your Athens, Ohio apartment without.
EBSCOhost
The EBSCOhost app gives you mobile access to a massive library of academic resources right from your phone, including eBooks, research databases, journal articles, and library reference centers. If you’ve ever tried to write a paper at midnight and realized you need a peer-reviewed source immediately, this app is your best friend. Available on Android and iPhone, and it connects directly to Ohio University’s library system, so you’re not locked out of the good stuff.
MyFitnessPal
Dining hall food will eat your soul. Sitting in lectures all day will wreck your body. Exercise is not only good for you but genuinely makes everything else in your life better: focus, mood, sleep, all of it. MyFitnessPal helps you track diet and exercise so you don’t end up accidentally living on ramen and energy drinks for four years and wondering why you feel terrible. Take care of yourself early and avoid becoming a couch potato in your 30s. Future you will say thank you.
Notion
This has become one of the most indispensable productivity tools for college students. Notion is part note-taker, part planner, part database, part everything. You can build a full semester dashboard with your class schedule, assignment deadlines, reading lists, and study notes all in one place. It sounds like overkill until you’re juggling five classes, a part-time job, and a social life, and suddenly having everything organized in one app feels like the greatest gift anyone has ever given you. Free for students.
Venmo or Cash App
This one sounds obvious, but it genuinely solves one of the most consistently annoying parts of living with roommates in Ohio University student rentals, splitting bills. Splitting rent, utilities, groceries, and a pizza at 1 am, all of it becomes a two-second transaction instead of a whole awkward conversation about who owes whom what. Pick one and make sure everyone in your house uses the same one. Seriously, this prevents more roommate drama than you’d expect.
Spotify or YouTube Music
Yes, you need a music app. No, this is not negotiable. Studying in silence is a personality type, not a requirement, and having a good playlist is the difference between a productive three-hour study session and staring at your laptop doing absolutely nothing. Both Spotify and YouTube Music offer student discounts that make them essentially free, and both have enough pre-built study playlists to carry you through an entire semester without having to think about it.
Coursera or edX
This is the 2026 replacement for iTunes U, which Apple quietly took off. Both Coursera and edX give you free access to courses from top universities around the world, such as MIT, Stanford, Yale, all of them. You can supplement your OU education with Ivy League content without the Ivy League student debt. Some courses even offer free certificates if you want something tangible to show for it. Right from your phone, right in your Athens, Ohio rental, no extra tuition required.
Headspace or Calm
Look, college is stressful. Anyone who tells you otherwise either wasn’t paying attention or had a trust fund. Headspace and Calm are meditation and mental wellness apps that take about ten minutes a day and make a genuinely noticeable difference in anxiety levels, sleep quality, and focus. Both offer student discounts. This isn’t a luxury app; it’s basically maintenance for your brain, and your brain is the whole point of being in college.