/
20 January 2026
Top apps to use while studying at university
We are living in an exciting digital age with new apps being created every year to help us learn and study more productively. University life is busy with lectures, team projects, self-study and exam preparation. You also need time for other activities such as meeting up with friends, hobbies and maintaining your personal wellbeing. You may feel overwhelmed, but there are a wide range of apps to help you stay organised and on track.
Powered by AI, apps can be great tools for a variety of tasks such as project management, collaboration with your classmates or transforming your notes into flashcards and practice sets for exam preparation.
In this blog, we will list the top apps you can use while you’re at university and in your future work.
Time / task management
Todoist
Todoist is one of the best time management tools. You can view daily or upcoming tasks, set priority levels, schedule your classes, keep track of your assignments and readings, collaborate with your classmates and delegate tasks, and get reminders of due dates.
School Planner
School Planner is great organisation tool specifically designed for students. Record your homework, assignments, study tasks and exams and receive reminders and notifications to ensure you stay organised.
Habitica
Habitica turns your to-do list, habit and daily tasks into a game, motivating you to stay productive. You earn rewards and unlock achievements for completing tasks and it will track your progress.
Forest
If you easily get distracted or find it difficult to focus on a task, check out the Forest app. In each study session, you are given a virtual tree, and it will grow each time you complete one of the tasks in your checklist (e.g. type up 500 words for my economics essay). Keep achieving your tasks and you can grow an entire ‘forest’.
The developers of Forest partner with a reforestation organisation called Trees for the Future to plant real trees. They will donate to them when you use the virtual coins you earn in Forest for real tree planting.
Other time / task management apps to check out:
Note-taking
Evernote
Evernote transcribes and summarises lectures and conversations. It supports text, images, videos and voice memos. You can organise your lecture notes, study materials, research, and scanned documents all in one place. Evernote’s search function allows you to find information quickly by typing in titles, dates and keywords. The app will sync your notes automatically across all your devices, and you can access them offline.
Notion
Notion can take notes, deliver actionable summaries and build workflows. You can record and organise your lecture notes, readings, academic goals, lists, reminders and files. It acts like a database to store, access and track everything you need for study.
If you want to transcribe audio into text, then Otter.ai is the perfect app. Instead of spending time writing notes, Otter can record what is said in lectures, group discussions and interviews and turn it into text, summaries and action items. It can condense a 1-hour meeting into a 30- second summary and assign action items.
Other note-taking apps to check out:
Writing and Editing
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a generative AI tool that serves many functions including creating copy, summarising long articles, research, brainstorming ideas and language learning. The information it gives is only as good as the prompts you provide. Use its responses as a starting point, not as a final answer and always verify its answers with other reputable sources. Read more about how to use and not use ChatGPT as a student.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a great tool for improving your writing. It helps with grammar, punctuation and style suggestions. Use it to check whether your essays, reports and assignments are clear, concise and free of errors. The app can identify the key points you want to convey and make suggestions for improvement.
Check out Grammarly’s product demonstration.
Hemingway Editor
The Hemingway App can help make your writing concise and easier to understand for a wider audience by assessing its readability. It highlights complex sentences and errors and offers suggestions on how to write with more influence. To get started, paste your writing onto the page and it will analyse its readability. Hover over highlighted words and sentences to get suggestions on how to make your copy easier to read.
Quillbot
Quillbot can help you craft clear and professional writing at a fraction of the time it usually takes. Use it for paraphrasing, checking grammar, preventing plagiarism, generating ideas, language translations and summarising text. Go to their website and start trialling their tools for free.
Other writing / editing apps to check out:
Collaboration
Google docs
Google docs will allow you and your team to create, edit and collaborate on files at the same time - great for group projects. Documents are automatically saved and revision history recorded.
Miro
Miro is a visual collaboration platform where your team can collaborate on projects, brainstorm new ideas and assign each other tasks. There are over 300 templates you can choose from. Miro’s AI transforms ideas into briefs, plans and diagrams. It is integrated with other software, so you can add content from Google, Microsoft, Adobe and more.
ClickUp
ClickUp creates a collaborative learning environment where you can manage projects, set goals, list tasks and track progress. ClickUp Docs allows you to work alongside your classmates to contribute and comment on documents in real-time. ClickUp’s Whiteboards allows your team to draw, visualise and share ideas using sticky notes, cards and other visual features.
Mindmeister
Mind mapping is a technique that helps you visualise your thoughts and communicate them to others. It helps with extracting key points, improving memory and project management. If you are a visual learner, then mind mapping is the tool you’re looking for.
Mindmeister is a great mind mapping app where your team can collaborate in one document in real-time. After you type in the central idea, you can create unlimited subtopics and attach research, notes and digital assets. Use it to brainstorm, organise ideas and plan tasks for your next team project.
Other collaboration apps to check out:
Presentation
Besides Microsoft PowerPoint, there are other software apps offering specialised features that will help make your presentation stand out.
Prezi
Prezi’s AI tool can generate engaging presentations that are visual and cinematic based on your prompts. There are many templates to choose from, and you can upload existing content to include. Prezi AI can also make recommendations for writing and illustrations.
Canva
With Canva, you can create beautiful slides with free presentation templates and access to a huge media library (e.g. fonts, graphics). Read their guide to creating a presentation in Canva.
Revision
Study Fetch
Upload your course material (e.g. lecture notes, research articles) to Study Fetch and receive a guided study plan, interactive flashcards, tutoring sessions, tests, quizzes, and video explainers. You can get feedback from tests in real-time and ways to improve.
StudySmarter
StudySmarter provides you access to millions of learning materials and can create flashcards from your notes. Test yourself with Exam AI and get feedback to improve your answers.
Quizlet
With Quizlet, you can transform your notes and slides into flashcards, practice tests and study guides that cater to your learning style. You can also use sets made by your classmates or select from millions of flashcard sets created by other students. Quizlet’s ‘Learn’ mode uses your past behaviour to identify what you find challenging and adjusts the difficulty of questions based on your performance.
Other revision apps to check out:
Mental health and wellness
Headspace
As your weeks get busier during university and exams are coming up, you may feel stressed or anxious. It is important to take care of your mental health. Headspace offers stress-relieving techniques, sleep meditations, and mental health resources to help you manage stress, anxious thoughts and help you feel more relaxed.
Check out the Headspace's YouTube channel where you can try their meditation videos such as Managing Exam Stress.
Calm
Calm is a mental health app to help improve sleep, reduce stress and anxiety and teach meditation and relaxation techniques. It has exclusive music tracks for focus and relaxation, sleep stories, videos on mindful movement and stretching and sessions to help you overcome stress or burnout.
Calm’s YouTube channel offers meditation and mindfulness videos.
Other wellbeing apps to check out:
At Kaplan International College Adelaide, our College Services Team will help you settle into the College and offer you any academic or personal guidance you may need. Read more about studying at university in Australia.
