After much celebration, the excitement of finding the hottest outfit to wear to the craziest party has finally subdued and reality has hit – the New Year’s resolution. While it’s a common trend to go full force during the first few weeks of January, it is hard to maintain your resolution schedule no matter what. Luckily for you and many others who face the same challenge, there is a wide range of smartphone apps available to keep you on track this New Year.
“My plan is to keep a small notebook in my bag to write down my purchases, so that I am aware of how much (or little) I spend because I always feel broke,” said Araba Amonu, a senior at Brown University, “but an app could replace the notebook. I have my phone more often than I have a bag.”
Although glad to see technological advances, she said some applications are extremely useless and a waste of time.
For Amonu, the Mint.com Personal Finance app could solve her problem. It helps you budget by downloading your banking records so you can compare income versus expenses, reported Chicago Tribune.
The newspaper listed a plethora of downloadable, some free, mobile applications built to help with New Year’s resolutions. Big Change, found on the iPhone or iPod Touch, plans out your goal and visually keeps track of your progress, through updating personal social media pages.
Alexis Johnson, a senior at Temple University, is sold. “Since smart phones are such a huge part of our lives, being able to track and note our progress would be very efficient,” she said. “I would definitely use an application like this on my iPhone.”
Similarly, the Lose It! app is one of the most downloaded titles on the iTunes App Store’s Health & Fitness category. For weight watchers and health gurus, it helps you set daily calorie intake and workout routine goals. Moreover, you can customize it with new recipe and training programs on the go.
“Smartphone apps are created when a need for something mobile is recognized,” said system analyst specialist Sean Gnanarajah. “In the case of Android, there are a lot less restrictions as to what apps can make it to the market. With iOS there are more restrictions.”
With dozens of smartphone apps circulating the market, it can be difficult finding the perfect app to suit your needs. For Iconosys’ newly released app of 2011 called New Year’s Buzzer (NYB), it can combat problems like obesity and smoking, reported WMDT Channel 47.
NYB is said to deliver regular self-tracked affirmations and personal incentives to encourage its users to “stay on the improvement program.” Today, this app is available for free and in three different languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Kean University senior, Eric Ayim said, “I think at the point of time we're in, we use technology in regards to just about anything, so this may be the best way to go about our New Year’s resolution.”
