Student life is a constant balance of studying, socialising, budgeting and new experiences. Luckily, most of us have a world of technology in our pockets that can help us with daily life.
While there are millions of helpful apps available to download, we’ve listed our favourite freebie apps that help students with their finances, productivity and wellbeing.
By Cara Fielder and April Baniqued. Published 8 April 2019. Last updated 9 September 2024.
Finances
TOTUM
TOTUM, formerly NUS Extra, gives students serious savings, whether for beauty, entertainment, travel or finance. There are a host of deals, including big brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Dell, Expedia and Nike. For convenience, you don’t need to take the physical card with you everywhere, instead, you can easily download the app on your phone.
Our students benefit from a free 1-year TOTUM+ card on enrolment – find out more here.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
UniDays
UniDays is a student-only discount app that your wallet will thank you for downloading. Whether your purchases are based around fashion, fitness, food or technology, there’s a saving for everyone. Again, there are lots of big brands like Boohoo, Adidas and Disney+.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
StudentBeans
StudentBeans is a free digital student card on your phone, supplying you with discounts for over 1000 brands across fashion, technology, food, entertainment and more. The app offers some unmissable savings, including discounted tickets for attractions such as Thorpe Park and Alton Towers.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Quidco
Student life can come with bills, a reliable laptop, travel costs and so much more. Quidco’s app allows you to earn cashback through everyday purchases. Over 10 million members use Quidco to earn cashback on everything from crafting goods to changing their energy providers. Simply use the links to the website you wish to purchase from via the Quidco app and you can earn cashback or fixed-amount bonuses just for making your normal everyday purchases.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
TopCashback
Similar to Quidco, TopCashback gives you cashback through your purchases. With over 6,000 retailers you can start saving money, whether that be on your weekly groceries shop at Tesco, your new sportswear from Nike or your much “needed” shopping spree on Amazon.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Trolley.co.uk
With so many grocery shops available, it can feel overwhelming to know which one to go to, especially in terms of which is the most cost-effective. This app lets you search for items and compare the costs across major supermarkets, to make sure you get more for your money. This includes supermarkets like ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Amazon.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
BlackBullion Money Manager
Balancing and keeping track of all your finances is not easy. Instead of looking through multiple bank account apps, you can connect them all to the BlackBullion Money Manager app and easily understand your spending habits across them all simultaneously. You can also set monthly budgeting goals and assign spending targets to the categories that matter to you. To celebrate you hitting your budgets, the app even rewards you with their in-app currency, bullions, which you can exchange for prizes. The bigger the budget, the bigger the reward. Managing money can be a new territory for many students, so this app is also a handy tool to learn more about money management.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Productivity
Speechnotes
If you’re better at talking through your ideas out loud or recording discussions to research them later, then Speechnotes is the app for you. Simply open the app, get chatting and the app will record your speech as text which you can later edit into other programmes. This can be incredibly useful for group projects, as it frees someone from physically taking notes and allows them to be more involved in the conversation.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Alarmy
Do you struggle to get out of bed? Instead of relying on a simple sound to rouse you from your slumber, Alarmy gives you various options to ensure you wake up on time. To stop the alarm, you can complete tasks like taking a photo of a different room in your house to get you out of bed or challenge yourself with a math problem to make sure you’re instantly focused. There are also gentler options like shaking your phone for 30 seconds to stop the alarm. With this app, there’s no excuse for being late to a lecture.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
BigOven
Thinking of something new to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner is a tiring daily task. With BigOven, all you have to do is type in your leftover items in your kitchen and then you are presented with a variety of tasty recipes. This means fewer visits to the grocery store, saving your valuable time, and better yet, less food waste.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Opal
Charles Dickens wrote, “Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” And that’s what the Opal screen time app aims to help you do. Most of us will be guilty of being distracted by our phones at some point. Whether it's calls, texts, Facebook notifications, Snapchat or Instagram stories, mobile phones are the ultimate distraction. Opal allows you to control your connectivity and get on with your work. Choose the apps or services you want to silence and make exceptions for those important contacts. Let's be honest, you can postpone your Instagram notifications but you don’t want to miss a call from a family member.
Available on the Apple App Store and coming soon to Google Play Store.
MyULaw app
The most useful app for our students is our own MyULaw app. It puts everything you need in the palm of your hand. You can access your email account, see your timetable, sign up for events, book a study space, find out about employability and student support and so much more.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Wellbeing
Couch to 5K
While you can get some great deals on student gym memberships, they’re still a monthly expense that you might not be able to afford or want to spend your money on. Luckily, there are some brilliant fitness apps out there but the free NHS Couch to 5k app is great for getting even the most sluggish students up and moving. From running in 60-second bursts, up to running a full 5km, this app will help you every step of the way.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Active10
If running isn’t your thing, try Active10. Walking for just 10 minutes a day can bring a host of health benefits, and with this free NHS app, you can record how many minutes you walk. Simply pop your phone in your pocket and it will automatically track the number of steps you take and your speed. You are also given objectives to motivate you and rewards to celebrate your progress. Whether your goal is to burn excess calories, build stamina or improve your mood, this app can help.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
ULaw Wellbeing app
Another of our own, this app encourages you to add positive habits to your lifestyle. Based on the Five Ways to Wellbeing, the focuses are to connect, get active, take notice, learn and give. The app features podcasts, daily articles, news items, interactive challenges, a journal and it can also monitor your progress. One of the most interesting features is the AI-backed chatbot, Charley, which can create a personalised wellbeing plan suited to you.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Insight Timer
With awards from TIME magazine and Women’s Health, this app has a variety of tools to improve your health. It can reduce stress or anxiety, help you sleep better, improve productivity and provide spirituality. It has music tracks for sleeping, courses, talks and more than 210,000 guided meditations, led by top meditation and mindfulness experts, psychologists, neuroscientists and teachers. Our students get a free membership to this via the Students’ Union.
Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Need more resources? Feel free to browse our Student Support page.
