The best apps and services for freshers

Many navigation apps can help a college graduate navigate an unfamiliar city, but Waze can offer the best way. The free service’s crowdsourced alerts can help drivers avoid construction or traffic jams that aren’t always seen in competing apps, including its sibling Google Maps. Connections to streaming services like Spotify and TuneIn make it easy to tune in for a long ride without using separate apps. Ads that run while suspended aren’t ideal, but the sacrifice may be worth it if it helps the graduate arrive on time for a new job.

If your graduate relies on public transportation, The Transit app it is practically mandatory. It provides real-time detailed directions for mass transit in hundreds of cities, letting passengers know when to leave and which stops to take. More importantly, it is integrated with alternative transport options such as shared bikes, scooters and Uber rides. The main app is free, but it’s worth paying $25 a year for a Royale subscription (if it’s not offered free by a local agency) to look up every transit line and future schedules.

Carpooling today is more than just going to parties or visiting family – for some, it can be the most efficient way to get to work. In this light, a subscription to Lyft Pink or Uber One it could easily be a welcome gift. Both $10-a-month services offer discounts on rides and food delivery, as well as a handful of other perks, like Lyft’s free priority pickups and Uber’s access to top-rated drivers. Both services are good choices, although you’ll want to make sure there are plenty of drivers where your recipient lives.

Students can settle for a free cloud account or join a parent’s family plan, but there’s a good chance they’ll want their own paid account once they graduate. Fortunately, all major platform builders have cloud service packages that cover much of what they need. Apple One ($17 per month for individual), Google One ($20 per year for Basic) and Microsoft 365 Personal ($70 per year) all provide additional cloud storage as well as services you’ll likely use for entertainment, productivity, and security.

Choosing a service depends on what your graduate is looking for. Apple One is unsurprisingly the best for iPhone and Mac users – you get 50GB of iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. Meanwhile, Google One provides 100GB of sharing space, advanced photo editing features, and a VPN to protect your connection. Meanwhile, Microsoft 365 Personal is a big productivity boost with Office apps, 1TB of storage, and security tools like Windows Defender. Although these packages do not cover every possible need, they can easily save money compared to paying for each service individually.

A VPN (virtual private network) can be extremely useful for those concerned about security. It can hide sensitive information from prying eyes and help access regional content that is normally prohibited. There are plenty of good VPNs out there, but our graduate pick is ExpressVPN. While it’s not the cheapest at $100 a year, our security reporter Katie Malone says it’s extremely well-rounded. It’s easy to set up, works on many devices, includes a password manager, doesn’t log activity, and is even game-friendly. Simply put, your former student is more likely to keep the VPN running no matter what he does.

Passwords are already a problem in school, but they get worse after you leave—how can a high school senior remember all those new logins for utilities and other mandatory services? That’s why we recommend 1 Password. For $36 a year, it makes it easy to sign in on many of your devices. It can also store credit cards and other sensitive information. And importantly, 1Password is moving to passwords for accessing its accounts. The high school graduate won’t have to worry about someone guessing their master password and will have access to virtually their entire digital life.

Money management will be more important than ever for recent graduates and Quicken’s Simplifi budgeting app can help them manage their finances. It’s our favorite budgeting app, and the one we recommended most Mint users switch to after that service was shut down earlier this year. We like Simplifi’s clean interface and overall ease of use: it’s a relatively painless process to connect all your accounts, including those with Fidelity, and then the app shows you things like recent spending, upcoming recurring payments, top spending categories , a snapshot of your current spending plan, and more. The app also does a great job of categorizing transactions, and your grad can do things like label certain transactions like their monthly phone bill as recurring. And you can gift them a subscription to get them started, but hopefully the standard price of $48 per year will be affordable enough for your giftee to keep paying for it in the future if they find it useful.

To-do lists can help anyone stay organized, but free options (like Google Keep) may not be a good fit for a high school senior who suddenly has to juggle more than hours. If this is the case, they may rate a Todoist Pro subscription as a gift. While the free version already includes advanced features like filtering and tags, $48 per year for Pro adds really useful extras like reminders, automatic backups, more filters, and larger 100MB uploads. Throw in access to multiple platforms and it’s an easy choice for someone figuring out how to manage their personal and professional life.

Graduates should not stop learning just because they have received their degrees. Subscription to Master class Individual may seem expensive at $180 per year, but it can easily help graduates learn important personal and professional skills from (often famous) experts in a variety of fields. They can brush up on their cooking with Gordon Ramsay or write with Margaret Atwood. And importantly, it’s not just about watching videos — students can follow a curriculum that includes completing real-world projects. Skillshare ($168 per year) may be a better fit if a new grad values ​​creative skills primarily, but Masterclass may be worth the cost to hone life skills or simply satisfy curiosity.

If you know a high school senior who has an iPhone and is anxious to get in shape, an Apple Fitness+ a subscription is an easy gift. The relatively low $80 annual cost provides access to 12 types of workouts that cover a wide range of durations and skill levels that can fit into a busy schedule. There are even audio-only running and walking workouts for those who prefer to exercise outside. The service works best when paired with an Apple Watch, but that’s no longer necessary—an iPhone is all they need to participate.

Peloton gear isn’t always a viable graduation gift, but a Peloton One subscription it certainly can be. A $13 per month membership gives Android and iOS users access to Peloton’s well-known trainers as they guide you through a variety of workouts that even include boot camps. It’s also an ideal gift if your recipient prefers structure – there are a range of programs to help develop skills, such as running marathons. Add community elements (like seeing who’s participating in the same workout) and it can help newcomers stay engaged.

There’s a good chance the high school senior in your life will want to chronicle their commute or workday and subscribe to Apple Music ($99 per year) or Spotify Premium ($10 per month) should provide exactly what they are looking for. Both music streaming services offer ad-free streaming and offline access to large selections of songs and well-curated playlists on multiple devices — you can listen to Apple Music on an Android phone or play Spotify on your favorite game console.

The choice depends on the tastes of the student. Apple Music obviously has an advantage for users who are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, but it’s also best if you want lossless or spatial audio. Spotify, meanwhile, has a strong social element, broader device support (especially for smart speakers), exclusive podcasts, and a hard-to-find library of niche playlists.

There’s a real possibility that your gifted person has already signed up for Amazon Prime Video or Netflix, but what if they want more? This is where a streaming service like Disney+ a subscription might be helpful. The $110 per year ad-free plan ($8 per month with ads) provides access to a library that may not beat rivals in quantity alone, but includes plenty of new and old catalog material from Disney’s many huge franchises. Graduates can see what The Mandalorian is everything or catch up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the next big movie comes out.

YouTube TV has been subject to price creep, but is still the best live TV service for most people, including newbies. The basic $73 monthly plan offers over 100 channels, including multiple 24-hour news networks and live sports from ESPN. Add-ons also carry networks like HBO. There’s wide-ranging device support, and unlimited cloud DVR storage means a grad won’t miss a favorite show.