February 12, 2021 8 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It is cold, isn’t it? Did you check the weather today? It is difficult to wake up in the winter without an alarm. Did you set yours? Or did you ask your friend to call you? The chances are that if you did any of these things today, you probably used an app. They are everywhere, and we depend on them for almost everything.
You want to listen to music? You use Spotify. Are you struggling to find your destination? Download Google Maps. As the pandemic took over our lives, our reliance on apps only increased. We used Amazon to order the things we needed and Facebook to stay in touch with our friends. Apps are a fundamental part of our society now because they make our lives easier.
As the place that apps occupy in our lives increases, so do concern and criticism. People are worried about all the data that apps collect. Where is the data going, and what are app makers doing with it? Maybe we are too dependent on apps, and eventually they will come to control us. Their algorithms are designed to keep us hooked, to keep us scrolling until we buy enough products. But even for the skeptics, it is important to remember that apps can have the effect of positively changing our society.
1. PAPP App
The app PAPP, which stands for Police and Parenting Partnership, is revitalizing the broken relationship between the citizens of Baltimore and Baltimore local educational agencies. The app aims to create a collaborative environment between parents and police officers to help bring down crime rates in Baltimore.
The app functions with three different modules: the parent’s module, the officer’s module and the children’s module. Parents can use the application to arrange for mentorship sessions for their kids with local celebrities and police officers who volunteer their time to engage with the community at rec centers, parks and churches. The mentorship sessions can help kids focus on developing skills outside of school and have role models to look up to.
The app is helping children across Baltimore have a better educational experience, tying in their school records with mentorship opportunities, rewards and prizes. This incentive model pushes children to focus on learning using all the app’s features, which are available for free.
App Store Rating: 5.0
Play Store Rating: N/A
2. Ecoasia
Ecoasia is a search engine with advertisements, but how it is different from Google and Bing is after every 45 searches, the application plants a tree. Internet searches remove around 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide from the environment. Since its inception in 2009, Ecoasia has planted 80,000,000 trees.
An added positive effect is that the application does not save your searches or sell your data, and its monthly financial reports are wholly transparent and available for viewing on its website.
App Store Rating: 4.7
Play Store Rating: 4.6
Related: 3 Ways to Drive More Sales In Your App
3. Khan Academy
If you are a student, you may already be acquainted with Khan’s Academy’s website for last-minute algebra preparations and English revisions. The company has now built applications accessible on Apple and Android products. Besides aiding in those dreaded all-night study sessions, Khan Academy is massively positively changing society for the better.
All its thousands of exercises, videos, and articles are absolutely free. So if you would not otherwise have access to adequate resources in your personal or academic life, Khan Academy comes to the rescue with its quizzes, tests and lecture-based videos heavy on visual learning.
You don’t need to pay for tuition or costly classes for premium, quality education. It is now all at your fingertips, for zero cost, helping formulate a more learned society.
App Store Rating: 4.2
Play Store Rating: 4.4
4. Share the Meal
Share the Meal is a charity-based application developed by UNWFP (United Nations World Food Programme) aiming to fight the rising rates of hunger with a single tap. Share the Meal has, to date, distributed almost a hundred million meals to four million people through UNWFP. Through small donations, you can feed a hungry child wherever you are and can track where it goes. You get to see where your donation ends up and who exactly you are sharing a meal with: real families. You can help with the hunger crisis by simply sharing your meal with another.
App Store Rating: 4.9
Play Store Rating: 4.8
5. Too Good to Go
This ingenious app is another effective strategy targeting food waste. Do you ever notice the aisles and aisles of produce, packaged goods, and cans and wonder what happens to them if they don’t get bought?
Well, I have bad news for you. A lot of it is simply thrown away, even if it is still edible and even if it is still fresh. It does nothing to help the food wastage crisis and is terrible for the environment too.
This is where Too Good to Go comes in. Through this application, you benefit from exclusive deals and low prices for perfectly fine food that would otherwise get thrown away. You can help reduce food waste while getting discounts on fresh produce, canned goods and more by searching restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets on nearby store finders.
App Store Rating: 4.9
Play Store Rating: 4.8
Related: 3 New Productivity Tools That Can Automate Your Workday
6. GoFundMe
You may already have been aware of GoFundMe, and perhaps even have used it for funding a cause that spoke to you. GoFundMe helps empower individuals in need.
You do not have to give donations to large organizations, unsure of where your money ends up or if it truly makes a positive impact on society or ends up lining the pockets of some higher-up in the company. That is not the case with GoFundMe.
You can start or support fundraisers by donations easily for various (even local) issues like medical bills, funerals, education or even charity at large. You also get run-time updates and see through a transparent linear progression how your donations make a difference to a person, changing their lives for the better.
If you are unable to donate, you can also share the post, which brings awareness to the cause and can help the in-need individuals find donors who are willing and able to contribute.
App Store Rating: 4.7
Play Store Rating: 4.4
7. Deedly
Deedly is yet another powerful, innovative tool helping educate, as well as give to people in need. Using positive reinforcement, the app educates students about various world issues and how charities target or eradicate these issues.
This information makes students more aware and conscious individuals. As you complete the exercises, you unlock money that is donated to various charities that are working on the issue you are studying. It is a great way to learn while helping others also.
App Store Rating: 4.5
Related: The 5 Best Apps To Manage Your Projects With in 2021
8. Good Guide
This application aims to make you more self-aware about your everyday choices. Are the products you are purchasing produced in a socially responsible manner? Is the company ethical toward its workers? Safe for the environment? Good Guide, through a simple barcode scan, provides you scientific, environmental and social ratings for almost 200,000 products.
App Store Rating: 3.5
9. Charity Miles
Have you been wanting to start walking or biking but can’t find the motivation to do so? Well, Charity Miles can help with that. You can start exercising for a great issue or charity while making a healthy lifestyle change. All you have to do is walk, run or bike, and you will earn money according to the distance and the mode of transport. Bikers can earn 10 cents per mile and 25 cents on foot for the long list of charities provided by the application. All you have to do is allow the application to track your virtual footprint through the GPS system. Your exercise can make a difference in lives.
App Store Rating: 4.8
Play Store Rating: 2.8
10. Change Creator Magazine
This application is a great source of technical information that can help people who are thinking about starting a business or entrepreneurs make mindful choices in terms of their goals. This way, you are able to make a sizable profit from your endeavor while also remaining socially conscious about how your choices affect people and the environment at large. This application shares important strategies that can be used to solve social issues around you while maintaining a successful business. You can help be a part of redefining oppressive systems and eventually the world of business at large.
App Store Rating: 4.7
Play Store Rating: 4.7
This list may be a helpful guide toward redefining the way we see applications. Apps don’t just have to be about social media or Netflix. Without even touching your credit card and wallet, you can donate to charities, nonprofits and even directly with real people around you.
These apps are designed to be easy to use. Most allow small donations at the tap of a finger, while others showcase innovative, fun and engaging methods of helping change people’s lives, be it going out for a walk or simply watching an educational video about the water crisis in a country in Africa. Download them now to help positively change yourself and society at large.
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