The interactive games are good for engaging young children in learning, which will help them quickly master a foundation for typing that will serve them as they grow. If you found this post about the Best Apps for Kids to Learn How to Type, then you may also like the Best Apps for AR and Reading Counts. You have fantastic Spanish podcasts at your fingertips. And of course, you have a sea of apps for learning Spanish. So where to begin? Don’t worry, we’ve found 11 of the best apps for learning Spanish well, and for having fun while you’re at it. In fact, you’ll feel just like you’re playing a. Apr 16, 2015 Type Faster! Features leaderboards, allowing you to track your progress, and compete with friends in Words Per Minute scores. Can be used to benchmark your typing speed on different phones and devices. You can find the keyboard that best works for you, or improve your texting speed. Is a Universal Windows App.
The Mac App Store has a wealth of content to help you find the right apps for your daily computing life. New apps arrive in the Mac App Store every single day, which makes it nearly impossible for one to keep track of the latest and greatest. We've dedicated our time (a lot of it) to track down and test out the best of the best. We even made a list of the best free apps for Mac. Here are the best paid apps for the Mac.
1Password
Every computer should be equipped with 1Password. It's our personal favorite password manager, as it stores all of our web logins (I have hundreds), credit card info, bank accounts, drivers licenses, social security info, and more, and everything is encrypted and locked behind a Master Password that only you should know. It's also fantastic for randomly generating strong and secure passwords, auditing your existing passwords (don't reuse them and change them often), and you can log in with just a few clicks.
1Password is free to download and use (30-day free trial), but afterward, you'll need an individual ($4/mo) or family ($7/mo for up to five people) plan to continue using. However, it's simply the best password manager there is and well worth it.
Logic Pro X
Logic Pro X is Apple's pro-level audio program. If you are a songwriter, producer, or engineer, you probably already have Logic in some form or another. If you don't already have it, Logic Pro X is the one for you. It has hundreds of tools for recording and editing both digital and analog music. You can create an entire album's worth of music using nothing more than a computer, or you can connect to a mixing board and edit tracks recorded by a live band. If the drummer forgets to show up for a recording session, no problem! You can add a virtual drummer with a distinct sound.
If you're new to recording music, Logic Pro X can be a little intimidating, but there are a lot of video tutorials and online how-to guides that can help get you started. It's a hefty investment at first, but worth the initial startup cost if you're planning on becoming a self-recording artist or want to have a home-grown studio.
Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is one of the most comprehensive photo editing apps you can get on the Mac. It has professional-quality tools, like advanced color manipulation and 32-bit channel editing. It also has dozens of useful features, like multiple editable layers, vector graphics tools, advanced image processing, and retouching and correction masking tools. View the Histogram, manually make color and lighting adjustments, or select from the suggested default options. There are so many tools it would take you months to actually try them all out.
Affinity Photo also comes with paint, clone stamp, annotation, cropping, and selection tools. It's not entirely unlike Photoshop, but it is specially designed for Mac and has a better user interface.
It is somewhat intimidating for new users, but there is a fantastic in-house tutorial section to help photo editors of all levels of experience. You'll be able to call yourself an expert in no time at all.
MacX DVD Ripper
If you're ready to turn your DVD collection into a digital library in iTunes, MacX DVD Ripper is currently the best option for the Mac. I gave MacX DVD Ripper a try a few months ago and realized that it is definitely my new favorite digitizer. It has dozens of great features, like 1:1 copying with original video quality, excellent protection bypass tools (including for region codes and Disney DRM), and batch conversion. The ISO copy takes a long time but produces perfect quality digital files every single time. If you don't want to take the time, you can get faster ripping speed with hyperthreading. You can select which type of device to output the digital file to, including iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. You can also use MacX to clip video segments to upload to YouTube, Vimeo, and more.
And if your Mac does not have an optical drive, we recommend picking up an Apple Superdrive. It's affordable and connects to your USB port, so you can still use that physical media laying around the house.
Scrivener 3
For the aspiring writer in all of us, Scrivener is nothing short of the most comprehensive writing program around. It features all of the tools you need to get started, like brainstorming tools, note cards, and a virtual draft board for pinning your ideas. Once you're ready to actually start writing, Scrivener makes the process smooth with pre-made templates for building scripts, novels, academic papers, and more.
There is a section where you can keep research documents close at hand for quick access. It comes with half-a-dozen templates for different types of documents, including screenplays, novels, short stories, scripts, and more. It has everything a writer needs to prepare for writing that novel they've always wanted to tackle.
Markdown Pro
If you're in the coding biz, especially if you spend a lot of time using Markdown, Markdown Pro is the best writing app for Mac that you can get your hands on. It shows you a real-time preview of your content, so you'll always know if you've made a mistake or if the end result doesn't look the way you intended. You can add a custom CSS template so you can always have your blog pages ready to go. All files can be saved as HTML or PDF. There is even a handy help guide with the most popular codes for Markdown listed for your convenience.
Notability
When it comes to taking notes, Notability is tops. It has powerful note-taking and annotation features that make it a must-have for college students. You can drag images, PDFs, and other documents into a note. When you record while taking notes, you can tap a word to skip ahead to that specific spot in the recording to playback what was said at that moment. Its note-taking tools are its most ... notable feature. You won't be caught without pen and paper if you have Notability on your Mac.
OmniFocus 3
OmniFocus is bursting at the seams with features. It has dozens of organizational options and lets you create project lists with sub-categories. You can add due dates, flag important items on a list, and view tasks like an email inbox. It definitely scratches my itch for list-making and organizing.
OmniFocus 3 is definitely worth downloading if you need a task manager that can cover every aspect of your working life. If you need a powerful GTD (getting things done) style organizer, OmniFocus 3 is the best one available on the Mac. It's free to download and includes a 14-day free trial. Afterward, you can get the Standard features for $50 or the Pro features for $100.
Gemini 2
Gemini 2 is a flexible, user-friendly duplicate file finder that lets you scan your entire computer or individual files for duplicates. Whether you are trying to track down songs, movies, photos, or documents that are doubles, Gemini has you covered. This is a great app for people that are a little nervous about going around deleting files from their computer.
It has a great looking interface with clear and understandable instructions. You can select a folder to scan. Then, review the duplicates, select the ones you want to get rid of, and hit the Trash button. It is simplified, but still gives you the freedom to scan your entire computer or just specific folders you want to check.
The app is free to download and includes a trial. Afterward, you can purchase a license for $20.
Airmail
Airmail treats your email like a to-do list. You can triage your inbox by scheduling when you are going to take care of an email. If you can't get to it right now, snooze it for later. If it's an email that requires an action, send it to your to-do folder. If it's something important that you'll want quick access to, mark it as a memo. And, when you've finished dealing with your email, send it to the 'Done' folder to get that sweet satisfaction of having completed something on your task list.
Final Cut Pro
If you deal with video editing on a daily basis, then iMovie may not be enough for you. That's when you need Final Cut Pro.
Final Cut Pro is packed with a ton of powerful features to make your job of video editing easier. You'll have access to plenty of cool tools to streamline your editing, and organizing your media is a breeze with tools like smart collections. There are fun things like 2D and 3D titles, plenty of different transitions, and more. You can customize it with a large variety of third-party plug-ins and custom interfaces. The program utilizes all of the GPUs in your Mac for superior playback performance and speedy background rendering, so if you have a powerful machine, it's fully put to use with Final Cut Pro.
Magnet
If you work in multiple workspaces on your Mac, then Magnet is a must.
Magnet makes it super easy to automatically adjust the window size of any app you're working in, so you don't have to manually drag and resize every window each time. With Magnet, just select what size you want the active window to be, and voila, it will change it with one click. Then pick the other app you want to work with side-by-side, select the size you want (and the side), and boom! Now you have two apps side-by-side (or however you want to work it) with just a few clicks. No dragging and rearranging. Magnet lives in the menu bar, but you can also activate it with keyboard shortcuts if you're a keyboard wizard.
Day One
Journaling is a great way to reflect and capture important memories or thoughts, and Day One is the best journaling app you can get on Mac.
Day One has a beautiful interface that is pleasant and relaxing to work with. You can have multiple journals, and the ability to add multiple photos and audio clips to entries makes them more personable than ever. You can organize by tags, see where you were, format your entries with rich text, and more.
Day One is free to download and use, but you'll only have basic features. If you opt for a Premium subscription for $25 a year, you'll get unlimited photo storage, unlimited journals, cloud sync, unlimited encrypted cloud storage, and more.
Fantastical
While Apple has a built-in Calendar app, it's just not fantastic enough. That's when Fantastical comes in.
With Fantastical, you get a gorgeous interface that makes it easy to see your schedule at-a-glance, whether you're looking at the full app or just the mini menu-bar version. Inputting events is super easy, thanks to the natural language parser. Just type in something like 'Get coffee with Lory tomorrow at 3 pm at Stumptown Coffee Roasters' and Fantastical will take care of the rest. There is also full integration with Apple Reminders, so you can have your schedule and tasks in one place.
Your favorites?
What are the go-to paid apps for Mac you have on your laptop or desktop right now? Put them in the comments and let us know why they are so important to you.
July 2019: Updated to reflect the latest versions of apps, and added some new options. These are the best paid apps for your Mac!
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Learning Spanish?
Have a smartphone?
Then you’re in luck.
You can learn Spanish with songs and music.
You have fantastic Spanish podcasts at your fingertips.
And of course, you have a sea of apps for learning Spanish.
So where to begin?
Don’t worry, we’ve found 11 of the best apps for learning Spanish well, and for having fun while you’re at it.
In fact, you’ll feel just like you’re playing a game on your smartphone.
Let’s dive straight in.
1. FluentU
FluentU Website | iOS | Android
FluentU is one of the most unique apps among this list. FluentU takes real-world videos like music videos, commercials, news, and inspiring talks and turns them into language learning experiences. In contrast to other apps that take a scripted approach, FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s spoken in real life.
FluentU has a variety of engaging videos covering topics like soccer, TV shows, movies and even magical realism, as you can see here:
Native language videos are within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can also add this to a vocab list to reference later on.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and it recommends you examples and videos based on the words you’ve already learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning the same video.
FluentU is highly recommended for people who are audio-visual learners and want to learn more about the Spanish culture.
2. Duolingo
Duolingo Website | iOS | Android
Price: Free
Description
Among all the apps here, Duolingo probably has the highest ratings of all – it won the Best App Award in 2013 in both the AppStore and the Google Play Store.
Duolingo Spanish is split up into units that have a certain theme (e.g. education, work, medicine), and it’s designed so that each unit goes up in difficulty. Units are generally divided into two types: tenses and others (e.g. nouns, adjectives, adverbs, question words, pronouns, etc.). It’s very unique in the fact that it’s not grammar intensive – as a matter of fact, apart from about 10 of the most commonly used tenses, you won’t see any grammar lessons throughout the app.
Within each unit, there are sub-units. Each sub-unit covers about 7 – 10 words. Each unit can have anywhere from 1 – 10 sub-units.
Inside each sub-unit, there are six types of exercises that teach you these words, building on what you already know: the voice recording, where you read a Spanish sentence out loud after hearing a native recording; English to Spanish translation of a phrase; Spanish to English translation of a phrase; matching a photo to a word; rearranging words to form a sentence; and multiple choice questions.
There are about 20 questions per sub-unit.
If this sounds like a lot, think again.
Duolingo was designed to be quick to use, so it uses a very focused approach to distill lessons down to the bare essentials. What that means is if you can commit about 20 minutes of time every day to go through 3 – 4 lessons, you’ll be able to finish all the lessons in about 3 – 4 months time (taking into account word loss over time).
It’s really well paced.
There are also some really cool additional features as well – like following friends, setting a daily “track” to measure progress, word loss meter, Duolingo’s virtual currency (lingots) store, etc.
Overall, Duolingo really manages to teach Spanish in a simple way by honing in on the 1500 most important words that are most commonly used in daily situations.
3. Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone Website | iOS | Android
Price: Free (for a demo account)
Description
Among the 11 apps here, Rosetta Stone is undoubtedly the most famous learning methodology and sits as the oldest language learning app.
Rosetta Stone is designed very differently than most language apps that are on the marketplace today. Instead of learning Spanish through English, it is designed for us to learn Spanish through Spanish.
In other words, it’s trying to teach us Spanish the way we’d learn it if we were children starting to learn the language.
Within the platform, you’ll see that all words, phrases and audios are in Spanish – you’ll literally be getting zero translations to English. It’s that immersive of an experience!
On top of its learning component, it also has a platform where you can schedule lessons with a live tutor every other lesson. So if you enjoy practicing Spanish by talking to native speakers, this might be a great bonus feature.
Speech recognition within the platform has also been praised because it has been designed to specifically recognise pronunciation of non-native speakers. I’m sure you can relate – but when we’re learning a new language in the beginning, there are a lot of words we know but end up pronouncing in a weird accent, which can result in a raised eyebrow or a frown from native speakers. The enhanced speech recognition really helps offset this.
Overall, I have to say that this is a pretty intensive method. But if you’re a language enthusiast (and a purist at that), then this might just be what you’re looking for. See more information on the official site here!
4. MindSnacks
Price: $4.99
Description
Among these apps, MindSnacks is probably an app that’s most suitable for Spanish learners studying Spanish in school.
MindSnacks is often a widely praised iOS Spanish app that treats learning Spanish as a game rather than being taught entire phrases and grammar points.
When you first enter the app, you’re taken to the homepage with nine games, and each game is based on content that’s centered on a certain theme, like food, home or school.
For example, there’s a game called Swell. In Swell, an English or Spanish word flashes on screen. Two choices are then given for the Spanish and English equivalents. Before the time runs out, you have to select the correct answer. If you select the wrong answer, you’ll lose your streak. And it gets faster and faster every word, so you have to know your words really well to select the right answer quickly!
Eight other games are also available for all vocabulary sets.
One thing I’ll comment about MindSnacks is that the graphics are tailored for young children. If you don’t mind this, then it can still be a fun way to learn Spanish, and an effective one too.
5. Memrise
Memrise Website | iOS | Android
Price: Free
Description
Memrise is a very unique language learning app. Unlike other apps, its sole purpose is to help you memorize Spanish words, hence the name “Memrise”. And in my opinion, it’s also one of the most creative iOS Spanish apps for learning Spanish words around.
There are different modules in the app, and many more lessons in each module. For example, for Spanish, there’s “Learn Basic Mexican Spanish,” “Advanced Spanish,” “Spanish Vocab by frequency” (4650 words), and “250 most commonly used Spanish words”.
One lesson in each module typically helps you learn 15 words.
For each lesson, it generally consists of a Spanish word, its English meaning and an audio recording.
However, it’s the methodology that really got me interested. Instead of just rote repetition, it helps you learn through funny ways of thinking about a word. For example, bañarse, a reflexive Spanish verb that means “to bathe oneself,” is remembered by “However shy you are of nakedness as you bathe yourself, you’ll never be able to ban your arse from the bath!”
In similar examples, you get ridiculously funny sentences that contain both the Spanish word and its meaning. And because it’s usually hilarious (sometimes it comes with a picture too), it’s that much more memorable than had you stared at the word on a piece of paper.
This is a really creative way to learn words in a foreign language, with some pretty slick humor too. Memrise is highly recommended for all who find it tedious to memorize new words.
6. Cat Spanish
Cat Spanish Website | iOS
Price: Free
Description
As an iOS app to learn Spanish, Cat Spanish is also one of the most unique apps out there.
A spin-off project by the same creators of Memrise, Cat Spanish is a Spanish app with a humorous slant: all the pictures, features and design are themed around cats!
Inside the app, you’ll move along a track to complete challenges, which are oriented around commonly used Spanish phrases. Generally, there are lessons that show a (cat-themed) picture, along with a Spanish phrase and its English translation. After familiarising yourself with phrases, you’re give multiple choice quizzes to see how much you remember.
What’s really unique about the Cat Spanish app is that the cat photos aren’t just random cat pictures taken from the web, they’re actually relevant to the Spanish phrase you’re learning.
For example, if you’re learning how to say “please” in Spanish, “por favor,” you’ll see a cat standing up with his hands held together, eyes looking up, like a human saying please.
In addition, there are brief grammar lessons in between to let you understand the grammar component of the Spanish phrase you just learned. For example, after learning “tengo miedo” (I’m afraid), it’ll explain that instead of saying I am afraid, in Spanish we say, “I have fear”.
Another great feature about the Cat Spanish app is that you can add friends to the game. So as you progress along the track and complete challenges, you’ll see how you’re doing compared to your friends.
Overall, if you’re a cat lover, seeing cats on almost every screen can make learning Spanish just that much more fun!
7. Fluencia
iOS / Android: No app, but the site is mobile-friendly
Apps For Mac To Help You Type Faster Free
Cost: $ 14.95 / month
Description
Fluencia is an online based platform that teaches Spanish through a highly visual method. So instead of a lot of text, there are a lot of visual aids to guide the learning process.
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There are five levels for Fluencia, with 10 units per level. After going through all the lessons, it reckons that you’ll be on par with someone who studied Spanish in college for a year. Not bad for 50 units of lessons, eh?
Within each unit, there are various types of lessons covering a conversation, vocabulary, grammar, culture and communication.
It’s really a mix on how the lessons are presented. At times, there are conversations you can hear and follow along, there are also places where you have to type the translation of an English phrase, and there are places where you match the picture with the correct Spanish phrase.
The platform itself is very intuitive and easy to use. There are also lots of pictures and visual aids cleverly weaved into each lesson. One thing I thought was interesting is that Fluencia actually customizes its lessons. For instance, after every unit you complete, there’s a review session. That review session is based only on words you’re weaker at, so it’s helpful for remembering tricky words in Spanish.
And because Fluencia is online (instead of developed as an app), this Spanish app provides a great user experience for both iOS and Android devices.
8. Open Language (formerly Spanish Pod)
Open Language Website | iOS | Android
Description
To me, Open Language has a really professional feel to the platform that sets it apart from many of the other apps. Among language learning apps that have a more “serious” feel, it’s probably one of the best Spanish apps for Android and iOS alike.
Open Language Spanish is broken up into many courses. Here, you also see where the professional feel comes from – Open Language Spanish courses actually correspond to the 6 levels of the CEFR. So instead of promising to teach Spanish, it promises an equivalent proficiency from A1 – C2 of the CEFR, which is very useful for benchmarking your progress against an internationally accepted scale.
Each lesson is centered around a dialogue between two hosts. The two hosts repeat the Spanish dialogue several times, and interject English comments here and there to explain new Spanish terms.
After you listen to the audio recording, you can see the dialog transcript below, a summary of the vocabulary you cover, an expansion section for additional words and phrases, a grammar section covering one to two grammar points, and exercises to strengthen what you learned.
Overall, if you’re a serious Spanish student, or someone looking for a course that’s based around an accredited standard, Open Language Spanish may be something to check out.
9. MosaLingua
MosaLingua Website | iOS | Android
Price: $4.99 (App Store), $5.99 (Google Play)
Description
MosaLingua is a platform that is designed to teach Spanish using several efficient methodologies, such as SRS (which helps calculate review dates based on how difficult you find words as you learn them), focusing on 20% of the most important vocabulary, as well as ingraining words into long term memory.
I found the fact that it focuses on 3,000 most common words and phrases to be attractive – after all, the golden ratio really holds in many situations; you really only need about 20% of the language to get through 80% of daily situations.
As with most language learning apps, there are distinct sub-categories of words and phrases, so it’s very well organized. Also, you’ll find that for all Spanish words and phrases, there are native speaker recordings, so you won’t go astray in pronunciation.
With both the iOS Spanish app and the Android Spanish app receiving largely positive user ratings, this is an app you don’t want to miss.
10. Busuu
Busuu Website | iOS | Android
Price: 14,99 Euros / month (~USD 21)
Description
Unlike many other Spanish apps, Busuu has a vibrant community of active users. This also means that out of speaking, listening, reading and writing, Busuu is an app that has a big speaking component, so be prepared for a lot of oral practice.
In a nutshell, Busuu is an online Spanish learning platform, and like Open Languages Spanish, it divides up levels according to the CEFR.
Inside each lesson, it takes you through the lesson material in a well paced sequence.
- You start off with learning some key vocabulary
- This prepares you for the lesson dialog
- After the lesson dialog, you practice writing on the topic for other members to see (and hopefully edit)
- Then you arrive at the speaking practice session with native speakers in the community
- Next you record the phrases indicated on the screen
- Finally there is a lesson review
In other words, you’ll be covered in all four areas of language learning (reading, writing, speaking, listening) – but I feel like this is a platform best used to learn spoken Spanish.
One really cool feature is that you can do a mock conversation. At the end of a lesson, you’ll be taken to a dialog with two people. One person’s part is already recorded, and then you have to record your part. At the end of it, the app combines all the parts together and plays the conversation as a whole, which I think is pretty neat.
Among all apps listed here, Busuu is probably the best iOS and Android Spanish app that draws heavily on the strength of its community. Highly worth checking out if you like connecting to people.
11. Lingualia
Lingualia Website | iOS | Android
Price: $14.95
Description
Similar to Busuu, Lingualia is a complete platform that takes you through Spanish lessons in a well designed sequence based on your level.
Lingualia offers units that range from the A1 – B2 levels of the CEFR, and there are about 50 units per level, so there’s quite some material to comb through.
Each unit is based around a theme, very much like how we learn Spanish as a foreign language in school.
Each lesson has a few components to it: the dialog, vocabulary concepts, grammar points, similar words and checkpoint exercises. The dialog is where it all begins, really. You’ll hear these audios spoken out loud, which are all recorded by native speakers, so the conversations flow naturally.
After seeing the dialog (presented in Spanish), you’ll go through vocabulary. This is where new words and some colloquial phrases are introduced as key words to learn for the lesson.
Of course, as with a traditionally presented course, the lesson doesn’t end without a bit of grammar. The grammar topics are highly relevant to the level you’re at, which can be concepts like indirect pronouns and the preterite tense for beginner levels, and the imperfect preterite tense for advanced levels.
Before the review of the lesson, there’s also an interesting section where two similar words are presented, and examples are given to show you how to distinguish between them.
Outside the lesson, there are also several other features: the challenge section, where you can “fight” either with the computer or another user in a quiz-like test and an activities section, where you can practice your Spanish writing.
Overall, this is an app that really resembles learning Spanish in a traditional setting (without the homework assignments and the demanding teacher!), and a comprehensive app at that.
12. SpeakEasy
iOS | Android
Price: $3.99 in both iOS and Google Play store
Description
If you’re looking for something more practical to take with you on the go, Speak Easy might be something for you.
A true mobile app available only for mobile platforms, Speak Easy is essentially a travel friendly phrasebook to take with you. Most phrasebooks you’ve bought probably had something like “ke as dee-cho” as a pronunciation aid for “Qué has dicho?”. But Speak Easy actually offers native recordings for most phrases and words, so you’ll be able to copy these native recordings easily.
Another cool feature it has is the slow playback feature – if you hear a phrase and it’s too fast, you can play it back at a slower speed to listen to it more carefully.
A recent update also included a new feature to the app – flashcards. So if you want to really learn Spanish, and not just for emergency travel use, it’s a great way to review learned phrases and words.
Final Thoughts on Spanish Apps
As you can see, while all of these Spanish apps have many similarities, each one of them is designed with a slightly different purpose in mind. Some might be better at teaching words, some might be better at teaching grammar, while others might be great for practicing your speaking.
So, depending on how you want to learn Spanish, you might choose a different app that best suits your purpose.
The best of luck with learning Spanish!
If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn Spanish with real-world videos.