COVID-19 lockdown across the globe has forced millions of people to stay at home. Now, not everyone has the privilege to work from home. Many jobs do require fieldwork and you can’t run retail businesses from home. If you find yourself having plenty of time to kill on your hand thanks to the lockdown, check out some iPhone apps and games to kill your boredom.
The App Store is filled with some great apps and games for your iPhone or iPad that you can use to learn new skills, stream content, or just kill time and relax by playing games. Below are the best iPhone apps and games that you should while you are stuck at home during the lockdown.
iPhone Apps to Try While at Home During the COVID-19
1. TV Time – Movie and TV Series Tracker
You must be using video streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and more. With hundreds of TV series and movies at your fingertips, it can be confusing to keep track of the watching habit over time. Enter the TV Time app.
With TV Time, one can add movie and TV shows in the watchlist, keep track of the favorite TV shows schedule, and even view IMDB rating and other reviews from the app. One can add how he feels after watching the episode and share his opinion with other community members. From the Settings, it shows your watching stats and lets you follow friends from the same menu. TV Time is completely free to use and it’s available on iOS and Android.
➤ Download
2. Udemy – Learn new Skills
Now is the best time to learn a few skills that you always wanted to, but couldn’t due to a busy schedule. Udemy is one of the best online learning platforms. With over 130,000 video courses by experts, Udemy covers everything from design, drawing, writing, personal development classes, coding languages, and more.
The app lets you view courses, class ratings, user comments and eventually allows you to buy the class to get started. After the purchase, you can download the course on iOS or Android or stream it online using the web to start your journey.
➤ Download
3. 7 Minute Workout – Fitness App
As the name suggests, 7-minute workout is the perfect app to start exercising at home. The app offers weekly workouts with video instructions and timer to get started. Users can create custom workout as per needs, and even favorite them for easy access.
The app has integrated challenges to focus on the upper body, core, lower body, cardio, and strength. You can see the live data of people using the app by region. It also provides stats and Apple Health integration to export the data. 7 Minute workout is available on both Android and iOS.
You can also check out some of the best iPhone apps to lose weight here.
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4. Calm – Meditation App
While staying at home, you are regularly consuming the devastating COVID-19 news around the globe. In such situations, it’s essential to calm your mind down. Calm is one of the best meditation apps out there. Using the app, you can subscribe to meditation sessions with nature sounds and beautiful backgrounds.
The meditation tab is categorized into different menus. You can choose from the sections like stress, self-care, inner peace, focus, emotions, and more. Calm has collaborated with world-renowned experts for the life-changing masterclass. You can find them in the settings menu. My favorite from the bunch is breathing exercises. I use it all the time. Just long tap on the app icon, select breath, set the timer, and start breathing. The app is available on both Android and iOS.
➤ Download
5. Journey – Diary App
You might want to start jotting down the thoughts as the lockdown days go by. Journey lets you add your daily routine with location, images, mood, and more. The app offers capable word-processing functions too.
Its features include the ability to view entries by location, map, calendar, advanced search by mood, biometric authentication, and Google Drive sync. Journey is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac. The subscription starts at $4 per month.
➤ Download
6. Amazon Kindle – eBooks & Magazines
Book lovers, this one is for you. While it might be difficult to get your hands on a physical copy of the book you have always wanted to read, you can always buy and read the digital version on your smartphone or tablet. Amazon Kindle is the go-to place for you. The app offers thousands of ebooks, magazines, newspapers, and graphic novels.
You can customize the reading experience with various fonts styles and sizes. The features include Page flip, print, and the ability to translate without leaving the page. You can also highlight certain paragraphs as bookmarks. Kindle is available on both iOS and Android.
➤ Download
7. Duolingo – Language App
Duolingo provides an entertaining way to learn new languages on the phone. The app provides fun lessons with multiple sessions to get started. It supports over 30 most popular languages to learn from. Besides basic grammar, Duolingo helps you learn reading, writing, speaking, listening and improve conversation skills for new languages.
As you complete challenges, it rewards you and helps stage up in the app. Duolingo is available on iOS and Android.
➤ Download
8. Sketchbook – Sketch App
Sketchbook by Autodesk provides some of the best sketch tools for designers. They include customized grid lines, a snapping toggle, vanishing point lock, horizon line visibility, Apple Pencil support, and more.
The drawing tools consist of a pencil, brush, fountain pane, pastels, and more. The app is completely free to use and it’s accessible on Android, iPhone, and iPad.
➤ Download
9. Way of Life – Habit Tracker
Now that you have started to learn a skill, meditate, or sketch, it’s time to make it a habit and integrate into your daily routine. For that, use a habit tracking app.
Way of Life lets you add the most important activities throughout the day. And helps you complete them by the end of the day. You can view the live stats via beautiful graphs, calendar chain, and organize the habits via custom tags. The app also lets you add notes and use biometrics authentication for better security.
➤ Download
10. Google Earth
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t going anytime soon. So you can pretty much cancel and forget that next vacation for a couple of months. But you can always plan a virtual holiday on a phone or PC. Using Google Earth, you can explore some remote and interesting places around the world.
It provides some of the best views from Burj Khalifa, International Space Station, Effiel Tower, and many more. With a view, one can also learn well-known facts about the places from Google. The app is neatly divided into Education (Historics Places), Culture, Nature, and more. Google Earth lets you view the places by Photos too. The tool is available on Android, iOS, and Web. Needless to say, the experience is best served on the desktop.
➤ Download
iPhone Games to Try While at Home During the COVID-19 Lockdown
1. Real Racing 3
EA has nailed this one, isn’t it? Real Racing 3 is my favorite car racing game out there. Unlike those unrealistic and fancy graphics of rivals, the Real Racing 3 sticks to a close to the real-life racing experience.
The game offers more than 40 circuits at 19 real-world locations, a 43-car grid and over 250 meticulously detailed cars from manufacturers like Porsche, Bugatti, Chevrolet, Aston Martin, and Audi. It also offers real-time multiplayer, social leaderboard, and stats to view your driving skills. Real Racing 3 is free to download and it’s available on both iOS and Android.
➤ Download
2. PUBG
This one needs no introduction, right? PUBG is one of the best games to try out with friends and family members during COVID-19. The action game offers several modes including Zombie, classic, quick arcade mode, etc. You can play solo, duo, or with four team members.
PUBG also offers chat function to talk to your partners during the game. I like how it offers realistic weapons and detailed battle maps. The only problem with PUBG is, it requires capable hardware for a smooth experience. The company recently launched a lite version of the app to combat the hardware issue. PUBG is free with an in-app purchase store. It’s accessible on iOS and Android.
➤ Download
3. UNO
UNO is the digital version of the classic cards game. And understandably, it offers many more features on the phone. You can play the classic UNO, participate in the tournament, enable 2v2 mode, and take challenges. UNO is available on both Android and iOS. It comes with a free price tag.
➤ Download
4. Words With Friends 2
Sequel to the original Word with Friends game, this one is for nerds with excellent vocabulary knowledge. The game is available in multiple languages. And it lets you challenge your friends or community members with puzzles. The game also lets you expand vocabulary knowledge with the dictionary and Word of the day. The game is free and available on both mobile platforms.
➤ Download
5. Call of Duty
One of the most popular PC games finally landed on mobile. You can play the game with up to 4 friends online. The game offers some of the best 3D graphics and sound. The shooting game offers multiple modes, various maps, and thrilling experience on small devices. Needless to say, it’s available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
➤ Download
Casual Games
The games such as PUBG, Real Racing 3, and Call of Duty deliver the best experience on high-end smartphones only. So, let’s have a look at some of the casual games which run perfectly fine on every device.
- Ludo King – Download
- Monopoly – Download
- Mario Kart Tour – Download
- Cooking Craze – Download
- 8 Ball Pool – Download
Stay Away from COVID-19, Sit Back and Relax at Home
Use the iPhone apps and games mentioned above and have a stress-free lockdown experience at home. While you are at it, do let us know which app and game you are using to pass time during the coronavirus lockdown.
