From exam revision to wellbeing; your social life to lecture capture, there’s an app for every aspect of your time at university… And their benefits are countless.  

Improve your efficiency, organisation and productivity, and maintain a healthy mindset over your time at UWTSD by downloading one or two of these apps. They have all been recommended by current students and staff. 

Get your head around referencing   

Getting used to referencing is a big adjustment for everybody starting at university, but it doesn’t have to be scary.   

In addition to support you can access from specialist library staff, student services and academic staff in your faculty, you can download apps to help you with your referencing. Zotero is a free platform that can help you to collect, organise, reference and share your research. It will instantly create references and bibliographies for you, and with support for over 8,000 citation styles, it’s unlikely that you’ll be panicking over the format of your work in your first months. Phew.  

For organisation  

We’re all lucky to be studying at a time when there are so many resources available to help keep us organised. However, a search on your App Store will bring up so many options that it can be difficult to know what do download.   

Ruth Melton, a student in her second year of Events Management recommends Scribzee, saying “It stores all your notes on your phone and the Cloud so you can access them even if you forget your books and phone”. Scribzee is a free app that will help to keep you organised by scanning and saving your lecture notes from your notepads and diaries. The app lets you enhance your notes by illustrating with images, adding other pages and creating alerts. The platform is easy to use and encourages collaboration with your peers. Ruth said, “the app has saved my life so many times… Especially when sending notes to a classmate if they have missed a lecture”.   

For more tips on using apps to stay organised, from note-taking to collaborating with other students, have a read of our suggestions on Sustainable Studying.  

For travel info  

If you’re an international student or joining UWTSD from another part of the UK, you may want to consider an app to help you get your bearings. All UWTSD campuses are located in vibrant and picturesque parts of Wales, so you’ll want to make the most of what the surroundings have to offer.  

Traveline Cymru have a great bilingual app that can help you to plan journeys, search for timetables and view disruptions to local bus services. Downloading this will have you feeling more confident that you’re on the right route.  

You can also use the ‘Explore’ feature on Google Maps to help with orientation, finding your nearest supermarket or a nice new place to eat.   

For personal safety on nights out  

Although being alert and staying with friends do help in ensuring you’re safe on nights out, there are a number of personal safety apps that could help if you’re ever in an uncomfortable situation. An app like Circle of 6 lets you select six trusted friends and will contact them quickly, discreetly and easily if you’re ever in trouble. Whether you need help getting home or need to talk urgently, tapping your screen twice will let your friends know exactly where you are and how they can help you.   

To stay in the loop  

…And last but not least, make sure you download our ‘UWTSD Hwb’ app from your app store. It has all the information you need to help get to know the university. You can find everything from key information, campus maps, events, advice and IT guides. It’s a no-brainer.    

Couldn’t do without an app you’ve downloaded whilst at uni? Tell us about it @UWTSDStudents