We recently put together our list of the best Android apps, but college students need a different type of mobile toolkit. To that end, we’ve gathered up the best Android apps to track your schedule, assignments, and more.





We all take notes a little differently, so picking the best notes really depends on your style. Evernote and OneNote are best for people who like to record and organize everything, including audio, images, and text. Keep’s best for people who like to do the same, but prefer to keep their notes relatively short. Otherwise, there’s Simplenote, which is best for people who only take text-based notes. All four apps are great, so it really just depends on what type of notes you prefer to take.

We mention Dropbox in our annual Lifehacker Packs, but it’s worth noting again for students. Not only is Dropbox a handy place to store all your files, it can also be a lifesaver when you realize you forgot to bring in an assignment. Simply pop into Dropbox, and email the link directly to your professor from any computer.


Student Agenda is a to-do manager and calendar built specifically for a student. It’s packed with all the features you’d expect from a to-do manager, but the design focuses more on a student lifestyle by adding in grade tracking, study sessions, and more. If you’re looking for a more traditional to-do manager, we recommend Wunderlist.



Unless you want to give yourself a workout every time you walk to class, you’ll want to get as many of your books digitally as you can. Between the Kindle app and the Play Books app, you should be able to get everything you need easily. Even better, the Kindle app is a fantastic resource for students.



Hangouts does pretty much everything you need from an IM and video client. You can chat with friends, do video chat with your family, and even organize bigger group chats with fellow students.


Unless you’re actually getting your major in mathematics, you probably don’t need an expensive graphing calculator. To fill in for Math 101, this free Android app should do everything you need, but the Pro version adds in plenty of features to make it a solid replacement to that TI-83 you’re still lugging around.


Keeping track of your limited finances in college is tough, but Mint makes the whole process easier. It also helps you create and stick with a budget. We know it’s probably not the most exciting thing on this list, but it’s better to know how little is in your account whenever possible.



Love them or hate them, flashcards are a great way to memorize information. Flashcards+ by Chegg is an app that not only allows you to make your own, but you can also search through thousands that have already been created for classes, or collaboratively make a set of flashcards with your fellow students. If you’re lucky enough to be in a class that already has cards made, Flashcards+ will make your life a lot easier.


There is going to be a point where you have to pay your roommate for all those McDonald’s runs, so you might as well prepare for it now. Square Cash is probably the easiest to use option for paying someone when you don’t have cash on hand.



Pushbullet started as a way to send links between your devices, but now it’s a do-everything bridge between your devices. It even added a complete SMS client, so you can read and reply to text messages from your computer, with your professors being none the wiser that you’re texting during class.



Let’s face it: you’re in college, you’re short on cash, and you’re hungry. Yelp is one of the best ways to quickly search your surroundings and find a cheap place to eat or a quiet place to grab a drink.


Going out for cheap drinks and cheap food during happy hour is a college tradition. If you need some help finding new places to go, Happy Hour Finder will do the trick well enough. It’s not exactly the most up-to-date listings, but it is nationwide and seems to do a pretty good job of at least nailing the right times. If you go to college in a large enough city, it’s also worth looking to see if you can find an app dedicated to your city.


If you’re looking for more great apps for your Android beyond what’s in our student pack, head to the Lifehacker Pack for Android.

Title image by Nick Criscuolo.