Rich DeMuro’s favorite apps
Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, a longtime tech journalist, and you’re reading the free edition of Advisorator, my weekly tech advice newsletter. Did someone share this newsletter with you? Sign up to get it every Tuesday.
Happy New Year, folks! I’m currently running around Las Vegas covering the CES trade show, so I’m turning the reins for this week’s newsletter over to Rich DeMuro, one of my favorite fellow tech journalists.
Like me, Rich also writes a tech advice newsletter, and I’m often kicking myself after reading something he wrote, wishing I’d covered it myself. Either that, or I’m discovering some useful new app that hadn’t been on my radar. He also hosts a weekly radio show and podcast, on which I’ve been an occasional guest.
Anyway, Rich recently wrote up a list of his favorite apps from the last year, and I’m republishing it here with his permission. Take it away, Rich!
Rich’s Apps of 2025
By Rich DeMuro
In this newsletter, I’m going to share the apps I relied on most in 2025. Some are longtime favorites, others are newer additions. I’m constantly perfecting my setup, trying to find what works best as both a dad and a journalist.
Airalo – When it comes to eSIMs, Airalo is the service I rely on most. I’ve used it in several countries and it has consistently worked at a fair price. Installation is easy, and aside from one hiccup in Japan on a Pixel phone, it’s been rock solid.
AllTrails – This app gave me my love of hiking. The filters make it easy to find trails that match your ability and time, and you know exactly what you’re getting into before you go. I especially like tracking my route and staying on course using the Apple Watch compass integration.
Backdrops – My favorite app for finding fun, unique, abstract wallpapers that look great without distracting from app icons.
Bitwarden – An excellent free, cross-platform password manager that does everything most people need without paying. I also like its built-in tools for generating strong passwords and unique usernames based on your Gmail address.
Blip – A newer app I started using after a recommendation from radio listener Don. There are lots of ways to share files cross-platform, but Blip stands out for how simple it becomes once everything is set up. It feels like AirDrop for everything. It does require an internet connection.
Caffeine – Android-only and one of my favorites. Once activated, it keeps your screen on for a set amount of time so it doesn’t go to sleep. Perfect for recipes, instructions, or reference material.
Candy Crush Solitaire – One of Google’s Apps of the Year. I tried it out and immediately got hooked. It’s a fun twist on classic solitaire.
Canva (iOS, Android) – I honestly don’t know how I lived without this. It does just about everything I need for social media posts, quickly and easily.
ChatGPT – This is the AI I used the most in 2025. It’s not perfect, especially right after major updates, but I’ve trained it to handle many of my recurring tasks. At this point, it understands how I work surprisingly well.
Clever Cleaner – The only app I recommend for cleaning up iPhone photos and storage. It’s free, has no ads, and actually works.
Dropbox – This is my work hard drive in the cloud. I keep all my TV footage here, and it’s easy to search, organize, and share with my editor. I also like that it’s completely separate from my personal Google Drive.
Edits – Instagram’s free editing app, and I’m glad it exists. It has a lot of solid features, though CapCut still does better captions and offers more aspect ratio and background options. That said, it’s free, and I’m convinced reels uploaded through it get better reach.
Email Me (Android) – Another listener recommendation. This Android-only app creates a simple shortcut on your home screen that lets you email yourself notes instantly. I use it all day to send myself things I want to remember or deal with later.
Email Me (iOS) – The iPhone version comes from a different developer and offers more features, but I mostly use it the same way: sending quick notes to myself.
Faye – A modern way to buy international travel insurance directly from your phone. Everything is instant, and claims are easy to submit if you need them. I interviewed one of the founders and have kept it on my phone ever since.
Fig – A fantastic app for identifying allergens in food. You tell it what you’re allergic to, scan a product, and it tells you if that allergen is present. A beautiful and practical use of technology.
Firefox Focus – A simple private browsing app. If you don’t want something showing up in your Google history, like medical research or gift shopping, you can delete your entire session in one tap.
Flighty – The best flight tracking app I’ve ever used. It’s beautifully designed and packed with nerdy details like plane age, route history, and whether you’ve flown that aircraft before. It’s been iOS-only since day one, and I’m losing hope it will ever come to Android.
FlyFin – I interviewed the founder on my radio show and started using it right away. Think Tinder, but for taxes. It connects your accounts, identifies potential deductions, and lets you swipe yes or no. At the end of the year, you can have them do your taxes or export everything to your accountant.
Glimpse Notifications – If you have a Samsung phone, you need this app. It lights up the entire screen when notifications arrive so you can see them clearly, similar to how iPhone and Pixel handle alerts.
JustWatch – I’ve tried just about every movie and TV tracking app, and I keep coming back to JustWatch. Great database, easy watchlist tracking, and excellent sorting options, many of which are free. My only wish is sorting by Rotten Tomatoes score.
Libby – The best way to get free books on your Kindle through your local library. I love the Skip the Line section, which has new titles available instantly. I’ve read so many books this way.
Meteor (iOS, Android) – My go-to speed test app. Easy to use with fun animations.
Michelin Guide – I wasn’t big on Michelin until watching _Knife Edge_on Apple TV. While I’m not always into ultra-fancy food, the app is a great way to quickly find highly rated restaurants when traveling.
Monarch Money – This replaced Mint and Rocket Money for me. It does a much better job connecting accounts, tracking transactions, recurring charges, and net worth. It’s well worth the $99 per year.
Moonlitt – There always seems to be a blood moon, harvest moon, or blue moon. This app shows moon phases on iPhone, explains what they mean, and offers a great widget. Simple and fun.
Night Sky – There are lots of stargazing apps, but this is the one I keep coming back to. Point your phone at the sky and instantly see constellations, stars, and planets.
NordVPN – I’ve grown to love the Threat Protection Pro feature. It works even when the VPN itself isn’t active, blocking malware, malicious sites, and ads that often deliver scamware. When overseas, you can connect to a U.S. server, and sites work just like at home.
Obsidian – I started the year with Evernote and ended with Obsidian. Evernote is still more polished, but I like that Obsidian’s files live locally and in my cloud, which feels better long term. Two plugins I rely on are Better Export PDF and Omni Search.
Picsart (iOS, Android) – I mostly use this to fit images into different aspect ratios. If I need to turn a 16:9 image into a square with borders, this makes it fast and easy.
Premiere (Adobe) – Adobe’s new mobile editing app is excellent. It includes waveform views on the timeline, which makes audio-based editing much easier. Captions are still weak, but overall it’s impressive. Android is coming.
Proton Authenticator – I switched from Authy to Proton Authenticator. It’s free, cross-platform, beautifully designed, and lets you choose whether codes sync across devices or stay local. It’s been excellent.
Raindrop – My preferred bookmarking app across iPhone, Android, and desktop. I mainly use it to save websites for later, tagging them with AI-generated keywords. You can also pay Raindrop to handle that tagging automatically.
Savewise – Discovered through the radio show. It automatically activates credit card offers and helps maximize points and miles, if you’re into that sort of thing. They also recently added the ability to automatically bulk-clip digital grocery coupons, which is a huge time-saver.
Speechify – I interviewed the mom of the founders at WWDC. It reads just about anything out loud, including PDFs and articles, using excellent voices. I like bookmarking articles on my computer and listening on my phone later.
Upside – A cashback app that links to your credit or debit card. Claim offers at supported businesses and earn cash back automatically. It works especially well for gas stations and groceries.
Waze (iOS, Android)- The Time to Leave feature is why I use Waze daily. Connect your calendar and it tells you exactly when to leave to arrive on time. You can also enter any address and see a scrollable timeline of departure times and visualize how traffic impacts the trip.
Whisper Memos – iOS-only and one of my favorite apps. Dictate a memo on your Apple Watch or iPhone and it gets transcribed and emailed to you. Recording time now goes up to 90 minutes, making it great for meetings and quick thoughts on the go.
Wispr Flow – My favorite voice-to-text app. It works on iPhone, Windows, and Mac. Android support can’t come soon enough. When it’s good, it’s incredible. Occasionally, it just has an off day and doesn’t seem to understand the stuff I say or proper punctuation.
Weather by Tomorrow – I love this app for storm tracking. It has the best visuals for following tropical storms and hurricanes.
Zoe – Discovered through my TV reporting. Zoe grades foods from 0 to 100 and tells you how often you should eat them. The goal is eating 30 varied plants per week. You can scan a barcode or take a picture of prepared food, and it uses AI to identify ingredients and score it.
Thanks again to Rich DeMuro for all the great recommendations. If you enjoyed this post, sign up for his Rich on Tech newsletter or check out his radio show and podcast.
Thanks for reading!
I’m looking forward to sharing my CES findings with you in next week’s newsletter. For a fun activity in the meantime, check out my post from last year’s show, and try to figure out how many of the products wound up shipping. (It’s actually more than I expected.)
Until next week,
Jared
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