14 Apps That Will Teach You Something New Every Day

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1. Daily Art
Daily Art serves up one piece of artwork a day, along with an explanation. You can scroll through previous day's artworks and even save them to your camera roll to refer to later.

Available for: iOS, Android, and coming "soon" to Windows Phone 8.

Price: Free, or pay £2.99 for a version without ads.

2. Exoplanets
Exoplanets is an interactive catalogue of all the known planets we've found outside of our own solar system. Scroll through them as a list, or point your phone at the sky and use the augmented reality sky map to see what you can find.

The app is made by a professional astronomer and is updated within hours whenever new planets are announced. You can even choose to get push notifications, so you're the first to know.

Available on: iOS. Exoplanet Explorer is a similar app on Android.

Price: Free.

3. Duolingo
Duolingo is easy and intuitive way to learn languages. Choose from Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Irish, Danish, and English.

The app doesn't cost you anything and instead supports itself by getting users to translate sentences while they learn (BuzzFeed has a deal with Duolingo, so you could even be translating BuzzFeed posts into other languages).

Available on: iOS and Android.

Price: Free.

4. WolframAlpha
WolframAlpha is the ultimate reference app. Ask it all manner of questions that come to your mind – what time the sea comes in, where a satellite is, how to solve a quadratic equation – and it'll do its best to calculate the answer.

Available on: iOS and Android.

Price: £1.99 / £1.86.

5. Dictionary.com
You can use the Dictionary.com app to look up words. But it's not just a dictionary: you can also expand your vocabulary with the Word of the Day feature and see what words people around you are looking up.

Available on: iOS and Android.

Price: Free.

6. Night Sky
Anyone with an interest in what's going on above their heads will learn something from Night Sky. The app's star map shows you were constellations and planets are in relation to your current location (even during the day when you can't see them). It also includes satellites – very handy for International Space Station spotting.

Available on: iOS and Android.

Price: The iOS Pro version is currently on sale at £0.69, and the Lite version is free. On Android, it'll cost you £0.99.

7. Photomath
Have you ever wished someone else would do your maths homework for you? Photomath goes one better – it can solve equations, but also explains how to get the solution for yourself. So far it only works on printed equations, not handwritten ones.

Available on: iOS. Coming to Android "early 2015".

Price: Free.

8. Quick Maths
Quick Math does what it says it on the tin: gives you quick, simple maths tests on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Draw your answer right on the screen and get through the set as fast as possible to beat your personal best.

Available on: iOS. An Android version is "in the works".

Price: £1.49.

9. Astronomy Picture of the Day
A new space picture from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site every day, with a scientific explanation.

Available on: iOS. There's a similar Android version here.

Price: Free.

10. NASA
If Astronomy Picture of the Day isn't enough for you, NASA has its own app with a whole universe of interesting stuff on it. You can even stream NASA TV and watch live rocket launches.

Available on: iOS and Android.

Price: Free.

11. Atlas by Collins
Atlas by Collins puts the world at your fingertips. It comes with a basic satellite map, but if you want extra information on, for example, world heritage sites, you'll have to buy extra globes.

Available on: iOS.

Price: £1.49, plus extra for more features.

12. Google Earth
If you prefer your atlas free, Google Earth is a decent alternative, and the 3D building and street view features are a neat way to explore new places while not actually leaving your sofa.

Available on: iOS and Android.

Price: Free.

13. Slice Fractions
Scrub up your knowledge of fractions with this addictive game. It's designed for kids, but big kids of all ages will enjoy it too.

Available on: Android.

Price: £1.60.

14. Birdsnap
Birdsnap was developed by scientists at Columbia University and the University of Maryland and uses computer vision and machine learning to identify bird species. Just snap the picture on your phone and upload it to the app.

Available on: iOS.

Price: Free.


Source: 14 Apps That Will Teach You Something New Every Day