3 great apps to make your life a little bit easier [Awesome Apps]

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Planta, Plex, and Pretzel app icons
Awesome apps to try All starting with letter P This haiku ends here
Image: Ian Fuchs

Another week has passed, and even more of you have come through with your app recommendations and suggestions! This week, a bit of a grab bag of new apps, new features, and new discoveries. From a shopping app to simplify your life to an excellent replacement to Apple’s infuriating TV app, we’ve got some awesome apps for you. And as always, if you have an awesome app to share, email your suggestion or tweet them to me!

Pretzel

Pretzel app tracking purchases
Pretzel makes it easy to track your purchases, reorder frequently used items, and stay on top of returns.
Photo: Pretzel app

Online shopping is a way of life for me (and my family). Whether it’s restocking on coffee or picking up a new pair of running shoes, the majority of our purchases are made online. Sometimes, we order from Amazon, other times it’s Walmart or Target. Pretzel makes it dead simple to keep track of what was ordered from where, when the return window closes, and more!

Pretzel is an order cataloging app that pulls in your online transactions from a number of retailers (with more coming soon) with a focus on quick access to your transactions and return reminders. Pretzel also makes it super simple to quickly find the listings for items you ordered in the past. This makes it a great centralized hub for reordering your most used items.

Whether you need a quick way to keep track of past orders, or don’t want to forget to return those New Balance 624s you got dad for Father’s Day, Pretzel has you covered. With support for Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, and more, Pretzen can simplify your online shopping life.

Price: Free

Download from: iOS App Store

Planta

Planta promo image
You may not have a green thumb, but Planta has a green icon, which clearly means they know what they’re doing.
Photo: getplanta.com

I love plants. They can add delightful accents and fresh air throughout your house. But they’re also a living thing that can’t tell me what they need. For me, that used to mean brown, wilting, sad looking twigs in every room. Then I discovered Planta, and now our house is chock full of greenery.

With Planta, you can search a massive database of different plant species, and get care tips to help them thrive. Whether you need watering reminders, sunlight advice, or just want a way to make sure all your plant babies are tended to, Planta makes it easy.

As someone with a previously numb thumb, Planta has taken the guess work out of plant care. If plant mothering has ever sounded like a fun hobby, but previous attempts we less than successful, give Planta a try. It might just be the thing you need to turn your luck around.

Price: Free (with Premium in-app subscription options)

Download from: iOS App Store

Plex

Plex logo
Plex has come a long way since its start as a home media server application
Photo: Plex.tv

Once upon a time, the name Plex was associated with a personally maintained collection of media content, designed around streaming within your home. It was a bit fiddly to maintain and required a huge amount of manual work. But in the last few years, and even more in the last few months, Plex has become a powerful central hub for media consumption.

Outside of Plex Media Server and a personal home library, Plex offers their own library of streaming content. From movies and TV shows to news and music, Plex has you covered. And better yet, with their new Discovery (Beta) feature, you can search for content across all your streaming services. This makes it dead simple to find a specific movie or TV show without the need to check 7 different apps.

Best of all, Plex also offers a universal watch list. This allows you to save shows across streaming services to a single list. And when it’s time to setting in for some TV time, access that list across all your devices and browsers.

While Apple claimed the TV app would centralize your viewing experience, Plex has actually delivered on that promise. If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated searching different streaming services, give it a try.

Price: Free

Download from: iOS App Store (also available at Plex.tv and on Roku, Fire TV, Playstation, Xbox, and more)

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