148Apps 2013 wrAPP-Up - 148Apps' Staff Discusses Their Favorite Under-Appreciated Apps of the Year

There are a lot of apps that were released in 2013, and it's easy for some of the great ones to fall through the cracks. 148Apps' staff has gotten together to discuss some of our favorite apps of the past year that you might not have heard of. These are our favorite underappreciated apps of 2013.

Heyday

The tagline for Heyday is "Journaling Reimagined," and that's pretty apt. The app will run in the background on iOS 7 devices and track where you go; matching those GPS coordinates up with business locations and with photos you take. The app then presents you with a detailed map and list of locations you have been each day. After a couple weeks of use, it's fun to look back and see where you've been and what you've done; all gathered automatically. - Jeff Scott

Rando

Rando is the photo sharing app that wanted to do everything different than Instagram, to even having circular photos rather than square ones. It was the anti-social network, but there was something cool about getting a photo that no one else got, and sharing photos just for the sake of sharing a cool, random photo; not to try and get likes for it. - Carter Dotson

Debt Down

Debt Down is one of those apps that I wish I didn't need to bother with, but I'm very glad to have it around. It truly does help me to visualize my debt - and my progress in getting rid of it - very easily. I only wish I'd been able to use it sooner! - Rob Rich

WriteRoom

After testing out a wide variety of writing apps, and being disappointed with each of them for one reason or another (compatibility issues, syncing problems, ugly font), I found a solution in WriteRoom. With Dropbox integration, a clutter-free interface, and reliable syncing between devices, it hasn't let me down yet - and that's what matters at the end of the day. For writers or students, it doesn't get much better than WriteRoom. - Lee Hamlet

Deezer

I’ve always been into my music. Over the past several months I’ve tried pretty much every music-streaming service that's out there. Deezer was last on my list, and actually saw me cancel my subscription to rdio in order to give it a whirl. While I wasn’t impressed with the web client, this experience was redeemed after using the Deezer mobile app. Recently introducing ‘Hear This’ (a live-updating stream of recommendations from the Deezer Editors), and allowing you to carry all the playlists you create with you for offline listening for €9.99 per month, Deezer makes music discovery a dream - and should definitely be on the lists of music lovers this season. iPad support is just the cherry on top. - Arron Hirst

MyPermissions

This is a great app just because managing how social media accounts and apps link together is a generally horrible experience and isn't standardized across platforms at all. MyPermissions solves this problem by being a one-stop-shop for managing all of these accounts. Simply login with any desired social media account (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc) and the app scans and displays all of the apps that are linked to that account. From there, users can tweak permissions so that only services they use have access to their information, all within this elegant app. It's simple, sure, but it helps keep the security of your accounts safe in a perfectly competent way. - Campbell Bird

Plickers

Coolness in the classroom. Coolness that is also functional and fun. It’s Plickers! Educators everywhere fight daily battles to engage their students, encourage their participation, and assess their progress. Oh, and did I mention the mindless hours of required test prep? Well, there just happens to be a handy dandy app that intrigues students, is simple and effective to use, and will provide immediate feedback - Plickers.

No fancy hardware necessary, no one-on-one device requirement; you’ll just need one smartphone or tablet for the teacher and paper cards for the students. Each student is assigned a card with a unique barcode that, when rotated in a different direction, can represent any of four responses (A,B,C,D). The teacher scans the room with her device, and immediately receives individualized input from each student displayed in a live bar-graph. The data is also recorded (by student) for grading and/or analysis purposes. It’s genius. And free. What’s not to like? - Stacy Barnes

My Recipe Book

My Recipe Book is the ultimate app for organizing and storing recipes on the iPad. It allows users to import recipes directly from selected websites, input their favorite recipes manually, create a grocery list of all the ingredients, and includes customization features like kitchen timers, photos, and input notes. The app also requires no internet connection to view recipes. Thanks to My Recipe Book, iOS users can throw out their note cards and keep all recipes sorted on their iPad with ease. - Angela LaFollette

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Do you have a favorite app of the past year, or one that you discovered in 2013, that you fell in love with? Let us know below or on Twitter.