Be it Android or Apple, nowadays every student has a smartphone. Whether it be to chat with friends, browse the web, take annoying daily selfies (you know who you are), play games, or even take notes in class, there are a plethora of apps in Google’s play store that can make your life as a student easier. But which apps are must haves? We believe these 7 apps are the most essential to manage your busy lifestyle while in university.

Food & Lifestyle Apps

Foodpanda

Foodpanda is one of the top food delivery apps used in Malaysia. It allows you to order food from local restaurants and have it delivered to your doorstep, usually for a delivery fee of between RM1-RM5. This is super convenient for students who want to order from their favourite restaurants yet avoid traveling and interaction with others. Foodpanda isn’t the only food delivery platform. Rivals such as Grab, Dahmakan, Beepit, and Epic Food Hall also provide similar services.

Eatigo

Have you ever had your eye on a particular fine dining restaurant, but avoided going because prices were too high? This is your chance to eat above your budget. Eatigo is essentially an online dinner reservation platform, with the added benefit of having big discounts during certain off-peak hours. For example, many restaurants are busy during nights and weekends but empty in between lunch and dinner hours. On Eatigo, this restaurant may offer 50% off their entire menu as long as you book and show up at the restaurant at that particular time.

Transportation Apps

Grab

After acquiring Uber in 2018, Grab has become the go-to app for a range of services. Grab allows you to book a ride to any place within a reasonable distance, similar to Uber in other countries. The app has expanded to include a wide range of services, such as food (like Foodpanda), courier services, and the ability to top up your e-wallet and enjoy cashless payments. Students usually don’t own cars during their studies so this app will likely be one of your most frequently used.

Moovit

Going around cities like Kuala Lumpur or Johor Bahru can get expensive if you only use services like Grab. A majority of students that live in cities rely on public transportation, a much more affordable option as rides cost as little as .50 sen to 3 ringgit. Moovit is an app that shows you all of your public transportation options, whether it be buses or trains. It also tracks current buses to show you exactly what station they are currently at, and when their estimated time of arrival to you is. This is the perfect app for those who are going to places for the first time, and want to know the most economical and fastest way to get there.

Lalamove

Perhaps by your 3^rd or 4^th year at university you will opt for off-campus housing in a condominium near campus. But without a lorry or a big enough car, getting furniture like sofas, tables, chairs is very difficult or tiresome. Lalamove is a delivery service app, allowing you to coordinate with a driver that owns either a car or lorry that can move your stuff. You choose the size of the car you want, the pickup and drop-off locations, and the time – and that’s it! This is perfect for moving in or moving out, or when you purchase something 2^nd hand from websites like Carousell.

E-Learning Apps

Zoom

With the COVID-19 situation far from over, any classes at Malaysian universities that do not require in-person contact are required to be conducted online (until the end of 2020). While different universities use different e-learning apps, by far the most common and popular is Zoom. Zoom allows you to conduct small or large meetings of up to 100 participants in one video call. Each person’s video will be visible, allowing lecturers to visually see their students and engage with all of them at once. Depending on your university, similar apps that are used include Google Classroom, Skype and Bluejeans.

Google Drive/Docs

Both of these apps developed by Google are essential for managing all of your document submissions, lecture slides, notes, and group projects during your semester. Google Drive acts as your online hard drive, where you can share and store documents and access them on the go. Believe us, you will definitely need this when you have last minute deadlines and need to quickly print or edit your work on your phone. Google Docs is useful for group projects, where instead of tediously sending a document as an attachment by email, you can simply keep the doc in one place, see who has added their input, and save different versions of the same document. Alternatives to Google Drive include DropBox or OneDrive, which have similar cloud storage features.