The Coolest Apps of 2021, According to Devetry Designers

We recently sat down with our team of designers and asked them: In this year of remote work, COVID culture, and design trends, which apps do you love and why?

Their favorites tend to revolve around either fun or pure utility, and of course, all have a slick user interface and enjoyable user experiences.

But what else does it take to crack the coolest apps list? Check out our favorites below to see.

Carrot Weather

Carrot Weather is a beautiful and funny weather app powered by AI.

Why we love Carrot Weather

• UI is clean and impressive
• Gamifies weather by collecting high and low “scores” based on experienced temperatures
• Has a personality slider that allows you to customize your messaging

This neat AI-powered application is one of our favorites for the year. Check it out and personalize it for the best experience.

iRobot/Rumba App

This application allows users to control and monitor their autonomous vacuums.

Why we love it

• Clean interface
• The app shows you how it's mapping your house, which incentivizes you to keep using it
• The value it adds is incredible

Portal

Portal is an app that lets you be "surrounded by nature" inside. It plays binaural 3D sounds and uses your phone's light to relax you.

Why we love Portal

• Great for remote life
• A timer allows you to control your experience
• Leverages visuals really well -- it creates a unique and realistic user experience by creating a great interface
• Works with other audio apps - can run in the background to blend sounds

Tonaly

The Tonaly app helps songwriters (some of our designers are in a band) create music.

Why we love it

• Speeds up the process of writing music
• Take a chord and modulate it
• "Make weird Radiohead-sounding songs"

Endless

Endless is also a music app that lets you "jam" and loop music. Our team especially likes it because

• Provides real utility
• Has a social, community component that adds to the experience of sharing music
• A straightforward interface that allows you to ramp up quickly

Bonus: Tangle Master 3D

This is our design's favorite mobile game this year. When news of COVID got to be too much, they visited Tangle Master 3D and were mindlessly soothed.

Overall, apps that provide tangible value are the ones we gravitate towards unless they are just So Fun and Unique that they warrant a download.

Takeaways for this year and next? As you're designing an application, make sure that your value is at the forefront of your application. Manage the expectations of value for your users by showing it right away or by guiding them to it.

Make your user interface beautiful, but more importantly clear and consise. If you're going for fun, consider the textual content that users read and engage with. Creative (but clear) instructions and interactions create joy so experiment with it.