The apps and services we recommend for students

So you bought a laptop and phone to take with you to college. But hardware is only as useful as the software it runs, right? Included in our 2018 back-to-school guide are the apps and services that will make students' lives a bit easier. There's Dropbox, a perennial favorite, for accessing important documents on any device. If you need to access your notes across devices, Evernote is a particularly flexible option: It can sync typed text with audio recordings and even scan text in photos of, say, books and other class materials, to make them searchable.

Artsy majors should consider subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud for Students to get the company's editing suite at a discount. Apple's GarageBand app, meanwhile, is a great entry into creating music and podcasts. When it's time to decompress and unwind, fire up Spotify for some relaxing tunes or Hulu for comedies like Parks & Rec and timely originals like The Handmaid's Tale. Here's a tip: you can get both for $5 a month with a student discount.

But a list of dorm-friendly entertainment apps wouldn't be complete without Netflix and its expansive list of originals on offer. That said, if you're a film fanatic then the Disney Movies Anywhere app might be more up your alley, and it has the added benefit of connecting to other movie stores like iTunes and Amazon, allowing you to store all your purchases in one place. Finally, don't forget to practice self-care even if your heavy course load is keeping you extremely busy. The guided meditation app Headspace can help you sleep when you feel stressed, while MyFitnessPal can be your staunchest ally when it comes to avoiding the Freshman 15.

Find all of our picks in our back-to-school guide and while you're there, check out our picks in a dozen-plus other categories.