All About Apps

Technology is a marvelous thing! I find it crazy to think just how much has changed in the ways of technology since deployments first started in the Middle East. When the war first started, couples mainly communicated through letters, and occasionally email and pay phones.

Now, I love letters! I love getting them, I love sending them. I still have every letter from when my husband was in basic, and I'm (not so) patiently waiting for my first deployment letter. But, I would not give up today's technology! My husband took his own phone and laptop, and pays for wifi weekly (a hefty amount). With his phone and wifi, the apps are endless! Here are my favorite apps to use during deployment. All free, and all work off wifi.


My favorite communication Apps:

Couple: An app for just the two of you. This app creates a "timeline" for just the two of you. You can send messages, pictures that disappear after a set time, share videos, send sketches, add important dates to the calendar, and the most adorable feature: The Thumb Kiss!

Viber: This is the app my husband and I use most frequently. With it you can text, send voice messages, make phone calls and video chat.

Skype: Skype allows for video chatting.

FB Messenger: A messaging app that works through your Facebook. When my husbands internet goes down, he goes to use the computers at the MWR. He can access Facebook through those computers, so this is how we talk then.

SnapChat: Send pictures and videos to your loved one, but they disappear after 10 seconds. Although, I'm very guilty of screen-shotting my husbands snapchats.



Other Communication Apps (that I haven't tried out):

Avocado: Seems to be a lot like Couple

Kakao: My mother-in-law instructed my husband to get it. I think it's just a messaging app.

Kik: Another messaging app.

WhatsApp: Another option for messaging.


Apps not related to communication:

World Clock: With such a big time difference, I can't always easily remember what time it is where he is. So I pull up my handy dandy world clock and it tells me what time it is overseas!

Doing Time: I'm all about countdowns! With this app you plug in the start and end date (or estimated end date) and it generates a pie chart showing how much time has passed and how much you have left. It makes it much easier on me seeing that 1/4 of the deployment is over rather than there's still 1xx days left.

Draw Something: I know what you're thinking "What is this, 2012?" But it's actually a really fun way to pass the time, and still feel connected to you SO.

Words with Friends: "Again, what is this, 2010?" My husband and I are big on board games, and this is a fun way to still be able to play against each other.