App reviews: Disconnect Kids, Studious

By Hayley Tsukayama, The Washington Post

Disconnect Kids

Kids growing up in a digital age have dealt with a lot of things their parents didn’t — including learning how to navigate their privacy online. To help them, an anti-tracking startup called Disconnect has released a kid-focused app that will block tracking from advertisers on the Web and on phone apps, with the promise that information on any device the app is installed on will stay there. In addition to blocking trackers — users have some say over which networks are blocked and which aren’t — the app also has a few videos and comics that teach how online tracking works. Free, for iOS devices.

Studious

We’ve officially cleared mid-August, which means it’s time to start thinking about homework, after-school activities and weekend school commitments. Studious is a strong candidate to keep your academic life flowing smoothly. The app not only makes it easy to add appointments, but users can also add homework assignments, test schedules and notes to each appointment. Plus, Studious has one particularly nifty feature — the ability to set the ringer to silent, vibrate or airplane mode automatically once class starts. Now that’s service. Free, for Android devices.