Pocket-Sized Professors: 8 Apps to Turn Your iPhone Into a Personal Classroom

One of the best things about an iPhone is that it’s always there when you have some time to kill. Unfortunately, for most of us, that time usually gets swallowed by messages, random scrolling, or opening the same three apps or games on autopilot. But if you swap even a small slice of that downtime with something that teaches you a real skill, your iPhone suddenly becomes a productivity tool instead of a time waster.

The trick is using the right apps for the job. You don’t need the kind of apps that always demand an hour of uninterrupted focus and a perfect mood, but the kind that let you jump in quickly, learn or practice something useful, and leave feeling like you actually gained something. There are countless apps on the App Store for that. Some of them teach practical career skills. Others teach school subjects, logic, memory, music, or mindfulness. 

There comes a time when you know you want to start learning something, but you don’t know what. If that’s your current situation, we’ve gathered some amazing apps that will teach you many different subjects. You can choose what you like and start being more productive in your downtime. Read on for 8 great ways to learn something on your iPhone.