The six apps Mia Freedman uses most often on her phone.

Here is a great conversation starter: what’s the most useful app on your phone?

I’m not talking about Gmail or Facebook or Instagram or even Uber. Come on. Everyone has those. I’m always asking people about the other apps they use the most — the ones I’m convinced could change my life.

I realise this is a big ask, but the right app actually can change your life in terms of reducing friction, ,aking things flow. I’ve never met a woman who did not wish her life was easier.

I’m going to give it my best shot by sharing with you a handful of apps I use all the time which you probably don’t know about. And I’m going to ask you to do a sister a favour by adding yours in the comments or on Facebook or wherever you’re looking at this post.

We will then be able to share with the Mamamia community a whole bunch of free apps that will help us to kick the arse out of our lives.

1. iPeriod

I'm going to get straight into menstruation, because of course I am. In 2016 you need to track your period. Come on.

Whether you're trying to get pregnant or trying to remain un-pregnant, every woman should know a bit about her cycle. This is not news; back in the day, doctors and women's mags would suggest you discretely write a P somewhere in your Filofax (Milennials: it was like your gmail calendar, but on paper and held together with teeny tiny ring-binders which were like metal... oh, never mind).

There are many different period tracker apps out there that offer you ways to track everything from cravings to the texture of your discharge. Yes, I said discharge, we're all adults here.

I keep my iPeriod use pretty simple — just the days of my period. So essentially, I only have to enter the first day of my period and the app does the rest. It sends me an alert during "green week" which is when my most fertile days occur - handy if you're trying to conceive or practicing the rhythm method.

It also sends me an alert a week before my period is due to remind me why I hate everyone. There are lots of settings you can do around alerts and emails. I've set it up to email my husband six days before my period so he can put on a stack hat and strap himself in for a bumpy week.

2. Pocket

This is the app I use more than any other on my phone. It does exactly what it says: acts as a pocket for you to pop in links you find all over the internet in your travels so you can come back and look at them later.

You can do this even when you have no wifi or 3G. It's brilliant for planes. I cannot recommend this app highly enough. A lifesaver and a life changer.

3. Evernote

I've tried a bunch of note-taking apps. For a while I tried to use SimpleNote because I read that's what Lena Dunham uses, but I found it was a bit too simple for me. It has barely any functionality.

Evernote can be slightly more confusing when you first start to use it but it's fantastic for keeping track of projects or things you need to do in different areas of your life or with different people. You can save photos, links, voice memos... and they're accessible on all your devices.

4. Our Groceries

We use this a lot as a family. You can set up different lists - say, chemist, supermarket, bottle shop - and multiple people can contribute to them. Then, when someone in the family goes to the chemist, they need just check that list that everyone has added their needs to and bingo. Sorted. With two adults and a teenager in our house, we find this incredibly useful. Scraps of paper are so '90s.

5. Nike+ Training

I learnt about this app when I was on a work trip and noticed my friend Kate using it in the hotel gym. It's basically a personal trainer in your pocket.

It has hundreds of customised workouts and you can choose based on how long you have to exercise (anything from 7 mins to 45 mins) or what type of exercise you want to do (cardio, strength training, flexibility) or what body part you want to target (abs, arms, bum etc). There's everything from pilates-based workouts to barre to yoga to weight training.

I tend to do my cardio and then pick a random workout for 15 minutes that I do on a matt, sometimes with light weights. It shows you photos of every exercise and you can also see a 5 second video of the movement being done so you can just copy it. Super easy and convenient. Great for travel or working out at home.

6. MM podcasts

I listen to an enormous number of podcasts, but I never want to miss a Mamamia one — and I know there are lots of podcast newbies who are still a bit confused about how they work. So we made an app where you can find them all and listen easily.