9 iPhone Apps to Help Make Thanksgiving Less Miserable

Thanksgiving can be a great holiday to catch up with and spend time with family and friends. But we all know that it can be stressful, particularly with all of the work involved and the potential for dinner-table political discussions..

Luckily, your iPhone is an excellent companion to help you power through the holiday. Whether you need help in the kitchen or want something to keep the little ones busy for a bit, here are some of the best apps to help make this Thanksgiving a good one. Continue reading to learn about 9 iPhone Apps to Help Make Thanksgiving Less Miserable.

9 HQ Trivia

HQ Trivia took the iOS ecosystem by storm earlier this year — and for good reason. It’s a simple premise: answer 12 trivia questions correctly and you can earn a share of a real cash prize. But it’s both tougher and more addictive than it seems.

But unlike some iOS games, HQ encourages users to play together (recently, they even debuted powers up for users who play in groups in the same room). In other words, it’s the perfect way to get your friends and family to agree on something on Thanksgiving.

8 NFL

For some, Thanksgiving is all about the turkey. But you probably know that for others, it’s about football. There will be three games airing on Thanksgiving — and the NFL iOS app is one of the best ways to watch the games on your devices if you’re traveling or don’t have cable.

As long as you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, you won’t burn through too much data, either. It’s worth noting that you won’t be able to mirror games to your TV, so make sure everyone has a copy of the NFL app on their devices.

7 BigOven

Cooking up a Thanksgiving feast is no small feat. While it may be easy for some, many of us probably need a bit of help. That’s where a jam-packed recipe app like BigOven comes in. With more than 350,000 recipes on it, you’ll never struggle to find something to cook.

You can search by category or work in reverse, typing in ingredients you already have in your pantry or fridge. You can also easily create grocery lists for the recipes you’d like to tackle — and with a built-in social feature, you can share what you’ve made and see what others are cooking.

6 Thanksgiving Puzzles

The holidays can be a lot of work, especially if you have little ones running around. Luckily, you can help keep the kids occupied for at least part of the day with this fun and festive puzzle app — while there’s in-app purchase, there are no ads or external links to speak of.

It features rich and colorful illustrations by Laura Tallardy, positive encouragement, and easy controls for kids of all ages to use. There are various Thanksgiving and fall-themed puzzles to choose from, from Pilgrims showing off their Thanksgiving feasts to a squirrel collecting acorns for the winter.

5 Headspace

Stressed out about this year’s Thanksgiving family reunions? You may want to give meditation a try — it’s proven to reduce stress and anxiety, among a slew of other benefits. Even if you’re a skeptic or otherwise apprehensive, Headspace is a great way for anyone to take a couple of minutes to zen out.

This app takes meditation and makes it easy for all types of people — no mysticism or abstract concepts to be found. Best of all, you don’t need to pay anything to use it. The free version of the app features a set of easy 10-minute meditations to get you through Thanksgiving.

4 Timer+

If you’re cooking one dish, it’s simple enough to set a timer on your phone. But what if you're keeping track of multiple dishes — and a turkey — all cooking at once? While the iOS Clock app doesn’t have a multiple timer option, the free Timer+ app is an excellent alternative.

You can set multiple timers and stopwatches at once and easily label them so you can keep track of what they represent. It works in the background, so you’re not stuck on the app itself while the timers are running. There’s not much else to say about it than that. Simple, but essential.

3 Kayak

Holiday travel is stressful — and if you’re going out-of-town this Thanksgiving, you’re probably already getting the pre-travel jitters. If you need an all-in-one travel companion to get you through your travels, look no further than the highly rated Kayak app.

This app automatically curates the best rates on flights, hotels and cars from across various travel sites. Better yet, it also packs handy features like TSA security line estimates, detailed airport maps, and updates on all of your booked flights, rentals and accommodations.

2 Delectable

Wine can help us get through a lot of things, and holiday reunions or parties are no exception. But if you want to brush up on your wine knowledge, the Delectable app for iOS is one of the best ways to do so from the comfort of your iPhone. Just scan a wine label and you’ll get instant reviews.

If you want to go further than that, you can also find a wealth of knowledge from winemakers, sommeliers and wine critics — and even pairing notes to get the perfect wine to go with your Thanksgiving dinner. Not a wine person? There are beer and spirits ratings on Delectable, too.

1 Adobe Photoshop Express

Holiday get-togethers often mean that someone is going to end up taking a bunch of photos. Apple’s iPhones have undoubtedly become one of the best ways to snap all of those holiday pictures and easily share them among family members. But sometimes, photos need editing.

Adobe Photoshop is an industry standard. And while Photoshop Express isn't quite the full version, it's powerful enough to get you through basically all of your smartphone photography needs. You can easily adjust pictures, create collages, add text or borders, and much more.