As pretty much the entire world heads into or is already in some form of self-isolation, the boredom can become seriously real. But at least we’ve got our mobile phones and the internet - I mean, imagine if this happened in the 90’s? We’d all probably die of endless Real World reruns.

So here we’re going to look at 6 apps to entertain you during these times. Some of them are games, others are useful for the #riseandgrind crowd, so there’s a bit of something for everyone here.

Minecraft

Minecraft has everything packed into a single game you could ever really want. Endless exploration, loot finding, and highly addictive “just one more block!” qualities. It also offers incredible creative freedom to build nearly any structure you can imagine, and people have recreated entire real-world cities within Minecraft.

There’s an official Minecraft mobile app with the latest game version, but you can play Minecraft Classic right in your phone browser on CrazyGames.

Google Feud

Google’s spin on popular television game show Family Feud is quite similar to the format of the show, but also quite different in presentation. Whereas in Family Feud contestants will answer questions like “Name things that go up and down”, with answers culled from telephone surveys, Google Feud has you guessing how Google would auto-complete popular search phrases, in various categories.

While it sounds like a recipe for disaster, the internet isn’t actually as perverted as we all thought. It’s a rather difficult game, as some of the answers are rather exacting. For example, the question “How long should I….” had easily guessable answers like “bake a turkey”, but also some ones nobody would ever guess like “take solmux”.

BitLife

Feel like being somebody entirely else while you’re in self-isolation? BitLife is a text-based life simulation, with quite a lot of features. You’re born into a random country, and then press the “Age” button to advance a year, until the year you die.

Before aging yourself, you can perform a bunch of activities like studying harder in school, dating, taking vacations, and really just way too many other things to list. Let’s just say that in one of my lives, I was a Korean pornstar making $100 grand per year, had a black-belt in Judo, sued my plastic surgeon for botching my nose job, went to alcohol rehab, and sold a best-selling novel.

It’s available for both iOS and Android, and while the iOS version is a bit more frequently updated, the Android version never really lags far behind.

Adobe Illustrator Draw

Artistic creatives have a lot of options when it comes to digital art, but Adobe Illustrator Draw certainly offers some of the best features. The app itself is entirely free, and for $1.99 you can get an additional 20GB of Creative Cloud storage.

The app also syncs up with other Adobe apps and desktop software like Illustrator, Photoshop, and Capture. So if you’ve been itching to try your hand at digital art, it’s a pretty great time to check this one out.

FL Studio Mobile HD

Feel like becoming the next Soundcloud sensation? FL Studio Mobile HD is the mobile version of the popular FL Studio software for music makers, although the app is certainly a bit oriented towards beat making. It’s available for both Android and iOS, and while the mobile version doesn’t have nearly all the features of the desktop software, it does include several important ones like step sequencing, drum programming, and FX controls.

Additional plugins and synthesizers can be purchased within the app, but the app does not support VSTs - there really aren’t any phone CPUs out there that could keep up with the CPU demands of desktop-style synthesizing, but FL Studio Mobile HD gives you the tools to get a good project started and later transfer to the desktop studio.

Castbox

If you’re stuck in isolation alone, hearing other people’s voices really kind of help, even if it’s just background noise. Castbox is one of the best Podcast listening apps, and has a huge library with access to some of the most popular Podcast shows on the planet. It has a unique recommendation engine that doesn’t just show you the most popular shows, but stuff you might actually be interested in.

Castbox is very nearly entirely free, but for $0.99 per month you’ll have an ad-free experience and unlimited Podcast subscriptions.

Scrivener

Got a book idea for a “strangers in quarantine” romance novel kicking around in your head, but don’t know how to actually start writing a novel? Give Scrivener a try. It’s more than just a regular word processor - it helps you outline pretty much your entire project, from beginning to end, and can even recommend plot templates.

Unlocking its full power has a tiny bit of a learning curve, but it’s a serious app for veteran and aspiring writers alike.