New grads can easily find themselves overwhelmed by the responsibilities of post-college life, such as commuting to work, balancing the budget or staying fit. So, maybe skip the gift basket and give them a subscription that helps make adulthood more manageable. Here are the services we most recommend for grads who are just starting out, including a few that are free to try.

Commuting

Waze

Many navigation apps can help a grad find their way around an unfamiliar town, but Waze might offer the best way. The free service’s crowdsourced alerts can help drivers avoid construction or gridlock that isn’t always visible in competing apps, including Google Maps — its sibling. Tie-ins with streaming services like Spotify and TuneIn make it easier to soundtrack a lengthy trip without using separate apps. The ads that display while stopped aren’t ideal, but the sacrifice might be worthwhile if it helps a grad arrive on time for a new job.

Transit

If your grad relies on public transportation, Transit’s app is virtually a must-have. It provides detailed, real-time mass transit directions in hundreds of cities, letting riders know when to leave and which stops to take. More importantly, it’s integrated with alternative transportation options like shared bikes, scooters and Uber rides. The core app is free, but it’s worth paying $25 per year for a Royale subscription (if it isn’t offered for free by a local agency) to look up any transit line and future schedules.

Lyft Pink / Uber One

Ridesharing today is for more than just getting to parties or visiting family — for some, it may be the most effective way to get to work. In that light, a subscription to Lyft Pink or Uber One could easily be a welcome gift. Both $10-per-month services offer discounts on rides and food delivery as well as a handful of other perks, such as Lyft’s free priority pickups and Uber’s access to top-rated drivers. Either service is a good choice, although you’ll want to be sure there are plenty of drivers where your recipient lives.

Cloud storage and security

Apple One / Google One / Microsoft 365 Personal

Students can make do with a free cloud account or join a parent’s family plan, but there’s a good chance they’ll want a paid account of their own once they graduate. Thankfully, all the major platform creators have cloud service bundles that cover much of what they need. Apple One ($17 per month for Individual), Google One ($20 per year for Basic) and Microsoft 365 Personal ($70 per year) all deliver extra cloud storage as well as services you’re likely to use for entertainment, productivity and security.

The choice of service depends on what your grad is looking for. Apple One is, unsurprisingly, best for iPhone and Mac users — you get 50GB of iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. Google One, meanwhile, provides 100GB of shareable space, advanced Photos editing features and a VPN to secure your connection. Microsoft 365 Personal, meanwhile, is a big boost to productivity with Office apps, 1TB of storage and security tools like Windows Defender. While these bundles don’t cover every possible need, they can easily save money versus paying for each service on its own.

ExpressVPN

A VPN (virtual private network) can be extremely helpful for the security conscious. It can hide sensitive information from prying eyes and help access regional content that would normally be off-limits. There are many good VPNs, but our pick for a grad is ExpressVPN. While it’s not the cheapest at $100 per year, our security reporter Katie Malone says it’s extremely well-rounded. It’s easy to set up, works across many devices, includes a password manager, doesn’t log activity and is even gaming-friendly. Simply put, your ex-student is more likely to keep the VPN running regardless of what they’re doing.

1Password

Passwords are already a hassle in school, but they get worse once you leave — how is a grad supposed to remember all those new logins for utilities and other must-have services? That’s why we’re recommending 1Password. For $36 per year, it makes sign-ins easier on many of your devices. It can also store credit cards and other sensitive information. And importantly, 1Password is moving to passkeys to access its accounts. A grad won’t have to worry that someone will guess their master password and effectively have access to their entire digital life.

Productivity

Buddy Premium / YNAB

It’s important to learn budgeting skills as a graduate, but it can sometimes be a pain to find the right tool — many people even settle for a spreadsheet. But a budgeting app can often provide extra features that a simple spreadsheet cannot. Nattkod’s Buddy Premium ($35 per year for iOS) and YNAB’s namesake app ($99 per year for Android and iOS) make it much easier to track spending and plan for the future. Both visualize expenses in an easy-to-understand way, making it clear just how much you have to spend each month.

Buddy is particularly helpful for sharing expenses with a partner or roommate, and you can even use an Apple Watch to enter data when you’re settling the bill at a restaurant. YNAB, meanwhile, is a good choice for grads saving up for long-term goals like vacations or that first new car.

Todoist Pro

To-do lists can help anyone stay organized, but the free options (such as Google Keep) might not cut it for a grad who suddenly has to juggle more than just classes. If that’s the case, they may appreciate a Todoist Pro subscription as a gift. While the free version already includes advanced features like filtering and labels, the $48 per year for Pro adds genuinely useful extras like reminders, automatic backups, more filters and larger 100MB file uploads. Throw in access across many platforms and it’s an easy choice for someone figuring out how to manage their personal and professional lives.

Masterclass Individual

Graduates don’t have to stop learning just because they got their degrees. A subscription to Masterclass Individual may seem expensive at $180 per year, but it could easily help grads learn important personal and professional skills from (often famous) experts in different fields. They can perfect their cooking with Gordon Ramsay, or writing with Margaret Atwood. And importantly, this isn’t just about watching videos — pupils can follow a curriculum that involves finishing real projects. Skillshare ($168 per year) can be a better fit if a new grad primarily values creative skills, but Masterclass may be worth the outlay for honing life skills or simply indulging curiosity.

Fitness

Apple Fitness+

If you know a grad who has an iPhone and is eager to get fit, an Apple Fitness+ subscription is an easy gift. A relatively low $80 yearly outlay provides access to 12 workout types that cover a wide range of durations and skill levels that can fit into a busy schedule. There are even audio-only running and walking workouts for those who prefer to exercise outside. The service works best when paired with an Apple Watch, but that’s no longer necessary — an iPhone is all they need to participate.

Peloton

Peloton’s equipment isn’t always a viable gift for a grad, but a subscription to its app certainly can be. The $13-per-month membership gives Android and iOS users access to Peloton’s well-known trainers as they guide you through a variety of workouts that even include bootcamps. This is also an ideal gift if your recipient prefers structure — there’s a range of programs that help develop skills, such as running marathons. Add community elements (such as seeing who’s participating in the same workout) and it can help newcomers stay committed.

Entertainment

Apple Music / Spotify

There’s a good chance the grad in your life wants to soundtrack their commute or work day, and a subscription to Apple Music ($99 per year) or Spotify Premium ($10 per month) should provide exactly what they’re looking for. Both services offer ad-free streaming and offline access to large song selections and well-curated playlists on many devices — you can listen to Apple Music on an Android phone, or play Spotify on your favorite game console.

The choice depends on a grad’s tastes. Apple Music clearly has an advantage for users heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem, but it’s also best if you want lossless or spatial audio. Spotify, meanwhile, has a strong social element, broader device support (particularly for smart speakers),exclusive podcasts and a hard-to-beat library of niche playlists.

Disney+

There’s a real possibility your giftee has already signed up for Amazon Prime Video or Netflix, but what if they want more? That’s where a Disney+ subscription might come in handy. The $110 per year no-ads plan ($8 per month with ads) provides access to a library that might not beat rivals in sheer quantity, but includes plenty of new and back-catalog material from Disney’s many huge franchises. Grads can see what The Mandalorian is all about, or catch up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the next big movie comes out.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV has been subject to price creeps, but it’s still the best live TV streaming service for most people, including new graduates. The core $73 monthly plan offers over 100 channels, including multiple 24-hour news networks and live sports from ESPN. Add-ons bring networks like HBO, too. There’s far-ranging device support, and unlimited cloud DVR storage means a grad won’t have to miss a favorite show.

Google doesn't have a direct equivalent to Apple's AirTags, but it might come close. Chipolo has teamed up with Google to introduce One Point (shown above) and Card Point (below) item trackers that work exclusively with Android's Find My Device network. They take advantage of the phone platform's ubiquity to not only increase the chances of locating your gear, but to find unknown trackers that might be used to spy on your whereabouts.

Both trackers support Android's Fast Pair to speed through setup, and are water-resistant. The differences extend beyond their shapes. The One Point is the loudest with a 120dB ring, and lasts a year on its replaceable battery. The Card Point is quieter at 105dB and relies on a renewal program when the battery wears down, but it also lasts for two years.

Chipolo

Chipolo is taking pre-orders for both devices now. The One Point sells for $28, and the Card Point is available for $35. Four-packs for each respectively cost $79 and $112, and you can get a One/Card bundle for $77. Orders should ship by the second half of July. You'll need a phone running at least Android 9 with Google Play Services. That covers many phones released in North America and Europe over the past five years.

The Point trackers are really counterparts to Chipolo's iPhone-oriented One Spot and Card Spot. However, they also reflect Google's broader effort to flesh out the Android ecosystem. You don't have to rely on a third-party tracking network like Tile's or Samsung's to find missing items. Of course, this also locks you into Android — you'll have to replace your trackers if you ever switch platforms.

You won't have to install Android apps on your Chromebook when you need them in a pinch. After a preview at CES last year, Google has enabled app streaming through Phone Hub in Chrome OS Beta. You can quickly check your messages, or track the status of a food order without having to sign in again.

Once Phone Hub is enabled, you can stream apps by either clicking a messaging app notification or browsing the Hub's Recent Apps section after you've opened a given app on your phone. Google doesn't describe certain app types as off-limits, although it's safe to say that you won't want to play action games this way.

The feature works with "select" phones running Android 13 or newer. The Chromebook and handset need to be on the same WiFi network and physically close-by, although you can use the phone as a hotspot through Instant Tethering if necessary.

Google is ultimately mirroring the remote Android app access you've had in Windows for years. However, the functionality might be more useful on Chromebooks. While app streaming won't replace native apps, it can save precious storage space and spare you from having to jump between devices just to complete certain tasks. This approach is also more manufacturer-independent where Microsoft's approach is restricted to Samsung and Honor phones.

Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2023 right here.

To say the Google I/O 2023 keynote was packed would be an understatement. Google unveiled a flurry of new Pixel devices as well as the latest versions of Android and other platforms. It also won't surprise you to hear that AI was everywhere — this was Google's big chance to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Don't worry if you missed something during the event, though, as we've got all the biggest announcements from the event.

Pixel Fold

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

There's no doubt that the (previously confirmed) Pixel Fold was the star of the show. Google's first foldable phone features the same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7 Pro, but opens like a book to reveal a 7.6-inch display. There's a 5.8-inch external display, and the cameras are only a slight step back between the 48-megapixel main camera, 10.8MP telephoto and ultra-wide lenses and an 8MP internal shooter. This is also one of the thinner foldables at 0.48in when closed. It's available for pre-order today and will sell for $1,799 when it arrives in June.

Pixel 7a

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Google's budget (really, mid-range) phone just got a significant upgrade. The Pixel 7a sports the same Tensor G2 as its pricier Pixel 7 counterparts while adding features that were sorely missed on earlier A-series models, such as a smooth 90Hz display, a 64MP main camera and wireless charging. You can order it today for $499, or $50 more than its predecessor.

Pixel Tablet

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Google first teased the Pixel Tablet a year ago, and it's finally ready to ship its return to Android-powered slates. As mentioned last fall, this is really a hybrid 11-inch smart display. It can sit in a speaker dock to serve as a Google Assistant hub and Chromecast device, but detaches when you're ready to watch videos or check your social feeds. It's powered by the same Tensor G2 as the Pixel 7 and offers a healthy 12 hours of battery life. You can expect pen support, too. It's available to pre-order today for $499.

Android 14

Google

Google fully unveiled Android 14 at I/O. The major revision includes upgrades you saw in the previews, such as custom sharing features as well as stricter security, but also adds iOS 16-style lock screen customization complete with "cinematic" wallpaper that makes subjects stand out. You'll see likewise see AI-generated wallpapers that are cued to images and art styles. Google will release the new OS late this summer, and is expected to deliver the upgrade to Pixel users first.

Wear OS

Google

Google is still committed to improving its Wear OS smartwatch platform following last year's overhaul. At I/O, the company introduced long-sought native watch apps for Gmail and Calendar that let you manage your messages and schedules from your wrist. WhatsApp is coming to Wear OS, too. Google also released its first developer preview for Wear OS 4, a major update that promises improved battery life and performance, simple watch backups and more accessibility. All the new software arrives later this year.

PaLM 2 AI model

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

In some ways, the most important announcement at I/O is for tech that sits behind the scenes. Google has unveiled a PaLM 2 AI language model that will underpin more than two dozen of the company's products, including Bard. It's faster and more efficient, and can run locally on mobile devices. It's more adept at handling multiple languages and can generate JavaScript and Python code.

Search Labs 

Google

Among Google's many, many AI-related introductions are three test features available through Search Labs. A Search Generative Experience provides automatically-generated overviews, exploration pointers and follow-ups. Code Tips will even offer programming snippets and advice. Add to Sheets, meanwhile, lets you plug search results into spreadsheets.

Bard

Mojahid Mottakin on Unsplash

Google is rapidly expanding Bard's capabilities. On top of using PaLM2, the generative AI chatbot will soon let you include images in your queries, and bring pictures into its responses. It will also integrate Google apps (such as exporting to Docs and Gmail) as well as partner products like Adobe Firefly (for turning ideas into images). More importantly, it'll be much easier to use Bard in the first place — Google is dropping the waiting list and making Bard available in English to more than 180 countries, along with support for Japanese and Korean.

AI in Photos and Workspace

Google

Like it or not, Google is putting generative AI in many of the apps you use. To start, Photos is getting a Magic Editor that can move subjects, add content and even replace the sky. The experimental feature will be available on some Pixel phones this fall.

Generative AI will also be available across core Workspace apps through Duet AI. Gmail on mobile will help you write messages. Slides will help you create background images using text descriptions. AI in Sheets will analyze your data, while Docs will offer "assisted writing." Even Meet will use the technology to create unique video call backgrounds.

Everything else

Google

There were numerous important updates across Google's other products. Project Tailwind is an AI-driven personal notebook. The redesigned Home app is now available to everyone, with Matter support coming to iOS users in the weeks ahead. Find My Device will soon support a wider range of hardware, and detect unknown trackers to help catch stalkers. Google Maps, meanwhile, is bringing Immersive View to routes.

Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2023 right here.

Google is stuffing generative AI into seemingly all its products, and that now includes the photo app on your phone. The company has previewed an "experimental" Magic Editor tool in Google Photos that can not only fix photos, but outright change them to create the shot you wanted all along. You can move and resize subjects, stretch objects (such as the bench above), remove an unwanted bag strap or even replace an overcast sky with a sunnier version.

Magic Editor will be available in early form to "select" Pixel phones later this year, Google says. The tech giant warns that output might be flawed, and that it will use feedback to improve the technology.

Google is no stranger to AI-based image editing. Magic Eraser already lets you remove unwanted subjects, while Photo Unblur resharpens jittery pictures. Magic Editor, however, takes things a step further. The technology adds content that was never there, and effectively lets you retake snapshots that were less-than-perfectly composed. You can manipulate shots with editors like Adobe's Photoshop, of course, but this is both easier and included in your phone's photo management app.

The addition may be helpful for salvaging photos that would otherwise be unusable. However, it also adds to the list of ethical questions surrounding generative AI. Google Photos' experiment will make it relatively simple to present a version of events that never existed. It may be that much harder to trust someone's social media snaps, even though they're not entirely fake.

Another company is racing to launch the first commercial space station. Vast is partnering with SpaceX to launch its Haven-1 station as soon as August 2025. A Falcon 9 rocket will carry the platform to low Earth orbit, with a follow-up Vast-1 mission using Crew Dragon to bring four people to Haven-1 for up to 30 days. Vast is taking bookings for crew aiming to participate in scientific or philanthropic work. The company has the option of a second crewed SpaceX mission.

Haven-1 is relatively small. It isn't much larger than SpaceX's capsule, and is mainly intended for science and small-scale orbital manufacturing for the four people who dock. Vast hopes to make Haven-1 just one module in a larger station, though, and it can simulate the Moon's gravity by spinning.

As TechCrunchnotes, the 2025 target is ambitious and might see Vast beat well-known rivals to deploying a private space station. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin doesn't expect to launch its Orbital Reef until the second half of the decade. Voyager, Lockheed Martin and Nanoracks don't expect to operate their Starlab facility before 2027. Axiom stands the best chance of upstaging Vast with a planned late 2025 liftoff.

There's no guarantee any of these timelines will hold given the challenges and costs of building an orbital habitat — this has to be a safe vehicle that comfortably supports humans for extended periods, not just the duration of a rocket launch. However, this suggests that stations represent the next major phase of private spaceflight after tourism and lunar missions.

Roku is diving further into smart home equipment, and the price is once again a major draw. The company has unveiled a Home Monitoring System SE kit that includes two entry sensors, a motion sensor, a hub (with siren) and a keypad for $99. You might pay less for a whole monitor setup than you do individual parts from rival bundles.

As with earlier products, Wyze co-developed the hardware. You can monitor activity on your phone, but Roku unsurprisingly touts integration with its media players and compatible TVs. You can get an entry alert while you're watching a show. You can expand the system as needed, and an optional $100 per year professional monitoring option uses Noonlight to provide immediate help from agents.

The Home Monitoring System SE is available today through Roku and Walmart, and will reach Walmart stores in the US on May 19th alongside a currently-unpriced light strip and outdoor-oriented solar panel. A Roku OS update enabling TV monitoring notifications (plus camera history and voice control) is due in the "coming weeks."

The expansion may seem odd for a company that's closely associated with streaming devices, but it comes at a critical moment for the company. It's still laying off workers as it grapples with a rough economy, and is concentrating on projects that it believes are more likely to pay off. Smart home products could help Roku supplement its core business while competing against Amazon and others that already have a wide range of home-oriented gear.

MediaTek has a simple answer to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 you see in many gaming phones: deliver an uprated version of last year's high-end hardware. The brand has unveiled a Dimensity 9200+ system-on-chip with improvements that will be particularly noticeable with games. You'll find higher clock speeds for the main Cortex-X3 core (up from 3.05GHz to 3.35GHz), three Cortex-A715 cores (from 2.85GHz to 3GHz) and four Cortex-A510 efficiency cores (1.8GHz to 2GHz). More importantly, the company says it has "boosted" the Immortalis-G715 graphics by 17 percent — games that were borderline playable before should be smoother.

The Dimensity 9200+ is built using TSMC's newest 4-nanometer process, potentially extending battery life and allowing for cooler, slimmer phones. The WiFi 7 support, AI processing unit and image signal processor are unchanged, although there's not much room to complain. WiFi 7 still isn't a finished standard, for example, and routers that support it are still extremely rare.

You won't have to wait long to see the first phones based on this chip. MediaTek expects the first Dimensity 9200+ phones to launch later this month, although it hasn't named customers as of this writing. The question is whether or not this refresh is enough. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has only a slight edge over the regular 9200, so a higher-clocked 9200+ might emerge victorious. However, Qualcomm doesn't usually sit still — it likes to ship mid-cycle upgrades of its own.

Nonetheless, this may be an important release if you're a mobile gamer. This gives Qualcomm fresh competition in the Android gaming world. That, in turn, could lead to both more variety in phones as well as more aggressive pricing.

The Apple Watch has effectively used the same processor since the S6 inside 2020's Series 6, but it's apparently poised for a long-due upgrade. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman tells subscribers in his newsletter Discord channel that Apple Watch Series 9 will reportedly use a truly "new processor." He believes the CPU in the S9 system-on-chip will be based on the A15 chip that first appeared in the iPhone 13 family.

Apple has upgraded the SoC hardware in Watch models following Series 6, but the revisions have added functionality rather than CPU improvements. The S8 chip in Series 8, Ultra and current-gen SE watches includes an updated accelerometer and gyroscope, for instance. Apart from that, it's largely identical to the S6.

While most details remain a mystery, there are some likely improvements. The S8 is still built using an old 7-nanometer manufacturing process, while an S9 is more likely to be made on a denser and more efficient 5nm or 4nm process. That could not only boost performance, but extend battery life. Apple has historically introduced new Apple Watches in September. 

Apple Watch Series 9 is otherwise believed to be an iterative update. Gurman previously suggested there will be no major design or feature changes. You may get the Bluetooth 5.3 support that came with the Ultra, but there might not be much incentive to upgrade if you already have a Series 7 or newer. For owners of older models, however, a speedier processor may help justify an upgrade on top of all the refinements from recent years.

Apple finally has professional creative software to match the iPad Pro. The company is releasing both Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad on May 23rd. The two tablet apps now feature a touch-friendly interface and other iPad-specific improvements, such as Pencil and Magic Keyboard support (more on those in a moment). At the same time, Apple wants to reassure producers that these are full-featured apps that won't leave Mac users feeling lost.

The apps also represent a change in Apple's pricing strategy. Where Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for Mac are one-time purchases, you'll have to subscribe to the iPad versions for either $5 per month or $49 per year. There's a one-month free trial. The move isn't surprising given Apple's increasing reliance on services for revenue, but it may be disappointing if you were hoping to avoid the industry's subscription trend.

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