Your smartphone might be the most distracting device you possess. It constantly seeks your attention and is always available when you feel the urge to scroll endlessly. It's easy to spend hours each day playing with your phone.

But what if this time could be used more productively, creatively, and with less anxiety? Fidget apps and similar applications might not be the best use of your time, but they can still serve a purpose, whether it's calming your nerves, relaxing you, or simply providing an alternative to scrolling through feeds.

1. Tappy

Tappy describes itself as a "self-care fidgeter" designed to alleviate stress and anxiety by channeling your nervous energy. The app includes a wellness tracker for logging moods and activities, complete with affirmations, a mindfulness section with meditations and soothing sounds, and breathing exercises. However, the most relevant feature here is its extensive collection of fidget toys.

These toys are accessible in one tab, featuring haptic and audio feedback. You can toggle simple buttons, turn wheels and dials, use sketch pads that combine motion and haptics, engage in physics-based activities that respond to your touch, play with a "clicky" compass, and enjoy other toys that are difficult to describe but incredibly satisfying to use.

Most of these features are free, though a Tappy Plus membership unlocks additional toys like a fidget spinner and bubble wrap (which you can try before purchasing), along with other wellness-focused features. There's also an arcade with games like Snake and Tic Tac Toe. A year of Tappy Plus can be unlocked for $19.99, a reasonable price if you wish to support the developers.

2. Fluid Simulation

Fluid Simulation, or simply Fluid on my iPhone, is a stunningly beautiful physics toy that I've been playing with for years. I've always been drawn to these types of toys, and Fluid Simulation is one I keep returning to. Just drag your finger across the screen to see the simulation unfold.

You get eight free presets, with the ability to customize and create your own using the included sliders and toggles. There's a lot to explore, and a random button that can generate entirely new presets. The app supports multi-touch inputs and looks particularly impressive on my iPhone 13 Pro's HDR display. It's also one of the few apps on this list available on Android.

You can currently unlock the app for life with a $0.69 subscription, which the developer says you can cancel "at any time and keep the full version forever."

3. I Love Hue

I Love Hue is more of a fidget puzzle than a traditional fidget app. The goal is to arrange the colors in order, from light to dark or pale to saturated. It's a very relaxing game that you'll enjoy if you like the idea of restoring logical order to a pattern. The app doesn't become challenging until you reach the later levels.

There's no tactile feedback or haptics, but the app is free to play with ads. New levels are unlocked using prisms, which can be purchased via in-app purchases. Spending any amount in the shop also removes in-game advertisements.

I Love Hue is also available on Android.

4. Triple A Touch Visualizer

There are many particle simulators on the App Store, and Triple A is one of them. The app combines five interaction styles from other apps by the same developer into a single interface. While the five effects are quite similar, there are additional settings to tweak.

Essentially, this is a reactive light show. Swipe your fingers on the canvas and watch the lights move. Use two or three fingers at once to see different effects. Adjust the settings within the app to change particle size and length, or invert the canvas. It's a very simple app, but undeniably fun to play with.

5. Fidgetable

Fidgetable might be the most basic app on this list, but it perfectly fulfills its purpose. This is a very simple fidget toy with eight free activities to choose from, all without ads. You can donate a minimum of $0.99 to support the developer, which unlocks additional features, including new fidgets in beta testing.

The app excels in haptic feedback, with all activities providing some form of tactile response. These include basic elements like buttons that pop like bubble wrap and toggles that buzz and snap rhythmically (you can activate multiple at once).

Additionally, there are more interesting fidgets that use your device's gyroscope to balance a ball or the accelerometer to detect how hard you're shaking. You can customize almost everything, from the order of the fidgets to the colors and app icon.

6. Ballz

Ballz is a clone of the classic arcade game Breakout with a key difference. Launch balls at the tiles at the top of the screen, aiming to pop them as more appear over time. The twist is that you don't need to worry about "catching" the ball when it reaches the bottom, but the tiles will drop with each ball you launch.

The game ends when a tile reaches the bottom of the screen. To add variety, tiles have numbers indicating how many hits are needed to make them disappear. You can also collect additional balls, making the game feel as frantic as multi-ball mode on a pinball table but without the stress of keeping them in play.

The result is a familiar yet relaxed arcade experience. It's easy to play but rewarding to watch, and you can enjoy it for free with ads (or pay $2.99 to remove them). Ballz is also available on Android.

7. Figure

Figure has been my go-to fidget app since its release over a decade ago. It's probably the simplest music-making app on the App Store, focusing on preset instruments, knobs, and pads rather than the technical aspects of building beats and loops.

You have three tracks: drums, lead, and bass. Use the built-in controls to create a rhythm by adjusting numbers. Use range and scale steps to select available notes. Set a key and tempo, then use the simple mixing desk to blend your creations. You can navigate by feel, without needing to understand the technical details.

Record your taps and swipes, tweak the sound, record your changes, and save your results. You can even export your creations, though I admit I've made hundreds of short loops over the years and never done anything with them. For me, this is essentially a private sketch pad for music.

Related ##### A Beginner's Guide to Making Music on iPhone and iPad

iPhones and iPads are excellent music production systems. Here's how to get started making your own music.

While on the topic of digital sketchpads, Flowpaper is definitely worth mentioning. I've kept this app installed for years since discovering it a couple of years ago. It's a simple yet satisfying drawing app that uses preset brushes and effects to achieve interesting results.

At the risk of sounding like an old man, Flowpaper reminds me most of a Spirograph (the old children's toy that produces geometric curves using rotating discs). While Flowpaper is more freeform, it satisfies the same creative urge. The free version is somewhat limited, but you can experiment with symmetry and colors to create and export your art.

Since the app's default output resolution is your device's screen resolution, you can easily create wallpapers too.

9. Retinamandelbrot

The Mandelbrot set is a famous fractal pattern named after Benoit B. Mandelbrot, first drawn in 1978 and visualized by its namesake two years later. It's a complex mathematical fractal curve known for its seemingly endless detail, and it's incredibly fun to explore. Retinamandelbrot is an app for iPhone and iPad that lets you explore this fascinating set.

Zoom and pan to explore the Mandelbrot set up to a factor of 10^20000. Zoom and release to start your fractal journey, allowing the app to automatically zoom in or out, while adjusting the color palette. Easily capture high-resolution images or videos using the built-in tools.

Of all the fractal explorers I've tried, Retinamandelbrot is arguably the best, even if it hasn't been updated in a while. Though there's no feedback, the app is a great visual distraction and one I find easy to get lost in, no matter how I'm feeling.

Is doomscrolling getting you down? Get your iPhone to scold you when you spend too long on social media (it really works). Sure, these fidget apps and time-wasters aren't exactly productive, but at least they won't depress you in the same way other apps might. I'd also bet they're easier to close once you've had your fill.

Do you have any other apps perfect for fidgeting, satisfying to play with, or better for time-wasting? Share them in the comments below as I'm always looking for more.

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