Best apps: Top tech of 2015

Best apps: Top tech of 2015: The Telegraph’s head of technology Madhumita Murgia picks her top five apps of the year, from live video streaming service Periscope to lip syncing sensation Dubsmash.

 Two thirds of us now own a smartphone, and use the device for almost two hours each day to access social media, surf the web and shop online. 

Most of our activity on smartphones is driven by an explosion in apps. According to reports, we spend about 54 per cent of our time in apps when we are using phones or tablets.

These can cover anything from essential services such as maps and banking, to social networking, games and fitness trackers.

^{There are more than 1.5m apps in Apple's App Store alone}

The most-used apps of 2015 include Facebook, YouTube, Facebook Messenger and Google search, with Facebook Messenger alone seeing 700 million monthly users.
As of July this year, Google's Play store had 1.6 million apps for sale, while Apple's App Store had 1.5 million.
How to choose from this plethora of options? Watch our video for the Telegraph's picks for the top five apps released this year, including recommendations for ‘best for e-commerce’, ‘best for photos’ and ‘best for navigation’.
Earlier episodes in our Best of 2015 series have seen our Technology team offer their recommendations for Best Smartwatches and Best Connected Home Devices and Best Tech for Kids.