12 Best Egyptian And Regional Apps Of 2016

We bring you a list of this year's best Egyptian and regional apps. Are your favorites on the list?

by Ahmed Mansour

1. DataMan

Ever run out of MBs when you most need them? DataMan is the simplest and easiest way to track your data usage. For just $0.99 you can see at a glance if you’re safe from busting your data cap. It also has the Smart Forecast option that helps you predict if you’ll stay within your data cap on your usage per day.

2. Jumia

Jumia recently announced they have provided over 100,000 products to their customers all over Egypt since launching in 2012. “Since the launch, our company’s vision has been to build the most beloved and trusted shopping destination for Africans which is achieved by relentlessly building the most effortless and reliable online shopping environment providing consumers with the widest range of genuine products at low prices,” boasts Hesham Safwat, CEO of Jumia Egypt.

3. Eventtus

Nabbing countless awards, this is the go-to destination for all events taking place in your city. You can find events by category and browse a list of all the trending events happening every day. Eventtus also keeps you updated with your friends’ activities and lets you share your favorite events with your network.

4. XE Currency

Hardly new but suddenly very handy post pound flotation. So if you’re tired of looking up what’s going on with the dollar rate against the Egyptian pound, download the XE Currency app that allows you to convert every country’s currency; it also offers live propriety currency rates, charts, and even stores the last updated rates.

5. EgypTrain

With EgypTrains you’ll be able to access schedules from every train station in Egypt in addition to ticket prices, duration of trips, any delays, and all the latest railway news. The application includes more than 14,000 trips of almost 1,000 trains.

6. Bey2ollak

With over 1.2 million registered users, Bey2ollak continues to make our annual Top10 list, adding new features and services every year. A must if you’re navigating the nation’s streets and highways.

7. Yallakoora

Soccer reigns supreme among Egyptian sports fans and Yallakoora has all the latest news covering national and international leagues. They enterprise started off as a website but this year launched what has become one of the most popular apps of 2016. Tune in live (for free) to pre-paid broadcast on their Facebook page.

8. Elves

Heralded by Forbes Magazine Middle East as one of the most promising startups in Egypt for 2016, Elves does everything you can’t find time to do yourself. Kauffman fellow, tech investor, and serial entrepreneur Karim Elsahy and his wife/cofounder Abeer ElSisi have built several companies. Elves started as a manifestation of their curiosity in Artificial Intelligence — more specifically the data behind things like Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. The idea is that the various scenarios elves go through to solve problems for their users are being digitized into AI training data — and they’re the only ones in the MENA region doing it. Users joining their Facebook page are paired up with a real concierge who gets to know them and clients simply tell them what they’re looking for. They “Elves” make tailored recommendations that you can buy on the spot. They then handle everything from the purchase, giftwrapping, and shipping, even following up to make sure orders are delivered on time.

9. Yaoota

Yaoota (as in crazy tomato prices) is a shopping engine that allows users to navigate Egyptian online stores, and quickly help them find, compare and buy the products they want. Established two years ago, Yaoota currently operates from the UAE and hopes to expand its services to Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East.

10. Tabibi 24/7

Egypt’s pioneer pediatric healthcare solutions provider gives access to a network of family doctors with clearance to patients’ medical histories and thereby provide more accurate diagnoses. Registered Tabibi 24/7 customers are able to set up and easily access their child's complete medical records, including a full medical history and immunization records, via a secure log-in on Tabibi’s official website. Services include comprehensive pediatric care, sick visits, 'well-checks' and vaccination visits.

11. iFix

Have you ever broken your phone and were just too lazy to go fix it? IFix will repair a broken smartphone at a customers’ residence or office no matter where they are, typically in less than an hour, thereby ensuring all customer data remains private. iFix was founded by Fayez and Omar Galal, AUC grads in petroleum and energy engineering, and computer science respectively.

12. I Protect

Disguised as a calculator on smartphone screens, this app alerts contacts and a local human rights group if the user is arrested. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), who developed the app, hope it will help to counter abuses by security forces in Egypt. Android phone users can key in a code when they are being detained, which sends three text messages to contacts and an email containing the location of their arrest to the ECRF. According to the ECRF, a quick reaction during the first 24 hours of an arrest is key to stopping people being transferred from a police station to a larger facility, making them harder to find.