Research in the area of metacognition is on the rise. Translating and applying the fruits of basic scientific results to various end-users and real-world scenarios is an increasingly important challenge for science. The field of metacognition has been a key component for the model of self-regulated learning. It has provided an important platform for translating this branch of research to educators, policymakers and learners. Nevertheless, theories and measurement models used in metacognitive research largely overlap with other fields, such as decision-making. This issue, titled ‘Applied Metacognition: Real-word applications beyond learning’, aims to inform and inspire the metacognitive research community to (occasionally) look beyond the role of metacognitive factors in self-regulated learning, to the multitude of other applied areas that can benefit end-users and real-world situations. Focusing on on-task confidence judgments, self-monitoring and evaluation, this issue includes seven empirical papers applying metacognitive models to the gamification of metacognitive assessment, decision-making and problem-solving, with implications for cybersecurity, eyewitness testimony, education and business.