At right is a screen shot of my favorite productivity apps I use every day. My favorite apps are those that become tools: apps that help make me more productive, not apps that merely become a means unto themselves. Some of the apps are basic apps preloaded on all iPhones (like Clock, Calendar, Maps, etc.) but my faves, outside of these standards are as follows:
Audio Footnote: Audio Footnote allows you to record voice notes while listening to audiobooks or podcasts. I wrote a more comprehensive review of Audio Footnote on my Reading the Greats blog. Bottom line: Audio Footnote exists to make your reading more memorable!
OmniFocus: How I do love thee? Let me count the ways:
- You are the most comprehensive yet easy-to-handle task manager I've ever known (and as a productivity junkie, that is saying a lot).
- You allow me to get more work done by allowing me to process a myriad of to-dos and remember them when and where I need them most (contexts).
- With you, I can safely capture and keep any idea I have within a few clicks, the ultimate idea incubator.
- You have a desktop app that syncs brilliantly with my iPhone app - no matter where I am, I'm working with the same data both on my iPhone and on my desktop.
- Your only defect? You make me want to do more. Tsk. Tsk. I have enough to do as it is.
I must give OmniFocus its due on both my blogs soon as it is the single most productive app I own.
SalesCalc: Self-explanatory, but SalesCalc allows you to figure gross margin, markup, % of change, and % of total. Rapid fire, uncluttered interface. Just wish it had a "fat margin" button somewhere. (They probably discontinued it due to disuse).
SplashID: I've been carrying around a SplashID product before the words "handheld computing" and "Treo" became anachronisms. Too many passwords. Way too many passwords. All safely kept within SplashID. They also have a desktop app as well.
MobileRSS: The RSS reader that I use to process my Google Reader feeds. I use the paid version for all brand, marketing and advertising related feeds and I use the free version for all book related feeds (processing from two separate Google accounts). It might seem redundant to have two accounts but it's much easier for me to keep the two professional spheres of focus in my life (branding vs reading/writing) in two separate categories.
Dictionary: Another self-explanatory app. I read a lot and therefore come across a host of words I don't know. The coolest thing about the Dictionary app is that it saves the words you've recently looked up, a very quick recall for review. It even has an audio button so you can hear the correct pronunciation of a word. (The most recent words I've looked up? Prehensile, excresence, ptomaine, umbrage, and billet-doux. Doubt I'll be using those in a conversation anytime soon.)
Stanza: Stanza is the only way to read books on the iPhone. It has a host of options that allow you to enlarge text, change screen colors and you can email, tweet or facebook notations you make while reading. How cool is that? For such a simple app (it's supposed to be a simple book reader, right?) Stanza is probably the most comprehensive, option-packed app I've seen.
LinkedIn: I know. You already know about LinkedIn. Yawn, right? WRONG. Get the app if you don't have it already for this simple reason: it allows you to export all your LinkedIn connections directly into your contacts, all phone numbers, email, contact information, even your contacts' profile pictures, within a few clicks. Brilliant.
MyNetDiary: If you would have told me a few years ago that some day I would be
tracking every food I eat and every fitness attempt I make, I would have
laughed. A good, wholesome belly laugh too, not one of those minor
chortles or anemic, slight snickers. (Snickers. Chocolate plus caramel.
Peanuts. Yum ... I digress). Losing weight is a numbers game; once I
understood this, losing weight became manageable. But I don't have time for
it to consume much mindshare. MyNetDiary allows me to get in and out and
on with my life. I'm new to MyNetDiary but I've used MyFitnessPal and LoseIt before. (In just over a year I dropped forty pounds, in large part - pun not intended - due to simple calculation and tracking everything). All of these apps have a comprehensive food database so that you can search for the foods you are consuming and they each automatically calculate nutritional information. So far, what I like about MyNetDiary is its simple interface and the graphs, charts and reports.
Amazon: Another self-explanatory app. I use Amazon primarily as a book buyer. When I see a used book I want, I quickly look it up in Amazon while in the store or at the book sale to see if I can buy it cheaper or to determine value. I use the wish list feature extensively. Again though, as with all of these apps: in and out and on with my life. Love it.
Twitter: I've used HootSuite, Twitterific, Twittelator, Tweetie and maybe a few others but I like the new official Twitter app. Simplicity is best. Uncluttered and unobtrusive. I prefer HootSuite for the desktop but so far, I really like the new Twitter app for the iPhone. Now that it is an official Twitter product, I also expect we'll see a host of improvements on this app in the near future, might as well get used to the interface now.
That's it. My favorite, front page, don't-clutter-my-life productivity apps. I'm always looking for great ideas to help me become more productive, leave me a comment and let me know yours!
Heidi Thorne
Chris Brogan
Steve Garfield
Patrick Allmond
Tiffany Monhollon
