Hi, I'm Tilly and I'm an app-oholic.
I currently have 188 apps on my iPhone and I would like to tell you which ones are best to use for a busy lifestyle and your enjoyment. I'm going to use a whole app concept and with that I'll weigh price, ease of use, and overall function into my recommendation. I will also touch on app organization and what works best for me.
I suggest getting a Google Gmail e-mail account to help sync and manage your todo's, calendar events, etc. Personally, I have a Gmail and MobileMe. It's a little more seamless having a MobileMe too. But $100 a year is too steep for some.
APP RECOMMENDATIONS:
Calendar:
QuickCal
- Uses natural language to quickly add appointments to calendar, i.e. Conf Call Tom @ Foo Conf Rm 221-555-1234 from 1-5p
ToDo Manager:
2Do App
- Syncs todos with ToodleDo, MobileMe (via CalDav), and Google
- Very user friendly and ToDos can be as detailed or simple as you like
- By far most dependable and well programmed app in the Apple App Store
Financial Management:
Pageonce
- Imagine real-time statuses of all accounts in a single snapshot. Includes checking, home mortgage, 401K/retirement, mutual fund, airline miles, netflix, cell phone usage, etc...the list keeps going and going
- Bill minder automatically pings institutions for due dates and amounts
- One-time fee of $12.99 is well worth it
Games:
Plants vs. Zombies
- Several levels and cute zombies hopping around in floaties
File Management:
Dropbox
- Extremely simple setup and concept
- Username and password will grant you access to files you can access anywhere (desktop, phone, online)
- Use installation on desktop computers to keep hard copies on PCs/Macs and updates to soft copies are simultaneously updated to keep up-to-date changes on all copies on all desktops/laptops you own
- Access the same documents on every computer you own and then access the identical documents online via dropbox.com website and app on your iPhone
- Great for ever changing documents, such as: resumes, telephone lists, inventories, business contacts, webpage favorites, etc.
Weight Management:
MyFitnessPal
- Help your friends stay on track for fitness, weight loss, weight gain (that's only for those skinny men out there), or just living a healthy lifestyle, and they'll help you stay on track, too!
- Uses a social networking format
- Largest database to-date of foods with nutrition information
Goal Management:
Streaks
- You never realize how much you don't work toward a goal until you track it
- Streaks is awesome because you police yourself by simply recording each day you work toward your goal
- Keep track of as many goals (or habits) you want to work toward and each day you work on it just click the day
- Easy, simple, effective
Notes Management:
AwesomeNote
- Take the notes app on the iPhone and then pump it with steroids...organize it with folders, fonts, and alerts to name a few..what do you have now? Awesome Note
- I've used mine for song lyrics, wedding organization, immunization schedule for baby, anything I can copy and paste from the internet for future use
- While apartment hunting I made a folder and recorded each address I visited and rated what I liked about each one. I did the same with job hunting but used the web addresses, phone numbers, and announcement numbers. I took notes about what I talked about with each employer and referred to it later when interviewed
- When I returned to flight attending, I kept my public announcements handy and was able to alternate between my two funny ones and my by-the-book announcement effortlessly. It's easy to forget those :)
Lists Management:
Paperless
- I'm a list maker and for those of you who aren't you may think this app is pointless
- Keep inventories, packing lists for vacation, school lunch contents for each kid, lists of old addresses, lists of references you use, lists of old jobs and their addresses, groceries you buy all the time, movies you want to see at the theater, Christmas card list, house projects, bucket list, baby names, RX refill numbers...
- These are all things you want to make a list of but don't warrant a permanent ToDo on your calendar, and can't be made into a note because you'd like to check them off if you choose and they are usually their own topic
Password Management:
Keeper
- With 188 apps and eleven e-mail addresses (five belong to the government), I simply can't remember everything
- Folders hold entries for username, website, password, and notes area for challenge questions, etc.
There are other apps that I use frequently, but they are specific to my lifestyle. If you have an area of your lifestyle that you are considering an app for, for example: Entertainment. Let me know and I'll help you out.
APP ORGANIZATION:
I have a lot of apps, so I use one row for my main app and then the next row for its corresponding folder. It helps because I can use the icon on the top row for recognition of what's in the row beneath it. I hope this makes sense. I can explain further if not, just ask. It was tricky setting this up, so I'd suggest doing it on iTunes before a sync, not on the iPhone. The compartmentalization in my head uses rooms and bags, so that's why you see a lot of those types of naming conventions for my folders. I will have had an iPhone for four years this August and this is what I've ended up with.
