Though there is much debate about whether having your nose buried deep in your iPhone is conducive to productivity, technology is aiding the more switched on, time-poor (and email addicted) worker. And if you’re using your phone for good (and not procrastination), you probably already know that the App Store is a goldmine of time-saving tools.
Finding the best apps however, can also be a full-time job. So we’ve done the work for you and found ten of the best phone applications that are designed to help you make the most of your busy day.
- Sparrow: Sparrow has been lauded as one of the best mail unifiers. Get all your inboxes synced in one place, with an easy-to-use interface that works in similar design to Gmail.
- Cue: Know What’s Next: It’s one thing getting your schedule in order, it’s quite another managing all the locations and contacts of your business meets. Cue will memorise all your meetings and locations by syncing your calendars, contacts, social networks and professional contacts into a single database, and then provide the information in one cohesive package. Next challenge? Finding a taxi.
- Dragon Dictation: Transcribing is no-one’s favourite job but sometimes, it’s gotta be done. For those times when the intern’s not around, there’s the app that’ll do it for you. Dragon Dictation is a voice recognition application that allows you to see all your conversations in text. Although the downside is that voice recognition systems are still a little dusty, so accuracy is not always guaranteed.
- Audio Memos – The Voice Recorder: Audio Memos is a helpful app that records business meetings, lectures, and allows you to easily transfer these recordings to your computer.
- Trip Deck: Hotel reservations, plane tickets, business meetings – so much paper, so little time. Enter Trip Deck – a (free) itinerary planner that’s a killer app when travel is a major part of your work life. It will help you to manage your hotel reservations, rental cars, flights, and meeting locations from one place.
- Business Card Reader: So many business cards littering your desk space you can’t find your iPhone? Clear away the clutter and then download the Business Card Reader, a handy little app that instantly recognizes business cards, and converts them into contacts on your phone. No excuse not to follow up from the networking event now.
- Harvest: Harvest tracks how much time you and your team are spending on various activities. The app lets users start and stop timers throughout the day and the time tracking devices will help manage your personal time and approve staff timesheets.
- Simplenote : Like a post-it that never falls off your computer screen, Simplenote lets you create, edit and manage all your notes, to-do lists and reminders in one simple, easy to use interface. Simplenote also allows tagging and has a share with friends feature.
- Free-time: So busy you can’t find time to take a breathe? Of course there’s an app for that. Meet Free-time, it’ll sync all your different calendar appointments and find you an allotted free period so you can have a little “me” time to take a deep breath…
- Dropbox: A handy way to send large files in a flash. Dropbox synchronises all the folders you choose and makes them available from any device or from their website when you need to access files from elsewhere.
And then of course, there are always those apps that aren’t conducive to a working day, but you probably need them on your phone anyway.
- Instagram: Pictures of food, sunsets and puppies oh my. Taking voyeurism to the next level, this insta-photo app is the best built-in photoshop you could ever need. And it’s fun!
- Yelp: Though the Australian-based community is not quite as prominent as its US counterpart, it’s only a matter of time until Yelp-ing before making a reservations is reflex. The antidote to bad service, find a service/restaurant/shop nearby (the app will tell you if it’s open or closed), and read the reviews before booking.
- Flipboard: A personalised magazine that collates all your must-read publications and social networks and let’s you save any must-reads for later. Recently recommended to me by a colleague, it’s become the number one most-used application on my iPhone, in the interest of research for this article of course.
Don’t forget to check out Meredith the Mentor’s 10 tips for productivity, with some tips for apps that’ll help boost your productivity.
Do you have a life saving app that’s been imperative to your working day? And one that’s not so helpful with the workload, but a must have anyway? Let us know below.