Lose weight, track your sleep, organize your appointments, and manage your life . . . there’s an app for everything. But with so many on the market, how do you know which ones to choose and which ones to lose? We asked our bloggers to spill it on which apps make their lives easier. Your smartphone is about to get a bit smarter.
Favourite App #1: Instagram
It reminds me of Flickr back in the day. I love photos and I love the community.
Favourite App #2: Camera+
I take all of my photos with Camera+, to take decent shots straight out of the camera.
Favourite App #3: Snapseed
Best Tip Or Trick:
In Camera+, if you use a second finger while focusing, an Exposure button comes up. Love it.
Favourite App #1: Instagram
A picture says a thousand words, and I love getting these visual stories all day long. I'm a little addicted.
Favourite App #2: The Weather Network
Break out of your comfort zone with Instagram and experiment with different angles, lighting, and filters. You'll be amazed at the shots you can get with your phone.
Favourite App #1: Twitter
Next to my message app, Twitter is easily my most used of the many apps on my phone! There's really nothing NOT to love. It's Twitter and it goes everywhere.
Favourite App #2: Pinterest
Ah, the app that keeps giving (and taking, since it's a huge time-suck)! I love Pinterest and almost use the app exclusively for my pin-addiction. It's easy to use and, like twitter, I can take it everywhere!
Favourite App #3: MyFitnessPal
Favourite App #1: Twitter
Because I tweet. A lot.
Favourite App #2: Google Drive
Lame to have a productivity app in your top three, I realize, but I've surrendered by soul to the Great Googlegods, and I've come to rely heavily on Drive. My wife and I use it for grocery lists and household to-dos, I use it for work—it's just handy.
Favourite App #3: Email
Even lamer than Google Drive? YOUBETCHA! Look, I know experts keep proclaiming that email is dead, but the ability to have access to my four different email accounts on the go is sort of critical for me. I can read through and triage work emails on my way into the office and I am free to wander to a coffee shop or out for lunch during my work day knowing I'm not out of touch.
Best Tip Or Trick:
I'm not particularly tricky, generally speaking, and since I switched from iPhone to Android a couple of weeks ago, I lost my trickiest app (though they promise an Android version soon). But if you DO use iPhone, check out IfThisThenThat (ifft). It connects to a whole whack of different services, including some on your phone, and automates things.
Favourite App #1: Camera+
It's an upgraded camera app that lets the user adjust light levels and focus before taking a photo. The app also has a ton of great photo editing features. Camera+ is by far my most used app.
Favourite App #2: Instagram
I'm kind of addicted, truthfully. I love that I can follow photographers and writers from around and be inspired by what they're doing.
Favourite App #3: Longos
I basically live at my local grocery store, and this app lets me keep track of what I want to buy and even how much I'm spending. It also keeps track of my favourite purchases, so there's no hiding the croissant I'm buying.
Best Tip Or Trick:
When using Camera+, tap on different parts of the screen until you're happy with the lighting before taking your picture. If a darker photo is the best option, tap a portion of the screen with a lighter background and that will make your photo darker. For a lighter photo, tap a darker portion of the screen before snapping.
Favourite App #1: Playbooks
I spend a lot of time in arenas and while I'm there I love to chat with the other moms who are also up in the stands, but on those occasions when nobody is around, I can get some reading done.
Favourite App #2: Clock
I use it to time my intervals in my spinning workouts. My phone fits nicely into the handlebars of my bike and I don't need to keep lifting my hand to check a watch.
Favourite App #3: Hootsuite
Because I'm YMCBuzz and it allows me to do my work on the go.
Best Tip Or Trick:
I have no tips or tricks—I'm slightly Amish when it comes to my phone. I actually had to google how to take a screenshot on my phone in order to submit my picture.
I am more than slightly addicted to Instagram. I love sharing my photos and I love, uh, stalking other people's photos. But I cannot stand having to make all of my photos square to upload to Instagram. This app saves the day—you can keep your photos their original size!
Favourite App #2: Afterlight
Since my iphone is not the greatest camera I own, sometimes my photos come out just a bit too dark for my liking. I love to use Afterlight because it's super, super simple to lighten up my images.
Favourite App #3: iBooks
As a huge reader, I abolutely love having my bookshelf and my bookstore at my fingertips. It means I can read books from anywhere, especially while I'm waiting for my children to be done skating, dancing, baseballing. Be careful, it's dangerously addictive!
Best Tip Or Trick:
This is my favorite Instagram tip of all time, and I learned it from Rebecca Woolf of Girl's Gone Child. If you want to double filter your photos, just set your phone on "airplane mode"—your images will be saved, but won't upload to Instagram. You can then upload the filtered photo and add another filter on top.
Favourite App #1: Twitter
I love interacting with my favourite people, and it's also a great news source!
Favourite App #2: Facebook
I like keeping in touch with friends and family, and Facebook is the best place for that!
Favourite App #3: Pinterest
It's so pretty! I love the beautiful photos of food, fashion, and decor.
Best Tip Or Trick:
Favourite App #1: Camera+
This is the best camera app I've found for the iPhone. You can quickly select separate focus and exposure points to get a spectacular picture, even in low light.
Favourite App #2: Perfectly Clear
This is my quick-edit app. I can open a photo and this app does a great job of making it a bit brighter and clearer. Perfect for when I want to post a picture of my kids to Facebook or email it to family.
Favourite App #3: Instagram
The amount of talent on Instagram is impressive. I love seeing photos from all corners of the world, whether they be of monuments or someone's kitchen table. Looking at photos on Instagram inspires me to take more pictures.
Best Tip Or Trick:
In Camera+, I change one of the settings so that the photos are saved directly to your camera roll. That removes a step for me of trying to deal with photos in two different places, and makes backing them up easier!
Favourite App #1: Instagram
Love sharing my pics, applying filters, seeing what every one else is up to, commenting on their photos.
Best Tip Or Trick:
Sometimes I want to apply a filter to a photo (such as a family one), but I don't want to share it on Instagram. I turn my phone settings to airplane mode, apply the filter, and press share. It saves a copy of the photo on my phone, but because the internet connection is off, it's not shared publicly. I know there are other apps that can apply filters to photos, but I prefer the ones on Instagram.
Favourite App #1: Calm
Calm.com is a meditation training app for the woman on the go! The app features guided meditations, gorgeous images, and uber-relaxing music. It lets me squeeze in some "me time," while I'm doing laundry or writing for YMC.
Favourite App #2: Turbcast
For "fraidy-flyers" like myself, having more information can often help settle my travel nerves. Turbcast takes your flight information and cross-references this with weather aviation reports to give you a turbulence forecast for your upcoming airplane trip. Brilliant!
Favourite App #3: Artkive
Artkive allows you to take pictures of your children's artwork and store it in an online album. No more piles of drawings and crusty Play-Doh sculptures cluttering your life. In this cool, cloud-based, format you can also easily share these little works of art with family and friends by tagging them.
Best Tip Or Trick:
Artkive also gives you a cool option of printing a hardcover book of your child's artwork. They lay out the format for you, including labelling the date that each masterpiece was created. Each book can be between twenty and one-hundred-and-forty pages long. Sounds like a clever Grandparent's Day present to me!
Favourite App #1: Flashlight
Because, hey, my phone turns into a flashlight! How cool is that?! It has also helped me out on several dark and stormy nights!
Favourite App #2: Dutch Lesson
Since my husband doesn't often think to speak his mother tongue around my little girl, this little app has been a fun way to get her to learn some dutch words and dazzle her Oma and Opa.
Favourite App #3: Reminders
This has been an excellent replacement for errant to-do lists floating around in my purse.
Best Tip Or Trick:
Dutch lesson carries less guilt than, say, a non-educational app when using your phone to occupy an unhappy or bored child in a pinch.
Favourite App #1: Songza
This is a free streaming music app. You can use the concierge, which suggests time-appropriate music, or can choose streams by mood, genre, activity, or decade. My daughter and I particularly like the sing-alongs (R&B Divas, Disney movies, etc.). They also keep the music current and have a huge range—everything from "music to strip to" to Baroque classics. Songza keeps us dancing all the time!
Favourite App #2: Audible
I started listening to audio books back when I was a subway rider, and the habit never left me. I listen in the car, doing housework, and the rare times I grocery shop without a child attached to me. Audible works on mobile devices and computers, so I also use it in my classroom often. It's a great way to help kids with learning disabilities access books at their interest level rather than their reading level.
Favourite App #3: Any Fisher Price App
When I need my squirmy toddler to lie still for a diaper change or I need her to be patient while we await food in a restaurant, I pull out a Fisher Price app. At 13 months, she already knows which buttons to press and laughs along with the dancing animals. I try not to overuse them, but these apps have gotten us out of more than a few jams.
Best Tip Or Trick:
Don't restrict yourself to the home screen suggestions in Songza. There are a ton of lists available through search or the other categories. And it'll run in the background, so you can have your soundtrack going while you do other things on your phone.
Favourite App #1: Hootsuite
I use Hootsuite every day as part of my job being YMC's social media manager. It's an excellent app for anyone who is juggling multiple social media profiles.
Favourite App #2: Songza
Music is a big part of my day (the louder the music, the faster the work goes), so I use Songza to find new music to play daily. You don't need to download anything and best of all, it's free!
Favourite App #3: Instagram
I have 16 photo apps on my phone. Yes, I am a photo-app hoarder. However, Instagram is one of my favourite photography apps. It's great for connecting with other users, and is easily integrated into my Facebook and Twitter profiles. Plus, it makes my photos look effortlessly fabulous.
Best Tip Or Trick:
With Instagram, take the photo with your regular camera app first so you can take advantage of its HDR and editing features, then upload to Instagram and experiment with different filters for a different effect.
Favourite App #1: Timepassages Pro
It's an online ephemeris to quickly calculate astrological natal and transit charts without carrying two heavy ephemerides around in your purse.
Timepassages Pro is great because it comes with well written interpretations. There is descriptive text for natal planets by sign, house, and aspect, as well as transits and progressions and moon phases. Timepassages Pro even includes charts for compatibility between two charts. The app’s Daily Horoscope feature displays the general transits of the day along with useful interpretative text.
Favourite App #2: CIBC
I love being able to keep track of my accounts from my phone!
Favourite App #3: Next Bus
It's a great app to find out when a streetcar is arriving.
Favourite App #1: Zite
I love this app because it curates news stories based on the preferences I set. As time goes on and I "like" particular articles, it gets a better sense of the types of stories I like. So now, each time I open it up, the list that is presented is pretty accurate when it comes to what I want to read.
Favourite App #2: Evernote
I am a pen-and-paper kind of girl, but when I am on the go and I think of something I need to remember, Evernote is what I use to record it.
Favourite App #3: Netflix
My netflix app ensures there is always something new and really good to watch.
Best Tip Or Trick:
When using Zite, be sure to "like" the articles you find enjoyable, so the app gets to know your preferences. In no time, the list presented when launched will be filled entirely with things that are relevant to you.
Favourite App #1: Goodreads
I love goodreads in general, and I’m on there pretty much every day. Having it on my phone makes it super easy to stay connected with all my bookish friends, and it’s absolutely essential when I go to the library or a bookstore. I have my To-Be-Read lists on there, and I can look up a book, check out the reviews, and add it to my TBR instantly.
Favourite App #2: Runkeeper
This is like a running coach in my phone. It keeps track of my route (via GPS), tells me my rate, distance, when I last went for a run . . . even nags me if it’s been a while since my last workout. You can also find training schedules and workouts and playlists.
Favourite App #3: Kobo
Finding time to read, as a mom, is a huge challenge. Being willing to read anywhere, and everywhere is one of the ways I fit it in. I hate to be caught anywhere without a book on me! My purse usually contains a book or my kobo, but I always have my phone, and the kobo app has my whole digital library on it. It automatically syncs with my kobo ereader, so it brings me to the exact spot I was last reading.
Best Tip Or Trick:
On kobo there are so many extras—you can get your reading stats and make little notes and bookmarks to yourself, and they automatically monitor your reading activities and give you fun awards, like if you stay up late reading or play hooky to read . . . not that I’d know anything about that.
Favourite App #1: Instagram
I love scrolling through all the pictures quickly.
Favourite App #2: Facebook
It quickly updates me on what's happening.
Favourite App #3: LinkedIn
I like connecting with other people who have the same interests as I do, see what kind of jobs they have.
Best Tip Or Trick:
Favourite App #1: InstantMeeting
Favourite App #2: Minecraft
This is the saving grace when I am out and about with children that are driving me crazy. I use it for bribing purposes (ie. if you stay completely silent for the next 10 minutes, I will let you play Minecraft . . . if you are on BEST behaviour in the grocery store and there is NO whining, I will let you play Minecraft . . . )
Favourite App #3: Kingsoft Office
InstantMeeting lets you customize so much stuff, I didn't know about until I started digging. You can customize dial sequences, moderator information, always pick the most local callin# to your location, etc.—there is a lot of hidden beauty in this app!
Favourite App #1: TweetBot
Twitter's where I live, so I love that Tweetbot is such an easy app for using Twitter.
I love that I can mute hashtags or users (like during ALL CAPS TWITTER PARTIES!) for any length of time, and that TweetBot is so easy to use.
Favourite App #2: Shazam
I'm always listening to songs on the radio and wishing I knew who was singing them, and Shazam totally solves that! With one click you can find out the song title, artist, and even click through to iTunes to purchase it!
Favourite App #3: Instagram
Best Tip Or Trick:
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