Peace of Mind Organizing

Five apps that have lasted five years (or more)

5 June 2017

I have way too many apps on my phone. I’d say I never use at least 80 percent of them. (Obviously, I need to do a big app decluttering one of these days.) But there are some apps on my phone I feel I couldn’t live without. This morning I was thinking about the five phone that I’ve been using on daily (or almost daily) for at least five years. That’s a long time in the life of an app. Hats off to the developers who created such robust apps that have managed to stay really useful without significant changes. (They’ve all been updated, of course.)

Today I’m talking only about third-party apps, not the ones that came with the phone that I also use every day (like camera, timer, weather, activity and calculator). And I’m also not counting social media apps, which are a category of their own.

My go-to iPhone apps, in no particular order:

Milebug I’ve been using this mileage tracker since 2010. I log every business-related trip (which is most of my trips) and simply email myself a spreadsheet at tax time. The habit of taking note of my mileage is deeply engrained and Milebug makes it easy.

Kindle I read a novel every week and I like having my book with me. I prefer to read on my actual Kindle Paperwhite (I like the backlighting), but thanks to the Kindle app, I can read wherever I am, without having to take my Kindle along. If I stop to have lunch by myself, I can read my book on my phone. If I find myself in a waiting room, I can read my book. It synchs with my Paperwhite. It’s indispensable.

Evernote I use Evernote every single day. It’s the backbone of my organizational system and it does a good job of serving as my memory. I prefer to use it on my computer, but when I’m out and about I use the phone app. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without it.

Sleep Cycle I learned about Sleep Cycle at the 2012 NAPO conference (I blogged about it here) and it’s definitely my app of choice for my alarm clock. I use it every night, though I no longer keep it on the bed with me. I love its gentle wakeup and the fact that I can keep track of how many hours I slept each night.

Square I was an early adopter of Square, the mobile credit card processing system. I so appreciate that it makes it easy for me to accept credit cards (without a monthly fee). A growing proportion of my clients prefer to pay by credit card, so this easy-to-use app gets lots of use.

I’m sure there are other apps I could add to this list (IMDB comes to mind), but I’ll stop there. I started my business 12 years ago and when I think about the technology changes that have occurred in that time that have helped me run my business, I am so grateful!

Tagged with: apple, apps, iphone, productivity

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