You might have noticed that I finally threw in the towel last week and simply did a placeholder post. Why? The main reason was I knew I had to get a new phone. The old one was actually telling me a little over a week ago that Android had stopped working. Repeatedly. Since that’s the operating system I knew it was close to being dead. I do most of my thinking work on the phone and finalize posts on the computer. So, not having a working phone was distracting to say the least.
And an almost dead phone was simply the final straw of several that came up last week. I ultimately decided to get a new phone first. Then get back to work on the site once that was straightened out.
Of course getting a new phone nowadays isn’t as simple as just turning it on and going. It’s almost as bad as physically moving. Not quite but, seriously, I honestly think it’s more complicated than getting a new desktop computer now. Smart phones have become our Personal Digital Assistants in ways that desktop computers never could.
So, now my phone is my bestest friend again. But it got me to thinking and I thought I’d share some of my favorite must have immediately apps. These are the apps that I’ve learned to “unpack” first. Once they are on my phone I know everything I need the most is installed and functional, first and foremost. Then I move onto the fun stuff.
Where possible I’ve tried to use app website links instead of Google Play.
security for the phone’s health
- Malwarebytes – The guy who fixes our computers put me onto this one a decade or so ago. I’ve used it on every device since. Nuff said.
- Norton Clean – For some reason, the cleaning app I use tends to be different with every phone. This time I settled on Norton Clean because I look for something simple that will clean off junk.
stuff for my health
- Medisafe – The thing I love about Medisafe is the visual interface. It makes it so easy to see at a glance what medication I’ve taken. Or not taken as the case may be.
- Water Drink Reminder – Another one that I like because it’s simple. Oh, and also has a great visual interface.
- Fit – I’ve looked at others, but again simplicity. It does what I need. And I’m actually getting a lot better on my Steps & Heart Points lately.
clocks/timers
- Multi Timer – I could not live without a timer of some kind. There’s nothing like having more than one. It’s a stopwatch, too. This one has stayed with me for, what, four phones now?
- Alarm Clock Beyond – I used to use the default alarm clock on every phone. Until I got tired of not being able sort the alarms. The main reason I love this one is that it allows for sorting the alarms by the next up. Wow, so simple a concept but so hard to find!
tasks managers
- Toodledo – It’s not a simple task manager by any means. I’ve tried simple, though, and they just don’t work for me in terms of pure organizing power. Toodledo is very powerful. But it takes effort to make that power work for you so it’s not for the faint of heart, either.
- GTasks – I primarily use GTasks for things that need to be done at a specific time of day. Bonus, it integrates directly with Google Calendar too.
calendar
- Google Calendar – Over the years I’ve looked at other calendars. Frankly none of them work as well and as simply as the default Google Calendar.
- Keep – This is also an app that integrates directly with Google Calendar. I use it mainly for lists of things that need to be addressed at specific times. You know like questions to remember for appointments or meetings or whatever.
communication
- BlueMail – I like my email in this one because it allows for a zero inbox. Or at least the illusion of one.
- Feedly – This another one I’ve used for years. It’s for following website feeds but if I could I’d use it for all social media as well.
notetaking
- Evernote – Second only to Toodledo in running my life, Evernote is where I do most of my research and writing. As well as serving as my memory half the time.
- ColorNote – Because sometimes it’s not about saving and organizing so much as scribbling on a post-it type note. Oh, and now ColorNote syncs to the cloud so those random ideas don’t get lost anymore Just in case.
finally, storage
- Drive – It’s so much easier to move into a new device when almost everything is already on cloud storage. I’ve looked at others but I end up back at Google Drive.
- Pocket – I started using Pocket on the computer well before I even had a cell phone of any kind. Much less a smart one. It was originally called Read It Later. I’m still using it. Two decades later? Nowadays, I mainly use it to save links I don’t want to forget but don’t want to “work” on. The big benefit is that you can save an unlimited number of links in Pocket.
Well, those are my favorite “running my life” apps. Maybe one day I’ll do a list of my “fun stuff” apps.