Mobile apps that can aid productivity (2)

Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr.

Two weeks ago, I started a piece focusing on mobile apps that can aid your productivity. I already wrote on five out of the 10 apps I use daily in the course of carrying out my tasks.

The apps I wrote about last week were Lastpass, Hootsuite, Asana, Camcard and BufferApp. I hope you have tried some or all of them to see how useful they are to your productivity. Below are the remaining five apps that I use on daily basis and why I use them.

Evernote: I can't fully describe how much value Evernote has brought my way. Is it the fact that I have gone 80 per cent paperless in my daily operations or the joy that all my content is in one compact window easily accessible anywhere and anytime?

I simply refer to Evernote as the e-filing cabinet that helps you achieve an easy way of filing and retrieving all your documents and pictures in the cloud. It can be used to virtually carry out anything, ranging from note taking, to book writing, to running a paperless system, to physical bills collection, among others. To use it for physical bills collection, however, I use the services of a gadget called scanner.

One of the most interesting things about Evernote is that I am able to use it seamlessly on all my devices as it syncs automatically, saving my data on Evernote's secured server. The mobile version is cool and handy. I have since stopped typing anything on my PC's notepad since I switched to Evernote because it keeps my content safely in the cloud.

Furthermore, it allows me to attach files, share them and send emails all from the platform and lots more. It is free to use and you'll still get value but I have since upgraded to the premium version simply because of the benefits.

Skitch: Skitch by Evernote allows me to get my points across to clients or members of my team through taking on-screen snapshots of images, using annotations and sketches to emphasise areas that I want reviewed or draw attention to. They in turn use it the same way to explain things to me or among themselves.

It is an easy to use image editing tool for both mobile and desktop. It carries a distinct potential of helping to improve your productivity as it has for my team and I. It is available for users of Macs, iPad, iPhones and Windows. The software has succeeded in creating a revolution in my everyday image editing utilities by delivering an easy and fast tool which has the capacity to literally provide every feature in image editing that I will ever need to use.

To get the best out of skitch, I recommend you integrate it with your Evernote account by simply signing in with your username and password.

Dropbox: This is simply one of my all-time favourite programmes for cloud services and file sharing. With Dropbox, my files are now fully backed-up, synced between different computers and devices and some of them fully shared with members of my team.

What Dropbox does is that, everything uploaded by me is securely encrypted from the start to the very end by Dropbox, and next downloaded over an HTTPS connection. It is also synced automatically across all my devices; hence, I am able to access those files both on my laptop and mobile devices.

I share the sentiments of those who don't agree that services like Dropbox are safe. So I'd simply add these words of advice, "if you think anything is unsafe for the outside world then you properly should not use Dropbox." I use it because I am sure that if for reasons beyond my control those files get out there, I won't lose sleep as such. You should understand that every moment spent on the Internet has some inherent risks.

WeChat: I know there are so many mobile chat services out there but I have found WeChat to be user friendly. So I use it a whole deal. It is an interesting app that has taken a different route to how users interact with the app.

In addition to instant messaging (chat) which standard chat apps all have; users of WeChat can make voice and video calls to contacts that are also on WeChat. There is also a walkie talkie feature, which allows a group of people to speak with each other. These all work over the internet. So regardless of their location, everyone within the group can speak to each other.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about WeChat is its official accounts; a platform that allows content providers, service providers, businesses and brands as a whole to create mobile apps which can be accessed by other users. With this, there is really no need to download individual apps for your favourite brands especially if your phone does not have a lot of storage.

WordPress: As a professional blogger, my work involves writing pieces and posting them on various platforms. The facilities provided by WordPress helps me do these quite easily on a daily basis.

WordPress is an open source project which I customise and adapt to suit my own taste and requirements. With its perceptive interface, WordPress is extremely easy to use. It enables me to add images, blog posts, new pages, among others as a regular routine on my blog and websites from any computer that is internet-enabled as it is a browser-based platform.

The code supporting WordPress is extremely simple and clean, which makes the task of search engines in reading and indexing the content of a site or blog easier. WordPress sites can, therefore, be said to be loved by search engines.

I will be happy to have your reactions, especially as regards their impact on your productivity, after trying any of these apps. Remember, mobile is huge and will stay so for a long time to come.

Concluded

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Source: Mobile apps that can aid productivity (2)