I love my phone; its lightweight with many features and most importantly, allows me to interact and share with my daily life family, friends and followers simultaneously and seamlessly while on the go. As a tech geek and social media enthusiast, my phone is very important to me. I am so obsessed with my phone so much so that I refuse to leave the house w/o it… heck let me just get to the point: hi, my name is Glor and I am addicted to my phone (and everyone replies saying…).
Aside from phone performance, I am a huge believer in the notion that apps make the phone. I have my favorite apps; hence the blog title. I don’t know about you, but before I download an app, it must meet and exceed my requirements for all the different faucets of my very important life as mommy, blogger, budding photographer, web project / tech / social media manager, self-proclaimed social media addict, writer, shopper, Pinterest addict, interior décor aficionado.
Below are my top 12 apps of 2012 (and bonus apps because I couldn’t just pick 12).
Productivity– for all the many hats that I wear—both at home and work—I’m always working on the go, so an app that allows me to bookmark and save useful websites, blogs, or any information that I find useful is important with the added convenience of meal planning and grocery delivery on the go will get downloaded, no doubt. These by no means is a comprehensive list of all my app; you’d be shocked as to how much more I have in my repertoire.
1. Evernote –an easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. It lets me stay organize, save ideas and improve productivity. I can also take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders–and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at home, at work, or on the go.2. Color Note –Color Note is an easy-to-use notepad for notes, shopping list, to-do list, calendar. Color Note is a simple notepad app. It gives you a quick and simple notepad editing experience when you write notes, memo, email, message, shopping list and to do list. Color Note makes taking a note easier than any other notepad and memo apps.3. Peapod – online shopping, we all do it. Online grocery shopping, most of us do it. When I was pregnant, I used the Peapod app to order groceries online via Peapod and I’ve to admit, I received the freshest ingredients, meats and proteins and fruits and veggies.
Social Media — staying socially connected with followers is equally as important of posting useful blog posts like this one. That is why social online engagement is important, and I am not afraid to use it.
4. Instagram — allows you to share your photos in a simple photo stream with friends to see – and follow your friends’ photos with the click of a single button. The app also allows you to see new photos from your closest friends, and creative people from around the world.
5. Pinterest is an online tool that helps me find and organize design ideas, inspiration and share it with others. I use it to collect things I love, organize and plan important projects, and more.6. Facebook– I’m sure everyone (unless you’ve lived under the rock), pretty much has the FB app on their phone. I have had it since college and it’s really been a tremendous helpful app for me to keep in touch with my friends from Miami, college and friends from my beloved hometown in the Midwest. With Facebook, keeping up with friends is faster than ever; you can see what friends are up to, share updates, photos and videos, get notified when friends like and comment on your posts. (Become a fan of my Facebook Page).
In addition to the above, I avid Twitterer (follow @iamglor and @thesocialplugin on Twitter) and WordPress app user, including some of my other social apps like Instaframes, Hootsuite, Photo Grid (collage maker for Instagram), Evite app for planning my parties and managing guest list, and of course, LinkedIn to help me stay connected to my professional colleagues!
7. Pulse — a beautiful application that makes reading news fun and engaging. Pulse News is an app that takes your favorite websites and transforms them into a colorful and interactive mosaic. Tap on an article to see a clean and elegant view of the news story. Save stories for reading later across all platforms or sync them with Instapaper, Read it Later and Evernote. Sharing a story via Facebook, Twitter and email is as easy as two taps.
8. Google Currents — Beautiful, free, favorite publications for your phone and tablet. Google Currents delivers beautiful magazine-like editions to your tablet and smartphone for high speed and offline reading.
9. Google Play Magazines — Enjoy your favorite magazines, anywhere you go. Discover hundreds of bestselling magazines on Google Play. You can shop a wide selection of titles, from cooking to technology, travel, fashion, sports, and photography.
Financial — as a single mom, every penny counts and I’ve learned to track my spending thanks to life experiences learned and watching and reading financial management how-tos. Tracking your spending in this economy is crucial, and I recommend downloading an app from your banks, credit card company, and / or credit unions to help track your spending. Looking to fulfill that New Year’s resolution of spending less and saving more, well, you can’t get any better an financial / money tracking apps that allows you to manage your money on the go.
10. Lemon –Lemon is an easy-to-use free app that lets you scan your paper receipts and turn the images into useful information that you can tag and search so you can get organized and know where you’re spending your money. Lemon has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Mashable, Fortune, CNN/Money, CNBC, CBS, NBC and AP News.11. Bank of America – probably the best app I have ever used. I can transfer money between my savings and checking accounts, to family, perform a mobile check deposit, pay bills or schedule a bill to be paid, find a BoA ATM / Banking center locations, and pay my rent all on the go and in a matter of seconds, really! I can’t say anything bad about this app, and best of all it uses high encryption SSL to connect with your bank accounts.
12. Percentage Calculator –Ok, so look, I’m not a math junkie; words I do, but math, not so much. (I can’t believe I just wrote that on a public blog)…anyway, so you ever go shopping and they’re all these signs “70% off; 30% off; 85% off”, etc. and wonder exactly how much that is off the original price? Well, I sure have, and sometimes, I can’t think fast enough when there’s a fussy toddler on my hip. So I do the next best thing, pull up my Percentage Calculator app and in no time, I know exactly how much I’ll be paying for that not-so-needed-cashmere sweater from Bloomingdales!
Now that I’ve shared some of my favorite apps of 2012, I had to throw in some BONUS apps! Check ’em out!
Kaiser Permanente – when I found out a few months ago that KP was working on an app for members to manage their health information, I was like, very cool with a big grin on my face. I am biased but I strongly believe KP is one exceptional healthcare provider, and this app solidified that notion for me. I can schedule doctor appointments for me and/or Arianna on the go, send/receive emails from our doctors, check lab / test results, refill prescriptions, etc.Lose it! – I’ve said it before: losing weight post-pregnancy is not an easy feat, trust me, I know. For some it’s super easy, but for folks like moi, well…that’s why I downloaded the Lose it! app; it provides a seamless, supportive weight loss program online and via an app that is discrete and easy to follow. Lose it! has been featured on the Today Show, CNN, Forbes.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.SameColors – a colorful game app (similar to tetris) that I play with my little one, don’t worry it’s rated E for everyone. I love that it helps to teach her color coordination, colors, and it’s super fun and keeps her entertained just enough for me to apply eyeliner or mascara!ShopSavvy Barcode—simply put, this app allows you to shop smarter. Find the right product at the very best online and local prices. It has a fast and accurate scanner, just aim the camera at any product’s barcode, wait for the beep and ShopSavvy will provide you with a list of online and local prices.
So there you have it, all my favorite apps on the android platform that I used regularly this year. I have so many other apps on my phone for security, tracking spending, finding the best restaurants, photo editors, baby monitors, books, how to tie a tie, IKEA, NASA, Redbox, HULU, Skype, etc. that literally makes my life so much more easier as a mommy. My hat goes off to the geniuses behind these apps. I’m looking forward to new apps in 2013 to make my tech life even more enjoyable.
What’s your favorite app(s), or what app(s) do you think I must download ASAP? Please share, share!
the social plug-in 