One of my favorite tools as a contractor has become my iPad
and iPhone. With this combination, I pretty much have a mobile office with me
everywhere I am and can perform just about all of the business I need to, while
on the go. I thought I would share a few apps that I have found helpful and
essential to keeping me on track.
This is a handy app that allows you to take notes, draw
sketches freehand, add pictures to you document and more. Notability also has
settings to automatically sync to Dropbox. This leads us to the next app…
Dropbox is one of several great cloud storage apps. I have
used others like Box and Google Drive, but Dropbox is my favorite. Dropbox
allows me to save files, PDF’s and pictures in the cloud that I can access with
my iPad, iPhone or PC. This is definitely an essential app.
Mailbox is an email app that is largely gesture based
treating your email inbox like a to-do list. This is a great app for zipping
through your email inbox and finding the elusive inbox number-zero. Using swipes
to the left or right, you have options for remind me later today, tomorrow, in
the future or on a specific date. You can send the emails that you want to keep
in a certain place with just a simple swipe to the left, placing it in a list
that you can customize. Right now it only works with Gmail, but other providers
are on the way.
Clear is a get things done app that is very easy to use. I
love having a checklist and marking things done. This app does it beautifully.
Keeping up with weather conditions is vital in the
construction business, and Yahoo!’s weather app is really great for doing that.
I need a weather app that has radar so I can see when the rain is coming! This
app offers me plenty of other info as well.
I haven’t gone completely paperless yet, but I’m getting
closer. This app helps me do that by turning a picture into a PDF. You can
create a multiple page PDF document as well. One of the things I like most
about this app is that the automatic page edge finder works great. So when you
take a picture of a document it will automatically find the edges of the
document so you can crop it. Export options include: Dropbox, Evernote, Google
Drive, Box, email etc.
This one should be self-explanatory. In my job, I go to a
lot of properties in areas I’ve never been before. Having a good GPS to get me
there is very helpful. While I would never trust my life to GPS, Google Maps
gets me there most of the time. (I’m still old school and like looking at a map
before going on a long trip though!)
Native apps:
Among my most used apps are the native iOS apps. Calendar, Reminders
and Notes sync flawlessly with each other. While I like the look and
functionality of other to-do apps and calendars, none of them sync together as
well as the native iOS apps do. With the benefit of icloud.com, I can even use
these apps online from my PC. If I’ve learned anything from Mike Wood (I’ve
actually learned a lot) it’s to write things down. I have a fairly good
memory-at least at this point in my life-but the more you have to do, the
easier it is to forget something. That’s why Calendar, Reminders and Notes keep
me on track. I can type it in and move on to the next thing knowing that I will
get a pop up when it’s time to act.
Camera:
Well duh, I have to mention the Camera app. Having an
awesome camera with me is essential when I visit a job site. You’ve heard the
saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, I don’t have a lot of
words to say sometimes so I let the pictures do the talking. Showing my guys a
picture of work that needs to be done, is priceless and often self-explanatory,
thereby saving me words :)
This is an all-around list of the apps I use most frequently
for work. There are others, but we can save those for another time. Do you have
some essential apps that are helpful to your work? Please share them with me!
