My Five Favorite Free Apps
It’s no secret that smart phones have transformed our society, changing the way we communicate (texting is king!), the words we use (there’s an app for that!) and how we structure our days (ever planned ahead to stage a selfie during a certain event?). Love them or hate them, criticize them or see all the opportunities, smart phones are taking us into a new era of connectedness.
I came a little late to the smart phone craze but it didn’t take me long to “discover” apps once I did. Most of them were junk that I ended up never using and deleting, but I have a few that I use time and time again. I have an Android device, so my links below are for the Android apps, but most if not all are also available for Apple products. Here are my five favorite FREE apps that enhance my life without distracting me from the important things on my to-do list:
1. Evernote. As a writer, I’m always thinking of things I need to scribble down. Ideas, metaphors, facts, thoughts, etc.; they all need to be written down so I don’t forget them. Evernote is a great way to keep track of and organize your electronic notes, but it also saves attachments, does reminders, takes and saves pictures, and even has a chat function (which I have not used). You can create notes with text or handwriting. When you install the (also free) Evernote program on your desktop computer you can sync the app so that you have access to everything you took note of while you were out and about. I’ve dictated speeches while on a walk using voice-to-text within Evernote, then did a sync to my PC and edited the content later. This is my favorite app!
2. List Master. Ever gone to the grocery store, parked your car and realized you left your list at home? I used to do that all the time! Now I store my lists (sorted by store!) in my List Master app. I also make lists of things I need to do for a particular project or event, and everything is stored all together. Since I almost never forget my phone, I don’t have to remember to bring anything else (like a grocery list!).
3. Fast Scanner. With this app you can take pictures of letters, documents, invoices, statements, etc. with high detail quality, then ship them off to wherever they need to go via email, text, post to Facebook, Quick Connect, One Drive, Skype, PayPal and even add it to Evernote, and more! You can save multiple pages into a single file and save it as a .pdf. You can save the image as black and white, greyscale or full color. I love this app for controlling my paper clutter. I can snap a pic of a document I need to save, email it to myself and shred the original in mere moments. Love it!
4. Pic Collage. This is a fun, easy photo editing app. You can create collages of pictures for any purpose (I recently made one of all the different hats my son likes to wear), you can add text and “stickers” to make fun designs, add frames and more. The basic app and stickers are free, but I did spend a whole $1.99 on the birthday sticker add-on so I could create fun images for friends and family for their birthdays. For my grandmother’s recent 100th birthday I took a picture of me and my son, added a birthday border and some stickers and text, emailed the image to myself and printed it out to mail to her. Such a great little app!
Here’s a fun one I did for my nephew’s birthday!
5. Galaxy Tarot. Don’t freak out. Yes, this is a “fortune telling” app. I do not use it for mystical divination, however. There is a “card of the day” function and each morning a random card is selected. It provides you with the image and meaning of the card when you tap on it. I do not believe that this randomly selected card is telling the future of my day. What it does is get me thinking about certain aspects of my life with its prompts. Today’s card, for example, is the Page of Cups. The message associated with it is to set good emotional boundaries and take time for personal restoration. It made me stop and ask myself if there is anything I’ve become overly emotional about or attached to in a way that isn’t healthy for me. It’s a quick and easy way to assess various aspects of my life each day for free!
There are a lot of things these apps do that I have not mentioned. It’s amazing to me how many functions can be added to these little programs. Hopefully you will find one of these helpful and it will make your day a little easier, a little happier, and a lot First Class!
Do you have a free app that you love? Share below!
