Category: Tech

Inspired by CGP Grey’s post a few years back, I thought I could do my own version of this, not that anyone cares about what apps I use. But it’s my blog, so what can you do.

I’ve always felt that our phones were being under-utilised, we basically have supercomputers hanging in our pockets but we only ever use them for Facebook, twitter, IG, WhatsApp and so on. And I understand that you can do whatever you like with your phone, it’s yours. However, with that said, I find it a bit of a waste if you’ve spent RM2000 on your phone and all that you do is use it exclusively as a social media device, but that’s just me.

So towards the end of this year I tried to make my phone do more than what it was doing, specifically I wanted my phone to help me get productive, and so I read up dozens upon dozens of articles, blog posts, reviews on the best productivity apps and apps in general, and I’ve tried hundreds, literally hundreds of different apps, some were great, some were okay, others were borderline unusable. So listed below are some of the apps that I now use on a daily basis, it helps me get through the day, and helps me do things I’ve never imagined doing on a phone.

Pocket Expense

We’ll kickstart with the app I use to track my expenses. I’ve tried many expense/finance apps in the past, and decided to settle with this one. It’s very complete in terms of functions, at the same time it isn’t cluttered with information like other apps are. But to be honest, I’m still not completely satisfied with this one when it comes to the UI, there are a bunch of things I don’t like about the design, but other better designed apps simply lack the functionality and the options I want.

                                            Menu tab of pocket expense

MyFitnessPal

Due to a variety of different reasons, I started working out in the second quarter of 2015. Those who know me know that Im obsessed with the technicality of things, so it should come as no surprise that I track my calories. I try to track everything I can using MyFitnessPal. This app is the go-to app for anyone with fitness related goals, so most people should be familiar with it. Though the app functions as a calorie and workout tracker¹, I only use it to track my calories right now. It boasts a database of over 2 million foods, and I don’t there there’s a calorie tracker out there that’s more complete than MyFitnessPal(MFP). It was acquired by Under Amour last year, and since then they introduced a new “premium subscription” feature which adds functionality² to the app at the price of RM209.9($49.90) per year. Which brings me to the only problem I have with this app, while I generally don’t mind paying for an app or service if I feel that I can potentially benefit from using it, i am against the idea of subscriptions³, I’d much rather pay once than have them nag me for more money every month or so. Plus, I don’t think the price tag is justifiable given that the only practical function that it adds for me is the ability to “quick add” macros and set macro goals by grams instead of percentages, So I’ve remained a free user. As for workouts, I used to track them using MFP, but have since moved on due to the lack of certain functions, which brings me to my next point.⁴

      

The MFP interface, If you rotate your screen it shows you your macro count

Strong

This is the latest addition to my arsenal, I discovered it a few weeks ago after I decided that I wanted to take working out more seriously. I now use this to track my workouts and it’s been great so far, you can add custom routine templates to the app, and almost every exercise is already included within the app for you to choose, and if the exercise you’re looking for isn’t there, you can simply add it, it’s that simple.

You’ll realise how great it really is once you start using it, it includes a rest timer that automatically starts after you complete a set, it helps you track your weight, your progression for each exercise, recognises failed reps, drop sets, super sets, warm ups, it just works.

iA writer

Developed by Information Architects, iA writer is one of many writing applications in the App Store. I first came across this in Federico’s article on it, and was keen on trying it out as I found it to be very simple and had a UI that was very pleasant to look at. I used to do all my writing on the stock notes app on iOS. But I got tired of it as it didn’t offer markdown support like other 3rd party apps did. However if you’re only doing normal writing and note taking, the note app on stock iOS should suffice.

                                               Dark mode and Markdown support on iA writer

 

And last, but definitely not least,

2Do

I don’t even know where to begin, 2Do is fucking amazing. I could write a two thousand word essay and dedicate an entire blog post to it, and I probably will someday. 2Do is an iOS task manager that runs my life now. There are thousands of task managers on the App Store, but most of them suck, at least if you trust the reviews. I personally tried out a handful of them⁵, but nothing’s come even close. If you’re familiar with the power user/developer/creator community, you’ll know that there’s generally 3 apps that are regarded as superior to all others: Omnifocus, 2Do and Todoist. Omnifocus used to be the king of all task managers, but many users started complaining about its rigidity and strict adaption of GTD. That’s where 2Do comes in, if you’re a fan of David Allen’s GTD, you’ll have no problems implementing it in the app, if you’re just the average person trying to keep track of to-dos, grocery lists and projects, you’ll love the app. 2Do can be as simple and as complex as you want it to be, it’s that good.

      

                                  Smart lists, a key feature of 2Do, and its UI.

Finishing thoughts

Well that covers almost everything, I do plan on expanding to more apps in the coming year, especially after I switch to a newer phone, as I’m stuck with a 16GB base model iPhone 5s⁶, so I don’t have much space left. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I’ll be writing more in the coming year, do leave a comment if you wish.

Peace out.