By: Chris Bignell, CEO
The recent news that several schools were banning smartphones prompted me to think about my own usage and whether I could live without my smartphone, specifically the apps I use every day. As I write this, my phone tells me I have been using it for 22 minutes today but for almost two hours yesterday. Surprisingly my biggest use has been as a phone, followed by email and then the browser. If I had to have guessed, I would have thought social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram would have topped my list!
My reliance on certain apps has become ubiquitous so, while I might be keen to go on the occasional digital detox, I would struggle to live without certain functionality. Here are the top five apps I cannot live without:
Navigation via Google Maps: I can hardly venture out without tapping the destination into Google Maps. This is even true when I am going somewhere I know how to get to, because I love knowing when I will get there, possible alternate routes, and live traffic information. Recently I have tried to outsmart traffic advice from Google twice, with disastrous consequences on both occasions, so it is certainly much smarter than I give it credit for.
Podcasting: listening to podcasts has almost completely replaced the radio for me. I listen endlessly in the car and walking and am always proactively looking for new recommendations. I use an app to automatically keep me posted on podcasts I am subscribed to and would struggle to live without them now.
Train apps: recently the National Rail app had an update that took it from my “go to” for train information to utterly useless. It used to tell me when the train is late and which platform to expect it on - this has all been replaced by a web interface that is of much less value. I’m now looking for an alternative that has simple functionality like ‘favourite stations’ and ‘favourite journeys’.
Google Photos/timeline: possibly the service I use most from Google. I love the ability to carry out a detailed search to find images from years ago. Likewise when I know I’ve been to a restaurant and want to go back, I love being able to see exactly where it is from Google Timeline.
Tiny Scanner: probably the least famous app in this list but invaluable as it photographs contracts and other documents and turns them into a scanned copy. For people like me that have to sign and send a lot of contracts but do not have regular access to a scanner, it is a life saver (although I would much prefer everyone moved to e-signature – especially the client with the 66 page contract).