For many of our customers, the smartphone has replaced the agenda. Omnipresent devices allow us to check meetings, add scheduled events and make changes in real time. Also, the ability to delete, move and alter events without the use of white-out, allows for a cleaner and more environmentally friendly approach to organizing our lives.

There are countless ‘organization’ apps available on the market. Different apps have different capabilities, but we have tried to list a few that will be of assistance to those working in forestry, government, small business and everything in between. Listed below are a few we have found useful:

CalenMob is a basic ‘calendar’ app, which syncs with Google. This app is easy to use, intuitive, and visually attractive. CalenMob is prompt and effective at providing reminders when the push notification feature is enabled. This app includes features for addition of multiple notifications, assignment to a particular calendar, location and description. Holidays are automatically included.  CalenMob allows for various views, including, day, week, month and agenda (a list of all items). Also, as it syncs automatically with Google, all your calendars are consistent.

One complaint is that it tends to duplicate. An event scheduled in CalenMob will also be scheduled in the calendar on your device, thus listing each item twice. However, this does not always occur.

Overall, a simple to use app that is a step up from the included device calendar.

Milebug is a must if you have a company vehicle or charge customers for travel time. MileBug lists your start time, the business you are travelling for, the origin, the destination, and purpose. Further, this app allows for different vehicles to be listed. Mileage tracking can be completed by entering start and end odometer entries or by simply entering the distance travelled. If you are frequently taking the same route, it can be saved as a ‘favorite’ for future use.

Expenses may also be added. This is a great feature if you are driving on tolled bridges and need to keep track of when a toll will be charged. The main draw back here is that you must enter the amount of the toll manually every time.

Another great feature is the production of reports.  MileBug trip reports list all the information you include in your entries, including; odometer listings, vehicles, kilometers traveled and any notes you may have included. You can preview these documents in the app before sending them, to ensure they are correct.

OfficeTimeLite is a great app for tracking your time. This app is perfect for independent contractors, lawyers or other individuals who may require specific information as to the time spent on each project.

This app allows for various ‘projects’ to be entered and timed. The free version only allows for 2 projects, which is a drawback. The projects are assigned a rate per hour, as determined by ‘categories’.  Therefore, if you have different rates for different categories of tasks, this app will accommodate such calculations. Expenses may also be added for disbursements that may be made for a project, such as mailing, copying or the like.

Another helpful feature is the ‘reports’ section. This draws out the time spent according to divisions of time, such as day, week and month. The report view is then listed by project, to give a total for each project and over all projects during the time frame.

Wunderlist is an app dedicated to lists. Different lists may be named and created according to your need.  There are also various views for this information, including Inbox, Starred, Today and Week.  Inbox is a general holding pen for items, and allows for the quick addition of items off the top of your head. Starred contains those items of high priority as marked by you. Today lists all items which have been marked due. Week includes all items due in the upcoming days.

A primary benefit to this app is the ability to share lists between users. It also has higher functionality than reminder apps included on a device.

Things is an all in one organization app. It brings together CalenMob and Wunderlist into one. However, it costs $10.

This app is great for those who have many balls in the air, and need a centralized location to keep all the information. Lists are made up of different categories of tasks, including Inbox, Today, Next, Scheduled, Someday and Projects.

Inbox is for items that may not yet have a due date or specific time frame. Today contains all the tasks to be completed today. Next includes all upcoming tasks entered individually, as well as subtasks for projects (see below). Scheduled is the calendar function. Someday is for tasks you have thought up but do not have time to commit to at present.

Reminders are available once per day. Therefore, timed reminders are not possible as with CalenMob. This is a serious draw back if you rely on your device to remind you of events throughout the day.

However, what it lacks in reminders, it makes up for in ‘projects’. This feature allows you to create an overarching task with a due date. However, it also allows for ‘subtasks’ with unique due dates. This is a major plus for tasks that are completed piecemeal over an extended period of time.

Apps are personal and need dependent. However, these apps are just a few of the many available to assist in organizing your life. It can be hard to dig through the mountains of choice. At Walco Radio, we are happy to assist in making sure you have the right device and the right features in place to optimize your productivity.