Stuff - UK (2020-02)

100 BEST APPS

These days, your office is in your

pocket – as long as you have the right

apps – so use these beauties to be

productive with your phone

HOUR BLOCKS

Calendars can

overwhelm. Hour

Blocks cuts the

cruft by having you

decide what’s really

important on any

given hour. Even

if you use a more

traditional calendar

alongside it, this app

can help you gain a

sense of focus for

your time. Like the

idea but have a

complex schedule?

The Pro version lets

you add sub-blocks

to events.

from £free / iOS

ULYSSES

You might look

suspiciously upon

apps that switch to

subscriptions with

claims they’ll now

be updated often.

But Ulysses is the

real deal. Already an

excellent repository

for your writing, it’s

been extensively

updated for

iPadOS, including

multitasking and

dark mode, along

with full keyword

management

on mobile.

£4.49/month / iOS

EXPENSES:

SIMPLE

TRACKER

The clue’s in the

name here, with

an app that wants

to help you track

your spending – but

without forcing you

to spend much time

using it. It’s quick

and simple, works

online and is free

from IAPs. Over a

hundred currencies

are supported, and

you can spit out the

final figures as an

Excel spreadsheet.

£free / Android

OTTER

The problem with voice memos

is you have to pick through the

recordings later and type them

out. Otter does away with

such tedium by automatically

transcribing recordings as

they’re made, time-stamping

everything and auto-tagging

your archive. You get ten hours

per month for nothing, and text

can be exported to TXT. Bargain.

£free / Android, iOS

MAGPIE

For the visually inclined, Apple’s

Notepad doesn’t cut it. Magpie,

though, rethinks note-taking as

a photos-first scrapbook. Every

item can also have brief text

notes, a price, a link and a map,

but pictures are the main focus

here. It’s top stuff for gift lists,

reminders of great places

you’ve stayed, and just records

of cool stuff.

99p/month or £7.99 / iOS

The good news

is, this superb iOS

habit-tracker has

made it across to

Android fully intact.

Productive is bright

and clear, and can

schedule things

for chunks of the

day, like ‘morning’

or ‘evening’. The

bad news is the

annual subscription

being doubled...

but at least you

can track three

habits free forever.

from £free /

Android, iOS

WORK

WONDERS

PRODUCTIVE