So much of our every day lives now have some kind of interaction with a phone/tablet app at some point. From controlling lighting and heating in the home, downloading music, keeping in touch with friends and editing pictures, there are literally apps for everything. As much as I'd love to think I can live without tech, it can be pretty handy and some of them save a lot of time in different ways.
I thought I'd share some of my favourite apps that I use regularly, some relating to my blog and some every day life apps.
Social Media
Twitter - My favourite of the social media platforms. So far they've not messed around with it, it's in chronological order and easy to share work without feeling you're putting yourself on a stage too much.
Facebook - The hardest platform for growth I think when it comes to using it for business, but it is pretty good for staying in touch with people.
Instagram - Slightly infuriating with the constant changes and algorithms, like most companies they are all about trying to make you pay to be seen, I won't do that so it's never going to be a super successful one for me.
Vero - Signed up, posted, not touched since but I wanted to reserve my blog name and get on there just in case it takes off.
Pinterest - Addictive for anything creative and great for home decor ideas. You can seriously spend some time on this app!
Snapchat - I don't really understand what I'm doing on it but I like the filters! This seems to be the case with most people.
Blogging
Phonto - This is a super simple app for creating quick little deisgns. You can put text over photos or various stock backgrounds. I use this mainly for my weight loss instagram for weigh day updates etc.
YouTube - I've not done much on YouTube yet but I use it loads and hope to embrace the vlog world soon.
Quik - This is an app for making mini videos, they can be quite effective and although I use mainly for personal uses, I have shared a few accross social media.
Rainbow love - This is quite a new one for me but it's another text/photo overlay app for creating simple pretty designs from your phone. It's a bit glitchy on my phone at the moment so I'll come back to it when it's updated.
Canva - Much like the website, the app is capable of making pretty professional looking quotes, memes and adverts. It's really simple to use, has some nice fonts and a huge range of templates for inspiration.
Buffer - Buffer is great for scheduling tweets. I used to have the paid version but just use the free one sporadically now, which allows you to schedule ten tweets a day. This is perfect for days where I have to promote a certain brand or post.
KD collage - A very simple collage app, perfect for creating before and after type images which is the main thing I've used it for.
PayPal here - This PayPal app allows you to invoice people which is really handy for getting quicker payments on the go. The original app doesn't let you invoice correctly so this is a godsend.
Social HashTags - This app has lists and lists of various hash tags relating to different topics. I tend to copy and paste my own lists, but this ones really handy to mix things up or for images that are a little different to what you usually post. You have to double check the list though as occasionally there will be a hash tag you won't want on your post. (Nothing dodgy, just not relevant to you.)
Photography
Color pop - This app is really simple but allows you to make a single colour 'pop' from an image, leaving the rest of the photo in black and white.
Epson iPrint - Linking to my Epson printer for wireless printing.
Lightroom CC - A small quick editing app linked to my desk top Lightroom account.
XEFX - This one is a bit cheesey but adds nice rain/snow effects to photos. Good if you want to make an image into a video.
Gaming
Block puzzle - A super addictive tetris type game, arranging shapes in order to get rid of lines. It just keeps going and going so you can try and beat your best score.
Candy crush - Everyone knows Candy crush. Kind of addictive, kind of irritating but I always sem to go back to it when I want a new game to play.
Fight list - I love this game, though it can be a bit too American with some of the answers required. You basically have a set amount of time to name as many answers as you can, with things like 'colours in the rainbow' or 'American presidents', playing againt someone else somewhere in the world.
Puzzledom - This app is amazing, with lots of different puzzles to work through, it's a great one to fill those minutes in waiting rooms and time seems to fly when I play it.
Stack jump - A jumping game where you have to move up on moving blocks. It gets harder as you go and the kids love this too.
Toon blast - Currently my favourite game, a colour matching block blasting game.
Personal
Amazon - Probably my favourite and most used shopping app.
WhatsApp - Great for video chats.
Tapestry - Linked to Soph's nursery so they can upload pictures and info of how she's getting on at school and I can add bits from home.
Banking app - My HSBC app is very basic but it's good for keeping track and avoiding any overspending.
My fitness pal - I go through phases of logging everything really well to not touching this at all, but it is a great free app for using to get healthy.
Ebay - I occasionally shop on eBay now, though not often. Every now and then I'll get listing things to sell and have made some really good money from it. It is hard work though. As a buyer I don't think the bargains are anywhere near as good as they used to be, but I still love it.
HairStyles - A fun app to try out new hair styles, I always get bored and want to do things to my hair, so I try to play on this instead!
I am actively trying to look at my phone less, especially around the kids, but with all that lot ^ it's easy to see how easy it is to get sucked into the screen and waste plenty of time playing with my apps.
What are your must have apps?
