1 | Sunrise Calendar
How much difference can there really be between the dozens of calendar apps out there? Sunrise Calendar presents a strong case for being the very best, thanks to its straightforward interface and the ability to sync dates, appointments and birthdays across Google Calendar, iCloud, Facebook, Evernote and more.
iOS and Android; free
2 | 1Password
Passwords are a 21st Century curse: feel your limited time on this beautiful planet literally ticking away as you try and recall the name of your first pet and/or retype the same six-digit password substituting capitals for lower case letters at random until you feel like Scr3m1ng. 1Password creates a unique password for all your sites then remembers them all for you, allowing you to tap-in with a single touch.
iOS and Android; free
3 | LogMeIn
Securely connect to your home computer from your mobile device and access everything – files, photos, apps, the lot. Previously only on Android, now Mac owners can ‘share’ the love, too.
iOS and Android; free for 14 days, then various charges apply
4 | Day One
Pleasingly simple diary app that prompts you to record something of the days events, tag it with location, time and weather and upload a photo. Your whole year is then scrollable at a glace.
iOS only; £2.99
5 | Remember The Milk
Not just the best-named reminder app but also the most versatile. Allows users to manage the same tasks from computer or a smartphone, even when offline. Can be integrated with Google Maps for location-specific reminders. Remarkably it's 10 years old.
iOS and Android; free
6 | IFTTT
Pronounced as in ‘gift’, and short for 'If This Then That'. Allows users to create and share ‘recipes’ between their various channels to have them talk to one another. For example: If this: ‘I’m tagged in a photo on Facebook’ then that: ‘Send me a text’.
iOS and Android; free
7 | Dragon Dictation
Voice recognition app that claims to be five times faster than typing, and is genuinely accurate. You can’t save the words (oddly) but cut-and-paste will sort that out.
iOS only; free
8 | Dropbox
iCloud Drive, Google Drive, One Drive: everyone’s having a go at cloud storage these days, but Dropbox remains a peerless early innovator. Sync everything across all your devices and never email yourself a file again.
iOS and Android; free for 2GB then charges apply
9 | Mailbox
Clever email client that lets you sort messages into lists folders by swiping and allows you to ‘snooze’ less urgent ones for days, weeks or months. The mythical Inbox Zero edges closer to becoming reality.
iOS and Android; free
10 | Buffer
Type your Twitter and Facebook messages and have Buffer schedule when they’re posted. Buffer for Business adds more social accounts and detailed analytics.
iOS and Android; free
11 | Evernote
Still the note-taking daddy. Works as well for to-do lists as for lengthy research, and allows collation of web articles, handwritten notes and photos. Remains a favourite thanks to its top-rate search function.
iOS and Android; free
12 | Pocket
10 million users can’t be wrong: Pocket lets you save articles, recipes, videos – anything with a webpage, basically – to one place with one click. Then it’s all accessible on any device, even if you’re offline.
iOS and Android; free
13 | Swiftkey Keyboard
Lets you replace your onscreen keyboard with one that ‘learns the way you type’. That means next-word prediction, smart autocorrect and the ability to enter words by sliding your finger from letter to letter. New to Apple now that iOS8 has allowed third-party keyboards for the first time.
iOS and Android; free
14 | Clear
An Esquire office favourite thanks to its brilliant design, Clear is a to-do and reminder app with an entirely gesture-based interface. Swipe and pull your tasks into colour-coded lists, with a look that's optimised for phones.
iOS and Android; £2.99
15 | iA Writer
Distraction-free writing app that strips out everything on screen but the text, and whose ‘Focus Mode’ highlights the sentence you’re working on and recedes all the surrounding text into the background, removing the temptation to edit and fiddle.
iOS and Android; £2.99
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MORE APPS:
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