Best iPad 2 Productivity Apps

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I’ve been one of those guys that’s forever wanted an iPad and/or iPhone, but I’ve always struggled to justify the need and whenever I’ve managed to convince myself of the need I always think “I’ll wait for the next model” and thus the cycle continued.

Well I finally bit the bullet and bought an iPad2 this year believing that the iPad 3 (when its finally released) can’t possibly add to many new, must have features that would make it worth the wait.

Whilst the iPad has many uses one of the primary reasons I finally decided to buy one was task management and general productivity improvements.

Below are my current favourite productivity applications on the iPad, which when used together can increase your productivity and task delivery substantially.

My Favourite GTD / List Management Tool

Remember The Milk

There is so many great GTD action management tools out there for the iPad, but my personal favourite at the moment is a long serving classic called Remember the Milk.

It doesn’t have the same level of functionality as paid for options like Pocket Informant HD or OmniFocus, but it does what it says on the tin…provides a simple way to collect and prioritise actions throughout your day.

Why is it worth downloading?

• Its completely free to use.
• You can sync your iPad task list to an online RTM account to allow you to add and review tasks from various machines.
• Its extremely simple to use and very well designed.
• Its got a long standing product development team behind it, so its constantly evolving with new features.

My Favourite Note Taking Tool

Noteshelf

This is an area where there is a depth of similar, strong applications where in truth you could choose 1 of many and still get the same experience and options.

My personal favourite at the moment however is NoteShelf, which lets you write notes via your fingers or (as I would recommend) via a stylus (having used a few I would recommend the Jot Pro Stylus for anyone who spends a lot of time writing notes via this method).

Why is it worth downloading?

• Simply put…it works as a note taking device, but I wouldn’t download this application unless you don’t mind using a stylus as you can’t use the iPad keyboard.
• You can create multiple project books allowing you to segment your notes or designs into single books, which are then accessible from a bookshelf similar to newstand.
• There are plenty of options that improve the end products use including zoom mode, ability to embed pictures and various colour and pen sizes.
• January Update – Noteshelf now allows for text entry using the keyboard. This was one major downside, which has now been corrected.

Best Document Storage & Syncing Tools

DropBox

This an area dominated in my opinion by two excellent products turned iPad applications – DropBox and Evernote.

Whilst not strictly the exact same type of product, they do in essence do one thing very similar, allowing users to store and sync documents in the cloud.

My personal favourite for achieving this action is DropBox, which is a simply faultless product. Its really beauty from a productivity perspective is that you can add multiple machines, which then allows you to sync documents across your iPad, Laptop, Desktop, and even colleagues machines.

Why is it worth downloading?

• Its simply the best cloud document storage product on the market.
• Its completely free to use, though additional storage space can be purchased or earned through referrals.
• You can add multiple machines to your account allowing for document syncing across your full suite.
• You can control user access to specific folders and files to allow for 3rd party document sharing.

Evernote

Evernote is very similar in principal to DropBox in that it allows you to store just about anything in the cloud. You can take notes, recordings, pull documents from external sites and add them all to your Evernote account.

Once introduced into Evernote you can then access those same documents from your other electronic devices – iPad, iPhone, Laptop etc.

Let me give you a practical example of how one might utilise this product. Imagine you come across a great article with some really useful quotes or statistics that you think could prove useful in the future. You can add that article content into your Evernote folders, name it appropriately and then you’ll never need to try and remember where the article existed.

Why is it worth downloading?

• Its an excellent cloud based product allowing for storage of just about any media type.
• It works with just about any computer, tablet or phone out there.
• Search your documents, notes etc with ease to ensure quick sourcing of information.
• Share your folders, documents etc with family, friends, colleagues for improved collaboration.

My Favourite Audio Recording Tool

Soundnote

Another very useful productivity tool is Soundnote which basically allows you to record audio in meetings, interviews, lectures etc and add notes alongside, which you can link directly to specific sections of the audio recording.

For example, imagine you are in an hour long meeting and you record the full audio. You might be given a few actions throughout the session, which you could also type into soundnote and link to the specific time you were given the action. This then allows you to replay the full audio of that action to ensure that you’ve full understood what needs to happen.

Why is it worth downloading?

• Coupled with the excellent iPad microphone it captures the audio in great clarity even if the user is talking through a spider phone or is standing at the other side of a meeting room.
• It allows for syncing of audio files with DropBox and Evernote, which allows you to keep files for later usage. This is important since a few audio recordings from an hour session can use up valuable space.
• Outside of sharing recordings via the cloud you can also directly email the recording and notes, which is a great way of providing a meeting recap.

Worth A Look

1Password

1Password is an application that allows you to store and manage all of your accounts, usernames and passwords in one location on the iPad.

I’m including it in this post as a productivity app because its really saved me a huge amount of time and hassle logging into websites over the last few months of usage.

Each time you register with a new website, receive a new credit card, signup for a new air miles account etc you simply add the account details into 1Password. Next time you come along and don’t have auto-remember turned on, you can simply log into 1Password and collect the details you need rather than requesting a forgotten username or password via email.

Why is it worth downloading?

• It really does save you a lot of time and hassle when you can’t remember account details. For certain sites I had to do this a lot, but not once in the last 3 months have I used a forgotten username/password link.
• Its secured via a master password when you open the application, so in theory you only need to remember 1 password (hence the name of the app) which could in theory mean you’re more likely to choose more complicated passwords for your accounts moving forward – which will make you a more secure individual.

The above is just a reflection of my own findings having used a few different applications over the last 6 months. I haven’t done a detailed audit of all the tools available in this sector, but I have found all of the above tools to be effective at supporting my needs.

Please share any others below in the comments as I would be keen to try other applications out in the future.