My Top 10 Favorite Apps on My Phone (and Why I Love ’em So Much)—UPDATED!

In June 2014, I shared my top ten favorite apps on my phone. But, since it’s now 2018, I thought it would be fun to share an update on what apps I am using and loving today—from productivity apps to writing apps and more.

All of these mobile apps make my personal life and business life better, so open up your app store because you’re going to want to start downloading!

Here's a list of my top ten favorite applications on my iPhone right now, and why I love them so much:

10. Slack

Since building a small team to help me with my projects, I've learned the importance of organized communication—convenient and sorted conversations between team members with hassle-free archive and search capability.

There are, of course, several communication tools that can help team members manage their projects and communicate with one another, such as Basecamp, Trello, Asana, and even email if you're old school (and daring), but my team and I prefer the communication platform that I've fallen in love with—Slack. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.] 

Slack is a modern, convenient way to communicate with your team. Naturally, it's cloud-based and syncs across all devices (web, desktop and mobile) in real-time, but the user interface is what I love the most because it makes it incredibly simple to organize conversations and stay on top of things.

Using Twitter-like hashtags to create channels, Slack keep discussions about certain projects in dedicated areas of the board. You can give specific people access to specific channels, and you can even @reply team members to make sure they're tagged on conversations as well.

Since getting onto Slack, the team has been more responsive, hasn't missed any notes, and just seems to be flowing much better. A big thanks to the team at Fizzle.co for this recommendation. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

Available for free on iPhone and Android.

9. Evernote

Evernote is one of my favorite tools of all time, and its mobile application makes it extremely easy to continue to stay organized and productive while I'm on the go.

I use an organization system similar to the one Michael Hyatt outlines here, but I use the mobile application primarily to capture and organize those new ideas that pop into my head at random times of the day.

Blog post ideas, quotes, stories to put into presentations, inspirational images I come across and even completely brand new business ideas are sorted into their respective folders that I've already created. If for whatever reason I can't figure out where to put a certain idea or thought, I don't waste time and I just add it to my inbox folder, which means the next time I log in at home I am ready to sort those things out.

Available for free on iOS and Android.

8. Rev

Rev is my favorite app for recording voice and transcription. I use Rev for notes that I take (especially when I'm on the go), blog post and podcast episode ideas, chapters of books, and also with the team if I need to record an input for a blog post that they can then take that transcription and turn into a full blog post for me to review later.

It’s really easy to use, and each transcription is done by an actual person, which means you’re going to get a quality, usually error-free output.

If you’re interested, on AskPat 948, an SPI community member asked, “How do I produce podcast transcripts?”

Available for free (with $1/minute for transcription) on iOS and Android.

Get $10 off your first order by going here! [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.] 

7. YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio is an app that Caleb Wojcik, my videographer, introduced to me since I've been going more heavy on YouTube this year. It allows me to quickly see the latest activity and analytics on my channel, how specific videos are doing (faster than on desktop, actually), and I can respond to the community and remove spam and hateful comments sooner.

I also use it for research, as the discoverability tab allows me to see just how my content is being found, so I can double or triple down on what's working!

The YouTube Studio app has helped me focus on making my YouTube channel bigger and better!

Available to browse and publish your own videos for free at YouTube.com.

6. Videoshop

I've been using Videoshop now to edit my videos, which has been very handy, especially for my IGTV videos. It's easy to import videos, both horizontal and vertical, and begin to stitch various videos together to create one seamless video.

I record directly into my phone, then use Videoshop to edit them together, and I can do all the things you'd expect to do in an app like this, like cut, split, and trim videos, add music (and even voiceovers), transitions, and more.

Available for free on iOS and Android.

5. TrailMix Pro

TrailMix Pro is the app on my phone that has been opened the longest. It's not a business or productivity tool like the others on this list—but it's so cool, I couldn't help but mention it here.

The app is a music player, but with a very special feature, one that especially appeals to the marching band nerd in me:

It syncs the tempo of the song playing to how fast your stride is.

I use this app every time I run, and I'm always running in sync with the music. For me, this helps me keep my pace and I do feel like it helps me stay motivated and run faster.

I used the app once during the Rock and Roll Half Marathon here in San Diego, and it helped me reach a personal record of 1:56:49!

Loading this app isn't going to instantly make you a better and faster runner, but it will make it more fun. And as I always say, exercising is one of the best productivity tips—so maybe this does have to do with business a little.

Available for free (with upgrades) on iPhone only.

4. [email protected]

I use the [email protected] productivity app ALL OF THE TIME. When I need to get in the zone, I put this app on and select a piece of music that's scientifically proven to increase productivity. They have a desktop/web app version too, and although it's subscription based ($2.99 per month), I find it very useful, and it actually does help increase my productivity, too.

I tend to listen to the classical channel, although there are many more to choose from. Music was part of my upbringing, being in marching band, so I like having it in the background. But I don't like having it with words or super rhythmic because then I begin to turn my band brain on and start analyzing the music or singing along, lol. 

Available for a two-week trial and then subscription based after that on iOS and Android.

3. Frame.io

Frame.io is perfect if you are collaborating with people to help edit and create videos. Again, since I've been doing YouTube a lot, this has been helpful.

After filming, Caleb and his team will edit the video through a first pass, and then upload it at a lower resolution to Frame.io, which allows me to review and comment on it sooner, so changes can be made before the final deliverable.

What's nice is any comments I make go directly into the video and are tracked right at that point where I made the comment, so it's easy to collaborate and improve and work on the video together with other teammates.

Available for free on iOS only.

2. TinyScan

TinyScan is one of the smartest apps I've ever come across.

If I'm looking to turn a physical sheet of paper into a PDF, which is quite often, all I have to do is simply snap a photo with this app, and it immediately turns it into a PDF file that I can send off. It crops for you, rotates, fixes color balance—it does everything.

Unless I'm batch scanning a ton of paperwork (in which case I use my ScanSnap scanner, this is my go-to for scanning and easily sending it off.  [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

Available for free (with upgrades) on iOS.

1. Moment

Want to know how much time you're actually wasting on your phone each day, and on which apps? The Moment app figures that out for you!

If you're like me, you're probably too scared to know, but it's necessary so you can begin to cut down on wasted time you might be burying in your little device. Moment sends me a daily report on where I've been spending most of my time on the phone, and it's handy because since I know I'm being tracked, I can really become more efficient while I'm on there. I hate seeing I wasted one and a half hours on Facebook when I wake up the next morning, and it forces me to think about how I can do better every single time. Moment has saved me hours, and although you may not like what you see, it can save you hours, too.

Available for free on iOS only.

Lastly, Please Share: What's Your Favorite Mobile Application?

What's your all-time favorite mobile application? Just one!

Shout it out in the comment section below.

Cheers!