My Top 5 iOS Apps of the Week – Week #6

Continuing further along with the series of blog posts for My Top 5 iOS Apps of the Week, here we are, once again, with the next round of iOS apps I would want to share across that may be worth while checking out, in case you may not have played with, nor seen, them just yet. As usual, this list of recommended apps, unless stated otherwise, would be available for both iPad and iPhone, so you can make your pick accordingly. Also, as I have mentioned in a previous entry that I will be doing from there onwards, I will be sharing along the main themes where these apps would be fitting in, so you can have a sneak peek to check what’s coming up next. So this week’s themes would be Utilities, Productivity, Healthcare & Fitness, Reference and (Social) Collaboration.

Thus without much further ado, here’s the list of recommended iOS apps for this week:  

• 1Password: There are plenty of very good options out there to help you handle the several dozens of passwords we get to use more or less on a regular basis and, after having tried them all out for a good while, the only one that has remained installed in either of my iOS devices over the course of the years has always been 1Password. There are tons of things I enjoy about this app on its own apart from helping me remember what passwords to use for what service, but perhaps my two favourite ones would be how pervasive it is, as I can use it on either my laptop or my iOS gadgets as well as the integration with iCloud services (Or Dropbox), which means all of the passwords I may use at one given point in time are all in sync with one another and I don’t have to worry whether they are up to date or not. I just know they are. Like I said, if you would need a pretty decent and powerful password management app 1Password is the way to go! 
• Ulysses: If you have been reading this blog for a while now, you may have noticed how I have a tendency to be a bit too verbose with my own blog posts. I know they may well not be the ideal length, nor even the recommended one! for that matter, and I would say that there will be a couple of apps I could blame for that. Of course, I am referring to those that would allow you to focus on just writing along whatever ideas you may want to develop further without having any distractions while just focusing on that act of writing. Ulysses is one of them. In fact, at the moment, it’s my favourite one for #longread documents I would be jotting down from my iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard.

  It’s a pure delight and while there are a few others that allow you to achieve the same results (i.e. focused writing without distractions) I just keep coming back to it, specially, when I’m disconnected from the network while on the road traveling. The great thing about Ulysses, and which I haven’t put to the test just yet, although it’s coming up nice and slow, is that it has got all of the full potential to become the tool that would allow you to write (e)books effortlessly and that’s what I’m really looking forward to explore some more, although in this regard there area couple of other apps that are worthy competitors, but I will talk about them in its due time. For now, like I said, if you are looking for an app that would allow you to do uninterrupted, focused #longread writing, Ulysses does a wonderful job at it. I can strongly recommend it, in case you haven’t tried it out just yet and you happen to be as verbose as I am … 

• Calm [iPhone Only]: There are tons of different apps in this realm of Healthcare & Fitness that would allow you to detox, relax, take things easier, chill out, take good breaks, complete a number of different exercises and routines to make you feel more at ease with both yourself and whatever circumstances you may be going through at one particular moment, etc. etc., but the one I have been using myself for a good few years already has been Calm from calm.com. In fact, in more than one occasion it’s helped me establish a routine to fight some pretty stressful work related situations and just for that I’d be ever eternally grateful. The many relaxing ambient sounds and wonderful imagery, the different routines, exercises, themes, friendly schedules and an overall gorgeous user experience do the trick for me. I tell you, if you are out there looking for an app around mindfulness meditation with a purpose, look no further than Calm. As far as I am concerned, it’s as good as it gets, and, if you don’t believe me, take it for a spin yourself and let me know what you think. 
• Drippler: If you are using any iOS device out there, whether an iPhone, iPad or iPod and you would want to be informed at all times about news items, hints and tips, tricks, how tos, best deals on the App Store, and what not, Drippler is the only app you would need to have installed to enjoy all of that and so much more! I check it on a daily basis to read the recommended articles on how to get the most out of all of these iOS gadgets as well as going through the best deals to find out some other interesting and worth while checking apps that may be for sale during that day. So if you are into saving yourself a buck or two, while trying out some really cool new apps, this would be the app to use, regardless. It’s a must-have, I tell you, and your wallet will be ever so grateful to you the moment you installed it. 
• IBM Watson Workspace: And, finally, the one app I’m most excited about for this year. The app I have been waiting for a good few months already to make its debut out there in the market because I feel it will become a game changer over the course of just a few weeks in terms of what it has got to offer to help improve the way we communicate, collaborate, share our knowledge across and work together effectively in teams. The app itself is called IBM Watson Workspace, and while you can access it as well from your favourite Web browser in your computer, there is also a free app for it that works flawlessly in iOS devices giving you the very same user experience.

  There are lots of things I could say about this particular application that just launched its pre-view beta version this week that have got me pretty excited about it, but I think I could just summarise them all with a single keyword: AI. And not necessarily AI as in Artificial Intelligence, but more specifically AI as Assisted Intelligence. If you would want to find out more about what I mean with the latter in an attempt to humanise AI, I have put together an article with the following heading that pretty much explains where all of my excitement comes from: ‘Can IBM Watson Workspace Save Our Productivity?’ Take a look into the blog entry itself and let me know what you think, whether there is a reason for us all to be thrilled about its huge potential, or not. Something tells me that it may well change not only the way we view productivity, but also the way we get teamwork done more effectively altogether not necessarily by replacing our human capability, but, on the contrary, augmenting it a great deal altogether. We shall see … I am pretty excited, I tell you, and I can’t wait to see how it would develop further over the course of the next few days, weeks, months … 

And that’s it for this week, folks! Next week there will be a new round of iOS recommended apps for this series of My Top 5 iOS Apps of the Week that I will be sharing across, so stay tuned for plenty more to come along. I still have got a couple of dozen other apps I would want to talk about that I use on a regular basis, so I hope you get a chance to enjoy them just as much as I do myself. Hopefully, there will be something out there for everyone to try out and play with … So keep having fun and till next time!