My Top 8 Most Useful Smart Phone Apps

My most useful smart phone apps are those I put on my phone's home screen. I can get to them with the fewest taps possible and that makes things simple and saves me time.

 

I use Widgets because I can on an Android smart phone. iOS doesn't have them--yet. Widgets are not the same as apps on Android smart phones but they are similar. Widgets simply show that app running on the screen. You don't tap to open it. For example, the Calendar Widget I use shows items on my calendar in list form.  Widgets are always there and running. The 3 widgets I use are for the phones battery level, calendar, time and weather. This makes sense too as I'm always checking the time (I haven't worn a watch since I stopped working besides watch faces are difficult to see with my vision disability). For me, information like this needs to be quick and easy to read.

 

Fancy Widgets Clock and Weather Widget. FREE. Fancy Widgets has a pay version for $2.95 that removes ads.

 

DigiCal Calendar Widget. FREE. There is a Pro version for $4.95 but I'm still using the Free version. I will likely upgrade to remove ads and check out the new features since I use this app every day. The developer deserves the money.

 

Battery Solo Widget. FREE. Battery Solo Widget also has a pay version for $1.99

Camera. This is the standard camera app that comes with my Samsung Galaxy S III. There are other phone apps but I haven't found the need to install a different one. I might change my mind in the future though and a blog post would announce it.
 

 

Then I have 4 apps on the Dock down at the bottom along with the App Drawer where all the rest of my installed apps reside. Those 4 apps are:

Phone which has my phone book, favorite people I call most and the ability to create a text message. Pretty efficient if I say so myself.

 

The Phone icon is at my left and always available as it should be always available. The phone app shows the keypad to dial a number; the log of recent inbound and outbound calls so I can call someone back quickly and easily; my Favorites for "one touch" calling or texting (yes I can create texts from the phone app) and Contacts which is my phone directory.

Any.do Task Manager. FREE 

Any.do is a simple and terrific To Do list as it it very easy to read. My eyes thank me often.

feedly news app. FREE

 

I read news all the time on my iPad, PC and phone and I utilize a "reader" type app to gather news and blogs I am interested in. Feedly is beautiful and very easy to use.
 

Gmail for my email of course. Although Gmail is owned by Android my phone comes with a different and generic email app but I really like this Gmail app. It has a easy to read view and I can simply swipe to delete email I don't want to read. FREE

 

Lastly is the Android App Drawer (shown as Apps) where you get to all of the other Apps and Widgets installed on the phone. It is often efficient to NOT overload your phones screens with apps. Just show apps you use most often and leave the rest in the App Drawer for less frequent use. The iPhone doesn't have the concept of App Drawer. Your call which you prefer but I like the app drawer concept.


Please share your comments or favorite apps. I love discovering new and, most importantly, useful apps. Thanks