Apple’s newest desktop and mobile operating systems have supercharged productivity in a big way. We’re not just talking about complex task lists, but new ways to create, save, and share documents and files, better access to important information, and syncing across devices better than anything in the past. This year, we submitted our favorite productivity apps to launch in 2014 and voted on them. Below is a list of the winner, the runner-ups, and our all-time best productivity app.
The best Productivity app of 2014 is actually a suite of apps by Microsoft, which finally gave us the long-awaited Office Suite on the iPad and a few months later, updated it for the iPhone. With Word, Excel, and PowerPoint you can create and edit documents with the familiar desktop experience, but each app has been specially designed for touch screen mobility. Access the iconic fonts, add images, create tables and charts, and access important features from each app, like a built-in laser pointer in PowerPoint [1] , PivotTables in Excel [2] , and printing with markups via AirPrint in Word [3] . These apps are available for free, but require an Office 365 feature to access additional features.
Gone are the days of having to make a photocopy of a document just to send it to your computer so you can turn it into a PDF. Now, you can take a picture of anything and transform it into a high-quality PDF or JPG. This app lets you create documents with 200 dpi and higher. Automatically save your files to a variety of cloud-based storage services, like iCloud, Dropbox, and Evernote. You can even scan QR codes and quickly add phone numbers and locations to your contacts. The automatic edge detection will ensure that, no matter what shape your paper is, it will look right in digital form. This app is available for $1.99 [4] .
Technically, this falls into the social networking category, but we’ve included it with the productivity apps because it turns your contacts search into a productivity boss. Connect your various social networking accounts, like Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as your address book and the app will learn your relationship to them. Not just who your sister or husband is, but where people live and work, how you met, and the type of job they have. Plus, you’ll be able to see which of your friends know each other, so you won’t accidentally gossip about the wrong person at the wrong time. When your contacts move, start new jobs, or get married, the app will automatically update the information with the new data. This app is available for free [5] .
Evernote just keeps getting better and better over time. When it first launched, it was already the best way to save and store all manner of information. Now it is practically the only app you will every need for anything, ever. OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you can’t deny that Evernote is the best productivity app around. You can save web clips, documents, images, and more. Create and sync notes right inside the app so you can access them from anywhere. Oh, and the organization. With all of the tags, files, and management options, your digital storage box will be better systematized than the Federal library. You can draft agendas, make to-do lists, and share projects with others, while chatting about edits at the same time. This app is available for free [6] .
What is your favorite productivity app to come out in 2014? Let us know in the comments below.
Best of 2014
Links
- ^ PowerPoint (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Excel (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Word (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ This app is available for $1.99 (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ This app is available for free (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ This app is availabl e for free (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ PlaceIt (placeit.net)
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