The iPhone Mom

TaskAttention is an app for keeping track of your to do list, including tasks and projects. My life has been all about Task Inattention lately. It seems the longer my to do list grows the more I avoid it and so it grows even longer. It’s an understatement to say that my tasks need attention and I wondered if this app could help me get my act together.

You create projects and then add tasks within the projects. You name them and mark your progress, the task’s priority and due date. Assign the task to a project and add tags if you want. It’s easy to input all of the  details and only takes a few taps here and there. The only thing that felt awkward to me was setting up the due date. By default the due date is turned off and you have to tap that button, then turn the due date on and set it up. For me it would make more sense to have the due date already turned on so all you had to do was set the date.

Once you’ve entered in a few tasks and projects you can sort them by project name or due date. You can perform a search for words found in the task or project titles. You can also add filters, name them and set the keywords that will apply to the filter. My understanding of the filter feature is that you apply one and then everything that fits within that filter is separated out into a list of it’s own.

TaskAttention was very easy to set up and begin using. There’s not a lot of extra garbage to sort through within the app and no learning curve before you’re actually able to use it. It’s a straightforward, clean looking, organized to do list. I didn’t have any trouble putting my to do list together within the app but I found myself forgetting it was there. I think it would help if there was a number badge that showed up on the app’s icon. Maybe seeing a bright red number telling me how many things I was ignoring would help me wake up and get my act together.

Price when Reviewed: $3.99

Seller: Himalaya Computing Corporation

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

When Keith, the developer of GroceryList, contacted me about his app he’d already read my thoughts on the other grocery list apps that I’ve tried. He told me right up front that it didn’t have many of the features I’m looking for (multiple lists, syncing with another user, price information) but he also told me why he thought I would like it.  He said “it’s like a paper list, but much faster, more orderly and always in your pocket”.  I haven’t found the app yet that suits me perfectly so I thought, why not try it out?. And since one of my issues with the other apps is dealing with multiple screens to make a list I wasn’t going to say no to an app that claims to be fast.

So what did I think? Here are the things that I liked about GroceryList.

*It’s fast. The app comes with a “master list” and all you need to do to add an item to your shopping list is tap the plus sign next to it. Tap more than once to add  more than one of something. The items come with an aisle already preset. This will determine the order the items show up in for your shopping list.  You can change the aisle by tapping on the name of the item and then the blue arrow that appears. Now you can assign a new aisle and also add notes that will show up on your shopping list.

*The master list is thorough. Absinthe? Covered.  Whoppers? Yep. Trash bags? Would you like drawstring, drawstring scented, handle tie, outdoor or twist-tie? Like I said, it’s thorough. You can also add your own items to the list with the plus sign at the top right corner. All you need to do is type in your item and select the aisle it’s located on.

*I like the way the master list is organized. It’s alphabetized and the alphabet shows up vertically on the right hand side of your screen. Tap on the letter you want to jump to and you’ll get a list of beginnings of items. For example if you tap on “O” you’ll see Oatm, Onio, Ora-, Oran and Oven. Tap on the beginning that’s closest to the item you’re searching for and you’ll jump to that part of the list. It’s much faster than scrolling through a really, really long master list. You can also perform a search of the list.

*The aisle list is impressive. Usually I have to add in aisles like baby items and greeting cards but they’re covered here. You can drag the aisles up and down to rearrange how they’ll appear on your list. You can also add in your own aisles too. (To get to the “edit aisles” option you have to tap the “Go Shopping” button.)

Now for the things I didn’t like so much.

*As of right now you cannot delete items that came on the master list. You can delete the items that you add but not the original items. When you tap on the item name you’ll see a trash can icon but it doesn’t work yet. Keith tells me this is going to change in version 1.2 which should be coming by the end of next month.

*At the top of the master list is a button that says “My Common Items”. Tap on this and you’ll see a predetermined list of items. Right now you can’t manually add items to this list. But as you create shopping shopping lists the app will add the items you shop for most frequently to the common items. You also can’t delete the predetermined “common items”. Keith tells me this is also going to be changing in version 1.2. I like the idea of having the app automatically adding the items that I use most. That saves me a step but I also want some control too.

*In other apps, when you have items on your list (but you don’t have the app open) the number of items shows up in a red circle near the app’s icon. That was a long sentence. The point is, GroceryList doesn’t have that feature yet.

*The $4.99 price seems a tad too high.

Ok, now that I’ve gone through all of that I’m going to tell you that I plan on keeping GroceryList on my phone. I really like the basics of it and I think with the tweaks that are planned it’s going to be a nice, easy to use grocery list. Keith tells me that he is also working on creating a multiple list feature which is a big thing for me. I want to be able to separate my Costco list from my regular groceries. Overall GroceryList is fast, there’s something to be said for being able to create a list with a few taps and it absolutely beats a crumpled paper in the bottom of my purse.

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

Seller: Helium Foot Software

Yadahome.com is a website that lets you manage your family life online. You can create To Do lists, grocery lists, and a shareable family calendar. You can keep an online journal, store photos, and save recipes and personal contacts information. There is also a social networking side to the site and a tie in to coupons.com for grocery savings. I haven’t tried out the website because my personal system, as hare-brained and scattered as it may seem to everyone else, is working for me. But Yadahome.com also has an iPhone app called Organizer: ToDo+Calendar+Lists, and that I have tried. The organizer app has three sections – Calendar, To Do List and Grocery Lists. I’ll break them down one at a time.

Calendar – This  is a basic calendar that can be viewed either a month or day at a time. It’s easy enough to enter in the names, dates and times of your events. You’re also able to input any specific details that you  need to remember. When you’re done and looking at the month calendar there will be a dot on the date with your event, it looks similar to the iPhone’s built in calendar. You can then tap on the date and tap on the event name to see the details. If you’re at the daily calendar then your event will show up in a list for that day.

To Do List – The To Do List portion of the app works with folders. You create folders and then within those folders you add your To Do items. The app comes with several folders already set up. There are the folders of “Due Today”, “Overdue” “All”, “Open” and “Completed”. You’ve also got “Family”, “Personal”, “Work” and “School”.  If you need something more specific you can create your own folders. When you add a task to a list you will name it, add any notes, mark the due date, it’s priority and what folder it belongs in. Now the task will show up in the appropriate folder, listed in order of priority. You can customize which folders show up by tapping on “Hide” near the top of the screen. Next to each one on the list is a button that says “Show”. Tap on that and it turns to “Hide”, hiding the folder from your main list. You can always get it back by tapping “Hide” and switching back to “Show”. (As long as a folder has items in it you won’t be able to hide it.) Your “Due Today” and “Overdue” items are also accessible from the main YadaHome screen. There are two buttons at the bottom that will take you directly to those lists. 

Grocery List – The Grocery List part of the app is very basic. You create  a list and then add in items one at a time. You can only add in the name of an item, not a quantity, aisle location or price. When you are shopping off your list you’ll need to tap on the item to mark it off the list.

Organizer:ToDo+Calendar+List isn’t bad for a free app and it’s got some features that would probably work for me. Out of the app’s three parts the one that I personally would use is the To Do Lists. For me, the Grocery List is too basic and I don’t want to replace my iPhone calendar because it syncs up to Google calendar and I automatically get everyone’s schedules, without a membership fee. I’m going to stick with what I’m already using but if you haven’t found an organizational/calendar system that works for you there’s no better starting place than a free app.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: Yadahome.com, LLC

My Town provides a way for moms to store and sort contacts that are useful in their everyday mom life. The app comes with a list of categories that are ready for you to enter in contacts. Some of the categories are doctors, emergency room, library, police and fire departments, vet, schools, neighbors and relatives. There are quite a few more including “court house”. I hope that I never need to call that one on a regular basis but I guess you never know what life’s going to bring. Entering in the contacts is easy and the app has a nice, straightforward feel to it. You choose a category  and then enter in the name, phone number, address, email, website, etc. You can also add a photo.

There are a few things that I found tricky with this app. When you are entering in a phone number the app doesn’t automatically enter in the dashes between numbers. For example, you enter in 5551234 for the number 555-1234. This felt a little odd to me at first. After you enter in the information you have to restart the app before the contact shows up in your list. Once you’ve done that you’ll see a “My Town Call List” that shows the numbers you’ve entered. From here you can just tap on the name and it will automatically dial the phone number. This is great but I couldn’t find a way to see all of the other information I had entered in on this list. To see find that I had to look up the contact again in the edit screen. I know that the one tap dialing feature is nice and efficient but it might be worth one more tap so you could easily view the other information too. A suggestion that I’d like to make is to add the ability to import contacts into My Town from the iPhone’s contact list. This would be a huge help for me because it would eliminate the need to reenter information I’ve already got on my phone.

My Town has a nice feel to it and I like the idea of having the ability to keep all my momcentric contacts in a single location. The way my iPhone is setup my contacts from Gmail automatically show up on my iPhone. So I get contacts that I only email occasionally mixed in with those that I call on a daily basis. There are times when this no longer bothers me and times when it irritates me like crazy.  However, it’d be nice to have another option for seeing my most important contacts, in one place and grouped into categories that pertained to my life.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: tapunited

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Percentally was designed as a tool for tracking the progress of special education students as they work towards goals. One of the co-developers of Percentally is a Speech-Language Pathologist and you can tell that this is an app which would be useful in tracking progress in that type of work. Percentally allows you to keep track of tally marks and then automatically turns them into percentages, without having to do the math yourself. Once you’ve created the data the app allows you to copy it onto a clipboard, google spreadsheet or email.

Why would I need an app like Percentally on my iPhone? I have had to keep tallies and figure out percentages when volunteering in the classroom. I have had to keep tallies at my kids’ sporting events. I could see myself handing the app over to my kids and telling them to keep tally of how many blue cars we saw on a road trip. Anything for road trip entertainment, right? This isn’t an app that I personally would use everyday but I could find uses for it.

I’m going to admit that I found Percentally tough to figure out at first. My brain doesn’t do certain things very well and percentages are one of those things. I like to think that at one time I could have easily  understood the concept but four kids later and now I’m operating with a much smaller amount of brain power. But from what I can tell this is an app that those of you with fully intact brains who are geared towards this type of thing will have no trouble understanding. The developers provide a very thorough explanation of the app on their website. There are FAQs, tutorials and screenshots to walk you through the process of using the app.

*Eric Sailers also provided me with a list he’s compiled of apps that can be used in Special Education settings. You can see that list here.

Price when Reviewed: $2.99

Seller: Rinn Apps

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

iUmmm is meant to be used as a tool for helping you improve your ability to communicate with others. It helps you keep track of how many times you say those distracting things like “like” or “ummm”. The idea is to keep track of how often they’re creeping into your speech and then work on saying them less. You can choose one of the app’s preset words or add in a new word of your own. In our house that would be the word “So”. It’s too much a part of our conversations so we need to work on not saying it so we don’t sound like we just want the conversation to go on and on so that no one else can talk. Phew.

Once you’ve set up the words that you’d like to work on you simply tap on the number shown beside the word. This keeps a score of how often the word has been spoken. You can track several different people and view reports on how everyone is doing. iUmmm also includes a timer that you can use to keep track of how long a speech or presentation has gone on. And on.

As a mom, I find that there are plenty of words my kids pick up at school that I’d rather they not say at all. iUmmm could be very useful at the dinner table if I wanted to keep track of what words they were using. We could set goals for ourselves and use the app to track our progress towards perfectly eloquent speech. Personally, I’d want to know when someone was tracking my speech so I think that for us, openess would be key. No secretly counting how many times Daddy voices his opinions with “uhhh” because he’s got an iPhone too and I don’t want him counting up all of my “ya knows”.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Scott Singer

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

In September I reviewed the eWallet app. It’s an app that will help you keep track of the information you keep in your wallet and much, much more. There is also a version of eWallet that will work on your computer. It’s a great way to keep your information in several places yet also keep it synchronized and current. Ilium Software has recently put out a version 7.0 of this software. The interface is easier to use, it works with Windows 7 and has many more upgrades. Visit their website to learn more about the product. If you purchase eWallet for Windows, Windows Mobile or Blackberry you are eligible for a free upgrade.

Did anyone out there know that Walmart has a website and an iPhone app dedicated to recipes and entertaining? I had no idea until recently and I’m one of their best customers. The website and app are called Make it @Home.  The site features tips, videos, recipes and a tool to create a personalized grocery list.  The app allows you to create new grocery lists or import those that you’ve saved on the website. There are also several recipes and a Walmart store locator. The app’s grocery list feature is very straightforward. It comes with preset items or you can add your own custom ones. Make it @Home is a free app and if you’re still looking around for a grocery list app why not try it? It’s not as rich in features as some of the others but it’s straightforward, easy to use and free.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: Lunchbox

Lately, I’ve received a few Christmas Apps lately for review. Here they are, along with some brief thoughts.

*Grinchmas – This app is an officially licensed Dr. Seuss product. Grinchmas lets you be THE Grinch. If you are in a mean mood you can throw snowballs down at Who houses. If you are a merry Grinch you’ll get to deliver presents. It’s all done by the swipe of a finger. A fun little app to relieve frustrations after hitting the mall.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99/Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.

Dr. Seuss Camera: The Grinch Edition – Lately I’ve been feeling more like the Grinch than Mrs. Clause. This clever little app can actually make me look like part. You choose from twenty Grinch themed cards and then take a picture of yourself, or someone else, and add it to the card. You can add in stickers and borders before saving the card or emailing it out. You can see what you’d look like as Cindy-Lou Who or even the green guy himself. My one complaint about the app was not being able to use photos already in my camera library. Now they’ve got an update coming soon to add on that feature which makes this a perfectly silly and perfectly fun Christmas app for your phone. I think I may send out all my Christmas cards using Grinch cards this year. It’d be appropriate! This is another officially licensed Dr. Seuss product (2/13/10) Update is working – you can now use photos from your Camera Roll or Photo Library.

Price when Reviewed: $2.99/Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.

*Christmas Matching for Kids – A simple Christmas themed matching game. It features three different levels of difficulty, a timer to see how long your game takes and the ability to score (or lose) points. Cute.

Price when Reviewed: $.99/Seller: Alexandre Minard

*Santa’s Village – Wander around Santa’s Village and explore the different sights. Tap on one of the different areas in the village (snowman, ice rink, workshop, etc.) and you can play a different Christmas themed game. The graphics are cute, the music is a nice blend of Christmas songs and the games are even a bit educational.

Price when Reviewed: Free for limited time/Seller: Ensena Soft

*Match & Learn – Holiday Edition- Another holiday themed app but with tons of options. Five levels of difficulty and six different themes for the matching games. Two of those levels are holiday pictures but the rest involve the ABCs and 123s. As you make matches the cards are removed to reveal a hidden picture. You’ll want to try and make a guess about the picture before it’s completely unveiled.

Price when Reviewed: $.99 (there is a free version available)/ Seller: Sookie Solutions, LLC

* Christmas List - Last year I searched through a few apps, looking for a holiday shopping list one that would work for me. I couldn’t find one I really liked but now I’ve got one. The Christmas List is an excellent way to keep track of your Christmas shopping. It’s well designed and developed and (best of all) easy to use. You won’t need to spend hours reading over the help menu before you are able to use the app. The Christmas List lets you create groups and people for your list. (People can be stored in groups.) You add on a gift by tapping the present icon and then filling out the forms. Fill in the name of the gift, what type of a need it is (maybe, definitely wants or must have), what store it can be found in, the price and any notes. The Christmas List has a built in list of stores but if you can’t find yours then add it in and the app will remember it as an option next time. The app will display all the gifts you’ve entered, just the purchased ones or the ones you need to purchase. It can sort your gift list by person or the stores they are found in. It also keeps track of how much money you’ve spent and what you still need to do. A great feature is the ability to attach a photo to an item on The Christmas List. My shopping is thankfully almost done but I’ll keep this one for next year, it’s my favorite gift shopping app so far and I hope there is a birthday gift version soon!

Price when Reviewed: $1.99-I just got word there is a “Lite” version of The Christmas List now available/Seller: Limbua.com

Photos Plus gives you an easy way to organize all the miscellaneous photos on your iPhone. It allows you to tag your photos and then organizes and lists them alphabetically by those tags. When you open up the app you can see the list of tags so your pictures are easily found.  You can go through your iPhone’s photo albums and tag pictures from that but you can also tag photos before you even take them. To do this you select a tag from the tag list you’ve created. Now at the bottom of the screen you’ll see a camera icon. Tap that, take your picture and it will appear on your list.

A few more things:  When you are viewing an individual photo you’ll see the button on the bottom with the curvy arrow. The one that usually means you can email something…anyone know what that button is called? When you tap that button in Photos Plus you’ll see a list of things you can do. Here you can choose to add a new tag and this allows you to create multiple tags for your photo. You can also remove a tag. There’s an option to crop your photo as well. With the email option you can send your photo to a Flickr or TwitPic account. Lastly, you can upload your photos directly to Facebook. One thing that I’d like to see in an update is the ability to zoom.

My camera is too big to lug around everywhere so the iPhone camera has given me the chance to capture moments that I might otherwise have missed. I love having these pictures but my cluttered camera roll is a bit of a mess. Photos Plus was developed by a stay at home mom who saw a need for some organization in her own phone. She’s put together a clean, smooth app that’s easy to use and meets a need that I have (and I’m guessing I’m not alone) with my phone. Hooray for that!

*If you’ve got questions about how it all works visit the Photos Plus FAQ page. It explains all the uses of Photos Plus much better then I ever could.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Just For Fun Apps