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.

Siri Assistant is billed as your new personal assistant, who just happens to be an iPhone app. It combines a smorgasbord of different information into one app that is also very easy to use. You can ask Siri to do all sorts of things for you. Find a restaurant, check the weather, book a taxi, find an ATM and more. It pulls in search information from bing, yelp, Yahoo, Citysearch and movietickets.com just to name a few places. You can type in what you’re looking for or say it out loud to the app. Siri uses dictation software from Nuance and it worked like a charm for me. It even deciphered what my 5 year old was asking for and we can’t even do that much of the time. Tonight I was looking for an alternative to cooking dinner so I told Siri I wanted to find a take out restaurant nearby. It used my location to pull up a list of choices along with their addresses and phone numbers. Some restaurants even had reviews that were pulled from the web. If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for then you can let Siri “guide” you. The main screen provides a list of things that it can help you with. Restaurants, movies, events, local businesses, taxis and weather. You can tap on one of these and then continue to make selections that will narrow down your search results.

Siri keeps a running list of what you’ve used it for. This way you can scroll up and down the screen to look things over again. This list disappears when you shut down the app but the next time you open it the searches will be available via the “Recents” button at the bottom of the screen. Siri also has the ability to send you email reminders about anything you like. You simply set it up, choose when (and how often) you’d like to be reminded and the next thing you know you’ll have a friendly reminder in your inbox.

It didn’t take me much time to learn how to use Siri but I’m still discovering all the things it can do.  I’m impressed with how quickly it pulls up information and how relevant that information is. There’s no need to visit Safari and click through search results anymore. Throw in the app’s solid dictation ability and I’m sold.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: Siri

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.

Kid Point Tracking allows you to use your iPhone to keep track of “points” for your children. Some people use sticker charts to reward their child’s behavior. Some people use points and this would be the app for those people. You’ll want to begin in the setup section of the app. First, add in your children. You can track up to ten children’s points. That’s a lot of children! You’ll be asked to enter their names, age and add a photo if you like. Now back on the setup screen you’ll want to edit the categories. These are the categories for the different “actions” you want your child performing. Kid Point Tracking comes preset with the categories of morning, noon, evening, household and manners. You can change the name of these categories or add in entirely new ones of your own. The last thing to set up are the actions and point values. In this setup you’ll see the actions grouped by the categories I just mentioned. Tap on an action to edit it’s name, change the amount of points it’s worth or the category it’s placed in. Again, if the app doesn’t already list what you’re looking for you can enter in a new action of your own. Make sure you select a category for your action.

Once you’ve finished the setup you’re ready to enter in points. Back on the app’s home screen you’ll want to tap the large button that says “Record Points”. This takes you to a screen listing all of your children along with their daily and weekly balance of points. Tap the child you’re working with and then the category that applies. Now you’ll see a screen with a wheel showing all the actions for that particular category. Spin the wheel until you’ve reached the one you want and then tap “Record Points”. The points assigned to that action will now show up in the child’s point balance. Kid Point Tracking will also provide you with reports outlining how your children are doing with their progress.

I like the way Kid Point Tracking allows you to customize categories, actions and points. I think it’s also important that they allow you to add in your own ideas. This lets you fit the app to your family’s situation. I found the setup to be an easy process and it flowed well. Recording points worked well too but it took me a little longer to get the hang of it. It almost felt as if there was one too many steps to the process but as I think on it I’m not sure what step I’d eliminate. Overall the app ran smoothly, the information is all displayed in a nice, clean design and it does exactly what it says it will.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Juicebox Software

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

This app review is one that all of the men who proudly visit the iPhone Mom might want to just skip on past. I don’t think you’ll be able to relate to this one but I guess you never know. iPilule is a birth control reminder app. You set up the time of day that you normally take your pills and also the date when you first started your pill cycle. Once you’ve enabled push notifications for iPilule you will receive an automatic notice when it’s time to take your pill. This notification will come every day for twenty-one days. Then for the next seven days you won’t receive a notification until it’s time to start up again.  You can easily turn off the alarm if you’re going to be somewhere that you don’t want a reminder popping up on your phone.  A future update will allow you to customize your alarm cycle in case your pills don’t follow the 21 days on/7 days off pattern. If you find yourself having trouble remembering  those tiny little pills then iPilule will be sure to give you a nice, friendly, fairly subtle reminder.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Simon Dawlat

Reward charts can be a parent’s best friend. We’ve used them to reward potty training, chores, saying prayers and much more. I even use them with myself from time to time. I’ve got various cupboards, mirrors and walls in my house that are covered with charts. I’ve come to accept it as part of my decor and when I was asked to take a look at the app iRewardChart and the thought of consolidating all our various charts seemed appealing.

The app is very easy to use. You begin by setting up accounts for your children. You add their name and a picture and then edit the tasks you want them to work on. Tasks are grouped into different categories: behavior, chores, responsibility and other. There is a well rounded list of preset tasks but if you don’t find one that fits your situation you can add it on. Some of my favorite tasks on the list are take bath (my son could have an entire chore chart dedicated to this task), no interrupting, no whining and eat fruit. All worthy things to work on. You can choose different tasks for each child. Once you’ve chosen the tasks they will show up on your child’s main page with empty stars next to them. The stars correspond with a day of the week and the idea is to tap a star when the task is completed for the day. The star will fill in and be added to a balance total shown at the top right of the screen. After your child has earned a few stars you’ll want to tap the “Balance” button to see a balance sheet. This shows the total number of stars earned and also breaks them down by weeks.  You’ll also see a big yellow button that says “Payout”. Tap this and your child can redeem the stars for rewards. You are able to set these rewards and when your child chooses one the number of stars it “costs” will be deducted from their balance. Again, iRewardChart comes with a preset list of rewards but you can create your own. You do this back on your child’s main page by tapping a small button that reads “Setup”. This screen allows you to add new rewards and also adjust the star amounts for preset rewards. From what I can tell any custom tasks that you add will show up as a choice for every child but custom rewards only show up on the list of the child you originally added them for.

I found iRewardChart to be extremely useful and easy to work with. I especially appreciated all the customization that it provides. The developers have done a nice job combining the chart and rewards into one app and I think the idea of a star payout is clever. We’ll be using this app but unfortunately, I don’t think it will work with all my kids. This is not due to the app (it’s terrific!) but the fact that some of my kiddos need a constant visual reminder of what they’re working on. If it’s in an app on mom’s iPhone they’ll forget. If it’s hanging on the bathroom mirror they just might remember. For those that don’t need a paper to mark off iRewardChart is a great way to go.

Price: $4.99

Seller: GotClues Inc.

*There is a lite version of iRewardChart that is available. However, it will only keep track of one child and three tasks per week.

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.

I use Quicken Online Mobile in combination with the Quicken Online website. We’ve used Quicken software for our personal finances for many moons. It works but I was somehow always off in my register. Not off by pennies or dimes but more. Much more. Don’t ask me how I did this but every time I’d start over again and within a couple of months I was off. Which meant that when I reconciled things with the bank I had to do all the subtraction myself anyway. Kind of defeats the purpose of using software doesn’t it?  My husband upgraded my OS a few months ago and I couldn’t find my Quicken CD to reinstall the software on my PC. While I was searching for help online I discovered that Quicken offers a free online tool. It’s basically Quicken on the internet and you record all of your transactions there. It automatically reconciles with the accounts you setup so you are always up to date. There are some quirks to using it and it’s taken some getting used to but it’s working fairly well for me. I’m hoping as they continue to upgrade and rework things it’ll become even more user friendly. What I really like about using the mobile version of Quicken is the fact that there’s an app that syncs with my online account. I open up the app and there’s my account information, all the good, bad and ugly right there on my phone. I can see the projected outlook for my account (ugly), the activity (bad) and I’ve got the ability to add in transactions using the app (good if I remember to do this!). Whatever I add in the app shows up in my account online and whatever I do online shows up in my app. No excuse for not knowing what’s what. Which I suppose is a good thing!

I’ve also tried out Mint.com (a similar online money management tool) and they too have an iPhone app. I didn’t like it as well as Quicken but I know people who absolutely rave about it. It’s a very thorough experience but I, personally, preferred the simpler Quicken, even with it’s quirks.  Interestingly, Quicken recently purchased Mint so I wonder if they’ll eventually merge together. It’d be great if they took the best of both websites and created something financially spectacular. As spectacular as my bank account always being reconciled now!

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: Intuit, Inc.

I was asked to review Beauty Minder and it got me thinking that I wish I had the time to go and beautify myself more often. The concept behind this app is to have the ability to store all of your beauty appointments in one location. It comes preset for the categories of hair, nails, waxing, skin care, massage and dermatology. But you’re able to add your own categories for whatever other things you think should be included. You can also customize the icons you use for the categories.

To use Beauty Minder you simply pick your category then add the place and date of your appointment. Reminders can be set up so you always know what’s coming.  Upcoming appointments will show up on the home screen but can also be viewed on a “Calendar” screen where they’re grouped by months. The places that have been recorded will show up together on the “Places” screen. I like this feature because it has all of your beauty contacts stored in one handy location. When you’re adding in an appointment you can also enter in it’s cost. If you do this then you can track your spending and you can view the costs as an annual or monthly total. That could be frightening. Some husbands should probably not see that screen.

Right now my beauty appointments consist of a haircut every two to three months, if I’m lucky. But I’ve got kids who need haircuts too so I could add those in to make myself feel like I had more going on. If you have a lot of personal maintenance type appointments you can keep track of them with the iPhone calendar. But if you want to see them all together, manage their contact information and track the cost this is a well done, dedicated app.

Price when Reviewed: $3.99

Seller: Outside Ventures, LLC

I love OurKids! The concept is great and the developers have created an app that you can use quickly and effectively. Both key things when you’re a busy mom. This app gives you a way to easily record family events, memories, baby milestones – whatever is important to you. It’s billed as a multi-media journal. You begin with a blank entry and then type in whatever it is that you want to remember. You can rate the event using a “five-star” system, you can add a new photo, an audio recording or a picture from your iPhone album. When you’re done the entry is added to a list that displays events chronologically and this list is searchable. Type in a word and if it shows up in an entry you’ll see the entry displayed. When you are viewing entries you can advance through them like a slide show and you’re also able to email them out. If you choose to do this then the text you typed and the photo you added will be placed in an email for you. Finally, you can use your phone’s built in GPS to mark the spot where the event took place.

My one issue with Our Kids is that you can’t change the date of an entry. When I entered in something that happened two weeks ago there was no way to adjust the date. It simply showed up as today’s date. That’s a bit of a bummer because sometimes things can’t be recorded right at the instant they happen. It’d be nice to be able to back track and still save the moment. Maybe a thought for future updates? It’d also be great to see an update where you could tag things – maybe by child, or holiday. To be able to sort/view the events by tags would be a nice alternative to viewing them chronologically.

Overall I’m loving Our Kids and it’s one that’s staying on my phone and will be put to use. I’m excited with the thought of being able to record our family’s history whenever I’ve got some down time. If that ever happens.

Price when Reviewed: $3.99

*There is a free version of Our Kids that’s available and according to the App Store description it’s the same as the paid one except for occasional requests to purchase the regular version to support the app’s development. I’d encourage you to do exactly that!

Seller: MKSolutions