iOS Mobile Apps to Operate Your Small Business

Mobile Apps on your iOS iPhone or iPad devices can really help you manage your business while on the go.

Productivity

1. GoogleDrive – I can access and edit my basic word processing files, spreadsheets, and presentations here.  I also can upload photos and any other files that I save here.
2. Things iPhone iPad – The best app in GTD systems. Track your tasks here.
3. Mindjet iPhone iPad – mindmap brainstorming at it’s best.  I use this to present to clients a project outline.
4. Mindjet Tasks – If you set dates on various items in your mindmap, this will help you track those projects.
5. Remember the Milk – I use RTM for my daily social media routine.
6. IFTTT – new to iOS, If This Then That can automate various tasks.  I use it to send any photo I share on instagram to a post on my personal blog.  There are lots of other uses too, called “recipes”.
7. Moleskine – a digital journal.  Used with my Bamboo stylus, it makes taking notes on my iPad feel similar to a traditional pen and paper.
8. Basecamp – I track my projects with clients and teammembers in Basecamp online.  The app is a quick overview of the projects, and allows me to add things to different projects.
9. WordPress – While blogging on mobile can be a pain, I use the WordPress app on my iPhone for easily uploading photos to posts and on my iPad I combine it with a keyboard for decent typing.

Appointments and Directions

1. Waze – On your way to meet a client?  Waze is my go-to GPS driving map app.  It is crowd-sourced, and can automatically re-route me around traffic.
2. GoTime – By accessing your calendar and appointments, GoTime will remind you ahead to leave.  It looks at Waze and Apple Maps to see if traffic is a problem, and you can make it notify you on how far ahead to remind you to leave for your next meeting.
3. Fantastical – adding appointments to your calendar using standard language is now much easier.
4. Doodle – allow clients to see if your calendar is free or busy, request a meeting, etc.  It interfaces to your Google Calendar

Social Media News

1. Feedly – my RSS news reader of choice
2. Zite – based upon my RSS subscriptions, Zite suggests related content to what I already subscribe to.  I can vote each article as relevant for me or not, and follow specific topics.

Utilities

1. Speedtest
2. Flashlight
3. Mirror
4. Converter+
5. iDashboard

Business Maintenance

1. Square Wallet and Square Register – use Wallet as a consumer to pay at participating merchanges.  Register is for business owners to accept payment via Wallet, and by swiping or manually entering credit cards.
2. Mailchimp – Want to check in on your newsletter list or add a few people manually?  Use the app on the go.
3. PayPal and PayPal for Business – PayPal as the consumer, and PayPal for business is similar to Square Register.
4. Freshbooks – track your time on client projects and send invoices
5. PDFpen iPhone iPad – have people sign pdf files in person using a stylus.  Edit and rearrange document files as well.
6. Authorize.net – if you use Authorize.net as a payment system in your business, you can check on your account and use it process transactions in person.

Business Cards

1. Cardmunch – now owned by LinkedIn, scan your business cards and look up contacts on LinkedIn.
2. Hello by Evernote – save business cards to your Evernote account
3. Contacts by LinkedIn – Search your contacts on your phone to find on LinkedIn, or search your LinkedIn contacts for phone and email information.

Presentation Tools:

1. Keynote – create and edit slide presentations.  Use this to present via an iPad/iPhone over Apple TV.   iCloud syncs to your computer, but can be a bit clunky. 
2. Keynote Remote – use the remote on your iPhone to control the slide advancement of Keynote on your laptop. You can see your notes and the view of the current slide on your phone.
3. Prezi iPhone iPad – Prezi is the anti-slide deck.  It is a great wide open canvas that allows you to animate and zoom in ways that are non-linear.  Use this app to present over Apple TV to a tv or projector.
4. Haiku Deck – a slidedeck presentation app that uses legal open source photos and helps you find other web related content
5. Numbers – like Excel, but made by Apple.  This is useful rarely, but can be a lifesaver in those key moments. iCloud syncs to your computer, but can be a bit clunky.
6. Pages – Like Word, but made by Apple.  This is the easiest way to use wordprocessing.  iCloud syncs to your computer, but can be a bit clunky.

Social Media for Business Managers

1. Facebook Pages – want to manage your company page and know that it won’t be mixed up with posting as your personal profile on the business page?  Use this also to schedule your updates.
2. Foursquare for Business – see who has checked in to your venue, publish offers, and share status updates.
3. Google Offers for Business – Offers existed initially in Google Places, and is merging into Google+ Local Pages.  Update your business this way.
4. HootSuite – Want to easily update the status for your business accounts on all major social networks?  This will work wonderfully, allow you to schedule specific times or allow Hootsuite to determine what time is best to send.