My iPad does mostly everything for me. It definitely keeps me productive. The home screen is where it all happens for me.

It’s the most important piece of digital real estate I have! 

Here what I have on the home screen:

• Settings/Apps Folder: I have the settings app and the app store app hear. I seem to be in and out of the settings app enough that I want it handy. I also don’t like to have the auto update on for my apps. I like to take the time and review the new features on the app so I leave it on the home screen.
• Productivity Folder: These are apps that I use often but not all the time. I like to have them handy.
  • MindPreview : Everyone needs a good mind mapping app.  Before I start any big project I mind map it. If something is on my  mind I mind map. It’s my go to brainstorming tool of choice.
  • Toggl : Do you need to track time on different projects? That’s what toggl does.
  • Grafio : Org charts, flow charts and any other kind of chart you can think of is what Grafio does and does well.
  • Corkulus Pro : I use Corkulus to make my vision boards. Click here to see how I use it.
  • AnyList :  Need to make a list? In steps AnyList. I use it all the time. Click here to find out more.
  • Work Flowy : This is a simple outlining tool. It’s not my preferred method but it works well and has a webb app which can be handly.
  • Noteshelf : One of the best handwriting apps I’ve used. I’ve tried many and this has some great features. I like the zoom, the inking feels great and you can import your own backgrounds. Plus is syncs to Evernote and Dropbox.
• Social Folder: Pinterest/Messenger/Buffer/Facebook/Linkedin I put these into a folder. I want these apps easy to access but not so easy that I get distracted by them. I want to make sure I check them since I have client that might be posting to Pinterest for example. I might also have someone waiting on Linkedin to connect with me.
• MS Office Online : This has been a game changer for me in the past year. Word/Excel/Power Point have been a staple part of my computing needs for decades. When I first started using the iPad I searched for apps to replace these apps. I used pages/numbers/keynote when I used the iPad. With iCloud these where now available through my web browser. It worked fine but at my office we are PC based I just can’t get away from Microsoft. There workarounds but with the office suite now available online and with apps for iOS devices I have no reasons to use any workarounds. I store most of my documents in one drive and can access them anywhere. The word online versions is feature rich enough so that I rarely need to use the full version. The changes sync instantly and even sync when the document is open in multiple places. It truly let’s me be iPad only.
• Clock : This is the default app that came loaded on the ipad. I like the fact that it is a working “old fashioned” clock. Also the stopwatch and timer features are handy.
• Camera: I take a lot of video with my iPad. I like to have this app easy to get to.
• Kindle App for iPad: I do all my reading from the kindle app. One of the best features is the ability to retrieve your notes and highlights online from Amazon.
• Feedly: If you subscribe to an RSS feed then you should try Feedly. It’s a great app and has a nice web app.  It’s feature rich, oh and it’s free.
• Pocket : I love this app for saving material from the web to read later. I  use this app when I’m scanning my from Twitter feed. When I find content that I want to read I save it to pocket.
• Twitter: I have this app visible since I use it to communicate a lot of information. It’s one of my primary tools for building my brand.
• Day One: This is my journaling app. I have a template in Text Expander that I use to help format my entries. Day One is great! It’s secure with a password, searchable, has a tag system and you can exports pdf’s.
• Dropbox: I store all my active documents here. It’s an essential app for me.
• Evernote: Don’t leave home without! Really it’s that good. Many people have called Evernote their digital brain. It is for me. I have many posts dedicated to Evernote.
• PDF Expert: I find this to be one of the best PDF reader programs out there. It has a lot of great editing tools. They now have a cloud so you can retrieve your documents through the web. And it exports directly to Evernote.
• Reminders – I’ve gone back to the built in reminders app. It syncs across my devices and I can use Siri to create a reminder. This one feature alone is worth using this app.
• Alarmed: This is a feature rich reminder app. You can set up repeating reminders and it has a nag feature that is handy.
• Calculator HD Pro: This is great app. I love that it has a tape feature. It records everything you type so you can double check what you’ve inputted. Also you can email the tape.
• Google Chrome: I still use chrome and I really like but Safari has taken it’s place as my browser of choice.
• Messages: I like the bigger keyboard for sending text messages to people.
• Twitter: Twitter has become very important to me that I check it at planned intervals during the day. I treat it like email now. I don’t want it to be a distraction but it’s important for me to stay in touch on twitter.

• Gmail: I use Gmail for my personal emails.

Here’s what I have in the tray at the bottom:

• Calendar: This is the built in app and it works fine for me. All my calendars sync back to this one so I can see everything here.
• Contacts: This is the built in app and it syncs with my Google account.
• Mail: I have all my email accounts on this app.
• Safari: Safari is now integrated into everything that I need to use it.
• Nozbe: This is my primary productivity app.
• PocketCloud: This is a great app I use all the time. It’s a remote desktop log in for my work computer. But it looks like it’s no longer available.

Are you using your iPad to keep you productive, if so let me know about it on Twitter.