7 Best Apps of 2019 So Far (Part I)
New apps for remote collaboration, fast-tracked knowledge, coding for non-coders, and mental health management begin our 7 Best Apps of 2019 (So Far).
We build apps. Last month we made our first foray into the world of Augmented Reality with an icebreaker and networking app. Next up is a blockchain-powered platform for the investor-startup ecosystem.
I rounded up the Metier Digital team and asked them what apps have they been really getting into this year. Naturally, I had to jettison a couple of initial answers and ask them to think again so we sound much cooler than we are!
So, rest assured this list doesn’t include anything ordinary like “Monzo” or “thetrainline”. And that although you may have not heard of these seven apps, they are definitely worth checking out.
appear.in — Sunette Coetzee, Senior Project Manager
appear.in is like Skype 2.0.
It makes remote collaboration easy by offering video calls for up to four cameras. The USP is that there is no registration or log-in: you just create your own ‘room’ using a custom URL and away you go. Considering Skype requires logins and passwords from accounts we all made fifteen years ago and have since forgotten, this is a massive boon.
“It makes our lives easier. Most of the [Metier] team are in London, but I live in Cape Town, so we use it every day for our morning team huddle,” says Sunette.
“Plus, some of our remote developers operate out of Eastern Europe and South Asia, so appear.in has quickly become an essential business tool for us.”
Blinkist — Nana Parry, CEO
You may have heard of the Blinkist as it’s been advertising on lots of the podcasts recently. Blinkist summarises the salient moments and key takeaways from 3000+ nonfiction books into 15 minute “Blinks”; meaning you can turn your daily commute into a knowledge-quest.
Nana says, “The irony of running a business is that I want to learn and read a lot about Leadership and Management, but I don’t have much time to read books to completion!”
“Blinkist solves this by pulling out the key points and giving me summaries I can remember”.
The Blinkist has a free, one-blink-a-day option and the paid subscription offers unlimited access to the library.
Coda — Dan Parry, Product Manager
Coda’s enormous raft of app templates get techie-creatives like Dan Parry very excited. Think next generation spreadsheets that could make Excel a thing of the past.
“I’m a big fan of Coda because I’m not a fan of coding!”, laughs Dan.
“Of course, being able to code is a super-important skill, but that should only be for super-complex things… For everyday tasks like building CVPs [Commercially Viable Products], I want to be able to do that quickly, without hiring an expensive software engineer, or bugging Seb [Metier’s in-house developer].”
Coda is completely free which is incredible given the quality of the product. But in some respects there’s still a barrier to entry: you have to be a certain type of person to ‘get’ coda…
Daylio — Mionah Abbassi Larsen, UX Designer
“I’ve found this app really good for my mental health and I use it daily,” smiles Mio.
Daylio is a mood-tracker-slash-micro-diary that allows users to log their mental state in relation to their daily activities, work-life balance and sleep-quality.
“It makes it possible for me to track and validate theories of what makes me happy and what makes me sad. So, for example, I’ll be able to see that on all the days I was feeling happy I was playing board games with my friends, and all the days I was feeling unhappy, I didn’t sleep too well.
Digital wellbeing should be at the top of all our app-lists. Get Daylio now.
Until Next Time
These four apps have covered quite a diverse mix: digital communications, knowledge-cramming, coding, and mental health.
Let’s hope the other half of Metier Digital have got equally interesting app-recommendations to share.
No pressure, guys.
Craig is a writer for Metier Digital, a London-based company that helps businesses build cost-effective apps.
