Your smartphone is a powerful tool. It can improve your productivity or worsen your procrastination. Rather than mindlessly scroll through Facebook, take control and use your phone to help you meet your goals, better organize your life, and keep your home safer. Try out these eight ways to make smarter use of your cellphone and see how your electronic sidekick can help you change your habits.
Eat, Drink, and Move Healthier
Many smartphones have built-in health apps you can take advantage of, but Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen app—available on iOS and Android—is ideal if you're looking for something more specific to help you meet your goals.
This app is designed to help users live long and healthy lives. Based on nutrition-expert Dr. Greger's extensive research, the app lists everything science says you should eat, drink, and do daily to maximize your well-being. Every time you eat a portion of fruit, for example, you check off one of that day's recommended fruit servings. You can keep track of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, water, beans, and exercise.
Increase Your Home Security and Automate Your Appliances
Your smartphone can give you greater control over your home's safety and automate your household when connected to your security system and smart home devices.
You can use your phone to receive notifications when someone enters your property, view a livestream of your home's security cameras, and remotely access to smart devices like light bulbs and coffeemakers. For instance, with WeMo—available in iOS and Android—you can turn anything you plug in, into an automated device.With all these abilities, your smartphone can help you feel safer and more confident that your home is protected, and avoid those moments of panic when you can't remember if you turned the oven off.
Save Money Easily
If you struggle to put money into a savings account, Digit—available on iOS and Android—could be great for you. Connect the app to your checking account and Digit will transfer small, almost unnoticeable amounts of money to your FDIC-insured Digit savings account. This allows you to save money without thinking about it and grow your savings easily over time.
You can adjust how much you want Digit to save, and it tracks your spending history to guarantee it transfers only amounts you're unlikely to miss. So if your balance ever gets low, you don't need to worry about Digit further depleting it.
Take Better Photos
Smartphone cameras are regularly improving, but some apps let you take better pictures without upgrading your phone. For example, Manual gives you access to professional camera settings that most standard iPhone camera apps don't—such as focus, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance.
If you don't have an iPhone, Camera FV-5 is a similar app for Android devices that gives you more DSLR-like manual controls when taking photos. No matter what type of smartphone you have, you can also use Adobe's Photoshop Fix that provides in-app mobile picture editing.
Get Places Faster
Waze—available on iOS and Android—is a community-based traffic navigation app that saves you time and fuel by redirecting you around traffic, alerting you when there's construction or accidents ahead, and even making you aware of police cars on your route.
The app is made for safe use while driving, so it allows only passengers to type information. "Wazers" share real-time traffic and road information with the Waze network to create a large database of helpful tools that shorten morning commutes and lessen frustration on the road.
Make Splitting the Bill Simpler
Splitwise—available on iOS and Android—lets you track shared purchases and transfer money to your friends and family, making life a lot simpler in an age when people don't carry much cash.
You can send money to others for free with just a few taps on your phone. Splitwise makes Starbucks runs for coworkers a lot faster, and you'll no longer feel stressed about remembering to bring cash and reimburse your friend for the concert tickets they purchased.
Secure your Personal Information
The safest password is a unique password that you don't use for anything else. But remembering a bunch of different passwords can be annoying and challenging. 1Password—available on iOS and Android—keeps your accounts safe by creating and storing a unique password for each website you use.
This app makes your life easy because all you have to do is remember the password to your 1Password account. Another benefit is that you can sync it with your desktop computer to maximize your password protection.
Create a Digital Journal to Chronicle Life Events
Writing in a paper journal can be therapeutic, but it's also fairly time-consuming and easy to neglect. Day One allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to create digital records of their lives in as little time as it takes to post on Facebook.
With features such as hashtags and passcodes, you can easily find past entries and keep your journal hidden. If you struggle to maintain a regular journal, Day One will also give you writing prompts that motivate you to keep going.
Take control of your smartphone, rather than letting it control you, to maximize your time and get more out of life. Give some of the above suggestions a try and see how they impact your daily routine.