Use iOS 6 as Your Entire Personal Productivity System
September 26 by CM Smith in Productivity, Technology | 28 Shares
The newest iteration of Apple’s iOS brings the user some more features like Do Not Disturb, VIP notifications and email handling, Passbook, Maps, and more. Apple has also made many enhancements to other stock iOS apps to make them easier to use as well as more powerful.
As iOS matures and more and more apps are added to the stock experience, could iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) be the only device you need to create a fully functional productivity system?
Reminders
When Apple first announced the Reminders app I was quick to judge; “It will never be as powerful and functional as ‘’.” But, I simply missed the point and the much larger market of people that don’t need (or want) all the bells and whistles of a tool like OmniFocus, Toodledo, Remember the Milk, etc.
Reminders lets you make simple lists of tasks that can repeat, have reminder dates, associated locations, contain notes and even links. For a simple task manager, Reminders is actually quite powerful and useful. There is also a new Reminders interface at iCloud.com.
Most people can be very productive with a simple list of items that need done. In fact, I challenge you to give Reminders a try as the only tool you use to keep track of projects and tasks and see how much you can get done. Sometimes simplified tools are just the tools that we need to do our best work.
The iOS Mail.app is not something I would deem as ideal, but it’s definitely usable and one can be productive with it. It supports pretty much any email account you can throw at it, rich text, attachments, conversation view, and now the new VIP feature. VIP is a way to have Mail notify you of email from people who you have recognized as VIPs. You can then set up VIP notifications in Notification Center. I turn off all email notifications except for my VIP contacts.
If you have an iCloud email account you can access your email through iCloud.com and on your device making your email accessible almost anywhere you can think of.
Calendar
The Calendar app on iOS 6 hasn’t changed too much from iOS 5. Calendar supports calendars from Google calendar, iCloud, Exchange, gives you agenda, day, and month views, allows you to handle calendar invites, supports multiple calendars and more. The Calendar app on iOS is the one stock application that hasn’t left my home screen. It’s
Notes
Notes may be one of the stock applications on iOS that I have used the least, but I’m surprised at how many “normal” iOS users use it every single day.
I work in a company where I iOS devices are becoming the norm, and most people rather than use Evernote or the billion different plain-text/Dropbox syncing applications stick with Apple’s Notes app. It’s fast, simple, and gets the job done. Not to mention you can add things to it via Siri.
The simple Notes app on iOS lets you add any number notes, search all notes, send your notes via email or SMS, and even print the note to a recognized AirPrint device. For people who want to jot down a quick note and stay productive, Notes may be just the app that they need to not get bogged down in additional features.
Can you be productive with an iOS device alone?
At Lifehack, we have touted that it doesn’t necessarily matter what tools you use to get stuff done; it’s more about the process and steps you take to become and stay productive. Therefore, you should be able to use any device/system that has the necessary tools that allow you to be productive. Apple has made a strong attempt at creating a device/OS that has all of those productivity tools that anyone wishing to get things done would need. But, is it enough to become your entire personal productivity system?
I like notes, and for certain purposes, information that I need quick access to, I do use it. Reminders I am using with Siri, because my Omnifocus captures reminders and puts them into the Inbox. I always found reminders the worse of all stock apps, even though I gave it an attempt.
It is too slow and clunky for a simple task manager. Clear for example beats it by tenfold.
Calendar on the other hand is the application that I never thought of replacing. It is on my home screen constantly reminding me about the date. And for that i love it. Also iCloud calendar works awesome. I don’t wanna mess with Google Calendar anymore, this gets me the job done.
Mail as well is the app that I never looked into replacing. It just works, as Apple would say. I’ve tried Sparrow, but didn’t like it. For iOS it’s unmatched email tool.
I have to say that this article was an eye opener to me. I never looked at iOS as a complete system for improving productivity. May be I should start paying closer attention to what I already have instead going after all the shiny, new applications out there. The VIP feature in Mail sounds awesome.