Productivity

Readdle’s excellent Spark email client gains bulk actions, setting for remote images and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 9, 2015

Readdle's Spark, my new favorite go-to mobile email client, received a big update in the App Store today. Although you couldn't tell it from a minor version number change (1.0.1), the new version does make the app much better while fixing a plethora of user-reported issues.

For starters, you can now delete and archive emails in bulk, a tremendous productivity boost. Next, Spark now consumes less energy, which is always a good thing.

You can now empty your Trash with a single tap, as opposed to selecting multiple messages before hitting the Delete button, like before.

Security advocates will definitely appreciate a new setting to disable loading of remote images, which protects you from spammers while keeping data usage under control.

On the downside, today's update has removed a pair of useful features due to mixed reviews, though Readdle assures us it may bring them back “someday.”

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Readdle launches Scanner Pro 6 with automatic scanning, Scan Radar feature and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle has a number of fine productivity apps in the App Store, among them a scanning app called Scanner Pro.

Today, Readdle released Scanner Pro 6, the next major version which adds interesting new features like automatic scanning, the ability to find documents for scanning in Photos, cool Automatic Scanning mode and more.

This update is free to existing users and they're celebrating the launch by discounting Scanner Pro for new users to just $2.99, more than half off its regular asking price.

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iOS 9 includes a share action for saving PDFs to iBooks

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

There's still no native option to print to PDF in iOS, but a new iOS 9 feature might the next best thing. Featured prominently in the share sheet of Apple's upcoming mobile OS update, is a new Save PDF to iBooks Activity. This new option allows users to easily turn a webpage or other document into a PDF in seconds.

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iOS 9 reinvigorates iPad power users

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

WWDC 2015 was filled with shock and awe, at least for me, a former iPad user. In the past, I've tried my best to use my iPad for productivity, namely writing blog posts and the like. While this can be achieved with relative success, the iPad as we currently know it still lacks from a productivity standpoint.

The iPad that we know today doesn't have the ability to truly multitask—i.e. run two apps at the same exact time, and interface with those two apps at the same exact time. Although some prominent bloggers, most notably Mac Stories' Frederico Viticci, are able to aptly make due with this limitation, it's always been something that's pushed me back to my MacBook.

No matter how hard I've tried, and trust me, I've tried dozens of times, I always end up abandoning my plans of creating an iPad workflow that genuinely works for me. With WWDC 2015, and the release of iOS 9, I finally feel like we're on the precipice of something great.

The iPad Air 2, in particular, heavily benefits from iOS 9, but all iPads will benefit in a major way. Here are 6 outstanding new productivity features that promise to supercharge the workflow of those of you who use the iPad as a work machine.

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Powerful task manager ‘2Do’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ June 4, 2015

Apple has just named “2Do” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the powerful task manager for both iPhone and iPad for free—a staggering savings of $14.99.

2Do prides itself on its "completely different approach to managing your tasks." Unlike the numerous other task management software offerings, it doesn't force you to adopt a particular methodology. There is no wrong way to use 2Do.

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Wunderlist gets acquired by Microsoft

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 2, 2015

6Wunderkinder GmbH, the makers of Wunderlist, the popular to-do, list and tasks application for the Mac, iOS, Apple Watch and other platforms, confirmed today it's being acquired by software giant Microsoft.

With more than thirteen million users across platforms and more than one billion to-dos created in Wunderlist, the app should seamlessly fit in Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's mobile first, cloud first vision.

But don't fret, mobile Wunderlist apps aren't going anywhere, at least for the time being. “As Wunderlist becomes a part of the Microsoft family, we’ll introduce a host of new features, keep adding partner integrations, and progress further in delivering Wunderlist to billions of people,” Christian Reber, 6Wunderkinder founder and CEO said Tuesday.

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Readdle launches Spark, gorgeous iPhone and Apple Watch email app to tame your inbox

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 29, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle, the maker of some of the finest productivity apps for the iPhone and iPad, today launched its most ambitious project yet, a personalized email client for the iPhone and Apple Watch conceived to help you deal with your inbox faster.

The app is called Spark, it looks neat and offers a number of compelling features, like quick replies, powerful search, fast signatures, smart notifications, attachments, cloud services support, email-to-PDF conversion, a WatchKit extension to check important messages on the wrist with an Apple Watch app and a glance, and much more.

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Todoist launches Apple Watch app with Inbox, Today view, Projects, Filters and Labels

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2015

Todoist, the advanced to-do list and task manager for iOS and OS X, is now available for the Apple Watch. The app delivers a number of powerful features for managing tasks to your wrist, including Inbox, Today view, Projects, Filters and Labels. A Glance view gives you a quick overview of your upcoming tasks.

You can also respond to rich notifications with natural language processing. The main app provides more details related to your tasks and projects, allowing you to review tasks and projects, create new ones using dictation and much more.

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New report details 12″ iPad with dual-app viewing mode and iOS 9 multi-user support

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 21, 2015

Apple is developing not one, but two new twelve-inch iPad models, codenamed “J98” and “J99”. Also, the firm's doubled down on advancing productivity aspects of iOS with a much-needed dual-app multitasking mode and support for multiple users in iOS 9, a report Thursday by 9to5Mac alleged.

The same publication originally claimed side-by-side multitasking would debut in iOS 8 with the iPad Air back in 2014 so take today's story with a grain of salt.

“Sources now say that Apple plans to show off the side-by-side feature for iOS 9 using currently available iPad models,” the article states.

Split-screen multitasking should be formally announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month, with multi-user support reportedly slated to arrive later this year alongside new iPads.

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