6 Apps for Freelancing on an iPad
Photo credit: karola@flickr
Can you work effectively on an iPad? I’m about to find out. I recently joined the ranks of the Apple fanbois. Well, maybe not completely. I got my iPhone before it was available here in Canada (the Apple genius kept telling me “It won’t work in Canada”), but I haven’t been able to fully switch from PC to Mac. I like the system but I still find it hard to justify the price difference. I could have bought two of the systems that I currently use, or one MacBook. Sorry, but I’m cheap, and when it comes to writing I don’t require the power of the Mac.
That being said – I did get a new iPad. And while it might not be perfect for every freelancer, it is going to be very useful to many. Here are a few apps that will make your freelance life easier – or at least help you look cool in Starbucks. And really, that’s all that matters.
Apps to Find Freelance Jobs
- Freelancer for iPad – $4.99 – I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks like it’s a decent app to help you find new projects. As long as you’ve got your internet connection, you can quickly bid on an interesting new project.
- Craigslist EZlist for iPad – Free – Quickly and easily see the projects in your area. The slick interface is easy to navigate, so you spend more time looking at future projects, and less time searching the “missed connections.”
Accounting Apps
- Cube Time & Expense Tracker – Free – Login with your gmail information and start tracking your time immediately. It’s easy to start tracking your time and expenses with just a few clicks. Graphs and level of information is impressive, but it would be nice to see an integrated timer. From what I can see, the time tracking is a manual process. The Pro version ($9.99) is able to work without an internet connection, and will back everything up to the cloud when you get back online.
- Expense Books for Freshbooks – $4.99 – iPhone version only for now. If you’re a fan of Freshbooks, you’re likely a fan of this app. Log all of your expenses while you’re out and about. Keep all of your receipts in your ipad, not in your wallet. A good, and not so good, way to find out how much your caramel macchiato habit costs you each month.
Apps to Help Save Time
- Epicurious – Free – Excellent recipes for tasty treats. Search by genre or by ingredients. Create shopping lists for the next time you venture outdoors. It would be nice to see a category for “quick eats” – for those days on deadline, but there is something for you to choose on this list, no matter what your cooking abilities are.
- Zinio – Free – Why would a magazine app be in the saving time section? It’s a great app to use when you’ve only got a few moments. Instead of reading the pithy copy on your coffee cup, you can read a quick article in your favourite magazine. Catch up on the newest trends in your industry or learn about your competition. Or, just use it to read about the latest drama around Paris and Lindsay – whatever floats your boat.
Apps to Kill Time
- Words with FriendsHD – $2.99 – Like another famous board game with 7 letters and lots of points – but better. Great way to kill a few hours while you show off your vocabulary. (I haven’t been brave enough to try Words with Pirates yet…) Up for a game – I’m wordsmith
- NetFlix – Free – Fighting mental block? Need the pressure of a looming deadline? Fire up this app, choose your favourite movie, and start up the popcorn. Bound to get your creative juices flowing.
Use the iPad to show off your portfolio, share your contracts, or just to record your meetings. It’s a great tool to use for pretty much any freelancer; at least until the Droid platform makes its public debut.
This is a really poor article that has very little to do with freelancing.
You start off your list of iPad apps with one you haven’t even tried. Then you advise people to use a Craigslist app to help search for work? That site is horrendous for finding quality clients.
Of the accounting apps, only one of them is an iPad app. The other didn’t get a glowing review from you.
I’m not sure how reading magazines on Zinio saves you time. Epicurious, while a great app, doesn’t save you time either. If anything, you’re spend more time cooking than you usually would. You’ll probably eat better though.
The last two are just throw away apps that could be in any list of good apps.
I would have loved to see more apps that actually help freelancers while they’re out of the home office using their iPad. Things like the Dropbox and WordPress apps are great for being productive on the road. PhotoShop Express is good for quick cropping or minor editing of photos for your blog posts. Flipboard or FeedlerRSS are good for viewing your RSS feeds or twitter stream.
The quality I expect from a FreelanceSwitch article just wasn’t here.
I must admit, I was expecting similar. Something like a review of iWork or alternatives, etc. Your comment, while a little harsher than I would have put it, I must agree with.
Yeah, it probably comes across a little harsher than I wanted it to.
Valid points – but I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on the Craigslist app. In the comments on a previous survey – many FSw readers said they get their best clients from Craigslist.
Appreciate the feedback – sorry this post didnt hit the mark.
J
I’m going to have to agree with Kevin. This article does not live up to the quality of articles I would expect to come from Freelance Switch, and actually I’ve noticed that many articles nowadays do not.
Not to bring up old posts, but I was going to leave a comment about this article on “Finding your Niche as a Freelancer” (http://freelanceswitch.com/freelancing-essentials/finding-a-niche/) and instead of being about actual methods I can employ to find a niche, it talked about very rudimentary things people occasionally pursue when beginning a freelance career.
I don’t mean to rant, but please list appropriate titles that aren’t a complete stretch from the content.
The article is fine to me… only thing I would say is this was a little premature… I wish you had actually tried these apps and reviewed them (especially the paid apps)… I hate buying apps (for iPhone) with no real return policy in place… too few of them have “lite” versions either…
I have to agree with Kevin, how can you recommend apps that you have not personally trialed and used yourself?
shud have told little more about the apps their pros and cons…introduction was good but thing which mattered wasn’t there
Decent list. I’ll be checking some of these outz. Still haven’t added NetFlix to my new ipad yet!
It wasn’t a bad article, I’m just not certain that, with but the exception of a few of the apps, I could use any of them to handle freelancing projects, which is what I expected given the title.
I don’t own an IPad, and have effectively disowned the idea (begrudgingly) until I can find a way to justify the cost. I don’t need an over-sized Ipod touch. For instance, are their any effective text editors which could be used to code my HTML/CSS effectively? How about an ftp app, or a graphic manipulator which could be used to edit images for usage on the web?
The article was nice, and I like the behind some of those apps, I guess I was just hoping for more meat on the bone.
hmm.. I guess the way I look at the article is if there is a way for me to effectively use an iPad for freelance WORK purposes (not just fun apps
and I know that me being a web / Flash developer that an iPad is not for me… however a netbook which has a keyboard / flash player /ability to install software (that is useful) has proved to be a life saver in some “on the road” situations…
I would be interested in hearing about other apps and how other freelancers with other skill sets (writers, editors, designers, etc) use or think they could benefit using an iPad over a laptop or netbook
…so along with your opinion of the articles relevance it would be nice to hear some other freelancers personal experiences with or without an iPad
Yeah, me too, didn’t found this article too relevant.
I was expecting more like of the “dropbox” or “good reader” and “evernote” apps – or some other app that allows me to update html code on the go.
Here are my top 6 apps for the iPad (I’m a web developer)
Honestly though – until iOS4 comes to the iPad – its a frustrating tool sometimes
FTPOnTheGo – ftp into your sites – upload/download/edit text/html/php files.
GoodReader – store, download, read your important files from anywhere
Dragon Dictation – what can I say – it really works
TweetDeck – I can keep up with important Tweets from anywhere
iWork – Pages/Keynote/Numbers – all of my proposal templates are in pages, presentations in Keynote – indispensable.
Desktop – allows me to see/use my office computers remotely.
iPhone Apps I use on my iPad
MailChimp – gotta keep up with the campaigns
iXpenseIt – keeping track of expenses on the fly…
I’m not going to review them – I just love them – and I use my iPad alot when I’m out of the office.
These probably should have been in the article – as opposed to the ones that were mentioned…
Skype – its my main office phone – so if I’m away from the computer – it works
Mr. Finnerty, you may want to do cross-browser testing of your site unless tabs that wrap to two lines in a webkit browser was your intention.
Thanks for sharing this post.I like this post.This ipad is very useful for the designers.
Thanks @Rod for sharing these tips. Your list in the comments was the kind of list I would have expected from the main article.
I have to disagree with You Kevin. Craigslist is awesome place to find job. Or even what’s more – clients will find You themselves if You know how to use the site (craigs list I mean). It just takes a little bit of effort You put in and the benefits can be, let’s say, monstrual
Wow, I enjoyed your neat post.
I’m currently considering switching to Apple for mbp/iPad. Thinking of using iPad as a rss- e-reader etc and gotta say @rods list was more helpful on that matter
Finally a list dedicated to iPad applications. Excellent!