In celebration of Mother’s Day and in appreciation of all the wonderful mums out there, here’s my pick of eight of the best apps available for iPhones and Android phones. These are not presented in any order of significance but together, they cover almost everything a mum would want to make her life a little easier, more productive and fulfilling.
1.Sworkit (Fitness App)
Busy mums sometimes don’t have time for working out, unless of course they use Sworkit, a fitness app that allows you to create your own customised workout based on fitness levels, time availability and fitness goals. Sworkit provides video workouts for your specific needs that can be done at home in as little as five to 15 minutes.
2.Yummly (Recipe App)
With so many recipes available online, sometimes it’s hard to figure out which sites to go to or which recipes to follow. What busy mums need is a smart recipe app and there’s a good one called Yummly, which uses information from your social media to create a personalised list of recipes, videos and articles that the app thinks you’ll like.
3.Good Morning Alarm Clock (Waking Up App)
If there’s one thing mums could use more of, it’s a good night’s sleep. There’s a smart app that can help you achieve that. This app does more than just wake you up. It helps find the optimal time to wake you up, keeps track of your sleep quality and notifies you if you have sleep debt. You can also create your own music playlist so the app can lull you to sleep at night and gently wake you up with your favourite music in the morning.
4.Keepy (Children’s Artwork Archival App)
Children these days are encouraged to be expressive and creative. As a result, lots of artwork is being produced. As drawings and paintings pile up, the practical thing to do is to digitise them by taking snapshots. Organising them can be a challenge though. This app allows you to save and organise your kids’ artwork in one place where you can share them with family members who can comment or even record a voice message about them.
5.Remember the Milk (To Do List App)
Today’s hectic lifestyle can cause one to forget things. Creating a simple To-Do List will help but busy mums usually have multiple categories of things to do. Remember the Milk is an app that allows you to easily manage multiple To-Do Lists which can be marked with priorities, due dates, reminders, tags and so on. It’s the ultimate reminder app that makes it impossible for you to ever forget about buying the milk the next time you’re grocery shopping.
6.Baby Connect (Baby Tracking App)
Babies grow up fast. If you wish to keep a log of your child’s development, this app is for you. It lets you easily take note of your baby’s feeding times, diaper changes, sleep times, mood, activities, medicine, games played and so on. The app even produces graphical reports and trending charts. A web interface is also accessible at baby-connect.com so your baby-sitter or day care provider doesn’t need an iPhone or an Android phone to view and enter information about your baby.
7.MamaBear App(Parenting App)
Asian mums are supposed to be “Tiger Moms” who are super strict and monitor all of their children’s activities. This app allows you to receive an alert when your child drives over a set speed limit. You can also receive important notification about your young child’s social media activity. You can even keep track of your child’s location on a map and set notifications for arrival and departure from home, school and other locations. Children will naturally hate this app but Tiger Moms will love it.
8.The Bump (Pregnancy App)
What if you’re not quite yet a mum but will soon be one? No worries, there’s an app for you too. It features a useful planner that prepares you for each visit to the doctor, an interactive 3D visualisation of your baby’s growth, daily award-winning pregnancy articles, real-time answers to any questions you may have about your pregnancy, and a huge catalogue of baby products and reviews.
Oon Yeoh is a consultant with experiences in print, online and mobile media. Reach him at oonyeoh@gmail.com