How To Record the Screen on Your iPhone, Android phone, PC, or Mac!

For this weeks Appy Friday, we’re giving you a quick how-to guide on screen recording for Apple devices, Android devices, on Windows PC’s, and Mac’s too. Screen recording is so helpful when you’re trying to explain something to someone, and you don’t want to write it out in a lot of wordy text.

Recording the Screen on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod)

1. First, go to Settings then to the Control Center and click Customise Controls. Scroll down the page to find the Screen Recording option and tap the little green plus next to it.
2. Then open the Control Center.
3. In order to record sound with the screen recording, press with pressure on the white filled in circle and then tap Microphone Audio On.
4. Then tap the circle symbol again and wait for the 3-second countdown.
5. Finally, to stop the recording open the Control Center again and tap the red circle, or tap the red bar at the top of the screen and then tap stop.

Recording the screen on your Android device

1. Firstly, download the AZ Recorder app and tap on the icon once downloaded.
2. Once the app has opened you should then see some icons at the bottom of your screen. When you are ready to record in the bottom left corner there is a shutter icon, tap that. The overlay will disappear when you start recording, then when you are finished and want to stop recording, drag down the overlay and then you can either stop or pause your recording.
3. Also in this app, there are some editing tools. There is also a photo icon on the overlay, this option will let you cut and edit the video as well as crop the screen.

Recording the screen on your Windows PC

1. To screen record on the desktop open up the ‘Use Loom’ website.
2. Continue by either selecting to use your Google account to log in or your Slack account to log in. Then install the extension.
3. Once you have done this, there will be a small icon in the top right-hand corner on the toolbar on your browser. Then a pop-up box will appear in which there are a few options, the first being to record both the screen and through your camera, then there is just screen or just the camera. Once you have selected which you want to record press the start recording button.
4. Then to stop recording in the bottom left-hand corner there are some icons, the green tick will allow you to stop recording.
   

Recording the screen on your Apple Mac

1. To screen record on a Mac, open Quicktime. You can do this by holding command and space in order to bring up Spotlight search then begin typing QuickTime.
2. Next, right click on the QuickTime icon, and then choose New Screen Recording from the menu. Once you have pressed this a screen recording box will open on your screen.
3. Next, to the record button on the pop-up screen recording box there is a small white down arrow, press this to see more options like choosing if you want to record the audio also and other options like this.
4. When you are ready to record you can select whether you want to record part of your screen or all of it. If you only want to record part of the screen, click the record button and then a message will pop up telling you to drag the marque across the part you want to record, once you have done this click the record button again. If you wish to record the whole screen then just click the record button and then click anywhere on the screen to start recording.
5. To stop the recording right click on the QuickTime icon again and choose stop recording from the menu.
   

So, that was this weeks Appy Friday. I find screen recording so helpful when you’re trying to explain something technical, as it takes away so many of the complications of explaining how to do something. Let us know if you have any other apps that you use for screen recording that you find useful.

Top 5 Podcast Apps!

For this week’s Appy Friday, we’re giving you our top 5 apps to listen to podcasts on. With the popularity of podcasts on the rise (watch this space for the Appy Friday podcast!), we thought it might make life easier if we gave you a list of the top 5 apps which make listening to podcasts and finding podcasts simple.

Overcast
Platform: iOS
Cost: FREE
This podcast app allows you to download your favourite podcasts to listen to offline as well as online. Also, using this app, you can subscribe to podcasts, and be notified when they are released so that you never miss your favourites. Another great thing that this app can do is that you can adjust the playback speed. So if you’re someone who takes information in quickly and likes to have videos and podcasts sped up slightly, you can do this within the app. You can also get great recommendations from Twitter to help you discover new podcasts.

Podbean
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE
On this podcast app, there are many ways to search for new podcasts. This includes different charts and trending podcasts available to listen to, as well as getting tailored recommendations based on your play history. This app also features many audiobooks, not just podcasts. You can make your own customised playlists perfect for around the house and on long car journeys.

Pocket Casts
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: £3.99
The Pocket Casts app is a great one for iPad as it features split view screens. It also has the best capabilities out of any of these apps in terms of working on a tablet. The app allows you to automatically build a playback queue so you always know what’s coming up next.  Another nice little feature is that this app can trim silences so that you can finish episodes faster, and you can adjust the speed of the podcast. One more cool little trick this app has is being able to increase the volume of speech, but decrease the background noise within podcasts.

Stitcher
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE
Stitcher is another great podcast app. It lets you download your favourite podcasts so that you can listen to them offline, and it gives you personalised recommendations and news updates based on what you listen to. Also within the app, you can make your own playlists; perfect for driving, commuting, or just general day-to-day activities.

Spreaker
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE
The Spreaker app is very similar to the previous app in that it allows you to create your own personalised playlists, get recommended podcasts, and has a keyword search for you to find podcasts that relate to what you want to listen to.

So, that was this week’s Appy Friday. All 5 of these apps are great for listening to podcasts on. However, my personal favourite is the Overcast app as it covers all bases, in that it allows you to you download podcasts and gives you more control over the speeds that you listen to them in. Let us know if you use any of these apps for listening to podcasts!

Top 5 Camera Apps!

For this week’s Appy Friday we’re giving you our top 5 camera apps. These range from helping improve your camera’s zoom, to giving you more control over the lighting and sizing of the images. This helps you make them look that little bit more professional, even though they are taken on your phone.

Camera+

Platform: iOS

Cost: FREE

The Camera + app is a great all-rounder camera app. It has editable exposure and focus so that you can control how light or dark your images come out. Another thing this app has is alternative shooting modes. For example, there is a stabilizer to steady your phone to achieve the best quality photos. There is also a digital zoom, front flash, horizon level and the innovative Lightbox feature which lets you quickly skim through all your images to get rid of bad shots quickly.

ProCam 5

Platform: iOS

Cost: £5.99

The ProCam 5 app is a great tool to help your phone photography. Although it’s £5.99 the app covers all areas of photography with its 8 shooting modes, including night mode and slow shutter. It also features 4 shutter release options so you can get some really interesting shots. The ProCam app has the most varied features to help you achieve the best images.

Open Camera

Platform: Android

Cost: FREE

The open camera app is one of the best on Android as it allows you to auto-stabilize your camera at the perfect level. There is also support for focus modes, scene modes, colour effects, white balance, ISO, exposure compensation and face detection. The app also features different remote controls for setting timers and an auto-repeat mode. As well as this, the app has a clever feature where you can take photos remotely by making a noise, whether that be by voice command or whistle.

VSCO Cam

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

The VSCO Cam app is a much more social media based app. It turns the camera app into something similar to Instagram, in that you can post the images you take and edit within that app. You can then share all your creations with followers that you can build up in the app. You can also get inspiration from other creators by following their work.

Camera ZOOM FX

Platform: Android

Cost: FREE

This camera app for Android devices has full manual DSLR controls. You can set ISO, focus distance, exposure and shutter speed. The app also gives you the ability to combine shooting modes like a timer, HDR, stable and timelapse.

So that’s this week’s Appy Friday. My personal favourite is the VSCO Cam app and the Camera + app as these are great all-rounders. They just take great images and have editing capabilities built into them, so you can take the image, edit it, and post it all through the same app. Let us know if you use any of these apps!

Top 5 Apps You Should Have!

This week for Appy Friday, we’re letting you know all the apps you should have on your phone. There really is something on here for everyone to try from genius alarm clock apps to the best ways to take notes efficiently. So why not give one a go?

Evernote

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

The Evernote app helps you to stay organised effortlessly with notebooks, checklists and to-do lists. You can also take notes in various different forms. For example; text, sketches, photo’s, audio, video, PDF’s and web clippings to make the best notes for you. The app allows you to scan and digitise your paper documents, handwritten notes and drawings.

Overcast

Platform: iOS

Cost: FREE

Overcast is a podcast app which allows you to find new podcasts and see recommendations via Twitter, from there you can then create playlists of your favourite podcasts to listen to. The app will also send you notifications when a new episode of your favourite podcast is released. There is also a feature where you can download the podcasts so you can listen to or watch them on the go.

Camera+

Platform: iOS

Cost: £2.99

This is a great app to take and edit incredible photos. The app has features which let you remove red-eye issues, change shooting modes, adjust clarity, add effects, and digitally zoom so there’s something on there to help everyone.

Sleep Cycle

Platform: iOS

Cost: FREE

This app is quite possibly one of the best alarm clock apps on the market, as it doesn’t just sound out your alarm at a certain time, but it gets to know you and your sleeping patterns so that it can analyse when is the best time for you to be woken up. It aims to wake up in your lightest sleep phase within a 30-minute window that you set for you to be woken up in, it is said to therefore, make it much easier to wake up feeling relaxed and rested.

Grammarly Keyboard

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

Grammarly is a great thing to have ticking over in the background of your keyboard on your phones to help get rid of any of those embarrassing spelling errors in messages and posts. This app looks for grammatical errors, contextual errors, and has advanced punctuation correction built in.

So, there are this weeks top 5 apps you need to try this year. My personal favourite is the Grammarly keyboard as it helps to avoid any awkward spelling or grammar errors at all times. Let us know if you have any of these apps already or if you’re going to try any of these!

Top 5 Phones To Try In 2018!

For Appy Friday this week, we’re giving you a rundown on the top 5 smartphones that you should potentially try this year. From some of the most expensive phones on the market, to more affordable devices to suit your needs over the year.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is said to be one of the best Android phones available in 2018. The phone has a great 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera so it’s great for those who love taking photos on their travels. As well as this the S9 Plus has a great screen size and resolution for watching high-quality videos and images. So this is a great phone to try this year.

iPhone X
One of the big releases of last year was the iPhone X, with its great camera and screen. It’s just a great gadget to have if you don’t mind spending a bit extra on a phone that looks super slick. Although the phone is very expensive, it’s a great device to have with you at all times.

Google Pixel 2 XL
This phone is an excellent alternative to an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy as it has a great 6-inch screen with high resolution so you can carry out all the daily tasks you need to on this device with ease. Also, this phone is much cheaper than the iPhone and Samsung phone, however, it still doesn't have a headphone port which seems to be getting phased out across lots of phones, unfortunately.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro
This device is great for anyone who needs their phone to last a long time between charges, as this phone has one of the best batteries on the market. As well as this, the phone has a 20MP rear camera and 12MP front-facing camera. The Huawei Mate is also quite affordable in comparison to some of the others on this list but still has a list of great features.

LG V30
The LG phone has a great high-quality camera however it does struggle with low light photography so that’s something to bare in mind. As well as this, the device has excellent battery life and amazing audio performance along with its affordable price point.

So, there are our top 5 smartphones on the market. The one I'm personally thinking of trying this year is the iPhone X or the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus as both these devices seem to have the best specifications for my needs. Let us know what phone you’ll be trying this year or if you have any of these phones already.

Top 5 Finance Apps!

For Appy Friday this week, we’re helping you get on top of your finances, by giving you a list of the top money managing apps available at the moment. There’s something on here for everyone. From apps that help you save your change, to apps to help you pay off debt.

Mint
This is a free money managing app that you can use to track all your bank accounts and balances. You can also keep on top of your credit score so you always know where you stand. Within the app, you can set budgets for yourself that are easy to follow, making it easier to stick to them to help you save and spend.


You Need A Budget
This app allows you to view all your accounts in real-time and helps you with paying off debt. It does this by letting you know how much you need to cut back on each month, and what you need to put aside in order to pay off the debt. The app also produces a report on your spending habits and where the majority of your money goes.


Wally
The Wally app gives you a clear view of your accounts while allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of your spending habits. It displays all this information in simple, easy to read charts to help you adapt the way you spend your money. On this app, you can also have groups so you can share financial accounts, payments and plans with people. For example, if you need to share payment plans with people you live with for household bills.


Acorns
This app is great for investing all your spare change, when you buy a product that costs you £2.60 then the app rounds the price up to £3.00 and puts the 40p in your savings. Over time you’d be surprised how much you could save. This app acts like another bank account that will store that spare change that you can withdraw at any time.


Yolt
Yolt is a great app to track your spending and recent transactions on all your accounts in one place. The app also predicts your spending for the following months, once it has been installed for a few months and has learned your spending habits. This app also gives you the ability to set yourself budgets for the month, and lets you know how much money you have left to spend that month.


So, there are our top 5 finance apps to help you stay on top of all your accounts. My personal favourite app is Yolt. I use the app regularly to check all my balances in the same place and to help me set budgets for the month. Let us know if you use any of these apps or are going to download them!

New Apple Headphones Coming Soon?

This week for Appy Friday, we are giving you a rundown of the new rumours on suspected upcoming products from Apple. The predicted over-the-ear headphones and AirPods 2 are the two main rumours for this year’s releases from Apple in terms of accessories, so we’ll be giving you all you need to know on these and when to expect them.

There are reports that Apple has been working on an over-the-ear headphone which is set to be released at the end of 2018, just in time for Christmas. However, it’s predicted these headphones won’t come cheap. With AirPods already costing £159 these headphones will likely be more than that.

The rumoured headphones are said to be wireless and noise cancelling much like various Beats models. The design of these headphones is unknown as of yet, however, there are lots of discussions on whether they will take the same design as the Beats headphones, or will they have a complete redesign to match the newer Apple releases.

Another rumoured Apple product is the AirPods 2, these AirPods have a suspected release date of either Spring 2018 or at WWDC in June 2018.

The AirPods 2 are rumoured to have a ‘Hey Siri’ feature in which you can activate Siri through them by simply saying that phrase. Another predicted feature of the new earphones is that they with be noise cancelling like the rumoured over-the-ear headphones. As well as these features they are assumed to work with the upcoming release of Apple’s own wireless charging pad. Also, there is a prediction for the third generation of AirPods to be water resistant in the future.

The AirPods 2 are likely to cost a similar amount the original AirPods but they could be slightly more pricey with the additional new features added.

So, that’s this week’s Appy Friday. Personally, I am most excited about the over-the-ears headphones and hope they go with a new design rather than the Beats designs. Let us know what you think to these releases and what you’re most looking forward to.

Smartphone News From This Week's MWC (Mobile World Congress)

For this week's Appy Friday, we are breaking down all the news from Mobile World Congress (MWC) and just letting you know the most important new releases

Samsung

Samsung announced the new S9 and S9+ although we all had a pretty good idea that this was going to be the case. The new S9 and S9+ biggest change from the S8 is that it now has a variable aperture which allows the camera to take in much more light when it’s dark. This means you can now take great pictures even when it’s dark. Another way that the camera allows you to take high-quality photos in the dark, is that it now takes 12 images per shot to combine them all together to reduce noise in images. Samsung predicts that the new camera will cut out background fuzz by 30%. Other than the updated camera not much else has changed, the screen is the same size as the S8’s as well as the battery life. A couple of other changes that don’t revolve around the camera are that the speaker is said to be 40% louder than on previous models, and the fingerprint sensor has been moved to just beneath the camera bump. Another announcement from Samsung is the Bixby smart-speaker, which is set to compete with the Apple HomePod and will be released in the second half of 2018.

Nokia

Nokia is recreating the Nokia 8110 which was originally released in 1996. However, this new model has a curvy design with a sliding bottom section. As well as announcing this reboot, Nokia also announced the new Nokia 8 Sirocco. This is completely at the other end of the spectrum to the 8110. This high-end phone has face unlocking, and a 2K 5.5 inch P-OLED screen with a 6GB of RAM. Another Nokia release from the MWC is the new Nokia 7 Plus. This device has a 6-inch HD screen and has a rear camera with dual sensors to improve photography in low lighting and zoomed images. Nokia also announced an updated Nokia 6 with a new battery that can go from 0%-50% charge in just 30 minutes. Finally, the last thing Nokia announced was the Nokia 1. This is on the lower end of the all the new releases from them as it is expected to cost around £79 in the UK. It has a smallish 4.5 inch 720p screen with a plastic back.

Huawei

At this MWC Huawei did not announce a new smartphones but did announce the MateBook X Pro and a few new tablets. Their new laptop MateBook X Pro is a 14-inch notebook which has a 3k screen, the camera in the notebook is hidden away in the top of the keyboard which can be shown by the press of a key. The MateBook X Pro also has an Intel Core i7 processor with up to 16GB of RAM. When it comes to the three tablets Huawei have announced, two of which are versions of the MediaPad M5, which has both an 8.4-inch version and a 10.8-inch version. The third tablet being the MediaPad M5 Pro which only comes in the 10.8-inch version. All these new devices have eight core processors which run Android 8, the larger options of these devices have four built-in speakers for the surround sound feel. Also to go with the M5 Pro, they announced the M-Pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.

Lenovo

The Lenovo Chromebooks have been made to be more durable and able to cope with those accidental drops and spills. One of the Lenovo Chromebooks lets you take notes using a regular pencil on the screen, and the other Chromebook has a lag-free stylus. The most expensive of the Chromebooks is only around £253 and is, therefore, a cheap alternative to a traditional laptop.

Sony

Sony announced the updated versions of the previous Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 compact. Imaginatively called the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. Both of these updates come with a whole new design. The blocky shape has been replaced with curved edges, and the XZ2 has a new all-glass back on top of a metallic colour. The XZ2 compact has a matte finish in a variety of colours. The new devices have the same 19-megapixel rear camera, however, the XZ2 has a 5.7-inch HD screen and the compact has a 5-inch screen.

So, there are our more important announcements from MWC 2018. There are so many exciting releases on their way this year to get ready for. Let us know what your favourite product from MWC was and which things you’ll be buying!

How To Amp Up Your Phone Photography!

This week for Appy Friday we are teaching you how to amp up your photography when using your phone. Whether you’re trying to get the perfect Instagram image, or just making memories there’s something in here for everyone. From clip-on lenses to give you higher quality images, to simple photo editing apps to help assist you in enhancing your images.

Clip-on lenses

The first way to improve your phone photography is by using clip-on lenses to transform the look and quality of your images. These clip-on lenses range in price massively for £5-£85 so it all depends on how much you are willing to spend on these accessories, for example, one of the cheaper clip-on lenses is the Magniband macro lens for the majority of smartphones which can be bought for just £5.62. A more expensive alternative is the Olloclip 4-in-1 lens for iPhones 4-6s plus. However, this lens is £69.95 but the price reflects the quality of the product and this lens has 4 different capabilities.

Lighting

The lighting is vital for making your photography good when using a phone to capture images. The best lighting for photography on a phone is soft natural lighting. If the image you wish to take is in the dark, then rather than using your phones flash to take the image, use a torch. Either from another phone or a physical torch so that the focal point of the image is photographed in a much nicer way and isn’t too harsh or sharp.

Use the rule of thirds

When creating the set up for your images, try and use the rule of thirds so that you have a better composition for your images. When the rule of thirds isn’t possible try and use symmetry to create the best looking images when using your phone. More information about the rule of thirds can be seen here.

Don’t zoom. Crop afterwards

When photographing something far away, don’t use your zoom as it makes the image quality much poorer. So, when taking an image of a landmark, for example, it may be slightly far away so just take the image from where you are with a good composition. Then, later on, put the image in an editing suite to crop the image to ensure it’s still of the highest quality.

Photo editing apps

There are many photo editing apps available in the app store. One of my personal favourites for filters is VSCO. Some other great photo editing apps are Google Snapseed, Adobe Photoshop Lightspeed and Adobe Photoshop fix. So once you’ve got your perfect image, you can give it some touch ups to enhance your photos.

So, there are our top tips to help you take incredible images without having to carry around a big bulky camera and associated kit. Personally, I love using a clip-on lens and VSCO to take and edit all my photos, so that they are the best they possibly can be. Let us know if you either try some of these tricks or have some more of your own.

Top 5 Motivational Apps!

This week we’re giving you our top 5 motivational apps to help get you through this year and be as successful as possible. There are a range of different motivational apps that will help you in all aspects of life to keep you motivated in your day to day tasks, and to keep you motivated to stay on top of your fitness regime.

Way Of Life

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

The Way Of Life app is very helpful for either getting rid of a bad habit or making a good new habit. Way of Life uses colour coded systems to track your daily routines. The app also gives you reminders to ensure that you break the bad habits and continue with the good habits. Also within the app, there is a diary feature so that you can write down what triggered the bad habit.

iWish

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

The iWish app helps you to achieve life goals, there are 1200 inspiring ideas built into the app if you don’t have many goals of your own, but want something to aim for. Once you have set out what your goals are, you can keep track of how you’re doing with those goals.  You can also add in all the accomplishments you’ve made towards your long-term goal. The app also features areas to add in to do lists, priorities, and reminders to help you stay on track.

BattleSteps

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

This app is great for motivating yourself to go out and get walking with the added element of competition to help motivate you. The app allows you to compete with your friends and be the one with the highest amount of steps, which will help to motivate you if you’re a highly competitive person.

Wonderful Day

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: £1.46

The Wonderful Day app is great for helping you add your goals and activities that you want to work on over the following weeks and months. You can also choose what days you want to work on your activity. For example, you can add an activity like ‘go for a run’ every day as a daily reminder or ‘volunteer work’ as a reminder once a week. Then at 8am every morning the app will remind you of the tasks you have to do that day.

Coach.me

Platform: iOS and Android

Cost: FREE

The Coach.me app is great personal coaching app. Within the app, there are 3 main features. The first is that you coach yourself to track your progress and get rewards for it. The second is when you take part in community coaching; Where the Coach.me community will help to answer your questions and you can take part in that community to help better yourself. The third and final feature is that you can hire a private coach to personally help you, however those prices start at £14.99.

So, there we have our top 5 motivational apps to help you throughout the year and stay on top of your goals and aspirations. My personal favourite one of these is the Way Of Life app, this app is so great at helping you crack all those bad habits and stay on top of new habits. Let us know what apps you use to help keep you motivated and on top of your goals.

Apple HomePod - All You Need To Know!

Apple has finally entered the smart speaker industry and is releasing it’s very own ‘HomePod’. So, this week we’re giving you a rundown on everything you need to know about Apples smart speaker with its release date being today. This rundown will give you all the information you need from the prices to what the specs of the device are.

Release Date
The Apple HomePod was available for pre-order from Friday 26th of January and is actually released on the Friday 9th February (yes, today!). The HomePod will be available first in the US, UK and Australia with France and Germany getting it in spring.


PriceThe HomePod will be on sale for £319 in the UK and $349 in the US. You will be able to buy the HomePod from Apple’s online store as well as their high street stores. Also, the new Apple HomePod can be purchased from places such as John Lewis and other Apple stockists.

With the new Apple HomePod being so expensive in comparison to other smart speakers on the market today, for example, the one smart speaker seen as most similar to this one is the Amazon Echo which is priced at £149.99 with the smaller Echo Dot selling for £49.99.

P.S. If you're interested, read our MD, Richard Eaton's initial review of the Amazon Echo on his personal blog here https://medium.com/@richardjeaton/amazon-echo-an-initial-review-e02a1dd06cdd


What To Expect From The Apple HomePod?
The Apple HomePod is mainly a music speaker, with high-quality audio that is comparable to the Sonos wireless speakers. However, since this comparison was made between the HomePod and Sonos wireless speakers, Sonos have announced they are in the process of creating their own smart speaker. The HomePod has the ability to still hear your voice over the top of loud music that is playing from the speaker, but not only does it respond to sound but also touch. Various tap sequences instruct the HomePod to do various different things like pause, play, skip or activate Siri. The HomePod not only has high-quality audio but also answers all your questions with Siri and sends messages and makes calls.

The HomePod has an A8 chip which allows spacial awareness capabilities so that the HomePod is able to analyse the room which gives it the ability to provide the best audio for its surroundings. Apple has said that the HomePod brings together Apple Music and Siri in order to learn your music taste. The HomePod has a very simplistic minimalistic design as it is covered in a seamless mesh fabric, it comes in two different colours white and space grey and is only 18 centimetres tall.

So, there’s everything you need to know. Personally, I think the HomePod is a good investment if you enjoy playing high-quality music throughout your house. However, if you’re just looking for a smart speaker which you can ask questions and get the answers quickly then I think there are better, cheaper alternatives for that use. Let us know what you think about this new release from Apple and whether or not you’ll be buying one.

Top 5 Health And Fitness Apps!

For this weeks Appy Friday, we’re giving you our top 5 health and fitness apps to help you reach your health and fitness goals. There are a range of different apps here which are suited to a range of different people and their needs, from healthy eating apps to apps to help you with your workouts, whether that’s in a gym or from the comfort of your own home.

MyFitnessPal
Cost: FREE
Platform: iOS, Android
This app helps you to track your calories and everything you eat without it being a massive hassle as they have more than 3 million branded food products included. As well as this, it allows you to keep on top of a healthy diet with a lot more ease. There are also sections in which you can track your weight weekly.

Nike Training Club
Cost: FREE
Platform: iOS, Android
The Nike Training Club is a great app which is preloaded with a range of workouts that have different ranges of ability while also targetting specific areas of the body. As well as this, if you workout on the Nike Training Club app from a range of 15 minutes- 45 minutes, it will unlock different recipes, regimes and fitness tips to help enhance your health and fitness journey.

Pocket Yoga
Cost: £1.99
Platform: iOS, Android
This Pocket Yoga app helps you to build up your strengths in yoga without having to face an actual yoga class. This yoga app uses visual and audio guidance to help you through the 27 routines built into the app with different difficulties so there is something for everyone's abilities. As well as this there are over 200 positions which the app will guide you through.

Strava Cycling
Cost: FREE
Platform: iOS, Android
This app is a GPS for your cycling journeys and it allows you to track not only your speed but also the distance and elevation. Another that this app is good for is analysing your overall performance and you can also engage with friends by riding with friends in order to unlock achievements.

DietBet
Cost: FREE
Platform: iOS, Android
This app is quite unique in that it puts your money at stake by allowing users to add a financial incentive to their dieting. The DietBet app allows users to buy into a ‘money pot’ along with many other people, then when they hit their weight loss targets then they share the winnings. The money that could be won isn’t massively life-changing, however, it is still an incentive.

So, there are the top 5 health fitness apps we think can help you. The one that I personally use regularly is the MyFitnessPal app and the Nike Training Club app as they are easy to follow and stick to. Especially with the push notifications form MyFitnessPal alerting you to add in your meals of that day. Don’t forget to let us know what your favourite app is and whether or not you’re going to try one of these apps!

Is The Future Of Charging Wireless?

Since all the new releases in 2017 of new devices that can be wirelessly charged there have been an increase in charging mats to make charging your devices easier and quicker. There’s a range of different companies which have come out with various different versions of their own charging mats.

One of the charging mats on the market is the Mophie wireless charging base, this charging mat is one that was released in conjunction with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X release meaning it’s perfectly suited to the new iPhones and it retails for £54.95 which can be found on both the Apple and Amazon website. This charging mat has one downfall though as it doesn’t allow you to charge multiple devices on this mat so that can be somewhat irritating if you have multiple devices to charge up at the same time.

Another charging mat available is the Ikea NORDMÄRKE triple wireless charging pad, this charging pad can be very useful as it allows you to charge up to 4 devices at the same time. Another good thing about this charging pad is that it's £60 and therefore quite reasonable with its ability to charge 4 of your devices. There is one downfall to this charging pad and this is that with it being so large to charge 4 devices means it’s quite large and not very portable.

If you’re looking into getting a wireless charging mat then why not try the Samsung multi-wireless charging tray, this charging mat allows you to charge up to 3 devices. The Samsung charging tray retails for £51 from the Samsung website. This charging mat has a very simplistic but stylish design and has an LED charging light to make it easy to use and suit your room with its minimalistic design.

One to watch out for is the Apple AirPower charging mat which is due to be released at some point this year it’s designed specifically for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X without there needing to be a wireless charging case on the device for it to actually charge. The AirPower charging mat also allows you to charge multiple devices at the same time and has a sleek, minimalistic design to suit anywhere you put it. The Apple AirPower charging mats are also compatible with the airpods case, Apple Watch and iPhone 8, iPhone 8+ and iPhone X, however, they have not yet released a price of how much their charging mat will retail for.

So there’s a rundown of the latest updates on wireless charger mats on the market and they could be the future of all charging. Although these charging mats are very appealing some have their downfalls of not being a fast charging product however they are still very useful for day to day use. Let us know if you use a charging mat and if you do which one do you use?

Thanks,

Emily. 

Top 5 Planning Apps!

This week we're giving you our top 5 apps to help you plan your day, time or road trips as a start to help you improve in 2018. There are various different apps to help you in different areas of planning your day so why not try out a few and see how they work for you.

Streets
Platform: iOS
Cost: £1.99
The Streets app is great for navigating your way around a new city or just when you get a bit lost. The app links up with Google street view except it works a lot quicker and smoother so that you don't miss a turn. This app also works on iPad Pro and Apple Watch where they show 360° images of various different streets.

IFTTT
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE
The If This Then That app allows you to automate things like if you are emailed contact information then you can set it to automatically save this information to your notes or contacts whichever you choose. Not only can the app do this but it can also connect to the Internet of Things which therefore allows the person to turn lights on and off at specific times. This app is great for helping you keep in control of your contacts so that you can build your list of contacts without forgetting anyone.

DashClock
Platform: Android
Cost: FREE
DashClock is a great widget for Android devices it simply allows the user to place things on their home screens such as weather, appointments or anything they would find useful to help plan their day. Also, another good thing about this app is that the user does not need to login to see the information that they want to see, however a downfall of this app is that it is only available on Android devices.

Piktochart
Platform: Android and iOS
Cost: FREE
Piktochart is a really handy app which helps to make producing infographics or presentations 10 times easier to create. This app allows you to create work while on the go and even if you're not the most creative person, the app does all the work for you. The app is built with many templates for infographics, posts, presentations and reports so there's plenty to choose from.

Waze
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE
The Waze app is one of the best navigation apps out there, it gives you alerts on any traffic, police or hazards on your route. As well as this the app instantly re-routes around traffic so that you can save your time and plan your day without traffic ruining your commutes. Waze will also find you the cheapest fuel on your route and gives you an arrival time based on the live traffic.

So, there are our top 5 planning apps. My favourite personally is the Waze app it's so helpful for avoiding traffic and incidents that may have happened on your journey so it's very useful for getting to your destinations on time if you have to be somewhere for a specific time. Let us know if you use any of these apps and enjoy them or if there are apps that you find helpful for planning your day?