The 17 Best Apps for Bloggers: Be a Blogging Boss from Wherever

Like many of you, I’m attached to my cell phone. I’m constantly answering comments on Instagram, checking the App Store for new apps to download, answering emails, etc. I’m not sure what I would do without my phone at this point, because I use it for both personal and business. My iPhone helps me connect with my family and friends, but also helps me run my blog from wherever. I hate being chained to my laptop!

Recently, I was doing what I do best – scrolling through social media – and came across a post on a Facebook group that I’m a part of called PHL Bloggers. This group connects bloggers living in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. I’ve been a member for a few years now and even spoke on a panel last year at their annual conference. Anyway… one of the ladies I met {Sarah from ShadesofSarah.com} commented in the FB Group that she was planning on doing a post all about her favorite apps. I was inspired to pull together my own list but narrow it down to the 17 best apps for bloggers – how to be a blogging boss from wherever! I’m personally super curious to know how other bloggers manage their time and the tools that they use. Maybe you’re also wondering the same? Well, if so… keep reading because these are the apps that I use to keep this blog up and running. 

Social Media

1. Twitter: Don’t believe the gossip. Twitter is still really popular and is a great tool for bloggers. I use it to connect with other influencers, to reach out to brands/publicists, to share my own posts, and to share interesting content from other bloggers. I’ve talked about this before, but Twitter is one of my favorite social media platforms because it encourages actual conversations. Not like Instagram, which usually draws comments like “cool photo,” “nice pic,” and “so cute.” 

2. Facebook: I don’t spend as much time on Facebook as I used to, because I noticed that you guys aren’t engaging as much there anymore. I think we could all agree that it’s become a platform for fake news, MLM scams, and annoying memes. However… I know that there are a bunch of you who come over to the blog when I share new posts on my Facebook page {join here!}. That reason alone, I’ll stick with Facebook for a little while longer. 

3. Instagram: We’re all familiar with Instagram, so there’s no reason to go into detail about it. Like many of you, I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram but can’t seem to step away from it. Stories are becoming more and more important for influencers to engage with their audiences, so I’ve been trying to increase the amount that I post there. BTW… I love that we can now save Stories to Highlights! 

4. Feedly: If you’re not familiar with Feedly, it’s a blog reader app. So what you do is search for your favorite blogs {ahem, this one!} and subscribe to their feeds. Then, whenever you visit the app, it shows you updates from all your favorite reads in one place. I used to love visiting blogs one by one on my laptop, but it got too time consuming. This app makes it easy to read posts and leave comments while I’m on the go.

Photos & Editing

5. Camera: I used to use fancy camera apps to take Instagram photos, but now that the camera within my iPhone is so great, I don’t even bother. Depending on the shot I’m trying to capture, I’ll turn off “live” {so annoying!} and either set the camera to “square,” “portrait,” or just normal “photo.” Once I’m done taking a million shots, I’ll go into the Photos app and mark my favorites, so they are easier to find when I move on to editing. 

6. VSCO: I use VSCO to add filters to my Instagram photos. The app is free and comes with a handful of presets, but I’ve purchased a few others. Some of my favorites include A6, C2, HB2, and S2. I like that you can adjust the intensity of the filter. I never use them at 100%. It doesn’t look natural in my opinion. 

7. Facetune: Ahh Facetune. It gets a bad reputation, because some people overuse it to get rid of wrinkles to the point that they look like Barbie dolls. I use it mainly for the whiten tool. It makes beige or off-white aspects of photos bright white, which I love. I showed Bryan the before and afters of the photos I’ve edited, and he agreed that Facetune is a game changer. He downloaded it himself and now uses it to edit all of his Instagram photos. 

8. Planoly: I’m really upping my Instagram game this year, so I had to start using Planoly. I could do an entire post about Planoly, but basically it’s an app for planning your Instagram posts in advance. No more worrying if an image will look cohesive with the rest of your feed. Just upload images into Planoly and drag and drop them until you like the way it looks. Nothing is published live unless you click to do so. I use the free version for now, which absolutely rocks, but I’m looking into purchasing the paid version for additional analytics. 

9. Snapseed: I don’t use Snapseed for every photo, but it comes in handy from time to time. I only use two of the tools – the brush button to brighten up dark parts of photos and the white balance button to adjust the temperature of the image. 

Back-End Operations

10. WordPress: Although I write 99% of my posts using WordPress on my laptop, I like having the option of editing posts on my phone if needed. Sometimes, I’ll lie in bed at night and type up an outline for an upcoming post in the WordPress app. It saves me from having to pull out my laptop and Bryan doesn’t have to listen to me type on the keyboard. 

11. RewardStyle: If you part of the Reward Style/LiketoKNOW.it network, I highly recommend getting the Reward Style app for your phone. It’s what you’ll use to create shoppable images, check your income, and tag favorite products for later. Although, I typically have Reward Style up on my computer browser at all times, I use the app every single day and find it to be very user-friendly. 

12. Gmail: Good ol’ email. It’s a personal preference, but I’m not a fan of the interface of the regular Mail app on IOS. I use the Gmail app instead. I like that I can easily access all my color-coded folders! Productivity tip >> Turn OFF push notification for emails. This way, you won’t get distracted every time a message comes through. 

13. Invoice2Go: This is bad, but I typically remember to send invoices when I’m not home and not at my laptop. Instead of waiting, I downloaded this app called Invoice2Go. It’s a simple way to invoice and organize your business right from your phone. You can create and send invoices, accept online payments, track open invoices, and view old files. 

14. Genius Scan: I’ve told SO many people about this app even people who don’t blog or have an online business. Basically, you open the app and then use the camera function to take a photo of any document you need digitally. The app then turns the image into a black and white PDF, which you can then email out to whomever needs it. It’s seriously a lifesaver, because who has an actual scanner anymore?! I use Genius Scan for both business and personal documents and it works like a charm. 

15. Google Analytics: I used to be crazy about checking the blog’s analytics. It became an obsession and would affect my mood for the entire day if I noticed the numbers going down. Now, I do my best to check my stats monthly and develop a strategy for the next month based on my findings. 

16. Evernote: I honestly didn’t want to like Evernote, because everyone was using it and I’d rather just beat to the tune of my own drum. Ya feel me? But I downloaded it anyway to see what all the hype was about, and became obsessed. It keeps all my ideas organized. You can use it to take notes, create to-do lists, save articles you’ve found online, and so much more. I personally love it to keep track of blog post ideas. It syncs with documents I create on my laptop, which makes it convenient for accessing saved info wherever I am. Go download it now, you won’t regret it. 

17. Paypal: Paypal is my payment method of choice if I’m dealing with anything blog related. Most of my business expenses go through Paypal, because it’s more secure than giving out my credit card number and it’s easier for me to track payments at the end of each month.