If you’re looking for a well-organised email app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android with a clever interface, flexible customisation options, and tools for discussing and collaborating on emails with your team ‘Spark’ may be the app for you.

The Spark email app offers a very tidy email inbox that puts the most important emails first and saves the junk, newsletters, and less important tasks for later.

The app also features a good email search engine, offers the scheduling and snoozing of emails, smart notifications, integrations with other services, and a host of other features.

To find out more visit the Spark website https://sparkmailapp.com/ , or go to iTunes or Google’s Play Store.

The ‘Noted’ app is a fully-integrated audio recording and note-taking app that can help you to keep track of meetings, interviews, lectures and more.  The app records audio, while also allowing you to type out notes which have rich text and image support.  These notes are automatically time-stamped with easily searchable “time tags”, and the recordings + accompanying notes can be synced through iCloud, organized into notebooks, and quickly searched through.

The basic Noted app free tier has core functionality and allows you to save five recordings. Premium plans e.g. Noted+ allow for more recordings + offer other features such as removing unwanted background noise and enhancing recordings for clearer playback and exporting notes to PDF.

The Noted app is available for Mac, iPhone/iPad, and now the Apple watch so you can capture spontaneous conversations.

To get Noted, go to the Mac Apple Store (itunes.apple.com) and download the basic version for free.  In-app upgrades can be purchased if you require more recordings and functionality. More details about an Android offering coming soon.

If you’d like to see what data your phone has been collecting about your movements here’s how:

For iPhone:

You can see what Apple refers to as your ‘Significant Locations’ by going to:

Settings > Privacy > Location Services >

Scroll down and select System Services > Significant Locations.

You will need to prove it’s you before being given this info e.g. by fingerprint scan, Face ID or typing in your passcode.

For Android:

You can see what is referred to as ‘Your Timeline’ by:

Opening the Google Maps app.

Clicking on the menu (3 horizontal bars, top left)

Selecting ‘Your Timeline’.

At this point, you may get an on-screen permissions message about turning tracking on or off.

If you’d like to be able to get a report about how you or your family members use your Apple devices, apps, and websites, how much time is spent on them, and (for example) set limits on your child’s device, there’s an app in the new iOS 12 to help you do it.  Here’s how :

– Turn on the ‘Screen Time’ app: on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > Screen Time.

– Select ‘Turn On Screen Time’.

– Select ‘Continue’.

– Select This is My [device] or This is My Child’s [device].

You can now get reports. To set limits, you can configure your child’s device from your own device using ‘Family Sharing’:

– Go to Settings > Screen Time (if you’re already in a Family Group).

– Tap your child’s name.

– If you need to create a new Apple ID for your child, go to Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing > Screen Time.

– If you’re new to Family Sharing, ‘Set up Screen Time for Family’.

– Follow the instructions to add a child and set up your family.

– Add any other family members from the Family Sharing settings at any time.

If you’d like to be able to save all your login credentials in a secure and safe manner on your mobile device, an app like the ‘LastPass’ password manager may prove very helpful.  It’s one of many such apps, but it’s been rated highly.

LastPass is a ‘freemium’ model password manager that stores encrypted passwords online.

– Download the LastPass Mobile App from Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

– Follow the app instructions.

– Log in with the same LastPass account to sync data between devices, or you can swipe into the LastPass app with your fingerprint for extra security.

There is a built-in random password generator so all your passwords can be different.

Your passwords can be stored and viewed in a secure vault and the app offers autofill, sharing of passwords securely, password auditing, and the ability to keep digital notes with the passwords for e.g. memberships, prescription etc.

See https://www.lastpass.com for details.