Janice Marie Simon is a Certified Professional Organizer® and a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. Visit her blog at www.theclutterprincess.com.

Remember when apps used to mean appetizers? In today’s modern life, apps are essential for Savvy Aunties–and everyone else.

Several popular apps have added new and improved features to keep you on your toes.

1. Dropbox

Dropbox has ventured more into photo management. They’ve made it easier for you to upload your precious photos from your iPad and iPhone, so you can store them in the cloud. With your photos safely stored somewhere else, you can clear off space on your phone for more photos.

With their new photo album program, you can see all of the photos you have stashed in Dropbox, no matter how many different folders they’re in. Your photos are organized by date, and you can create albums and share them on Facebook, Twitter, or via email.

Some other improvements:

-To make it easier to attach documents in emails, Dropbox is now built into your Yahoo account.
-It’s much simpler to accept shared folder requests on your devices or computer.

Why the Buzz?
When people lose their phones, the first thing they lament is losing any photos they had, and no Savvy Auntie wants to lose any precious photos of our darling nieces and nephews.

2. Evernote

It’s no surprise Evernote 5 was named the 2013 Apple Design Award winner. Evernote continues to garner popularity and loyalty. Personally, I love Evernote, and it’s an essential tool for me. I think of it as digital sticky notes for my brain.

Capture any idea, photo, quote, article, and link, and put it on Evernote. As a cloud-based app, access your information on your smartphone, tablet, and computer. By tagging your notes, you can quickly search for them, and you can organize them into topical notebooks.

Now Evernote has reminders. Add reminders to your notes that are time-related. It’s a great productivity tool and it means you can use Evernote even more for your to-do-list.

Why the Buzz?
Do you really have to ask? I’ve gone back and read this Inc. article a couple of times about CEO Phil Libin.

3. Pinterest

Pinterest has gained so much traction that even eBay changed their website layout to match. More and more companies are creating their own boards to push out ideas to customers. With business boards, you can add your Social Media links, which you can’t do with personal Pinterest boards.

What’s new?
Secret boards were added so you can create a board no one else sees. Gather up gift and craft ideas for the nieces and nephews without them seeing it, or plan your secret vacation.

The Newer Kids on the Block

While some of the popular apps are evolving, some new kids on the block are starting to generate a buzz.

1. Box

Similar to Dropbox, you can store your documents on the cloud, share folders with others, and your information is synced on your smartphone, tablet, computer, and the Internet.

Why the Buzz?
Hospitals prefer Box since it is deemed safer for Patient-Health Information (PHI) and complies with HIPPA regulations because of their encryption policies. With Dropbox, you need to have access to Microsoft Word or PowerPoint if you want to edit a file. With Box, Word add-ins allow you to edit documents without having particular software on your devices.

2. Instaframe

Related to its cousin, Instagram, Instaframe lets you frame your photos, add captions, and post them to Instagram (of course!), Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. You can also email them to your friends and family.

Why the Buzz?
Instagram remains a very popular app, especially with the Millennials, and with Instaframe, there are even more options to use with your photos.

Photo: anankkml
Published: June 19, 2013