The order in our digital lives is just like the order at home, the nightstand or the furniture of the books and DVD (DVD...?). The key to this order is to go looking for something and finding it at the moment.
In the digital world, some mobile applications make life very easy because they put order where it is very common to lose things or does not know where they are. Order saves a lot of time and brings tranquillity, just like in the physical world, and avoids stress. Of course, it's fun, too.
In this article, I’m talking about three apps that I have been using for years and have become indispensable for me by the enormous value that they bring to me. It's not only important what they do, but how they do it. Reduce friction to the minimum expression, what motivates you to give a better and greater use. In this, they are probably unique in their species. And, well used, the three makes a good part of your digital life in order: your photos (Google Photos), your files (Dropbox) and your printed documents, those that we are archiving in physical folders or leaving around the house (Scanner Pro).
1. Google Photos
I have always thought that the photos are made to enjoy them, see them whenever you get up or when the memory arises at any time and place, accompanied by your mobile. It shouldn't be complicated finding a picture. There's already a way to find it without any effort.
I resisted with Google Photos when it was launched in 2015. I saw live streaming the Google conference in which they introduced the application, and I thought: I don't want more photo apps, who want more photo apps? But I was wrong: soon after I dared to try it and it is different, is the best application for photos because of these reasons:
It automatically saves all the photos and videos of the mobile or tablet in the cloud. So far so normal. Many apps do this, though some better than others.
You can quickly and easily upload photos and videos that you have on your computer, USB keys, and hard disks.
And now comes the best:
It's free. Wow.
Offers unlimited storage. Seriously? Yes.
And, above all, uses artificial intelligence for facial recognition, among other things. What is this?
The use of artificial intelligence allows the application to recognize people's faces and even things: swings, beaches, birthdays, airplanes, hiking, skyscrapers, bars, concerts, museums, surfing, cats and other countless things. They are also ordered by geographical location. I mean, it puts you in order.
"What Google does is to orderly arrange the people’s pictures because it recognizes the faces with spectacular precision."
Imagine you want to look for photos of your daughter, brother, mother or grandfather for the last five or 30 years. There will be some who think: now to a few months, I will gather it. Not really. Google Photos has already done it for you while you were sleeping or walking the dog. And it has all those photos (and videos) in specific folders of your daughter, brother, mother or grandfather. What Google does is to orderly arrange the people’s pictures (and pets) because it recognizes the faces with spectacular precision, even of many years ago (when you were younger), then you put a name to that folder the first time you see it, and that is it. Google Photos also allows us to discover pictures or videos from previous years.
Anecdote with this app: Just a week ago I was going to edit a small video for a friend and went to Google Photos to find a photo of him. What was my surprise when I saw that I had enough pictures and videos of him from years ago that I didn't remember. Naturally, I took advantage of using them in the video. Something came up exciting, and my friend liked it. Thanks, Google.
Having the functionality of face recognition available is very simple if you are in Europe: you have to download a VPN application on your mobile (it allows you to simulate that you are connected in another country) and say for example that you are in the United States. Once you do that, you go to Google Photos on the mobile and activate the option “group similar faces" in settings. Being in Europe, this option does not appear without having enabled the VPN before. You just have to do it once, then you can delete the VPN application and forget about it. Google Photos’ face recognition currently violates the privacy policies in the European Union, hence it is disabled, and the VPN trick is needed.
2. Dropbox
Would you like to have access to all the files stored on your computer 24 a day on your mobile? Due to many things, I guarantee it's instrumental. Dropbox allows you to “take your computer" everywhere without loading it because it uploads all documents to the cloud safely. What exactly does Dropbox offer?
Have all your files accessible 24 hours a day on your mobile. More order in your digital life.
Synchronizes the changes you make on your computer or on your mobile automatically.
Automatic uploading of all photos and videos from the mobile, tablet or computer.
Compatibility with third-parties applications for the automatic upload of all types of files (see below the app Scanner Pro), if you give permission.
Dropbox is free for limited use. To really be worthwhile and have all your digital file in the cloud, you probably need some payment option: A terabyte capacity (1,000 gigabytes) costs 100 euros per year. It is a price similar to what Google charges for a terabyte in Drive (120 euros) or Apple in iCloud (120 euros for two terabytes).
But the recommendation of Dropbox by the blog Notes941 has nothing to do with prices, but its characteristics and operations. Google Drive is also excellent and iCloud has been improving, but it’s still somehow more limited in functionality.
"I diversify my data using iCloud (200 GB), Google Photos, Dropbox for files (a terabyte), Evernote for notes; Gmail (100 GB) and 1Password."
I use Dropbox, in front of Drive, because I like it more and in addition, I diversify my data: In my iPhone X use iCloud (200 GB) for certain things; If it's photos, Google Photos; for my computer files and in general, Dropbox (a terabyte); to take notes, Evernote; for mails, Gmail (Google repeats, here use 100 GB); for my passwords, 1Password.
I have two copies of all my photos and videos. One on Google Photos and another on Dropbox. Google Photos, due to its facial recognition and navigation features. Dropbox's is an extra copy. Everything is with automatic upload, a release because you have almost to think.
Having everything in order in Dropbox requires stopping a little and keeping things well. I recommend doing it per year, it's the only way that has worked for me, and that has been giving me peace for years.
By the way, for more peace of mind: When you delete something in Dropbox, either on the computer itself, in the browser or in the app, the file is kept for three months in the systems to avoid accidentally deleted. You can also delete files permanently whenever you want.
3. Scanner Pro
Almost every day we receive papers everywhere, invoices, recipes, medical reports, bank documents, insurance, etc. Almost none of these papers requires the original document, but we take care of leaving it on the nightstand or any other place. When accumulating, sometimes we lose them, and especially many times we hardly find them when we need them. I’ve had a lot of such. Can you imagine being able to throw them all in the trash and at the same time keep that same information always available and orderly?
"Can you imagine being able to throw all papers in the trash and at the same time keep that same information always available and orderly?"
It's possible. Several apps make a picture of a document and automatically convert it to PDF, which is the best way to handle these documents, but not all automatically uploads the document to a folder in your Dropbox (or Google Drive, iCloud, etc.). What does Scanner Pro offer?
You take a photo (or those that are needed if they are several pages) and save the document in PDF.
Scanner pro automatically does an OCR reading to recognize the text of the documents. Thanks to that, we can find it with text search. I mean, if it's a dentist report, just entering "dentist” in the Dropbox finder would sort it out. Impressive.
That PDF is automatically uploaded to Dropbox or other cloud storage services.
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