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There’s an app for just about everything these days, and there are plenty that we freelancers can use to make our business lives a bit simpler. These apps can make tasks like time tracking and file sharing simple and can really help our productivity.

Most freelancers have several apps in their arsenal, but with so many to choose from, how do you pick the right one for you?

A good place to start is to read reviews – many blogs do roundups like this article – and when you’ve found one you like the sound of, try it out to see if it works for you.

So lets get on with the roundup; here are some of my favourite apps:

Dropbox

If you’re one of the few people who haven’t tried Dropbox yet, you really should! It’s great for backing up your work; should your hard drive fail your work is still safe and accessible. Your files are also accessible from anywhere, as you can install the app to more than one computer, and also access your files by logging on to the Dropbox website.

You get 2GB of storgae for free, and can buy more if you need it. You can also get extra space by getting your friends to sign up too.

Another good feature is that you can use Dropbox to share files with other people. If you have a file that’s too large to send to a client by email, place it in a folder in your Dropbox account and share the folder with your client so they can access it.

Toggl

If you want a simple app just for time tracking and reporting, Toggl is very handy.

You can time task using the online app or the desktop app, and there’s also a version for your smartphone. You can also add tasks manually if you forgot to set the timer running and need to add them later.

A feature of the desktop version that I especially like tracks your activity and causes a pop-up to appear when it thinks you’ve stopped working – for example if you minimise Photoshop to have a sneaky look at Facebook. If you’re a procrastinator, this gentle nagging could really help!

There is a free version with basic tracking and reporting, and the price is quite reasonable if you want more advanced features.

Shortstack

If you have a Facebook page for your business, adding extra tabs is a good way to make it stand out. For example, you could add a landing screen to encourage people to like your page, host a competition, or add a sign-up form for your email newsletter.

Shortstack is ideal for creating these these extra features. You don’t need to learn the Facebook API as the app does all the hard work for you, but a little HTML and CSS is handy for styling the elements you’re adding to your page.

It’s really easy and quick to set up the tabs and add them to your Facebook page, and there are plenty of tempates and widgets to get you started.

FutureTweets

You can’t be online all the time, and if you have Twitter followers in a different time zone, to reach them you need to tweet at times they’re online, but you might normally be asleep. Using FutureTweets you can schedule your tweets for those times.

Scheduled tweets should be used sparingly though, as Twitter is at it’s best when used to interact with others. But it’s likely that you’ll be sending out the occasional self-promtional tweet, such as to announce a new blog post, product or service, and you want to make sure that as many of your followers as possible see it. That’s when using a scheduled tweet is ideal; just don’t get carried away – if you find most of your tweets are scheduled, you’ve probably missed the point of Twitter!

Highrise

I’m pretty new to Highrise, but so far it’s been very useful. It’s a CRM app, and it’s really easy to add contacts and categorise them. You can also make notes on your contact’s page and add tasks, such as setting reminders to follow up with a client or prospect on a certain date.

There’s a free option with 250 contacts allowed, which so far seems enough for a small business, and if you have more contacts there are a range of paid plans with up to 50,000 contacts and extra features.

What about you? What apps do you use?