The iPad series is a popular line of tablet computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple, Inc. The iPad is primarily used as a platform for audio and visual media including: books, newspapers, magazines, photographs, movies, music, games, web content, and other applications.
Application software, also known as an “app,” is software that is downloaded from Apple’s App Store that is designed to help the user perform specific tasks. Depending on the application, some are free and others cost money. Currently, there are over 500,000 different apps available for download.
The following is a list of four free apps that may be of interest to seniors:
Mint.com (Free)
Mint.com allows you to track, budget, and manage your money all in one place, so you can see expenditure categories and where you can save money. Open a Mint.com account, add your bank, credit, loan and retirement account information, and Mint.com will automatically pull in and categorize your transactions. It’s safe, secure, and easy to keep your personal finances organized. If you don’t have an iPad, then you can also use Mint.com on your computer.
▪ View all of your accounts including: checking, savings, credit cards, investments and retirement.
▪ Transactions are automatically categorized–no need to enter your own transactions.
▪ Easy to understand graphs show you where your money is going so you get a clear picture of your spending and your net worth (iPad only).
▪ Know how much you have left to spend–Mint.com creates a customized budget based on your actual spending.
▪ Add manual transactions at the time of purchase so you can track cash spending.
▪ Avoid late fees and monitor cash flow by setting up bill reminders, alerts and advice sent right to your device.
▪ View your data even without a wireless connection (iPad only).
AARP (Free)
Now you can take the AARP experience with you on the go. With the AARP app, you can save money, stay informed, and share favorite content with your friends.
▪ Easy access to AARP member benefits and discounts now with a stored copy of your membership card on your mobile device.
▪ Read the latest articles from AARP in a mobile-optimized format and access offline.
▪ Watch video clips from AARP’s video library.
▪ Share interesting content with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
▪ Join AARP or renew your membership.
WebMD (Free)
WebMD helps with your decision-making and health-improvement efforts by providing mobile access 24/7 to mobile-optimized health information and decision-support tools including WebMD’s Symptom Checker, Drugs and Treatments, First Aid Information, and Local Health Listings. WebMD also gives you access to first aid information without wireless internet access. This is critical if you do not have internet access in an emergency. Personalize your app by saving drugs, conditions, and articles relevant to you through secure access and easy sign-in. WebMD has been downloaded over six million times on iPhone and iPad platforms since its initial release in October 2008.
Allrecipes (Free)
Allrecipes is a fun and easy way to find recipes. Recipe details are easy to view. Each recipe shows the ingredients, directions, nutritional information, and reviews. You can even scale recipes to get the perfect number of servings for your needs. When you are ready to start cooking, you can enable, “Cook Mode” for an easy view of the most important recipe details on one screen.
▪ When you already know what recipe you want, use powerful search options to access more than 45,000 member tested recipes.
▪ Search by ingredients to specifically include or exclude.
▪ Dietary filters like gluten free, high fiber, low fat, low carbs or low sodium.
▪ Search recipes by type, cooking method or prep time.
▪ Filter your results by popularity or member rating.
These are just a handful of applications that seniors and their families may find useful.
The attorneys at Martha C. Brown & Associates, LLC assist families with their estate, financial, long-term care, veterans’ benefits, and special-needs planning issues.
