Written by Scott

As a visual artist who spends much time on the road, I have found my iPhone to be a super useful tool. And each day, it seems to get more useful.

And last year I joined the ranks of the iPhone developers to start programming apps for the iPhone. It was an interesting decision, as it had been ten years since I programmed in any computer language. I used to be know a enough to be dangerous in Assembly, was fluent in Basic, then Pascal, and even fortran (that’s like Latin for computer languages!). Then I learned the web languages of perl and python, though I only learned enough to get by. But more on iPhone developing in a bit.

The Mobile Studio

When creating 3D animations, editing video, or even drawing with my Wacom digital tablet, my Macbook Pro is my main tool. And my Mac wakes up from sleep to be an ‘instant-on’ device when I open it. However, sometimes carrying around and opening a 17″ laptop can get to be a pain.

Enter the iPhone.

Yes, it’s the cool thing of the day. Yes, the kids all want it. Yes, it’s also the most powerful handheld computing device on the market. Yes, I love it. And mine is only the 16 Gig 3G, not the newest 3GS.

But man, has this thing become useful for me as a freelance visual artist. It’s always with me in my pocket and like Ironman’s suit, my iPhone enables me to become part man, part machine. I even have a goatee, albeit not as cool as Tony Stark’s.

In no particular order, here are the top 10 apps that have become my most used tools:

1. Mail

Yes, it’s built in, but having push notifications and being able to react to incoming emails instantly allows me to keep a finger on the pulse of my business. I have many email accounts and most of them go right to my iPhone.

In fact, I even have things like Google Alerts sending me email notifications when certain keywords pop up in various social media sites/blogs.

2. Gas Cubby & Trip Cubby

Okay, these are technically 2 apps, but I treat them as one. They are both from a company called App Cubby and both apps help me keep track of my mileage.

Trip Cubby logs my odometer for each vehicle, logs whether it is for business or personal, and even computes the IRS deduction cost based on mileage. What is nice is the “Frequent Trips” menu that lets you select from your most common destinations and automagically fills in the proper mileage distance, destination, and purpose.

And when tax time comes around, it will export the data both for backup and for your yearly records. The reports include total mileage, deductible amount, and costs associated.

3. Things

You could call Things a to-do list but that would be such an over-simplification. Things allows me to organize my day, week, and month. Projects can be broken down to tasks that have their own time schedules.

You can quickly jot down reminders in your Inbox part of Things. Then later, you can organize or check off items on your list. I could go on and on, but this has pretty much replaced my paper to-do list. Yes, I still love my Moleskine, but I use that for more long term notes that I use for study and not so much for my daily project organization.

Things also has a desktop application that syncs with the iPhone version so you can have everything on your desktop as well as your phone.

4. iBank

Keeping track of receipts for business purchases is very important. I can either spend nights on end (or one VERY long day on the 13th of April) adding up my receipts and organizing what was a business receipt and what was personal, or I can record that info at the point of sale.

iBank allows me to enter in my purchases and categorize them accordingly as the receipt is printing out. It then syncs with the desktop version instantly via MobileMe, Dropbox, or any other equivalent service. I don’t have to enter bank account numbers (you can use any name to identify accounts) and I can encrypt the application with a four digit PIN, this way, my actual bank info is safe. And iBank allows me in an instant to see my current financial status at any time.

5. FedEx Mobile

FedEx Mobile is a free app directly from FedEx that allows me to log into my account and see in real time, the status of any packages shipped. While most of my deliveries are digital, I still send out quite a bit of real packages and also order quite a bit of supplies.

This keeps track of my tracking numbers and displays in a list where things are in the delivery route. Very handy.

6. 1Password

1Password has got to be one of my favorite apps of all time – both for the iPhone and for my Mac. It allows me to have organize all of my passwords (passphrases, actually) and also to have completely random passphrases. And I do mean COMPLETELY!

1Password allows you to generate passphrases with over 30 characters of random numbers, letters, and symbols. It keeps track of that, the username, and the website for all of your login accounts in one database. It encrypts everything in an industry standard high grade encryption. The entire program is locked with a PIN and then your important passphrases are protected with a second layer passphrase.

This allows me to login to any site that requires a username/passphrase right on my iPhone, at any time. And I know my account information is secure with such random, highly secure passphrases.

7. Facebook

Six or seven months ago, I would never have thought facebook would be the source of income that it is now. But things change. And especially with the addition of Fan Pages, Facebook has become just as common as email for contacting clients.

While the current version of the Facebook app is missing a few key things, they have promised that the next update (a free update, by the way) will include many of the items I feel it is missing.

8. Credit Card Terminal

Okay, this one may not be useful to everyone. It also has additional costs associated with it. Specifically, a monthly charge with Authorize.net and requires a merchant account. However, for many, this could be very worth the additional service fees.

This application allows you to place credit card charges using your iPhone as a mobile transaction point of sale device. For example, if you are onsite, and a client wants to add an additional service, instead of getting a word of mouth approval and spending months after with back and forth emails with accounting or sending invoices, you can take care of it right there, onsite.

For artists, selling on location, this is a great tool for offering another form of payment. I’ll let you read their site for more details, as it is a bit beyond the scope of this article. However, if you do credit card transactions, this is one to look into.

9. WordPress

This should be an obvious addition on the list. After all, blogs have become the norm for freelancers to post their latest work, share their favorite projects, and share their thoughts on related topics in their industry.

WordPress for the iPhone is handy in that it lets you log into multiple blog accounts (I have several blogs I maintain, so this is a great feature for me). Once logged in, you can post or even start writing something that is on your mind, save it as a draft for later, then refine the article/post later in the day after you’ve had some time to let the idea mature.

10. Podcasting

The last app on the list is not really an app, per say, but rather the Podcast section of the iPod player on the iPhone. Technically, this isn’t iPhone specific, and it doesn’t really matter. This is such a valuable resource for everyone, I want to share it.

I listen to so many business related podcasts and marketing podcasts that this is a key element to my business operations. When I am driving to events or running, I can listen to hours of business and marketing advice, with fresh, weekly content.

Many of my ideas come from these shows, and maybe in the future, I’ll do a review of my favorite shows.

Conclusion

There you have it. The top ten iPhone tools that I use all the time. There are other apps that are used daily, if not hourly, like my Wall Street Journal app, NPR News, and NewsAddict for keeping up to date with events. I use Google Reader, AIM’s push notifications, RunKeeper (a GPS running logger for my running training), and the apps I developed for myself through the developer program. The apps I write for myself are on there for real world testing, the ones that make it through my private ‘beta’ program will someday make it onto the iTunes App Store. In the meantime, I get custom apps just for me!

Plus, there are some GREAT full 3D games that use the unique touch abilities of the iPhone. Games like NFL 2010 (and, soon, Madden), that use the power of the iPhone’s fast processor that makes so much more possible.

Let the suits keep their Blackberry. I’m going to relax with my TV shows, movies, and free video podcasts that fill my 16 Gig iPhone that make relaxing even easier.

After all, business is great, but we all need that down time to recharge our mind. And the iPhone gives me the option to pick and choose, all while standing in line or waiting for a friend.

If you have some apps that you use on a daily basis that you find useful as a freelance visual artist, let me know in the comments section. There are so many iPhone apps for the visual artist and more keep coming!

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