10 iPad apps for Mothers who Blog

If you happen to be one of the millions of social media mamas out there, one thing you’ll know is that there’s no such thing as a typical blogging mother. Aside from parenting, diversity is our common ground.

So it’s a bit challenging trying to assemble a list of apps for ‘mom bloggers’ and limit it to 10. My Top 10 apps for Mothers who Blog is therefore entirely subjective, based on the ones I’ve found most handy (and dandy) as a busy, blogging mama of two.

These apps are also available on iPhone and iPod Touch.

In order of most usage:

1. Pages (£5.99)
Apple’s signature word processing app is one of its top sellers and for good reason. I use this almost every day, often multiple times a day. I draft and back-up blog posts here, as well as other writing assignments. You can import and edit MS word docs and plain text files, and use one of 16 templates to help create letters, flyers, posters etc. Nifty for creating your kids’ party invites and the like. It’s the priciest app I own, but I can’t imagine my iPad without it.

2. BlogPress (£1.79)
The first blogging application I downloaded – WordPress for iPad – is fine in theory but just too buggy in practice. After one too many screw-ups, I decided to shell out ‘baby wipes’ money for BlogPress.

What a difference! It’s so smooth to add text, multiple photos, even upload video and update your posts to Facebook and Twitter too. It still has issues sometimes, so I write and store drafts in Pages before working in BlogPress. Works with most blogging platforms.

3. Pulse News Reader (Free)
This is probably my top iPad app in terms of combining function and sheer pleasure. It comes loaded with some of the best pop, news and entertainment web sites and you can add up to five pages of your favourite feeds. The swipe through format is almost ridiculously breezy. It’s transformed the way I keep up with my favourite mummy blogs. I just love it.

4. Intuition: Mom’s Personal Assistant (Free)
As someone who lives in a state of disorganised chaos, I’m always looking for ways to streamline and sort the mental clutter. I researched and downloaded a few task managers before I found this one – made for mums and so easy to use. It helps you make grocery lists (a fab feature!), plan your calendar, sort your chores, create wish lists and add your own tasks. And until I can find an editorial calendar app, this is what I use to schedule my blog topics.

5. Web Albums for Picasa (Free)
Since I don’t have one of those iPad photo upload connector thingies, this app has been a really useful and simple way of getting pics from my camera to laptop to iPad without having to sync through iTunes. Sorting and sharing photos of the bubbas (online, email, Facebook etc), adding and editing comments is also a cinch. If you use Picasa as your photo manager, this app is a no-brainer.

6. GoodReader (£1.79)
With this brilliant PDF reader, I’m able to view huge email attachments as well as all the most popular file types, books, magazines, photos and even video. You can manage and sync files and folders across multiple platforms. It does a whole bunch of other stuff that’s too techie for me to describe, but let’s just say it’s really cool and easy to use. A must-have.

7. Twitter for iPad (Free)
There are numerous Twitter apps like HootSuite, TweetDeck and Twitterific which I’ve yet to explore. But the Twitter for iPad app is slick and pretty much does what it says on the tin. I’ve not even bothered with the web version of Twitter since downloading this app. A great way to catch up with tweeps.

8. Flipboard (Free)
A simply gorgeous way to view your favourite social media networks, especially Facebook (seriously, you’ll never enjoy the regular Facebook site the same way after Flipboard). Also presents Twitter, GoogleReader and other feeds in a visually sumptuous way. The only reason this isn’t higher up on my list is that I’ve had to limit its use, otherwise it simply sucks me in for hours.

9. Dropbox (Free)
When I was heading out of town and needed a quick way to access my documents, I used Dropbox – the best file sharing app I’ve found. You can sync almost anything between your computer’s Dropbox folder and your iPad (or other portable device) including files, music, photos, videos – without taking up extra memory. It’s genius. The free Dropbox works fine for me now but there’s also a paid version with loads more features.

10. Evernote (Free)
I’m only just getting to grips with this app but it sounds ideal for mama bloggers as it’s made for capturing notes and memories on the fly – text, photo, audio, video – and having them instantly available on all your devices.

It’s got rave reviews on the app store and there’s a paid version that offers extra juice. As a way to jot down story/post ideas, funny comments from my kids, hot tips from places we visit and more, Evernote looks set to become my iPad’s new BFF.