My Apps 2023

pexels-mohi-syed-50614

I remain a low volume mobile app user. I very selectively install apps on my device. Less is definitely more for me.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2022

My daily driver when it comes to a phone is an iPhone 12 pro Max currently but I also have a Surface Duo 2 as a backup. The other device that I use apps on is my iPad mini.

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Castro on iOS to listen to all my podcasts on iOS.

Lastpass password manager and authenticator for general password management. This may change after the recent security issues with Lastpass.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Microsoft 365.

Car Play – Connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts as well as use Waze for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

OneDrive – This mobile app now not only allows me to manage my Microsoft 365 files but it also incorporates the more advanced Office Lens technology that scans and uploads, documents, whiteboards, etc.

Tripview – One of the few apps that I have happily paid for. I use this to let me know the Sydney train schedule to help me get around when I need to negotiate the ‘real world’. Although not much travel is happening at the moment, this app is super handy for negotiating local public transport.

Audible – If I can’t read my Kindle then I can normally always listen. This app allows me to listen to my audio books where ever I am. This and Castro on iOS are probably the most used applications on my devices.

Amazon Kindle – If I don’t have access to my Kindle then I can still read my books. In my case that will most likely be on my iPad. I also use the Kindle app on the iPad when the ebook has a lot of images that sometime don’t display well or are too small for the Kindle device.

The following as currently only iOS:

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road, which ain’t so much these days but still a handy app to have.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, and Linkedin on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device. On my Duo 2 I am also using Edge as the primary browser along with the new Edge Insider. I also have the Brave browser on my devices as I no longer use Chrome at all.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

I use the Signal messaging app for private conversations and groups that I am part of.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Get Pocket

– Duolingo

– Duolingo Math

– Uber

– Amazon music

I use the normal personal apps for things like Internet banking and so on. I also use Coin Gecko for monitoring cryptocurrency.

One my iPad, which also serves as a personal entertainment device, I have the streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. My aim to try and keep the apps standard across all the devices and as few as possible. I try and standardise on the Microsoft apps on all platforms and use these as much as possible. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available.

My Apps 2022

pexels-mohi-syed-50614

I remain a low volume mobile app user. I very selectively install apps on my device. Less is definitely more for me.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2021

My daily driver when it comes to a phone is an upgraded iPhone 12 pro Max currently but I also have a Surface Duo 2 as a backup. The other device that I use apps on is my iPad mini.

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Castro on iOS to listen to all my podcasts on iOS.

Lastpass password manager and authenticator. for general password management.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Microsoft 365.

Car Play – Connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts as well as use Waze for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

The following as currently only iOS:

Oak – For mindfulness, breathing and meditation.

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road, which ain’t so much these days but still a handy app to have.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device. On my Android I am also using Edge as the primary browser along with the new Edge Insider. I also have the Brave browser on my devices as do not use Chrome at all.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Get Pocket

– Duolingo

– Uber

– Amazon music

I use the normal personal apps for things like Internet banking and so on. I also use Blockfolio for monitoring cryptocurrency.

One my iPad, which also serves as a personal entertainment device, I have the streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. My aim to try and keep the app standard across all the devices and as few as possible. I try and standardise as on the Microsoft apps on all platforms. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available.

My Apps – 2020

I am still not a big app user. I am very careful and selective about what I install on my device. Less is definitely more for me.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2019

Since this time last year, the biggest change has been moving to an iPhone as my primary phone early in 2019. I am sticking with the Apple ecosystem for at least 12 months to see what it is like. My experience so far is that it is functional but overall not as good as the experience on Android. The interesting thing towards the end of 2020 will be the new Android based Neo and Duo Surface devices that Microsoft have promised. The Duo device will also allow calls, so I’m thinking that I’ll maintain the iPhone as the primary device until the Duo becomes available. That may prove to be 2021 here in Australia, but I thinking that will probably be my next primary device change We’ll see.

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Apple podcasts – Was my main podcast app until a reader recommended Castro on iOS. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s gotta be better than Apple podcast! I really miss Podcast Addict, which unfortunately is only available on Android

Lastpass password manager and authenticator. Google authenticator has gotten the flick as part of my limiting what Google apps I use.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Microsoft 365.

Car Play – Connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts as well as use Waze for navigation. Gotta say that it isn’t nearly as good as Android auto in my experience. However, since I’m spending an extended time in the Appel ecosystem I’ll be stick with this.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

Tripview – One of the few apps that I have happily paid for. I use this to let me know the Sydney train schedule to help me get around when I need to negotiate the ‘real world’.

Audible – If I can’t read my Kindle then I can normally always listen. This app allows me to listen to my audio books where ever I am.

The following as currently only iOS:

Oak – For mindfulness, breathing and meditation

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device. On my Android I am also using Edge as the primary browser along with the new Edge Insider.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

I use the Microsoft Next Lock Screen on my Android device.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Get Pocket

– Duolingo

I use the normal personal apps for things like Internet banking and so on. I also use Blockfolio for monitoring cryptocurrency. For casual entertainment and general interest I also have Minecraft Earth installed.

One my iPad, which also serves as a personal entertainment device, I have the streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. My aim to try and keep the app standard across all the devices and as few as possible. I try and standardise as much as possible to use the Microsoft apps on all platforms. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available simply because my finger are too fat and my patience too short to be productive for long stints on mobile devices. My kingdom, my kingdom for a full keyboard and screen I cry.

Office 365 Mobile Application Management basics

When you look at a licensed user in Office 365 you will see sections like this:

You’ll see there are no device settings as yet.

If a user now downloads and installs the Outlook app on their phone.

and then logs into it

they will be able to receive the emails as expected.

However, they will also see that the organization is protecting their device.

and thus, they will require a PIN for the Outlook application.

They can also download the OneDrive app and connect to their OneDrive for Business.

If they however use GMail to access their emails they will again see the prompt above letting them know that Office 365 will be controlling part of this account.

The user will see the things that will be possible via remote management.

The users account can be connected via most mail clients using their login and password.

and they will be able to see their emails.

The same thing applies if they use the native mail client that comes with the device. That account will need to be put under management before it can be used as shown above.

Once done so, the user can read their emails.

Now that a user has configured their device for an Office 365 service you will see an additional option in the list of items for their account in the administration center – Device Settings.

This item is Device Settings and you should see the devices they have configured.

If you select Device Settings you should see all the devices the user has configured, as shown above. You will notice that these devices are “App managed”, which basically means just the software on the device is managed, not the operating system or the anything else on the device.

You can select the device and then select Remove company data, however, because the device is only “App managed” you’ll see that you can’t wipe the whole the device.

if you continue with the Remove company data option, you see the above confirmation screen.

If you then select Confirm you will see the above confirmation that data removal from the device has commenced.

If you wish to remove the OneDrive data as well it is best practice to go into the OneDrive settings and Initiate a sign out as shown above.

You’ll then receive confirmation that this sign process has commenced.

This basic version of device management is available across all Office 365 plans, however if you are looking for more powerful management, with full device management, then you need to consider using Intune and actually enrolling the devices which I’ll cover in an upcoming update.

Azure Cloud Shell

One of the best tools you can use when working with Azure is PowerShell. I have published an earlier article on how you can connect to Azure Resource Manager (ARM) via PowerShell on your desktop.

Some people still struggle with this as it requires additional software to be installed and configured as well as authentication to the Azure tenant.

Microsoft has provided an easy way to use PowerShell with Azure and it is known as the Cloud Shell.

When you login to the Azure portal you should see a Script icon in the top right, just to the left of the Cog icon.

When you select this icon a window should appear at the bottom of your screen, showing a command line.

In most cases, the environment will default to BASH but you can select PowerShell in the top left of this window.

When you do a new command line environment will open up. It will run PowerShell AND (this is the really cool part) it will AUTOMATICALLY authenticate you to the Azure tenant tenant using the same credentials as you used in the browser to gain access to the Azure portal.

Now you can run your standard PowerShell commands directly in the browser as shown above.

Now the super cool feature of this is that Azure is also available as a mobile app (here in iOS). When you run that app you will again find the option for the Cloud Shell (here in the lower right).

When you select this icon, you’ll again be a command line environment that you can configure to be PowerShell as you see above.

Now you can run your PowerShell commands directly from any mobile device! How super cool is that?

Having the ability to run PowerShell from just about anywhere to work with Azure is a really, really powerful feature of Azure and makes the life of managing these resources much easier.

So, go and give it a try for yourself.

Teams mobile adds access to tabs

If you navigate to a Team using the browser you can see and add additional tabs to an individual channel as shown above.

Since the mobile Teams app launched it was not possible to view those additional tabs. The only option you could access was the Files tab.

However, as you see above, with the latest iteration of the Teams app (on iOS and Android) there is now a Tabs option when you go into a Team.

Once you do you will then see the Tabs as shown in the browser view.

As with all Office 365 mobile apps, make sure that you update them regularly to take advantage of all the latest features.

The phone is the desktop

This is the sixth part of my presentation “Making money from the cloud”. You can find the full slides at:

https://doc.co/LyrxvF/qcihGm

and the previous parts are at:

We live in exponential times

Consider the following

Major Trends

Macro Trends

Software will eat the world

A sure sign that technology beliefs are rooted in the past is believing that desktops and servers are the most important user devices in a business. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth as mobile devices, predominately phones but also tablets, continue to dominate the IT market.

The next wave of Internet adoption and opportunity will not come from places such as Australia and the US, it will come from places like India, China and Africa. It will come thanks to the growing accessibility of smart phones and mobile Internet access. The multiplication effect of Internet access across these large populations will be unprecedented.

However, even in places like Australia that already have high mobile penetration, look at how often people upgrade their phones. Most last no more than twelve months before they are relegated to the scrap heap. Why? Because, like early PCs, we are still at the dawn of what hardware can do for mobile devices. Faster processors, more memory, better screens, etc. are driving the turnover of mobile devices as people seek a better experience and, importantly, as people use their mobile devices more and more as their primary device to access the Internet.

With that in mind, ask yourself, how mobile friend is my business? How embracing is my business when it comes to mobile technology. Are we making a centre piece of our strategy to enable employees to work where they want and when they want? Or are we still ignoring the fact that our employees are using their phone with corporate data in a way that maybe inappropriate to our organisational needs?

Good employees desire the ability to work where and when suits them. They want to be able to drop their kids off at school in the morning as well as pick them up. They want to be able to run that small errand during the day. They want to be able to choose the environment that makes them most productive and for many (including myself) that is not an office. Mobile devices allow them to achieve all this and still remain productive. It allows them to continue working for the business while suiting themselves. Good employees are beginning to demand these conditions and smart businesses are enabling it to attract and retain the best talent.

The importance of the mobile device can easily be illustrated. Let’s say that you are in presentation session filled with people you don’t particularly know. How many of you would be comfortable unlocking your phone and handing to someone else randomly? Most people would be far from comfortable in doing that. Why? Because their mobile is now their identity. It has all their contacts, messages, notes, access to financial institutions and so on. It is such an important piece of what constitutes a person in today’s digital age that it should be given the respect it deserves.

A majority of Internet based transactions are now taking place via mobile devices. We are seeing the growth of mobile payment platforms thanks to Apple and Google. Doing things any other way is beginning to introduce more and more friction in the sales process. More friction simply means less sales, so smart businesses are embracing mobile payments as way to maintain but also attract new customers.

However, one of the things that doesn’t change when it comes to corporate mobile devices is the need for control. Security and compliance of information is still a requirement for most businesses no matter where their information is accessed from. In a world where information can be accessed from anywhere a new set of challenges arises as devices are no longer within the four walls of a business. In a world where your device is your identity, what protections do you have in place to protect information you are unwilling to openly share with others as illustrated previously? Although the mobile devices is something most ‘can’t live without’ few take any steps to protect actually it.

My experience is currently that few end user mobile devices have any sort of management at all. This is strange in a world where products like Office 365 include basic mobile device management out of the box. I think the main reason is that IT Professionals are lagging in their knowledge and acceptance of these mobile trends. The worm has turned and customers are now adopting technology at a much faster rate than IT Professionals, many of whom are still land locked with outdated concepts and beliefs of how technology is used.

The limited number of mobile devices currently under management should immediately raise the opportunity and threat flags for someone with a business mindset. The opportunity is clear. To focus on offering the ability to manage devices for businesses in a market where there is currently little competition. The risk is that if you don’t do it for your customers or users then you are vulnerable to your competition coming in and doing for them and potentially pushing you out as a provider in total.

Our modern technology world is ruled by mobile devices and this will only continue to grow. It is time for IT Professionals to embrace the changing landscape of mobility and provide the necessary security and compliance services they have always provided to keep business information secure. They have the experience, they simply need the skills. Services like Office 365 already provides these mobile device management tools, it simply comes down to implementing them.

Embracing mobility is the key to success going forward for both businesses and IT Professionals. It will provide yet another differentiation point between the old and new worlds with those who ‘get it’ reaping the benefits.

My apps

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m really not a big apps guy. I test a lot of apps but in reality few hold my attention or become part of my daily routine. These however do.

Podcast Addict – for all my podcasts. Easy to use, listen and update.

Google Authenticator – used to provide two factor authentication for access to Google accounts as well as for Lastpass password manager.

Android auto – connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts (via Podcast Addict) as well as use Google Maps for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

Office Lens – available on all platforms. Allows capturing of information such as documents, whiteboards, etc to OneNote. I have written about the importance of this app previously:

A mobile device must have

Fitbit – for tracking my fitness stats. I am generally most interested in tracking my sleep progress but also aim to get 10,000 steps a day done.

Tripview – One of the few apps that I have happily paid for. I use this to let me know the Sydney train schedule to help me get around when I need to negotiate the ‘real world’.

Swarm – for reporting my location to Facebook and Twitter. Combined with Foursquare this allows me to keep track of where I have been, when. Also, by making my location publically available to others, I’m encouraging them to catch up with me when I’m local.

Audible – If I can’t read my Kindle then I can normally always listen. This app allows me to listen to my audio books where ever I am.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably the SharePoint, OneDrive and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device.

I use the Microsoft Next Lock Screen on my Android device.

Like I said, there are plenty of other apps I use now and then on different platforms but the above ones I typically use across all platforms an/or use them everyday. That’s why they make this list.