Narrato Blog - The Ultimate Journal App For iPhone

The paid app "leap of faith" In most cases, the paid app model isn't relevant anymore. The App Store doesn't currently support free trials, so you have to take a leap of faith with every app you buy. A price barrier is enough to stop most people from giving an app a chance.

The freemium model means anyone can try a service out, without having to risk wasting their money.

For us, it means that we have to focus all of our efforts on making Narrato as amazing as it can possibly be, so that anyone who tries it is more likely to find value from it, and consider upgrading further down the line.

What we learned when we made Narrato free for a weekend At the end of August, we made Narrato free for one weekend to celebrate our integration with Moves. We saw a huge burst in downloads and learned a few things:

If you add value, people will look for a way to thank you - A number of happy customers liked Narrato so much, they decided to pay for a year's subscription in advance to show support, even though they could have continued to use Narrato for a year without spending a penny.

As a paid app, we were turning some of our best users away - Some of the people who signed up during the free promotion found enough value from Narrato to go through the effort of emailing us with positive feedback.

Constructive criticism is valuable - Not everyone was completely happy with Narrato, and we never expected to please everyone. It's always going to be a work in progress that evolves and improves over time. Getting feedback from more people gives us a deeper understanding of what's working and what isn't, and helps us make better decisions about where we go in the future.

The more we can learn from how Narrato fits into people's lives, the better.

Based on everything we learned, we've introduced the following tiers:

Free - Uploads up to 60MB each month

Pro ($0.99 per month or $4.99 per year) - Increase the monthly upload limit to 250MB

Awesome ($4.99 per month or $39.99 per year) - No limits whatsoever, upload as much as you like without worrying about limits

We wanted to make sure anyone could try Narrato out for as long as they wanted, so we didn't add a time limit on free accounts. Because the upload limits reset every month, 60MB is more than enough for most people.

The theory is that if people find enough value from Narrato and it becomes an important part of their lives, their usage will increase over time, and enough of them will find a reason to upgrade.

As with everything we do, we hope to refine and improve the premium offerings as we progress. Overall, we're confident that the freemium model is right for us.

What about our early adopters? We haven't forgot about the many people who paid for their first year of Narrato by purchasing the app.

They were willing to take that leap of faith in the App Store, and we will always be thankful for it. To show our appreciation, we're automatically upgrading them to the Awesome plan.

Will the freemium model be the right choice? Only time will tell, but for us and for the majority of app creators, it makes the most sense.

Give apps & services more context - Beacons could be used to give our apps and services more context, so they can adapt to our surroundings. Imagine, for example, that you manage both a personal and a work Twitter account. You could set up a beacon at work that would automatically log you into your work Twitter account when you're nearby. As soon as you're out of range, you're automatically switched into your personal account.

Home automation - BLE is ideal for home automation, especially because most of us now carry our phones around with us most of the time. Because BLE knows how far you are away from beacons, triggers can be set to only go off when you're a certain distance away. This is ideal for things like lighting and electronics. BLE can also be used to trigger warnings when you try to do things like leave the house while your oven is on.

Never lose anything again (apart from your phone) - Beacons don't have to be attached to static objects. You can add beacons to your keys, bags, laptops, tablets, or anything else you wouldn't want to lose. They do cost a reasonable amount (about $20 for this type of tag), but could end up saving you more. You could get a warning when your tagged item is more than a certain distance from you, then get directions to where it is. This is ideal for when your keys are somewhere in the house, but nowhere to be seen.

Extra security for your car - You could add a beacon to your car to stop it from starting unless it's you who's driving. For a less extreme approach, you could set your beacon up so that anytime the car is driven and you're not near it, you get notified. That way, you can still drive it when you forget your phone, but you know if someone else is driving it while you're not around.

Smarter notifications - Push notifications are nearly as annoying as emails. Beacons could solve that issue by making them smarter. You could set up a "notification free zone" or areas where you only receive certain types of messages.

Indoor mapping and guides - As long as your battery is charged and you've got a good GPS signal, it's hard to get lost when you're outdoors with a smartphone.

Beacons could help you find your way around while you're indoors, and could even give you more context and information about where you are. BLE mapping could be used in museums, train stations, or other larger buildings that are difficult to navigate.

IFTTT-style use cases - Because beacons give your apps more context, they could be used to trigger certain actions. IFTTT (If this then that) is a service that lets you set up recipes like "If I share a photo on Instagram, save it to Dropbox."

Beacons could let you do similar things in the real world. For example, something like "If I go to the gym, add an entry to my Narrato Journal saying so, and record how long I spent there."

As you can see, there are plenty of ways BLE can be used that don't involve coupons or payments, and iOS7 iBeacons make them all more likely to happen.

The amount of sugar we enjoy each day has increased, in part, because of changes in the food industry. Not only is sugar now an ingredient in more types of food, it's being added in larger quantities. Even without realizing it, you’re probably eating more sugar than ever before, and your taste buds are becoming accustomed to it. Most people don’t know that even savoury foods, like bread, are full of processed sugars.

Are we addicted?

If you tried to remove sugar from your diet, the first problem you’d come across was finding sugar-free food to eat. This is a bigger issue if you eat out with friends regularly.

After finding the right meals and adjusting your lifestyle to avoid sugar, you’ll have to fight through withdrawal symptoms. Although it’s easy to dismiss “sugar addiction” as an exaggeration, many studies have found that it has a lot of addictive qualities.

When we consume sugar, it doesn’t just cause our insulin levels to increase, but it also promotes the release of natural opioids, which enhance our moods and stimulate our reward systems.

One study, which was conducted at the Oregon Research Institute, used an fMRI scanner to discover that sugar activates the same brain regions as cocaine. It was also found that when we consume a lot of sugar, we develop a tolerance, so we start to require more of it to “get our fix.”

Social norms and convenience, as well as our biological reactions to sugar make it difficult to give up.

What would happen if you just stopped consuming it?

If sugar was to stop existing right now, adjusting to the change wouldn't be fun, especially if you drink plenty of sweet fizzy drinks and love chocolate. Typical withdrawal symptoms include fatigue and depression, but other reactions, like hair loss and flu-like symptoms have been reported. You will also experience cravings, and maybe even mood swings.

This could convince you that quitting sugar is a bad idea, but as with any addictive substance, the withdrawal symptoms don’t last forever. If you can power through the tough times, you should expect to start regaining your energy within a a week or two. After a month, you should be back to your normal self, and should even expect to see more consistent energy levels than you had when sugar was a major part of your diet. For most people, the cravings go away too.

In reality, sugar isn’t going to just stop existing, so if you feel like you’d benefit from consuming less sugar, you don't have to give it up completely.

A healthier relationship with sugar

Going cold turkey is an approach that certainly works for some. If you’re an all-or-nothing type of person, it could be the best option for you. For everyone else, the less extreme approach is easier and more sustainable.

It's all about making sure you don't shock the system. Start by reducing the amount of sugar from one area of your diet. If you drink coffee or tea with sugar, try halving the amount you add to each cup. After doing that for a week, halve the amount again. Each time you reduce the amount of sugar in your drink, you’ll notice the difference in taste, but your palate will eventually adjust and your drink will start to taste good again. When you’re ready, stop adding any sugar at all.

If you don’t frequently drink sugary tea or coffee, you can try a similar approach in other areas of your diet. For example, if you enjoy sweet snacks after every meal, try skipping them for three days each week, then increase that to four days, and so on.

Drinking sweet fizzy drinks, alcohol, and even fruit smoothies can significantly increase the amount of sugar in your diet. Completely replacing them with water is tough, but again, if you do it gradually, it's much easier to manage.

Once you feel like you've replaced or removed the major sources of sugar from your diet, it's time to start looking more closely at the ingredients in your meals. Bread is a great example of a common food that usually includes more sugar than necessary, so with a bit of research, you can easily reduce your sugar intake even more.

Although the gradual approach is easier than completely avoiding sugar, any extra motivation can come in handy. I recommend using a goal tracking app like Lift to help you build your new habits. The longer you can go without sweet drinks and snacks, the less your body will rely on sugar.

We’re all unique

The “typical” withdrawal symptoms might not be what you experience if you drastically reduce the amount of sugar you consume. We all react differently to changes in our diets, so it’s worth tracking and analyzing your personal experiences, so you know what works best for you.

Thankfully, it’s never been easier to monitor changes in your diet, mood, sleep, activity and more.

7 Minute Workout (A Seven Minute High Intensity Training Program) - free This app is only optimized for the iPhone, and you can't have both background music and the voice instructions on at the same time. That is why it's only at number four on our list.

We do like this app though, because it's well designed and it gives you plenty of information on how many seconds you have left during each workout.

If you want finer controls, you can upgrade to premium to change rest and exercise durations, or randomize the order of the exercises. Try this app out here.

The 7 Minute Workout - free If simplicity is your thing, you'll love The 7 Minute Workout. It's a beautifully designed app that gives you plenty of feedback as you progress though your exercises.

Our only complaint is that as with the previous app, the voice instructions don't work when you're playing background music from the same device the app is running on.

The quality instructions make up for that issue, as you get both video and written instructions that help ensure you're doing each exercise correctly. Check it out here.

Workout (7 Minute Body Fitness Exercise) - $0.99 In at number two is the only paid app on the list. Workout has pixilated cartoon men on the screen performing the exercises you're supposed to be doing.

This app gives you plenty of feedback, and includes tracking features, so you can see how many days you've worked out in a row. The animated graphics and workout logs make this one of the best 7 minute workout apps in the App Store.

7 Minute Workout “Seven” with High Intensity Interval Training Challenge - free This is, in our opinion, the best 7 minute workout app. Although it does't include any pixilated animations, it does have a workout logs and challenges.

The challenges include things like "miss less than three workout days in one month" and "work out everyday for two weeks."

This app does work with background music on, but it doesn't give you as much information as some of the other apps mentioned on the list. You just hear a whistle at the beginning and the end of each exercise, with no indication of reaching halfway points.

This app is our favorite because of the challenges it includes, as well as the fact that it's optimized to work on both the iPhone and iPad. This is especially useful if you have an iPad with a stand.

If you're sick of searching for the ideal 7 minute workout app, you should certainly download this one and give it a go.

Get into the habit of adding shortcuts Shortcuts are underrated and underused. The issue is that it can take some time to set them up, but there are plenty of quick wins that make it worth it.

To add shortcuts, go to settings->general->keyboard->scroll to bottom and tap on "Add New Shortcut..."

Essentially, shortcuts let you create keyboard shortcuts for longer words or phrases. For example, if you frequently type the phrase "Narrato Journal App," you could create the shortcut "nja->Narrato Journal App." After setting that up, the longer phrase would appear whenever you type "nja."

The reason shortcuts are underused is because you have to spend the time thinking of them and setting them up. Once you get started and see the value, you'll be more likely to find other uses for them.

Here are some quick wins to get you going:

ht -> #

pemail -> [email protected]

wemail -> [email protected]

thandle -> @YourTwitterHandle

You can create shortcuts for anything that you frequently type, but if they include some of the special characters like "@," they can save you plenty of time in the long run. This alone will make your typing much more efficient.

Find better ways to get rid of autocorrect suggestions

There are many reasons to hate autocorrect. It changes “well” to “we’ll” when you actually wanted to type “well,” it thinks you frequently want to type the word “duck,” and it changes the last word in your message to something random as soon as you press send.

Although it can be annoying, it's worth keeping on for when it actually does what you want it to do.

It may seem like you need to tap on the tiny "x" to get rid of the corrected word that it suggests, but tapping anywhere on the word does the trick too.

You can also erase the final letter in the word you're trying to type, then just type it again. The suggestion won't appear the second time.

The third option is to add an extra letter to the word you're trying to type, delete it, then continue as normal without the autocorrect getting in the way. This is my personal favorite  and it's much easier than reaching out and tapping on the suggested word, especially on an iPad.

Talk it out Yes, you might look like a fool talking to your phone in public, but sometimes, dictation is just faster.

It's not for everyone, but it's worth trying to see if you get on with it. It could be better than you expect.

Try third-party keyboards Apple doesn't work with third-party keyboards as well as Android does, but you can still use them with certain apps.

These apps give you "Swype-like" typing abilities, then allow you to copy and paste your content into wherever you want it to be. This solution is not quite as elegant as it could be, but if you're writing a lengthy piece, the time you save could make these types of apps worth using.

If you want to give this approach a go, I recommend testing the waters with Path Input Lite before committing to a paid alternative.

Now that you're all set with your shortcuts, well-trained autocorrect, and third-party keyboards, you'll have no trouble writing longer emails, notes, and journal entries.

Don't snooze - This is a tough one, but it's well worth trying. Instead of laying in bed pressing the snooze button, get up as soon as you're awake. Try putting your alarm clock (or phone) somewhere far from your bed, or showering as soon as you're up, and you'll soon get used to this habit. In theory, this alone will make you feel less tired throughout the day.

Intermittent fasting - Some people report higher energy levels when they intermittently fast. It's counter intuitive and results vary, but it's worth learning more about and potentially trying if it's a good fit for you.

Sit up - Slouching over your computer can decrease the amount of oxygen you're taking in and put your muscles under strain. Get into the habit of sitting up straight and you'll feel more energetic and better in general by the end of the day.

Chew gum -  It doesn't just keep your breath fresh, it's also been found to increase energy levels, and potentially even decrease calorie intake.

Drink more water - Even mild dehydration can cause you to feel tired, so try drinking more water. The other benefit of drinking more water is that it means you'll have to get up and walk to the toilet frequently. The extra movement will do wonders for your energy levels if you work at a desk all day. Regularly drinking water is a hard habit to get into if you're not used to it, so an app like Lift might come in handy.

Plan the next day before going to bed - This helps in two ways. Firstly, it means you can clear your mind and stop thinking about what you'll be doing the next day. Secondly, it means you can hit the ground running the next day. When you get up, you can get started right away without the need to browse through your emails or figure out what to do.

Although there's a lot more you could try, the tips mentioned are a good place to start.

The main takeaway is to treat each tip as a personal experiment. We're all unique, and what works for me might not work for you. It's worth tracking how you feel to see what actually makes a difference. You could track the old fashioned way with pen and paper, or with apps like In Flow or Narrato Journal (of course).

HeadSpace This is a well designed app that lets anyone introduce meditation into their lives. It teaches you to the concepts of meditation with some animations, then gets you started with a 10 day course. Each HeadSpace session lasts for 10 minutes.

Headspace lets you easily measure your progress, so you’re more motivated to get your 10 minutes of meditation every day. Check it out here.

Calm This app is brought to you by Tew, the creator of “the million dollar homepage” and “do nothing for 2 minutes.” The app includes “the 7 steps of calm” for free, as well as guided and non-guided breaks that last for between two and 30 minutes.

Calm looks great and lets anyone easily get started with meditation. You can check Calm out here.

Complete Relaxation Lite If you want to try guided meditation for longer periods of time, Relax Lite is your app. It only comes with one recorded meditation guide, but it lasts for 25 minutes, and it’s pretty good. Download it out here and get started.

Mind For an app without all of the bells and whistles, you should take a look at Mind. It’s essentially just a timer, but it's minimal and the sounds used are relaxing. If you don't want the guidance, but you want to ensure you don't get carried away while you meditate, you should give Mind a try here. It's also worth checking out if you're after a good timer for general usage.

Functionality All of the popular wearables record the steps you take and calories you burn, but only some of them track stairs climbed, sleeping patterns, and more.

Most of this functionality can easily be matched with only one or two apps. Moves tracks your steps and calories, SleepCycle can monitor your sleep, and Cardiio can track your heart rate. For tracking runs in more detail, you can use apps like Runkeeper and Endomondo.

Although the core functionality of wearables and the tracking apps are similar, there are differences in other areas. For example, none of the popular tracking devices record your location, but Moves does. With Moves, you can learn more about where you spend your time, how long different transport routes take, and more.

There are also differences in analytics and social features offered with each service, but when it comes to hardware and sensors, the popular wearables aren't more powerful than modern smartphones.

Cost If you decide that you want to start tracking more parts of life and cost is a factor, assuming you already have a smartphone, apps are clearly the cheaper option. Buying a wearable tracker will cost you anywhere between $70 and over $200.

Apps on the other hand are very cheap. Moves and MyFitnessPal are completely free. Sleepcycle costs $0.99 and Cardiio is $1.99.

Practicality Different devices are better suited for different situations. Overall, I'd say that the smartphone wins out because most of us carry them around all of the time.

There are situations however, when wearables are better. Some people don't like running with a phone, and might prefer a wristband instead.

Fashion and design It could be argued that fitness trackers are used to make fashion statements. Wearing a Fuelband is a clear sign that you're active and you take care of your health. It also shows that you're an early adopter who's interested in technology. Tracking apps don't allow you to make the same statements as they're not on display.

Although some wearables aren't supposed to be on display, the fact that the Misfit Shine's unique selling point is its design shows that it's an important factor to some. If you want to show the world that you care about your health and you like gadgets, wearables are the better option.

Batteries and charging One of the main complaints that activity tracking apps get is that they reduce battery life. If you struggle to get a full day of battery life out of your phone, I wouldn't recommend adding any activity tracking apps to the mix, especially if they use GPS.

The downside with wearables is that you have one more thing to charge. As the devices are quite passive and only need charging once every few days, it can be very easy to forget to charge them.

For my workflow, smartphone apps win out. I always remember to charge my phone, but frequently forget to charge my Fitbit One.

Conclusion Clearly, there are some benefits to wearables. They don't drain your phone's battery life, they look cool, and some of them come with amazing analytics services.

For most people, I feel like apps are the better option. If you're thinking about buying a wearable tracking device, I'd recommend trying some of the apps out first and potentially saving yourself some money. If you find that you can't live with the reduced battery life or you don't have your phone with you often enough, you can then consider a wearable device.

Obviously, if you don't use a smartphone that supports the best tracking apps, a wearable device is more tempting.

My theory is that smartphone apps and wearable devices will eventually meet in the middle. If Apple, Samsung, or anyone else successfully launch a smartwatch, it makes sense that they will include plenty of sensors that tracking apps can make use of. When that happens, we will get the best of both worlds.

Which do you prefer? Wearable tracking devices or smartphone apps?

Photography

Clearly, having a camera and video recorder on your face is going to change the way you capture moments.

You can take a photo in one second with Google Glass, compared to over three seconds with a smartphone. While this can be considered to be a marginal improvement, it still means you capture some moments that you might have missed without Glass.

There's also a different way people react to photos taken with a device that's on your face. Once people get used to it being there, you can be much more subtle when you snap photos.

This can be used in "evil" ways, but it also means you can get great shots when people are acting more naturally.

Navigation

Although most people seemed interested in how Glass can effect photography, I found their navigation capabilities more impressive.

When demonstrating navigation, we could all see how reactive the glasses were to Robert's movements.

The map and the instructions adjust depending on which direction you're facing. This is much more effective than what's possible with a phone or watch.

Whether that's life changing or not depends on how much navigation impacts your day-to-day activities.

Notifications

Having a screen in your field of vision will also impact the way you receive notifications. I have no experience of this myself, but I can only assume that they're much harder to ignore.

It does mean that you won't have the urge to look at your phone ever 12 seconds though. What will you do with your hands?

Predictive assistance

When Google Now was launched, some people instantly saw the potential of what was possible if it was integrated with Google Glass.

Google Now uses all of the personal data you create and everything it knows to guess what you need and to present relevant information to you.

The obvious example is an alert telling you that you should leave for your meeting now, because the train you normally get is delayed. Only companies like Google, who have so much augmented knowledge, could provide such services.

Having this type of information displayed where you're guaranteed to see it makes it a million times more useful, assuming the information is actually accurate.

Summary

Although there are some solid use cases for Google glasses, it's hard to say that in their current form, they're going to change many lives.

The truth is that at this stage, it's impossible to tell where the project is headed and what impact it's going to have.

It is clear however, that Glass has had an impact on Google. I haven't seen crowds get so excited over a piece of technology in a long time and that can't be a bad thing for Google's image.

Do you think Google Glass will be life changing?