Best iPad Apps for Keeping Track

Looking to get some good use out of your iPad? While it’s great for listening to music and watching video, the iPad has many practical purposes. For instance, you could keep track of various aspects of your life. In fact, the iPad is great for tracking things. Here are some great apps for keeping track of what’s important to you.

Budgets: Mint.com

Do you sit down with a pen and paper to do your budget? Do you keep a spreadsheet on your computer? If so, you’re missing out on a wonderful budget and expense tracking tool. Mint.com is one of the most powerful personal finance apps available on any platform. It’s fully integrated services allow you to track your budget and your spending habits, allowing you to adjust accordingly.

The best part about Mint.com is that it integrates with all of your bank and credit accounts. When you make a transaction, it gets recorded with Mint. All you have to do is categorize your cash spending and the few transactions it can’t recognize automatically. It even lets you set budgets, letting you know how much you’ve spent in each category each month.

You can get the Mint.com app for free in the App Store.

Fitness: iMuscle

There is no shortage of fitness apps in the App Store. Many of them are full-featured apps, providing illustrations to go along with the movements they describe. But none is quite as brilliant as iMuscle. It documents every muscle group in the body, letting you view them by rotating a model. From there you can choose a group and view exercises that work it, both primarily and secondarily.

Once you figure out what exercises you want to perform, you can gather them right in the app and create a workout. Let the app know how much weight you moved and for how many reps. When you go back to the gym next time you’ll know exactly what you need to do. Feeling weak in a particular area? Check it on iMuscle and see what you can do to strengthen it up.

You can get the iMuscle app for $1.99.

Music: CloudScrob for Last.fm

No doubt, Last.fm provides a great service for music lovers. When you scroble to the device — that is, send it information about what you’re listening to — it can provide analysis. It’s a great way to keep track of what you’ve listened to and get recommendations for what you might enjoy. Unfortunately, their iPad app is a little lacking. But that’s why we have third parties. CloudScrob does the job just fine.

What works so well with CloudScrob is its universality. When you buy the app it gets installed not only on your iPad, but also your iPhone if you have one. It then sends your information to Last.fm, so you’ll have updated information no matter where you listen to songs. If you listen when you’re offline, it will send whenever you do get a connection.

You can get CloudScrob for Last.fm for 99 cents.

Reading: Goodreads

Looking for something good to read? In my experience the best books come on recommendations from friends. That’s the beauty of Goodreads. It gives users a way to connect with friends and get a constant stream of recommendations — straight from friends’ ratings. Community ratings can also help inform your next reading decision. The app, though, takes Goodreads to a new level.

While the normal Goodreads service does track the books you’ve read and wish to read, the app makes it a more interactive experience. You can scan the barcode of what you’re currently reading and add it right to your bookshelf. When you’re done you can rate it and write a quick review. Join groups, find friends, and generally enjoy great books, some of them right from the app itself.

You can get the Goodreads app for free.

To-Do: Toodledo

Even if you wanted to explore all of the to-do list apps for the iPad, you probably couldn’t. There are dozens upon dozens of them, and they all work just a little bit differently. Take my word, then, that the Toodledo app blows most others out of the water. It not only lets you create lists of things to do, but it lets you categorize them and put priorities on them, letting you see what’s important first.

In fact, the app might be even better than the web interface. Many Toodledo users don’t even bother with the website and just keep their to-do lists right on their iPads. It’s not a bad idea. There’s a big enough screen that you have plenty to work with. So make your list, prioritize, and create a hotlist with stars. You’ll never have a problem knowing what to do next.

You can get the Toodledo app for $2.99.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.