Can you even remember a time without smart phones? It’s honestly kinda hard isn’t it? They’ve become (sometimes to our dismay) a lifeline to get places, get in touch, get food and now they’re telling us when to stand and breathe. I mean how did we literally survive without technology reminding us to breathe? 😉

In all seriousness though, the rise of apps like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and all the other free marketing platforms out there has changed the game in the entrepreneurial world! It’s given everyone a chance to easily start and run their own thriving business which (to a stay-at-home-momtographer like me) is such a blessing!

Aside from the social media apps that are essential to business though, there’s quite a few apps that can really help curate your style, add a bit of flare or even just keep you organized! I’ve gotten quite a few questions about the apps that I use for my Instastory templates, social media planning, etc. so I wanted to jot 5 of my favorites down for you and let you know why I love them so much!

Here’s my 5 favorite iPhone apps for my photography business:

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#5 – Word Swag

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If you’re wanting to stand out with really cool fonts that you’re not gunna find on Instagram (or most other apps) Word Swag is where it’s at! This is an awesome free app that’s sole focus is giving you all the pretty writing! You can use it for Instastories or even for your picture quotes to post in your feed!

There’s a ton of great fonts for free which is a huge plus! There are some fonts for purchase, but I’ve only purchased one or two in the time I’ve had it. I would encourage you to be consistent if using this app. It’s a great way to be “on brand” by picking a certain look/style/font you like. Just don’t go too crazy and use tons of different fonts that don’t compliment each other 🙂

Moral of the story, definitely head of over to download Word Swag if you want some awesome fonts that blow the normal Instagram fonts out of the water!!

#4 – Planoly

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If there’s one thing that’s pretty much the worst about social media for business, it’s trying to figure out what to post every.dang.day! Sometimes it can be all you can think about in the morning.

“I need to post something today.”
“What should my caption be?”
“What picture should I use?”
“I need to do it soon so it’s during peak time!”

And on and on and on it goes.

But what if there was an app that you could plan a day to just sit down and plan out a months worth of posts? Think of all the headache and writers block you would avoid if you didn’t have to come up with captions on the spot? Well, guess what? There ARE apps like that! My favorite one is Planoly! It allows me to plan out posts in advance and see how they would look in the feed all together. It also allows you to put each caption with the corresponding photo. AND you can actually auto post it from the scheduler in the app! They really have thought of everything!

This one is a free download, but in order to take advantage of all the awesome perks, you really do need to invest in a subscription. But totally check it out for yourself! You may be able to get a lot of use out of the free version as well!

Apps like these are such an amazing tool for businesses! I HIGHLY recommend having Planoly or some type of planning app!

#3 – Lightroom

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It’s no secret that you should probably have some kind of photo editing app on your phone. Especially as a photographer I need to make sure and make photos that I’m posting (even iPhone shots) are somewhat cohesive with my other images. That’s where the ever-popular Lightroom steps in. I would argue that this is a MUST HAVE for any photographer out there.

If you’ve been around social media at all lately, I’m sure you’ve seen a slew of ads for “mobile presets”. And if you’re like me and have been pulled in and purchased some, then you’ll need the Lightroom app to download and use it.

It’s a one stop shop to be able to use a preset (or not) and adjust the lighting, crop, coloring and all that jazz! So definitely go get yourself this app if it isn’t already on your phone!

#2 – The Notes App

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You might be surprised to see this one on my list… and at #2 at that! But I honestly don’t know what in the world I would do without this app. I probably woulda posted it as my number one, but I didn’t want anyone to discredit my actual ability to name good apps haha!

This simple (sometimes forgotten about) app allows you to create folders within it. And to any organizational freaks like me, that’s cause for celebration!

I have folders for everything on that app! Folders for meal planning and to-do lists, folders for logins and grocery lists. But the biggest way I utilize it is within my business. Since I have a MacBook Pro, the app that I use on my computer syncs with my Notes app on my phone. I know there’s things like Google Drive and lots of other apps out there that sync and probably are very similar, but I like the simplicity of this one!

I’m all about canned emails and canned responses. There’s definitely a way to communicate in a genuine way with clients but also not create repetitive work for yourself. That’s where canned texts + messages come in. I keep a folder on my Notes App called “Canned Responses”. In that folder there are things like “Starbucks Giftcard message”, “Instagram Inquiry message”, “Week of phone-call text”.

These allow me to have a base of what I want to say and then I customize it from there before copying and pasting it to send. Without those I would have to recreate a message every single time. So anytime I have a message that I know will be sent more than once, I put it in that folder to refer back to next time I need to send something like that out. It saves me so much time and mental space!!

Seriously, give yourself some time and go explore the Notes App… like right now!

#1 – Unfold

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The Unfold app definitely holds it’s rightful place as #1 on my list! I use it ALL.THE.TIME! And it’s definitely the one I get questions about the most!

So because of that it definitely needed to be at the very top of the list!

Unfold allows you to create beautiful collages and tell a more appealing story visually. I LOVE using it for sneak peeks for my shoots, wedding days and personal life.

One of the best features, to me, is the templates I can create. Instead of having to pick new layouts every single time, I have certain templates saved. That way when I get done with editing some sneak peaks, I don’t have to spend 15-20 min picking out what layout I like. I already have one I can just switch pictures out with!

I love how polished and professional you can make your stories look with Unfold! So this one is a MUST-HAVE for me and my business!

Welp, there ya have it folks!

There’s my 5 favorite apps for my photography business! I’m hoping you found one or two of these to be fun and/or helpful to ya! Can’t wait to see how you use these for your own business!!