Acadiana LifeStyle Takes The 

Guesswork Out Of App Selection

By Gail Suberbielle

With thousands of apps out there for your smartphone or tablet, it can be hard to make a choice without cluttering up your phone or cutting into your wallet with apps you’ll never use. We will be highlighting a few of our favorites every month. Here are two featured in our March issue. To see all of the featured apps, pick up this month’s issue of Acadiana LifeStyle.

LA State Parks & Historic Sites Guide – Pocket Ranger®

Louisiana residents who are looking for some fun in the great outdoors need look no further than the official Louisiana State Parks and Historic Sites Guide – Pocket Ranger®. This app lists all state parks and historical sites, which visitors can narrow down by region (Sportsman’s Paradise, Crossroads, Cajun Country, Plantation Country, or Greater New Orleans), activity (everything from bird watching to tennis and windsurfing), or category (state park, historic site, or preservation area). One great feature of this app is “Friend Finder,” which allows users to find other state parks visitors on a map for 24 hours if both have the app open. Users also can share photos through flickr®, read park news, or view a calendar of events and activities.

Cost: Free

Expensify®

Who has time to sort through all those receipts (if you still have them) and an expense report at the end of a long business trip? With Expensify®, you can link your business credit card to the app to keep track of your purchases in real time. Paying cash? Simply use the app to take a picture of the receipt – the app does the rest and finds the merchant, date, and amount of sale. Users also can enter mileage using their GPS or odometer entry. Once the information is entered, users choose which expenses should be added, and a .pdf of the report is on its way via e-mail for approval by the appropriate party. With its online backup, no need to worry about losing the receipts or the report. Cost: Free

If you could only have one app on your phone what would it be? 

Let us know why you can’t live with out ?