We asked over 250 small business owners about the tech tools they swear by. Based on 500-plus hours of research, here is our curated list of the best apps and software for tiny companies—as told to us by real small business owners.
For many business owners, an Android phone is their not-so-invisible sidekick.
Nearly 40 percent of the business owners we polled use Android devices, only 10 percent lower than the number of owners who have iPhones. Loading your phone with useful apps can help you increase the time you spend on your business without tearing you away from real-time commitments.
There are thousands of apps to choose from, so we asked real business owners to share the ones they tap open every day.
Best for business owners who will never own a fax machine: CamScanner
CamScanner digitizes any photo you have and turns it into a PDF or JPEG you can share with others. Business owners use it because it allows them to back up and share important documents straight from their phones.
Why business owners recommend it
- You can scan docs in bulk. The batch scan feature lets you select a bunch of photos from your phone and upload them to CamScanner all together, instead of doing each one separately.
- You can tag docs, grab text, and search through the text. If you want to copy the text from a photo of an important document, you select the area of text in the doc, and it displays it in an editable format. It also allows you to search through the text of all of the docs you’ve scanned.
- It cleans up docs automatically. When you upload a photo, it automatically detects the edges of the page and enables you to select the crop you want.
Things to consider
- You have to upgrade to Premium in order to get some basics, like cropping. Respondents say the newer version charges for essentials, like background cleanup and cropping. You also see ads if you don’t use the paid version.
- You can’t send documents over text. Right now, you can only print and fax documents or send them via email, WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook, and Twitter.
Price
- Free for the basic version.
Best for business owners who don’t always use the company card: Tab
Tab lets you take a photo of any receipt and claim what you got so you can split the bill with others. For business owners who go out to eat with their teams (and don’t always foot the bill), this app is a huge time-saver.
Why business owners recommend it
- You don’t run into any team awkwardness. Respondents like that Tab gets rid of the awkward feeling when the bill arrives. No one has to say they’ll cover it or figure out who has to Venmo. Instead, it’s clear how much everyone has to pay.
- It handles birthday meals when your team wants to cover the cost of the birthday person. Birthday celebrations are a big deal at small businesses, which is why the business owners we spoke with like that you can figure out the math easily. If everyone covers the birthday star, you can have Tab calculate how much everyone owes.
- It’s cool with sharers. More than one person can pick an item, which is ideal if you order appetizers that the whole table shares.
Things to consider
- Sometimes the app doesn’t correctly read what’s on the bill. Respondents reported that the text and amounts aren’t always accurate, which requires manual updating.
- The focus doesn’t always work. The autofocus feature can be hit or miss, so it sometimes requires a couple goes before you successfully capture the receipt.
Price
- Free
Best for business owners who can’t remember what happened in last week’s meeting: Otter Voice Notes
Otter is a transcription app that understands audio so well it knows who says what and even pulls out themes from a given conversation.
Why business owners recommend it
- No one wastes time taking notes. Otter transcribes meetings, includes time stamps, and makes it easy to know exactly who said what during a meeting, interview, presentation, Q&A, or any other live event.
- It catches the gist of a conversation. We’ve all had hilarious Alexa and Siri moments. Otter “is pretty on point,” according to one respondent. However, there are still moments when it misses who is saying what or what’s being said. It does get better the more the same people use it because it “learns” people’s voices.
- It tags conversations so you can easily jump to a certain point. One of the cool features is that Otter understands keywords that are said multiple times, so you can use it to navigate to the exact spot in a conversation where that word is said.
Things to consider
- If you really want to use it, you have to pay for it. The free plan includes 600 minutes of transcription while the Premium plan includes 6,000, which may make more sense if you want Otter to tag along to every meeting you have.
- The speech recognition isn’t perfect. Users say the notes aren’t always fully accurate, but have enough information to piece together the important nuggets and breaks in a conversation.
Price
- Free for 600 minutes per month, $9.99 a month for 6,000 minutes and other features.
Best for business owners who can’t remember who they met at that conference: Contacts+
Contacts+ is the address book you didn’t know you needed. It surfaces all the information about contacts from sources across the web so you know exactly who everyone is—and what they’re up to.
Why business owners recommend it
- You can use one app instead of five. Contacts+ compiles publicly available information about people across Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other services. It also conveniently pulls in photos so you know who’s who.
- You can see where you last left your conversation. One useful feature for business owners who meet tons of new people is that you can see the last communication you had together across a bunch of platforms, making you seem more on top of it than you might actually feel.
- You can easily see what people are up to. Business owners like that you can see your contacts’ most recent updates on any of the platforms they use.
Things to consider
- You need to pay if you want to back up contacts or sync between different devices. The app is free, but some of the essentials, like backing up your contacts, cost extra.
- Merging duplicate contacts doesn’t always work. Some respondents say that the app mistakenly combined contacts even though they were different people.
Price
- Free
Best for business owners who like to meet on the go: Zoom
Zoom is one of the few video-conferencing providers that has an Android app. For Sim Thadani, head of recruiting at Springboard, it’s the easiest way to have meetings while running her business.
Why business owners recommend it
- The video and voice quality is high. Compared to other video-conferencing programs, “the quality is pretty decent,” says one business owner. If you have good WiFi, it’s easy to hear all participants on the line. “People come through very clear,” says another respondent.
- It syncs with a lot of the tools you already use. You can pop a Zoom link right into a Google Calendar invite with the Chrome integration.
- It has an Android app. Most other video-conferencing platforms don’t have Android apps, leaving out a large slice of business owners. However, some business owners who use iPhones say the iOS app is more intuitive than the Android one.
Things to consider
- The log-on process can be confusing. Some users find the interface outdated, and the log-on process can be tricky for new users.
- It’s pricey. The product for webinars is also at the high end of the price range for small business owners.
- You don’t look your best when Zooming on your phone. “Zoom works great, but you don’t look great on the phone,” says Thadani.
- The controls aren’t perfectly intuitive. “It can be confusing to know whether you’re on the screen or off or if you’re actually muted,” says one respondent.
Price
- Video conferences for up to 100 participants are free, with a 40-minute time limit. If you need unlimited meeting time, you can sign up for $9.99 a month.
The cool part is that many of these Android apps are just bite-sized versions of their larger desktop counterparts—making them easy to use no matter which device you’re on. So chuck your laptop, head over to the Google Play Store, and install away.
