Information overload is a serious issue. Social media has become a plague, infecting every facet of our lives, and as our phones buzz away, our minds can constantly wander. Maybe I’m the exception and not the rule, but if you are like me and feel a pressing anxiety without your phone in arms reach, I direct you to this next app: Pushbullet.
Pushbullet is an app about connectivity. Founded in 2013 by Ryan Oldenburg, Andre Von Houck and Chris Hesse, the app started as a side-project to ‘bridge the gap between your phone, tablet and computer’. Set-up is easy: you install it on your laptop or desktop (Chrome Web Store) and your phone (Apple or Android), sign in to your Google account and from there you’ll never miss a beat. Notifications you receive on your phone are ‘pushed’ to your PC, and are non-intrusively presented at the bottom of your screen. It also allows you to send SMS’s and to reply to messages from various apps, including Messenger, Viber, and WhatsApp, all without opening your phone.
The real beauty of this app lies in what you can do with it from a mentality and productivity perspective. Studying is a difficult endeavour for even the most devout of students, and the fear of missing out doesn’t make it any easier. This is where Pushbullet comes in. The user interface of the app allows you to easily filter which notifications are worthy of your limited attention, and those that are not are simply forgotten. When making the dreaded trip to the library, my first thought is to put my phone in my bag (or even leave it at home) and provided both my phone and computer are connected to the internet I can work happily without worrying about missed calls, crucial texts or the impromptu meander down to the pub with the lads.
Naturally there are some faults that are inherent to an app like this. On first setting it up it “pushes” every notification you get, which gets rather annoying until you finally prioritise and mute the unimportant ones. While the SMS texting is flawless, the reply feature to messenger apps aren’t quite as seamless and when the group chat gets particularly lit, you regrettably get every message pushed. Finally, when you’re mid exam season, studying hard and then get that all-too-tempting notification regarding the pub, you may wish you hadn’t seen it. A certain degree of self-discipline is still required.
Out of 5, I rate this app five stars.. It does exactly what it says on the tin and does it well, there are no ads. While there is a premium version, it is absolutely not essential. The Google Play store rates it 4.5/5, the one caveat being the expensiveness of premium, but at 1 million downloads it’s clear Pushbullet is a category leader.
Rating: ●●●●●
