We see a lot of clients come in and out the door with mobiles glued firmly in hand, and over the years we’ve picked up a few handy technological tips and tricks from our talented buyers that can help make prop sourcing a little easier.

So if you are a prop buyer, events planner or even an interior designer – here are four mobile apps that we highly recommend.  I’ve listed them below with a short description, along with some pro’s and con’s.

1. Citymapper (free) – The “getting you from A to B with no mental breakdown required” app

If you travel anywhere in London (or other cities abroad such as Paris, New York, Rome) then you need to download this app right this minute.

Having a job where you often need to dash from one place to another at a moment’s notice can be a little cumbersome at the best of times. Mix in an often hectic schedule with London traffic, and you’ve got yourself a right pickle!

CityMapper is essentially what TFL should and could have been like. Put in any journey and it will come up with a variety of ways for you to travel – whether you want to walk, cycle, or take public transport.

Sounds simple enough, but here is why this app is a cut above the rest.

Pros:

• Despise the tube? The app can give you a selection of bus-only routes. Can’t stand buses? There’s also a rail/tube-only route included. If a train or bus is suddenly delayed or cancelled you can ensure you still have a viable route to follow!
• It colour codes the tube icons and embeds bus route numbers in the overview, so you can see at a glance the journey routes it’s suggesting.
• Click a route and you’ll get a really detailed step-by-step breakdown of your journey, plus a nice map with a handy moving blue dot showing you where you are and where you need to go.
• You can pin your home or work address. Then when you press the ‘take me home’ button, it instantly routes you home from wherever you are.
• You can also pin certain bus stops or train stations to the overview page, meaning you can see which bus or train is due to arrive there at a glance.
• Every route is given an estimated journey time. Throw in tube status alerts, live departure boards for every bus and train station, and weather forecasts too, and you will never be late again!

Cons:

• While the blue dot shows where you are on the map, it does not tell you which way you are facing – so it can be a little tricky to start walking in the right direction.

2. My Measures & Dimensions Pro (£6.99) – The “draw dimensions with no pen and paper needed” app

When sourcing props or furnishings, accurately measuring the dimensions of any chosen item is key, as it can cause some real issues for everyone involved if last minute you realise your lovely chaise longue or four poster bed just won’t squeeze through that doorway!

Obviously a tape measure is vital, however, instead of shoddily scribbling down diagrams on scraps of paper with measurements that are unclear and illegible – My Measures & Dimensions allows you to snap a picture or choose an existing one, and add measurements straight to the photo which can then be stored on your phone and shared with others.

Again it’s a simple idea, but a useful app, and here are even more reasons why.

Pros:

• Measurements can be entered in imperial and metric standards.
• You can easily add angle measurements, and they are calculated automatically.
• It can also calculate the sum of all your measurements, and even the surface area.
• Fractions are supported.
• You have the ability to zoom in on the picture.
• The app allows you to write text on your photos so you can make notes on the same area you’re recording dimensions on.
• You can organise projects in separate folders.
• The app includes iCloud sync and backup.
• You can send your measurements as an email, export them as a PDF or print straight from your device. That way you can share your measurements with just about anyone.

Cons:

• Measurements must obviously be typed in manually, therefore some may have the opinion that this app is too expensive for the purpose it serves.
• Though there is a free version of the app, it has huge limitations compared to the pro version. A watermark is placed on any image you are trying to share and you can only add three objects to the photo, making it pretty useless.

3. Scanner Pro – (£2.29) The “portable scanner in your pocket” app

Just like many professionals, prop buyers often have a lot of receipts, purchase orders and expenses to keep track of. And while portable scanners obviously work well, when you are constantly on the move you don’t always have access to one.

Scanner Pro essentially replaces bulky scanners with mobile technology, allowing you to quickly and efficiently scan all sorts of paper documents into PDFs that look clean and professional.

Pros:

• Scanner Pro uses your built-in camera to take pictures of a paper document. The app automatically detects the edges of the document, fixes geometry, and removes shadows and other visual defects.
• It also overlays a grid to help you get a flat scan with everything lined up nicely.
• The app supports the scanning of documents and images, as well as the ability to store them in PDF format or jpeg formats.
• You can scan agreements into multi-page PDFs.
• You can upload images and documents and scan them directly to Dropbox, Evernote, and Google Docs. You can also sort documents into custom folders to keep them organized.
• Users can adjust the flash settings (to either provide extra lighting in a dark room, or to prevent over-exposure.)
• You can select whether you’d like the document to be full colour or monotone.

Cons:

• The app is only ideal for quick scan jobs that are a few pages or less, rather than a stack of 20+ papers.

4. Kays – (free) The “art department diary without the diary” app

In the film and TV production industry, the Kays art department diary is already an essential resource, with continually updated listings for thousands of companies and technicians.

The Kays App is a handy way to carry around all the essential art department contacts, with some useful new extras and more importantly, no back ache!

Pros:

• The app features a fast and intuitive browse and search tool; listing companies, technicians and credits in alphabetical order for easy browsing.
• The best prop hire companies are all listed, with the ability to sort by city, county and radius.
• There is a new ‘My Enquiry’ service, where you can directly send enquiries to various companies without having to go through their website.
• You can add contacts to a ‘favourites section’ for fast viewing on the go.
• There are photo & show reel galleries.
• The app now includes the Kays shop.

Cons:

• While the app is free to download, you will need to send a request in order to be invited to join, as it’s for industry only.

We hope these help you on your prop sourcing journey.  Let us know if there are any apps you use that make propping easier or more efficient and we’ll add them to our list!