Productivity is a thing that takes many forms and angles. There is a common misconception that it’s all about getting things done and smashing things off of your to-do list. Not the case. Whilst it’s important of course to work and work efficiently, you need to create the space in yourself to do that.
Sofa is an awesome iOS application that allows you to create lists of media (and other) resources for you to consume when you slip away from work mode and into that chill zone, we all need. With version 3.0 recently released, it seems to be going from strength to strength and is creating a large following in the Apple community. I don’t need much of an excuse to make a list so this application fits in with the way I function perfectly.
How Does It Work?
Sofa has a gorgeous front end that houses lists and whilst you can create your own, you will mainly use the default lists that are there. We have books, audiobooks, music, podcasts, video games, board games, TV shows, movies and finally Apps. You add items to these individual lists by tapping the plus button and searching - and if there is a result (which invariably there is), then the item is added. If you cannot find the media title you would like to add, then there is a Custom Add feature that allows you to type in the name instead, thus still allowing you to track. This does come up occasionally - there are some books that haven’t shown up and I’ve found myself torn between using this and Book Track for tracking my reading titles which is, of course, dedicated to that function and always seems to find the titles I need.
If you need more organisation that you can create new lists - I create lists to track books that I have read so I’m not tempted to re-purchase one that I’ve already enjoyed (it’s happened in the past, trust me - I’m that dumb). Taking this premise further, you can organise your lists into groups to ensure that however your brain works, Sofa can list the titles to suit. It doesn’t discriminate, you can add any list to any group and be as flexible as you like.
When you look at the front page of the application, there are several distinct sections. At the top you can search for anything contained within your lists - so as you add more lists and titles, this becomes more of a key feature. Then below that, you have The Pile. This is almost like your Inbox if we’re going to come at things from a productivity standpoint. If you don’t have time to organise an item into a list straight away, it sits in the pile ready for you to tidy up at a time of your choosing.
Below The Pile, we have Activity. Whenever you click on an item in your Sofa library, you have the option to log this to your Activity Log and then, when you tap Activity, you can see a monthly overview of what media you gave consumed in that time. It usually takes a few minutes of meeting with my friends before the question is asked - “So what have you been watching then?”. A quick check of Sofa and this question is answered and this wows them. They think I’m super-organised when the truth is I just know how to use an app.
The Shelf is a feature that forms part of Sofa’s new subscription model and I’ll get to the details of that in summary below. The Shelf is a new feature that is similar to The Pile in that it doesn’t need any advanced decision making. It’s almost like a hot list of things that you are going to be looking at next- you’re figuratively putting items on the shelf for consumption later. I generally only have about three items per category on the shelf at any one time and, using the example of Video Games, these are the titles I’m currently actively playing. The Shelf cuts across all lists, so rather than having individual shelves per category, you’ve got one shelf and as soon as you have any downtime you can look at this shelf and ask yourself ‘What do I fancy doing?”
I did say earlier that there is a new subscription model for Sofa which may, understandably, automatically turn some of you away from the application as times are hard for everyone. I’ll cover the extra features that the subscription covers below but I have to say, if you just want to track your media, the free version of the application is more than enough to suit your needs. There is some great functionality that comes with the subscription model but it is in no way a prerequisite to use the app. The cost of the subscription (known as Super Sofa is £3.49 per month, or £31.99 annually and includes the below:
The Shelf - as described earlier
Themes - at the time of writing there are 70+ themes available to apply.
Sticky Notes - you can add simple notes to any item that is on your list which is useful if you need to just make some kind of reference.
Activity Stats and Filters - this allows you to understand the things you’ve logged to Activity in some more detail. When you tap on the ellipses in the top right-hand corner, you can Show Stats which presents a summary of how many titles have been consumed over a given year.
Enhanced Details - here you can get links to different music services and podcast players for any audio titles you have in your list. To date, there is no ability to link to video services.
Sofa, for me, is one of those rare apps that is a must-have in my arsenal but doesn’t fulfil any of the ‘core’ productivity techniques that may come to mind. It’s all about making sure that when I finally get to enjoy my downtime, I don’t stress myself with trying to find something to watch/play/read, based on remembering recommendations from people. It’s all in the app and helps me avoid that unwanted friction.