Notary Public Underwriters Blog
New Notary Signing Agents: Smartphone “Smarts”
- Details
- Published: April 8, 2021
A Notary Signing Agent’s smartphone is indispensable. So are apps that make using a smartphone for Notary Signing Agent work more secure and productive.
Smartphone Security. Because a Notary Signing Agent (NSA) will use his or her/their smartphone for borrower-related conversations and emails, it must have malware protection. Thankfully there’s an app for everything!
A simple online search for “smartphone security apps” produces various lists of most-recommended apps. Try including your smartphone operating system for more specific results (“security apps for Android,” for example). Top search results include products like Bitdefender, Norton, Avast and McAfee.* Most app providers charge a very reasonable annual fee.
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*Notary Public Underwriters receives no commission or benefit in return for mention of these or any other app providers.
In general, these apps detect and block malicious attacks, as well as detect and remove viruses, trojans, worms and other nasties infecting your smartphone.
Smartphone Productivity. Your smartphone helps you manage your schedule, organize and store contacts, and obtain information on the fly.
Most all smartphones include a calendar app that allows, at a minimum, creation of a calendar appointment or event with the option of a reminder. Many additional calendar apps with various options and features are available for download.
Most smartphones include a contact management app, as well, that you have probably filled with your personal contacts. For Signing Agent work, consider downloading a different contact management app that you use solely for Signing Agent work contacts.
Other apps to boost your productivity include:
FedEx and UPS. Signing Agents are always expected to accomplish same-day return of signed loan documents. The two dominant couriers, FedEx and UPS, both have feature-rich mobile apps that enable you to quickly find the nearest location, create mailing labels, track a package, and more.
Todoist is cited as one of the best all-round to-do list apps, touting features such as working across all your devices, capturing and organizing tasks, allowing for subtasks and tracking productivity. For Android device users, Google Docs is the default provided on the majority of devices; it is also available on iPhones. Zoho is another well-regarded and feature-loaded office suite app, available for both Android devices and iPhones.
Microsoft Office Mobile: Combines Word, Excel and PowerPoint in one app.
Apple iWork: Offers Pages for word processing; Numbers for spreadsheets, and Keynote for presentations.
Downloading Apps
For the average person, there’s a simple rule of thumb when finding and downloading apps—do it only through your phone’s native app store (Google Play for Android, Apple App Store for iOS). Apps offered within Google Play or the Apple App Store are screened for safety, legitimacy and other important factors. Another clue for apps inside your trusted app store: those with many downloads are generally time-tested, with a high degree of customer satisfaction.
Smartphone Care
Finally, to ensure your smartphone can do its best work for you, keep its operating system and all apps up to date. Acting promptly when you are notified of an available update is essential to smartphone and app security. Most updates, after all, are created to fix glitches and address recently discovered security issues.
Information is valid as of April 8, 2021. We do our best to provide accurate, up-to-date information, but please keep in mind it is the reader’s responsibility to know the notary law in their state.