Apple purchases East Alum, Conrad Kramer’s (’14) productivity app

Eli Weitzman

More stories from Eli Weitzman

Workflow+is+productivity+app+that+seeks+to+make+everyday+activities+easier.+

Workflow is productivity app that seeks to make everyday activities easier.

On Wednesday, March 22, Apple announced its acquisition of the iOS application known as Workflow. Workflow is an app created by East’s own Conrad Kramer (’14), as well as fellow Workflow team members Ari Weinstein and Nick Drey.

Workflow began as a project for the MHacks hackathon in 2014 where teams build a new hack, or piece of code, that is completely new and innovational. The team of Kramer, Weinstein, Drey, and Veeral Patel, worked together and built the app that took first prize at the competition.

A few months after the hackathon, the team received the WWDC student scholarship, which allowed them to attend Apple’s annual developer conference in San Francisco, California.

Afterwards, both Kramer and Weinstein applied for the Thiel Fellowship, a program created by Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel is the technological investor and entrepreneur who worked closely with the Trump campaign this election season. His program funds students and allows them to turn down a standard educational path for a chance to focus mainly on their startup or idea.

From that point on, the Workflow team has done amazingly, with their application rising in digital popularity.

In 2015, Workflow won the Apple Design Award, given to applications that “reflect the best in design, innovation, and use of technology on Apple platforms.”

The application also was rated as one of the “Best of 2015” apps by Apple on the app store.

The application itself centers around the idea of productivity, and how to increase it. The user creates “Workflows” that can run an action on the device. For example, one workflow could calculate the tip. Another could get information from your RSS feeds. They can also be made even more complex, like getting your latest RSS feed and displaying it, while also playing music and sending a text to a friend. Overall, the application is a powerful tool that can be used to help people in their search for complete and supreme productivity.

After the announcement of the acquisition, Workflow has now been made free, from its original price of $4.99. No other further details of the deal have been made public, and Kramer declined to comment due to the confidentiality of the deal. Hopefully, Apple’s acquisition will lead to a brighter, and more productive, future for the iOS platform.