As we all know, productivity is one of the new luxuries in today’s world. Knowing that our attention span is shorter as we speak, there aren’t that many things we can do to maintain it. Productivity apps are one of those few things that can help you be more focused on your work.
Now, bare with me – I know there are quite a few skeptics out there, thinking no productivity app can help me fight procrastination, but… In this article, I’m sharing with you all the productivity apps I tried and used myself and let me tell you – they sure work! It took me a short time to get organized and more focused on everything I do and helped me to prosper more.
No need to use post-it stickers, notes or notebooks anymore. Whether you’re a freelancer, owner of a company, developer or consultant – these productivity apps will help you upgrade your professional skills and be so much better in what you do.
Top productivity apps
Trello
I have no idea how I worked before within a team without Trello. This great app is like a business Pinterest – lets you create category boards for things to do, with all sorts of helping tools like task assigning, labeling, commenting on items and more! No wonder it’s one of the best task management tools out there. Trello lets you use it while offline too, and once you set it up, you’ll need not more than 15 minutes a day to overview your daily tasks. Whether you’re a part of a team or working solo, the Trello app will help you prioritize your work in a fun and dynamic way.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Free
FocusList
Daily planned and focused app that works on Pomodoro technique, the time management technique that breaks up work into smaller intervals separated by short timeouts. Using it, you will stay focused and track your time so you can do more deep and productive work.
Platform: iOS
Price: 4.99$
ProofHub
Loved by more than 85,000 teams and businesses worldwide, ProofHub is an all-in-one project management and team collaboration software that enables teams to stay in complete control of their tasks, projects, productivity, and communications.
The best part of ProofHub is that it helps teams save their time by replacing various apps used to plan projects, collaborate with one another, stay organized, and stay on top of everything with a single, powerful tool. ProofHub’s automatic time tracking system helps managers stay on top of their team’s time by keeping track of time spent on every task. ProofHub also provides you personal productivity features like Stickies, Me-view, and daily agenda to help individuals keep track of their personal productivity.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Flat price of $89 per month (No per-user fee)
Hours
While we’re at tracking time, Hours is a must have app for tracking your work progress and monitoring where your time goes. This is especially important when working with clients – you want to be able to tell them how much time you’ve spent on their projects, right? With this app, you can easily do it, because Hours has built-in reports and all the needed insights. Made initially for freelancers and solopreneurs, Hours is a logging app that can be used by anyone who wants to audit their time.
Platform: iOS
Price: Free
Doodle
Easy to use, fun app that lets you set up meetings and events between a group of people in a quick and easy to manage way. You just set up a list of proposed dates and send people the link to choose the option that best suits them. That way, you can see what date and time is the best match for everyone in no time! Talk about time managing and saving 🙂
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Free
RescueTime
The very first app I installed on my computer, Rescue Time is – by far – a life savior! And I mean it! Overwhelming at the start, since it shows you how much time you’re wasting procrastinating, RescueTime will have you fixed and in work mode in no time! We all know time is money and by using this app, you will surely spend it wisely. Just download it and install it on your computer and prepare to change your time wasting habits! No more „just 5min surfing“ while working on a new code or design, RescueTime is eyeopening app that will put you back on fast track and running 🙂
Platforms: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Freemium
Google Drive
Good old Google, right? Google Drive is my right hand in daily task and business for years now. Made as an alternative to Microsoft Office, Drive lets you have all the MO perks /and more!/ for free. Whether you need to make a presentation, write a document or a database, Google Drive lets you work on it easily and from any device. Since it’s cloud-based, you can work on all the files using a phone, tablet, laptop, whatever. Once you finish it, you just save it and are good to go. Also, if collaborating with a team, you can assign them to the Drive files and share the project work – no need to be physically present – everything that saves you that much time and money is a must use, right?
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Free
Hubstaff
A lightweight time tracking app with multiple features designed to help you understand your productivity and improve the way you work. Hubstaff shows you the exact time you spend working on different tasks, the apps you used, and the websites you visited. It also has an idle time detector that automatically stops the timer if you become inactive for several minutes. Hubstaff also calculates activity levels based on your keyboard and mouse usage, giving you an even clearer picture of how you spend your time.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Freemium
Dropbox
Sit back and focus on the things that matter – let Dropbox do part of your work for you. Designed for both individual and teamwork, Dropbox is your go-to app for bringing your files together in one place. Also cloud-based, you /or your team/ can access the files from any device. Working on a new design, presentation, code? No matter how small or big, the project is, put it on Dropbox and share it with your clients, peers, team members safe and easily. A safe and sound storage place for all your photos, files, documents, projects to store and/or share with anyone.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: freemium
Slack
As stated on their website: When your team needs to kick off a project, hire a new employee, deploy some code, review a sales contract, finalize next year’s budget, measure an A/B test, plan your next office opening, and more, Slack has you covered.
Pretty much a no-brainer app for teamwork or communicating within a huge group of people (like a WordPress community, for instance). A real-time messaging app that lets you share, search and archive all sorts of files and documents. Go-to app for easy and productive communication. And, what’s good – you can integrate it with Google Drive, Dropbox, Twitter and more – saves you time and makes you quicker and more productive.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Free
Zoom
As someone who’s not that into Skype, discovering Zoom was a big deal to me. Really great video conferencing app that lets you host and/or join a meeting from wherever you are. Must have app for meetings, conference calls, but also webinars, business consults and more. Initial use is free, and within it, you get 40 minutes for organizing or joining a meeting. What’s good about it, you can choose whether you want to record an audio and/or video call for future reference or as a reminder, follow up. As I mentioned, within free version you get 40min free talk for up to 100 participants, unlimited one-to-one meetings, online support and bunch of features that you can find out here.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Freemium
IFTTT
One of the coolest apps out there saves you tons of time and nerves! IFTTT or If This Then That is a free web and app service that automates your tasks across internet. And, since you’re already into programming, using IFTTT will be a no-brainer for you. Service lets you create scripts or recipe for all sorts of tasks you would otherwise have to do manually. With it, you can create a recipe to track work hours in iOS calendar. Or, to set that you get an email every time a specific app’s price drops. Maybe launch Google Maps Navigation 10-15 minutes before your next meeting with directions to get there. You get the picture, whatever can shorten your process and make you more productive, you can make and automate it.
Platform: Android, iOS, desktop
Price: Free
There you have it. 10 top productivity apps that I use in my daily work, services that helps me get more organized and productive with my time. Let me know if you have already used some of them and are they helping you too. Also, if you have more useful apps to share, drop them in the comment section below and let’s discuss some more.