25 Top App Recommendations to Boost Your Productivity

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Outlook’s task manager. I bet many of you use Outlook at work but never noticed the task manager module! I use it to mind dump tasks, prioritize them by setting start and finish dates, attach related emails, and then delete those emails from my inbox, which reduces stress and improves productivity. What I love most about it is that I can manage my calendar, email, and tasks all in one application. I can receive an email, turn it into a task with one click, and attach the email and any other relevant files right to the task. This way, when I’m ready to work on the task, I have everything in one place. If you have never given this task manager a look, I highly recommend checking it out. Microsoft offers an app for your phone in addition to the desktop application.

One app I use every day to manage my to-do lists and keep myself organized is MYNDIFY. I love it because it combines thought-management with planning, instead of treating them as separate things. It’s not just where I put tasks, but where I store context.

For example, when I take the same annual trip each year, I already have a saved to-do list, a list of what to bring (and what not to bring), notes on restaurants I liked, and lessons learned from past trips. Previously I had to save all these items on separate apps, which was time-consuming and stressful. MYNDIFY also allows me to build on what I already know each time I repeat an experience, which saves time and mental energy.

What makes it especially useful is how that information becomes actionable. There’s a daily view that surfaces what matters most for that day (like birthdays, events, and to-dos), so nothing slips through the cracks. Location alerts are another standout feature. If I had a list of questions for my doctor, MYNDIFY can alert me when I arrive at the doctor’s office (so I don’t forget). There’s also an AI assistant that lets me ask simple questions like, “What’s on my list this weekend?” and instantly get the answer. All of this helps me save time and keeps my day running smoothly, especially when things get busy.

After testing 40+ productivity apps for my blog WorkOrbitHQ, I recommend Todoist for task management combined with Google Calendar for time blocking.

The game-changer isn’t the app itself; it’s the system. Todoist’s natural language input lets me capture tasks in under 5 seconds (“tomorrow at 2pm write report”); then I immediately block calendar time for execution. Most people make lists but never schedule when they’ll actually do the work.

Todoist’s priority levels (P1, P2, P3) keep me from drowning in 100+ weekly tasks by forcing daily focus on what truly matters. The recurring tasks feature eliminated my need to remember routine operational work, saving about 30 minutes daily just on task entry.

This combination recovered about 5 hours per week previously lost to task-switching and “what should I work on next?” decisions. I’ve documented the complete productivity app testing methodology and results at WorkOrbitHQ.com, where I help remote workers build evidence-based productivity systems.

My favorite app for managing to-dos and staying organized is Todoist because it balances simplicity with power. It keeps tasks in plain sight without overwhelming complexity, and it scales from daily errands to multi-step project plans.

The biggest productivity boost comes from its natural language parsing when creating tasks. You can type “send report next Tuesday at 10am” and it auto-schedules the due date and time. Recurring tasks, prioritized sections, and custom filters help me focus on what matters each day instead of a long backlog. The shared project feature also makes delegation effortless with clear ownership and deadlines.

The parts I use most are priority flags, recurring task rules, and the Today/Upcoming views that keep context visible without distraction.

Albert Richer, Founder, WhatAreTheBest.com

Honestly, I use Asana for everything, both team projects and my own tasks. As a director, I’ve found the collaborative features really simplify juggling multiple projects. Assigning tasks and setting due dates helps me see bottlenecks before they become a problem. It’s a big improvement over basic lists. The integrations and notifications give me fewer headaches, and I usually recommend people start with the templates to get going faster.

Hi there,

I’m Lachlan Brown, co-founder of The Considered Man and someone who balances writing, coaching, and managing a small remote team. Over the years I’ve tried every productivity app out there and the one that’s actually stuck for me is Notion.

What I love about Notion isn’t just its flexibility — it’s that it can be as structured or as simple as you need. I started without any template at all, just a page called “Today” where I dumped tasks, ideas, and reminders. Over time it naturally grew into a personal dashboard: to-dos, weekly focus, project pages, and a simple weekly review.

That growth wasn’t forced; it happened because Notion lets you organize information in a way that reflects how your mind actually works, not how someone else thinks it should.

The features that help me most are linked databases (so tasks can live in multiple views), toggles for quick capture, and the ability to turn stray thoughts into actual projects without breaking rhythm. I also use a lightweight weekly template that helps me see what matters this week versus what’s just noise.

What improved my productivity wasn’t a strict system — it was finally getting everything out of my head and into a space that feels safe, editable, and alive. When your tools actually reduce mental clutter rather than add another layer of complexity, you can stay present with the work that matters most.

Cheers,

Lachlan Brown

Mindfulness Expert | Co-founder, The Considered Man

https://theconsideredman.org/

My book ‘Hidden Secrets of Buddhism’: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BD15Q9WF/

Running a sexual wellness center means juggling patient appointments, treatment protocols, inventory management, and staying current with medical advancements–all while maintaining the confidential, personalized care our patients deserve. I’ve tried several systems, but **Notion** has been the game-changer for both my personal workflow and coordinating with our team in Colleyville.

What makes Notion work for me is the database feature combined with templates. I built a custom dashboard that tracks our new treatment rollouts (like when we implemented the HEshot(r) protocol), links to our content calendar for patient education articles, and keeps all my meeting notes with our medical team in one searchable place. Before Notion, I was drowning in scattered notes across different apps–now everything connects, and I can see the full picture of what needs attention.

The biggest productivity win has been our patient follow-up system. We created a database that flags patients due for check-ins after treatments, which helped us maintain that 97.2% efficacy rate we’re proud of–because consistent follow-up matters. I can assign tasks to team members, set reminders for hormone panel reviews, and track which educational resources we’ve shared with specific patients, all without switching between five different tools.

The learning curve exists, but once you set up your templates, it’s incredibly fast. I probably save 8-10 hours weekly just from having everything centralized instead of hunting through emails or multiple apps to find what I need.

I’ve built automation systems for dozens of businesses, and I’ll tell you the honest truth–most people don’t need another app. They need fewer apps that actually talk to each other. I use **Motion** because it’s an AI-powered calendar that automatically schedules my tasks based on deadlines and priorities, then rearranges everything when emergencies pop up.

What makes it different is the automatic rescheduling. When a client meeting runs long or a project gets delayed, Motion instantly shifts my entire week around without me touching anything. Before this, I’d spend 20 minutes every morning reshuffling tasks in my head–now that cognitive load is just gone.

The reason it works for my workflow specifically is that I’m juggling multiple client projects with hard deadlines, sales calls, and development sprints. Motion blocks focus time for deep work automatically, so I’m not context-switching between a website build and a findy call. My actual billable hours went up about 30% once I stopped manually Tetris-ing my calendar every day.

The trade-off is that you have to trust the AI to manage your time, which feels weird at first. But if you’re someone who constantly thinks “I don’t have time to plan my time,” that’s exactly when this kind of tool pays off.

I run a device repair shop and honestly, I don’t use a fancy productivity app–I use **Google Keep** and it’s shockingly effective for how simple it is. After 14 years as an engineer at Intel where I dealt with complex project management software, I learned that simpler systems actually get used consistently.

What makes Keep work in a repair shop is the speed. I can voice-dictate a note about a tricky micro-soldering repair while my hands are still holding tweezers, then pin it to the top so I remember the exact resistor value that failed when the customer comes back. I also share lists with my team for parts we’re running low on–when someone uses the last iPhone 12 screen, they just check it off and I see it instantly.

The color-coding saved me during a crazy week last month when we had 47 devices in for repair. I assigned each customer a color and could see at a glance which repairs were waiting on parts (red), which were ready for pickup (green), and which needed follow-up calls (yellow). We got everyone out within our promised timeframe without a single missed callback.

My engineering brain wanted something more sophisticated at first, but Keep’s search function is so fast that I can find notes from repairs I did months ago in seconds. When a customer returns with a related issue, I pull up exactly what we did before–that kind of continuity builds trust and catches problems before they become expensive.

I’ve bootstrapped a SaaS company to multi-million dollar revenue over 20 years, and honestly? I don’t use a productivity app in the traditional sense–I use **Slack** as my command center. Most people think of it as just team chat, but I’ve turned it into my real-time task manager by creating topic-specific channels that mirror our actual workflows.

Here’s what makes it work: When something needs doing, it goes into the relevant channel (#product-bugs, #customer-escalations, #finance-review) where the right people already live. I pin critical items, use reminders for follow-ups, and search history when I need context. The game-changer is that conversations, decisions, and action items exist in the same thread–no jumping between a chat tool and a separate task app where context gets lost.

The productivity win is speed. When a customer like Las Vegas Metro PD reports an issue with processing their million+ evidence items, I can tag our dev lead, reference the original feature discussion from three months ago, set a reminder, and track resolution–all without leaving one window. We went from hour-long email chains to 12-minute problem-solving sprints.

The tradeoff is discipline. Slack can become noise if you don’t structure channels ruthlessly and train your team to use threads. But for a lean operation where every minute counts, having your to-do list live *inside* your communication stream instead of duplicated across multiple tools cuts my daily admin time by about 90 minutes.

I’ve been using **Todoist** for the past few years to manage my studio schedule, client programming notes, and my own continuing education goals. Between training sessions, health coaching calls, and creating personalized workout plans for 15-20 active clients, I needed something that wouldn’t add friction to my already full days.

The feature I rely on most is the **project templates with recurring subtasks**. When a new client starts, I have a template that automatically creates their assessment checklist, follow-up intervals (week 2, week 6, month 3), and reminders to update their program based on their progress. Before Todoist, I’d forget to circle back on someone’s post-surgery clearance or miss sending a brain health resource I promised during our session.

What actually changed my workflow was tagging tasks by energy level–some require deep focus (like designing a bone health protocol for osteopenia), others I can knock out between clients (ordering resistance bands, sending encouragement texts). On low-energy days when I’ve taught three group classes, I filter for quick wins instead of forcing myself through cognitively demanding work and burning out.

The productivity boost isn’t about doing more–it’s about being present during training sessions instead of mentally running through what I’m forgetting. My clients notice when I’m fully there with them, and that’s where the real change happens anyway.

I run multiple businesses simultaneously–medical device start-up business development, co-owning a personal training studio, and writing–so I live and die by **Todoist**. The game-changer for me isn’t the app itself, it’s how I use priority levels to separate “revenue-generating” tasks from everything else.

Every Sunday night, I tag tasks as P1 (directly generates income–client calls, sales meetings, training sessions) or P2/P3 (admin stuff that feels urgent but isn’t). When I open Todoist each morning, I only look at P1 items first. This single habit increased my business development close rate by roughly 40% last year because I stopped letting email and busywork eat my peak energy hours.

The natural language input is clutch when I’m between training clients–I can literally type “call medical device distributor tomorrow 2pm” and it auto-schedules. No menus, no clicks. When you’re sweating in a gym or jumping between sales calls, speed matters more than fancy features.

One concrete example: I used recurring tasks with sub-tasks for our studio’s client check-in system (72-hour follow-ups after first sessions). Our retention jumped noticeably because no one fell through the cracks anymore, and it took me 10 minutes to set up once.

I coordinate 10-15 sewer jobs per month during peak season across four counties, and honestly, pen and paper still runs most of our dispatch. We tried ClickUp last year because we needed something that could handle job notes, customer history, and crew assignments in one place without getting complicated.

What actually moved the needle for us was the custom fields feature. We built a template where every job card tracks things like “camera inspection completed,” “footage of damage,” “liner material ordered,” and “cure time required.” When a customer calls back three months later asking about their warranty or what we found during the inspection, I can pull it up in seconds instead of digging through text messages or handwritten invoices.

The biggest productivity gain wasn’t speed–it was reducing missed handoffs. Before ClickUp, if I was coordinating a trenchless CIPP lining and the resin shipment got delayed, that information lived in my head or a sticky note. Now the whole team sees the update, and our camera tech knows not to schedule the pre-work inspection until materials are confirmed on-site. We cut our “showed up but couldn’t complete the job” situations by about half.

That said, I still use a notebook on-site when I’m walking a property with a homeowner. When you’re explaining why their oak tree roots collapsed a 60-year-old clay pipe, sketching it out beats any app. ClickUp manages the workflow, but the real work still happens face-to-face.

I’ve been running an IT services company since 2008, and I’ve tested pretty much every productivity tool out there with our clients. For task management specifically, I consistently recommend **Asana** to business owners who are drowning in to-do lists.

What makes Asana different is how it handles dependencies. When we’re managing cybersecurity audits for clients, there are specific sequences that can’t be skipped–network assessment before penetration testing, vulnerability patching before compliance reporting. Asana lets you link tasks so when one completes, the next person gets notified automatically. We cut our project completion time by about 30% once we stopped chasing people down for handoffs.

The feature I actually use daily is the “My Tasks” view that pulls everything assigned to you across all projects into one prioritized list. I’m juggling client emergencies, speaking prep, and internal IT work–without that consolidated view, I’d be constantly switching between projects and losing context. It sounds simple, but having one master list that updates itself saved me from those 11pm panic moments wondering what I forgot.

The commenting system is underrated too. Instead of hunting through email threads to find why we made a decision three weeks ago, everything lives on the task card. When a client asks why we recommended a specific security protocol, I pull up the Asana task and the entire conversation with screenshots is right there.

I run inventory, sourcing, sales, and customer management at King of Floors–which means tracking container shipments from Switzerland, Germany, and Poland, managing pricing changes on hundreds of SKUs, coordinating with my two sourcing colleagues, and making sure the right products hit our showroom floor at the right time. For years I used a combination of spreadsheets and email threads, but everything changed when I started using **Trello**.

What sold me was the visual boards. I created separate boards for container tracking, customer follow-ups, and product launches, with cards that move through stages like “Ordered,” “In Transit,” “Customs,” and “Ready for Showroom.” When a shipment of Kronoswiss laminate is delayed at port, I can instantly see what customers are waiting and shoot them a quick update without digging through emails. I’d estimate it cut my response time to customer inquiries by half.

The biggest win was our returns system. We have a generous 90-day return policy on unopened boxes with no restocking fee, but tracking who bought what and when was a nightmare in spreadsheets. Now each customer gets a Trello card with purchase date, product details, and a due date label set to 90 days out. I haven’t missed a return window check since, and customers appreciate that we’re on top of their timelines.

The mobile app is clutch when I’m walking the showroom floor with customers. If someone asks about a specific engineered wood we’re expecting, I can pull up the board right there and tell them exactly when it’s arriving–makes me look way more organized than I actually am.

Todoist has been the most reliable tool for keeping work moving without mental clutter. At MacPherson’s Medical Supply, it worked because tasks could be tied to real operating rhythms instead of vague intentions. Recurring reminders handled follow-ups like delivery confirmations, insurance checks, and reorder calls, so nothing relied on memory. Projects stayed clean because each task lived under a clear outcome rather than a long-running list. The daily view mattered most. It forced realistic planning and made it obvious when the day was overloaded. That visibility helped protect focus and prevented quiet slippage on important but non-urgent work. Sharing tasks across teams also reduced back-and-forth since responsibility was visible at a glance. Organization improved not because more tasks were added, but because fewer were carried in someone’s head. The app supported consistency, which is what operations-driven businesses actually need to stay steady.

I’m an attorney running a tech-powered estate planning firm with five offices across the Bay Area, so I live and die by organization. **Clio Manage** (our law practice management software) has been transformative–not just for client files, but for the entire operational workflow that keeps 2,000+ estate plans moving through our system without balls getting dropped.

The killer feature for us is the automated task lists tied to case stages. When a client completes their intake form, Clio triggers a sequence: attorney review by day 3, draft documents by day 10, signing scheduled within 2-3 weeks. Before we built this system, we’d constantly forget follow-ups or miss deed recording deadlines. Now our average completion time dropped from 6 weeks to under 3, and I’m not micromanaging every file.

The time-tracking integration also solved a massive problem for us. Even though we charge flat fees, tracking where attorneys spend time showed us that insurance beneficiary changes were eating 4-6 hours per case. That data pushed us to hire dedicated staff who handle insurance companies–now our attorneys focus on legal work while someone else sits on hold. That single insight probably added 20% capacity to our team.

For anyone in professional services juggling multiple clients and repetitive processes, find software that automates your checklist and shows you where time actually goes. We tried Asana and Trello first, but they’re too generic–industry-specific tools understand your workflow better and pay for themselves fast.

The app that’s helped me most with staying organized is TickTick. What I like is that it feels structured without being heavy. I can quickly capture tasks the moment they pop into my head, whether I’m at my desk or on my phone, and they don’t get lost. Everything lives in one place instead of scattered across emails, sticky notes, and mental reminders. That alone reduced a lot of background stress because I’m not constantly worrying about what I might be forgetting.

It’s also been great for actually getting things done, not just listing them. The built-in Pomodoro timer makes it easy to sit down, focus in short bursts, and stop procrastinating. Smart reminders and gentle rescheduling help me keep momentum without feeling guilty if a task slips to the next day. I like having both daily tasks and longer-term habits in the same app because it keeps my life organized, not just my work. Over time, TickTick has helped me move from reacting to tasks to feeling in control of my day, and that shift has made a real difference in my productivity and mental clarity.

Microsoft To Do works better than I expected for our IT projects at Medix Dental IT. The recurring tasks and shared lists are a lifesaver during cybersecurity audits, making handoffs between people actually work. The simple design keeps my techs and clients focused on what’s urgent instead of a bunch of distracting options. If you try it, use sections and reminders. That one move cut our meeting follow-ups in half.

I’ve scaled RiverCity from a small family shop to a 75-person operation doing 5x the revenue, and honestly? I use a physical production board in our San Marcos facility combined with Monday.com for client communications and deadlines.

The physical board matters because when you’re running 200+ custom orders through screen printing presses and embroidery machines simultaneously, your production team needs to see the whole floor layout at a glance–which jobs are in art approval, which are queued for press setup, what’s in quality control. We color-code by rush status, and anyone can grab the next priority without a device. Our on-time delivery rate jumped to 94% when we implemented this visual system because bottlenecks became obvious immediately.

Monday.com handles the front-end–client approvals, design revisions, delivery dates. The automations are what matter: when a client approves artwork in their portal, it triggers a notification to production and auto-populates our schedule. We cut our average turnaround time by about 2 days just by eliminating the email back-and-forth lag between sales and production floor.

The lesson from 40+ years in this business: your system needs to match how your people actually work. Our screen printers aren’t sitting at computers–they need that big wall board. Our sales team lives in email–they need digital task management. Pick tools that fit the workflow, not the other way around.

One app I use daily to stay organized and manage my to-do lists is Google Calendar. I use it to plan out both my work and personal schedule, add appointments and events, and stay on track with time management. I also use it to set reminders for both work and personal things.

What I love most about Google Calendar is that everything lives in one place. I can see my entire day at a glance, easily move tasks around when things change, and stay realistic about what I can actually get done. It keeps my schedule structured and makes managing my personal and work life much easier.

Thank you!

I’ve worked in construction for 50% of my life. Timelines, site chaos, vendor calls, crew logistics, the whole bit. I mean, by now you’d think that I need an app to help me stay more productive, right? Wrong. I really do it all with voice memos. Yes, the real to-do list is your phone’s voice recording software.

I mean, I do 20-30 a day, and sometimes in the middle of a sentence while walking through. The trick is I number them. I just say, “One—verify striping schedule for Building C”, “Two—call to confirm sealcoat delay”, etc. At the end of the day, I can play back, write down what I need to, and delete the rest. I’ve tried apps, drag-n-drop boards, and other items, but when you are in boots and a hard hat, a touchscreen isn’t always your ideal tool. Voice notes are fast, hands-free, and don’t care if your gloves are muddy.

An app we rely on daily to stay organised is Plaky, which we use solely for project management.

The most valuable feature for us is how easy it is to add a new task to a project and immediately make it visible to the rest of the team. As soon as a task is added, it is clear what needs to be done, who is responsible, and when it needs to be completed. That instant visibility removes the need for follow-up emails or messages and keeps everyone aligned from the outset.

This has made a real difference to productivity. Tasks move faster because there is no delay between identifying a piece of work and assigning it. Team members can see new actions as they come in, prioritise their workload, and plan their time without having to ask for clarification. It also reduces the risk of misunderstandings, as deadlines and expectations are clearly defined in one place.

Plaky works well for us because it stays simple. Every client task lives in one project board, and every update is tied to a specific action. That structure keeps communication focused, helps prevent things being missed, and allows us to manage multiple client projects with far less friction day to day.

I prefer using the native Apple apps (Apple Notes & Apple Reminders) as opposed to third-party applications. There’s very little “friction” associated with them as both are built-in to my devices, synced between all of my platforms and require minimal additional work to access and utilize. I use the Apple Notes app to create quick checklists to document procedures I perform, drafts of communication I intend to send, and clinical reminders. Apple Reminders provides me with a mechanism to track when I need to make specific follow-up phone calls, modify some aspect of a device setting and schedule post-operative review appointments. However, the discipline required to use an application effectively cannot be replaced by an application itself; simplicity makes the process manageable.

I recommend Kaamfu because it goes beyond a simple to-do list and acts more like a single place where tasks, communication, and priorities actually live together.

What’s helped my productivity the most is not having to jump between my most important apps. Tasks, discussions, and progress are all tied together, so I always know what I should be working on and why it matters. The most useful parts for me are having tasks linked to real goals, seeing what’s moving and what’s stuck, and keeping conversations inside the work instead of in separate chat tools. It’s made my days feel far more focused and intentional, rather than reactive.