17 apps that will help you become a more productive person
I've spent most of my life in awe of early birds. You know the type: People who can jump out of bed at 5:00 a.m., run a mile, actually eat breakfast, and still make it to work on time.
As a night owl, I often struggle to be productive during the day. I've tried productivity hacks to no avail, and I always abandon planners a few days after I start using them.
When I switched out physical notebooks for to-do lists on my phone, however, I finally saw a difference — both in my stress levels and my efficiency.
To help you get more done in less time, STACKED rounded up 17 productivity apps that people are loving in 2017, all with a four-star rating or higher in the App Store or Google Play.
View As: One Page SlidesForest encourages you to put your phone down by planting real trees around the world.
Forest can help you avoid distractions while studying or doing work. When you open the app, you can plant seeds and grow a virtual forest. But if you exit the app to text or check Facebook, your trees will wither away and die.
Even better, Forest partners with nonprofit Trees for the Future so that you can use the virtual coins you earn to plant real trees. So far, the app has planted 122,614 trees since it launched in May 2014.
Price: $1.99 on iOS; Free on Android
Tide also helps you stay focused with ambient noise and the Pomodoro technique.
Tide lets you set a timer based on the Pomodoro technique, a simple and popular productivity hack. If nature sounds help you focus, you can also choose from one of five options (ocean, rain, forest, meditation, and coffee) or customize a mix of music and white noise.
Price: Free Available on: iOS, Android
Save a few minutes every morning with Spark, an email app that sorts your inbox for you.
Instead of wasting time every morning going through your cluttered email inbox, let Spark do it for you. Spark's "Smart Inbox" automatically detects if an email is an important personal message, notification, newsletter, or random announcement.
My favorite feature? You can use natural language to search for emails which produces more accurate results. For example, if you search, "attachments from Jane last week," you'll actually see all the emails with attachments that you received from Jane last week.
Price: Free Available on: iOS
Another free email app, Microsoft's Outlook has been adored by iPhone users for years.
This isn't the first time we've recommended Outlook, and it won't be the last.
Like Spark, Microsoft's beloved email app has a smart inbox that shows your most important messages first. And the more you use the app, the more accurate it gets.
Outlook also integrates seamlessly with your calendar and other Microsoft Office apps, so you can set up meetings or edit an Excel spreadsheet with just a few taps.
Price: Free Available on: iOS (Recommended), Android
Although Outlook is available on Android devices, Android users seem to prefer BlueMail instead.
BlueMail currently has over 225,000 reviews in the Google Play store, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. Users love that they can personalize many of the apps' features. You can set different push notifications and preferences for each email account, customize swipe actions, create groups for group emailing, and more.
Price: Free Available on: Android
Todoist uses AI to help you better organize, prioritize, and complete your tasks on time.
A Google Play Editor's Choice app, Todoist features a "Smart Schedule" that uses machine learning to suggest the best dates for you to schedule tasks. You can also access your to-do lists and notes on any device from your iPad to your Apple Watch, and integrate with third-party apps including Slack, Amazon Echo, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more.
Price: Free Available on: iOS, Android
Use Trello to manage and organize all your projects in one place.
Trello lets you see and work on different projects at once, so you can quickly prioritize and complete tasks. Just create a "board" for each project, add lists (e.g., "To do" and "Done"), and drag and drop "cards" (tasks) between lists.
If you're planning a road trip with friends or getting ready for a presentation at work, you can also assign tasks to yourself and others using the app.
Price: Free Available on: iOS, Android
Take handwritten notes, markup PDFs, and sign documents on your Android phone with Squid.
Squid combines the convenience of a smartphone with the freedom of writing on paper. Use the app to copy and paste handwritten notes, export notes as PDFs or images, doodle while you think, and more.
Price: Free Available on: Android
Continuing the trend of note-taking apps named after animals, Bear makes it easy to jot down notes or write long essays on the iPhone.
Bear's shortcuts let you italicize text, add links, and more — cutting down the time you spend writing on your phone. The app can also recognize specific elements of your text such as emails and colors, so that you can quickly search through your notes for ideas or attachments.
Price: Free Available on: iOS
If you're a fan of simplicity, go with Letterspace, another note-taking app that iPhone users love.
Letterspace's defining feature is a game-changer: When you're using the app, you can swipe left or right on the bar above the keyboard to move the cursor. It's a simple but powerful tool that makes typing notes and editing text significantly easier, and faster, on a smartphone.
Price: $4.99 Available on: iOS
iPhone users also love Strides, which helps you track your goals and build better habits.
Strides lets you set four customizable types of trackers: Use "Target" to reach a goal by a certain date. Use "Habit" to build a good habit or break a bad one. Use "Average" to track an average value over time. And use "Milestones" to track a goal that requires multiple steps.
The app also uses push notifications and detailed charts to keep you accountable.
Price: Free Available on: iOS
Equally as adored, HabitHub helps Android users reach their goals.
Based on Jerry Seinfeld's productivity hack, HabitHub motivates you to form habits and reach goals by focusing on streaks. The app shows you how many consecutive days you have accomplished a certain task so you can better visualize, and complete, your goals.
Price: Free Available on: Android
Turn your iPhone camera into a high-quality scanner with Evernote's Scannable.
A "digital notebook" that lets you save photos, web pages, notes, and more, Evernote is a great productivity app. Its Scanner is equally as useful and can even pull information from business cards to create new contacts on your phone.
Price: Free Available on: iOS
And if you have an Android phone, try CamScanner.
With over 100 million downloads in more than 200 countries, CamScanner is the most popular mobile scanning app in the world. Scan and share high-quality images and documents via email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
Price: Free Available on: Android
Learn new ideas from bestselling nonfiction books in 15 minutes or less with Blinkist.
This app distills key insights of bestselling nonfiction books into 15-minute reads or audiobooks, giving you a simple and time-saving way to learn something new every day.
You can even download notes and read or listen to them offline.
Price: Free Available on: iOS, Android
Save time every day and read news you actually care about on Flipboard.
Flipboard lets you create "Smart Magazines" around subjects you love. Just pick your passions and enjoy a curated collection of articles, expert voices, and recommended stories about those specific interests.
You can also create "Custom Magazines" by adding individual stories you love.
Price: Free Available on: iOS, Android
Make your life easier and automate daily tasks with IFTTT.
IFTTT, which stands for "If This, Then That," lets you connect your favorite apps by creating "Applets" that make your life easier.
For example, one Applet automatically updates your Twitter profile picture whenever you update your profile picture on Facebook.