Professionals Should Use These in 2019: Best Apps for Productivity

Do you find it hard to be productive on some days? Or do you often forget to do something because you stay too focused on other tasks?

One possible cause is an ineffective organizational structure on your end or the company’s end. On your end, you can combat those unmotivated and chaotic days using productivity apps.

On average, such apps help increase productivity by 34%. However, you need the right apps to get those results.

Here are some of the best apps for productivity we’ve seen that might help you focus on your tasks.

1.Trello

Trello is a project management app that helps teams visualize their tasks. It uses the Kanban approach to managing workload; it breaks down tasks under different columns in a board.

A board is a project, and the columns can represent anything you want. They could be the different steps in your work process or they could be lists of to-dos, ideas, and such. In the case of a blog, the columns could be Topics, Writing, Editing, and Published.

The tasks (or cards) are the items in each column. You can create a card with the topic title and writing instructions, for example. If you’re writing it, you can move it to the Writing column.

You can limit access to the board, only allowing writers and editors to make changes. They can create, move, and delete cards as they wish. They can also edit the cards and put comments.

The changes they make are in real-time, so there won’t be confusion on the distribution of tasks.

2. Slack

Slack is a communication app that makes it easy for teams to collaborate. It provides a platform where you can send messages, share documents, video call, and even GIFs.

Inside the app, you can create “channels” for different teams, clients, projects, or such. You can then add people by sending them an invite.

Each message is searchable, so no message will get lost. Slack also allows you to integrate your other productivity apps, like Dropbox, Google Drive, and other applications.

3. ToDoist

ToDoist is a personal productivity app that helps you keep track of your tasks using to-do lists. You can create different lists for your work assignments, groceries, fitness goals, and your other personal/professional endeavors. You can then tick off a task as you complete it, allowing the app to measure your productivity daily and weekly.

It also has smart functions, such as categorizing tasks and scheduling reminders on its own. If you create a task like “Meeting with clients tomorrow at 9 am,” ToDoist will file it under Meetings. It will also create a reminder for “tomorrow” at 9 am.

You can also use it as a collaboration tool because it allows you to add team members. You can assign them tasks and observe their progress. They will only be able to access the lists you invite them to.

4. HelloSign

Remote team members can now sign digital documents using HelloSign. It’s an electronic signature app that saves and places your signature on any document.

You can draw your signature or let it generate one for you based on your name. You can then file away the signed documents in its secure servers.

5. CamScanner

CamScanner allows you to scan any document using your phone. It identifies where to crop and corrects geometric distortions to give you a printable scanned copy. With it, you can convert the file to PDF and share it via email, social media, and other options.

It also has an OCR feature that recognizes and extracts text from the image. This allows you to edit the file before sending it out.

CamScanner comes loaded with other cool features like annotations, watermarks, passcodes, Siri integration, and more.

6. RescueTime

A time-tracking tool is one of the best apps for productivity, and from this category, the best one is RescueTime. It’s a tool that tracks your habits by recording your time spent on apps, websites, and breaks.

It gives you a detailed look at your habits by providing pie charts, bar graphs, and percentages. You can measure your productivity (or distractions) daily and monthly.

Aside from telling you how distracted you’ve been today, it also helps you be productive. Through the app, you can block sites and set goals. It can also notify you for when you’re spending too much on one site/app.

7. Google Docs

Google Docs is one of Google’s suite of online services, alongside Sheets and Slides. It’s a word processing tool that lets you create and edit documents offline or online. If you access it offline, the changes will go live once you connect to the internet.

You can share files with your team members via a link or through their email. This allows them to view and edit the files (if they have permission).

What’s great about this is that two or more people can edit one file at the same time. Google Docs saves all the changes they make live. It also allows you to see who’s making the changes and the previous versions of the file.

Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program, while Slides is a presentation app. Both have the same features as Google Docs.

8. Google Drive

Another good thing about Google Docs is that all your documents go right away to your Drive account. You can also upload other files from your computer, including photos and videos.

This makes all your files updated and accessible through all devices. Any changes go live at once, so you’re always seeing the latest versions.

It’s great for collaboration, too, as you can share files or folders with other team members.

The best thing about this is that it’s free, but like Google Docs, you can upgrade it. This will give you more storage space than the free 15 GB upon sign-up.

Try the Best Apps for Productivity First

Most of these best apps for productivity are free or have a free trial. Try out each one to see which of these top productivity apps best suits your needs.

Keep your productivity level high every day. Read through our other blog posts today to learn more productivity tips.