10 Apps To Increase Productivity

It’s 11am, and already your concentration is wavering. Do you reach for the coffee pot? Stick your head out of a window? Browse a whole host of listicles about the latest awards ceremony in the hope that your creative impetus will return?

No – instead, you download an app that’s been tailored to boost the rate of your output. Here are 10 of the best productivity apps that’ll help kick you into gear every day of the week.

1. Pomodoro Keeper

Proudly proclaiming its purpose to prevent you from procrastinating, this iOS app runs with the slogan: “work with time – not against it!” For the small cost of £1.50, Pomodoro’s intuitive interface helps you condense your work efforts into 25-minute chunks. Once the clock starts, work solidly for the allotted time and then reward yourself with a break (perhaps to read more of our top 10 lists?). You can track your progress, interactive with the app by adjusting the egg-timer feature, and set daily goals.

2. Skim

This reading app helps you maximise your online reading ability by boosting the speed that you read at. Sounds crazy, right? Well no – Skim lets you highlight a selected bit of dense text on its inbuilt browser, and then quickens the process of reading by eliminating the need for your eyes to scan between words as you go. The app boldly claims that reading speeds of up to 1,000 words per minute can be achieved – a certain increase on the average reading speed of around 200-230 WPM. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive for this iOS app, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

3. Skegenda

Are you a mess when it comes to organisation? Often find yourself leaving your diary on the bus, or misplacing vital documents? Worry no more. Skegenda’s binder-like interface allows you to store text, documents, voice memos and more in its file-like system, made all the more appealing by its Dropbox integration and calculator, calendar, and sketchpad features.

4. Mailbox

Are you drowning in the deluge of emails you’re being sent every day? Mailbox may be your salvation. Made by the lovely people behind Dropbox, this app transforms your inbox into a light, fast and mobile-friendly service. Permitting quick swiping for those made-for-trash messages, IM-esque conversion of email conversations and the ability to snooze emails until later, this organisational mail service could change your work life for the better.

5. Asana

If you work as part of a team that are constantly emailing one another, then Asana is the app for you and your colleagues. Dispensing with the email function entirely, this app puts tasks and conversations together to ensure that everyone on the team only needs to use one program to communicate and ultimately get the job done. To-do lists, reminders and requests can be sent between members, while users can plan their day and complete work on-the-go in a service that everyone is linked into.

6. Evernote

Like that pinboard that you used to have above your desk, Evernote enables you to pin all your notes, ideas, images and tasks all in one place. Convenient, right? Styling itself as a “modern workspace”, this app – available on both Android and App stores – simply screams productivity, providing the space to write any length of note, collect web articles, and present your work stylishly during meetings. Also available online and on desktops, Evernote may be your entry point into a more organised and ultimately more productive you.

7. Hootsuite

Chances are that social media is an integral part of your job or business – so why not let a smart app like Hootsuite look after your social interests for you? Marketing itself as a platform that enables you to effectively share and schedule posts from your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare accounts, what and when you post is a job that’s streamlined to perfection with Hootsuite. Ideal for maximising your social media outreach.

8. Moxtra

Another app that boosts team productivity, Moxtra exists to enhance collaboration in either the workplace or the classroom. A team workspace that has built-in collaboration and messaging services – including multimedia annotations and meetings – it’s available on iOS, Android and the web, so no-one need be excluded. With integration from Google Drive, Dropbox and Evernote, Moxtra is an attractive, multi-functional option that’s well worth considering.

9. Remember The Milk

By far the best-named app on this list, Remember The Milk is a simplified yet utterly (or udderly) useful mechanism to have at your disposal. A virtual to-do list that packs a punch, it’s compatible with Gmail, Twitter, Google Calendar and more, enabling you to add and complete tasks on the go while organising and highlighting your daily priorities.

10. RescueTime

Available on Android, this time-focused app helps you firstly realise and then re-tool the amount of time that you’re spending on certain tasks. Spending too much time on one particular app? RescueTime will tell you, without wagging a finger of disapproval at your procrastination. Ideal for those who want to maximise their productivity at the expense of their inactivity, RescueTime’s graph form will tell you precisely when and where your day just went.