9 Apps You Should be Downloading to Hit Your Productivity Goals

This app is suitable for Android users needing a thorough habit tracker. The app is designed for you to pick habits that you want to work on; you then log the habits in a manner similar to closing rings on an Apple Watch, and the app records your progress data. By quantifying your progress, you can get a clear overview of where you’re at and where improvements are needed. 

The Forest app is for anyone with a bad habit of picking up their phone the minute boredom or even social discomfort hits. Which happens to be most of us. This app mitigates that by having you plant seeds and grow trees while you stay off your phone. You choose the time you want to remain off your phone to work on a task or remain socially present. Leaving the app while the tree is growing will cause it to die, so the incentives to focus are unavoidable.

Engross utilizes the Pomodoro method as the foundation of the app. By setting timers and breaks in tandem with your daily planner and the goals you set for the day, the app keeps you on track with your work while providing built-in breaks so you don’t burn yourself out. This app is perfect if you want to diversify the goals you knock out each day while having a system telling you when to stop, go and switch activities. 

Compile all your random to-do lists into one app with Todoist. Instead of leaving obscure, open-ended half-thoughts in your notes app, switch over to this app if you want one system that contains multiple kinds of to-do lists you have AND reminds you to complete tasks. You can make the app as straightforward or complex as you need it to be, and it’s the ideal hub for people with constant running to-do lists in their brains with nowhere to store or sort the items safely. 

Like Todoist, Evernote can be an elevated version of the notes app on your phone. Except this app is not about to-do lists but rather organizing any and all random ideas, thoughts, or to-be-returned-to-later things in one place. The app also allows uploading images, audio and pdfs; how convenient is that!?

Your days of waking up in the middle of the night feeling like you forgot something are over. Due is the app that will triple-check for you that you are not letting anything slip your mind, seriously. You set the task you need to complete and by when and then Due will remind you when the due date or time approaches over and over. The only way to get the reminders to stop is to manually go in and say the task has been completed or to turn the reminders off. At that point, if things don’t get done, it’s on you. 

If you enjoy apps that interweave games to incentivize you, like Forest, you’ll enjoy this option. Habitica treats your real life like a game by making you the Tamagotchi, in essence. You get an avatar in the app that represents you, and when you complete your goal habits, your avatar levels up all around in health, experience and mana. So if you struggle to get things done for your real human self, maybe it’ll be easier to do it for the avatar you.

This one is for all the smart budgeters AND shopaholics. Expensify is an app that assists you in organizing your budget and spending habits. It does have a main feature of scanning receipts, so for this app, it’s best to hang onto them, but if you do, the payoff (literally) is worth it. This app makes tracking your expenses much more productive and saves time by summing up totals for you.

Finally, whether you are a passionate writer, it’s a side hobby or you are interested in just starting, this app is the perfect all-in-one. Productivity does not have to mean just in relation to professional work or health. It can also be for hobbies or mental health. So if you utilize this platform to write your first novel or if it’s just to keep a digital journal, this is the perfect app to keep all your writings and thoughts contained in one organized space.