Mar 08, 2020. Sep 09, 2020.
Productivity is often equated with busyness. You could be doing a lot of things at the same time and end up not accomplishing anything useful. Being productive means focusing on the right things and ignoring distractions. Even the best productivity tools won't help you if you don't understand the previous sentence.
This article in itself is a form of distraction as you are trying to find a shortcut to getting things done. There are none. However, adopting some of the best productivity tools listed below can help you organize, track and measure your work and avoid deadly distractions.
Here are 40 best productivity tools and apps to help you achieve more this year.
CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X is a complete all-in-one solution to make your Mac cleaner, safer, and faster. It comes with powerfuloptimization tools including a smart cleaner, performance monitor, malware remover, and more neat features.
Canva
Canva is a super simple and fast graphic design tool. Even if you're not a designer, you're going to love this tool. It's powered by a drag-and-drop interface and comes with access to photos, graphics, fonts, and lots of beautifully designed templates.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a free and must-have writing assistant. It's one of the best tools out there not only for writers but for everyone. Check grammar, spelling and get context-based suggestions to improve your messages, documents, articles and anything else that contains words.
Todoist
Todoist has been creating new and useful apps that increase productivity. Their latest is Smart Schedule, which utilizes artificial intelligence to help you create and schedule your tasks without difficulty. Another feature called Karma gives you a visual representation of how productive you are in accomplishing your tasks. And if there are any changes made to a document you're collaborating with another, Todoist gives you an instant reminder right away.
Freedom
Freedom is a productivity app that does not just block the sites that waste your time but also the apps that keep you away from the task. That means it works with your laptop, Mac, Android phone, iPhone and iPad. Those who have used the app reported that they added at least 2.5 hours to becoming more productive.
Noizio
According to science, there are certain sounds that make us distracted and sounds that make us more focused, one of them is the sounds in a coffee shop. Noizio provides that ambient background to increase your productivity. The app also features different sounds of nature that will help you block the noises that keep on distracting you. Noizio is available on Mac, iOS, and Android.
Evernote
If you haven't heard about Evernote, it's about time you try it and you'll be amazed at what it can do for you in terms of note-taking as well as storing important files and documents. Create memos, documents, sketches, photos and store them in the cloud. Pull them out later anywhere using your mobile device or notebook and you can work on your projects while on the go.
IFTTT
IFTTT helps you save time by automating the internet tasks that you always do, such as messaging friends, backing up your media files to your cloud account, or turning your smart light on and off. IFTTT has pre-built applets that will do all your most common tasks but you can also customize your own in case you want to add more on the list.
Buffer
What makes Buffer stand out from other social media automation tools is that it is simple and straight-to-the-point. It doesn't give you a lot of choices which most of the time complicate things more than it can help you. Automate all your social media posts using Buffer through your desktop or mobile device.
Any.do
Any.do keeps your schedule on track with to-do lists, calendars, notes and other collaborative tools that allow you to share lists and tasks with others. There is also a voice integration feature that allows you to add to your lists through voice command. It also syncs with all your devices so you can keep track of everything through your mobile devices anywhere. Any.do is available on both Android and iOS.
Spark
Spark is an award-winning app for your email. It understands which of your emails are the most important and pops them on the top of the list. There are three categories your email are divided into Personal, Newsletters, and Notifications. It's available for free on Mac and iOS.
Newton
Newton, formerly called CloudMagic, is an app that puts all your email accounts together in one place so you can easily track and schedule your emails. Its Sender Profile feature gives you a little background about someone who has emailed you for the first time. Other notable features let you undo a sent email and read an email if you're ready for it. It also has a read receipt and integrates with other popular services like OneNote and Salesforce.
Quip
Quip is a project management app that brings together features that are similar to Evernote, Google Drive and Dropbox Paper. Create and organize all your work together using any device anywhere you are in the world. Its instant messaging feature allows easy communication among team members.
Calendar 5
Calendar 5 is an iOS calendar app that is designed to make life easier for you. It understands human language and automatically parses them to create an event. It syncs with Google Calendar and can be used even when you're offline. It also has a geolocation feature that allows you to use Google Maps when you create an event.
Bear
Bear Notes is a note-taking app designed for iOS and Mac users. What makes Bear stand out from similar apps is the simplicity of its user interface complimented by its text formatting features. Apple recognized the app's beauty as it awarded the Top App of the Year award to Bear.
Harvest
Harvest is a browser extension that gives you an honest report what things eat up your time and how much you spend on each of them. This will help you become aware of what things distract you and thus, need to be cut off or watch yourself from. It can help you better strategize your time so you can utilize every minute you have every day. Another thing that makes Harvest a must-have is it syncs with other productivity tools like Asana.
Lifesum
The food that you eat or your diet as a whole also affects your productivity, thus, it makes sense that we should put a premium on our health. Lifesum is a great companion app to make you mindful of what you eat as it counts how many calories you consume and shed every day. It's very informative and an awesome design that simply encourages you as you progress.
Plan
Plan is a calendar and task management app for your desktop. It helps you organize your tasks and events making sure you don't forget any important meetings or left any task unfinished.
ScanBot
Scanning a document is easy but what if you can do the task two times faster than you usually do? ScanBot does the job by scanning high-quality images for your project. Its iMessage feature allows you to scan a document or an image which you can directly send through iMessage.
Asana
Asana is a web and mobile application which puts your team's communication and project management in one place. Asana allows you to assign tasks to each team member, set the deadline and communicate with each other thus eliminating long and messy email threads where some important communication can get lost somewhere along the way. Asana has also an Android and iOS version so you can check everything even on the go.
Paper by 53
Paper by 53 is basically a drawing and notebook app which allows you to bring all your sketches, photos and notes in one place. It added more features that make it much easier to bring together all your annotated photos, checklists and notes in one place. After that, you can also import them to Keynote, Powerpoint and PDF without a sweat.
Azha
If you are looking for a simple no-nonsense productivity app, Azha is what you're looking for. The app allows you to create to-do lists and schedules. What makes Azha stand out is that it has a social layer to it which allows you to share your list with your friends. You can even snap a quick photo of whatever you're doing to go along with the list.
Google Drive
This list will not be complete without Google's productivity powerhouse. Easily create, organize and share any type of files with Google Drive. It is also a convenient way to collaborate on projects with other people as well as cloud storage. Plus, Drive works whatever your operating system is.
Panda
Panda is the go-to resource for any discerning designer wanting to keep up with the latest inspiration, news and industry insights. Panda allows you to browse over 100 inspiring websites all in one place, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy your morning coffee.
Just Press Record
Just Press Record is an app that works on all iOS devices including the Apple Smartwatch. You can record your voice just by one tap using the app icon from a notification or lock screen widget. Just Press Record can turn speech to text and transcribe what you're saying including spoken punctuation marks. The app supports a number of languages and syncs to iCloud so you can share your recordings and transcriptions easily.
Momentum
Focusing on your tasks is sometimes difficult to do because there are lots of distractions not only around you but also on the Internet. Momentum is a browser extension that keeps you focused on what you're doing until you get it done. It pops up every time you click another tab reminding you to stay on track.
DockPhone
DockPhone is an iOS app that allows you to call others with your iPhone but using your Mac. This app is perfect when you're busy working on something on your Mac and needs to call someone. It conveniently saves you time and keeps you focused.
Pomodoro Timer
Pomodoro Timer uses the Pomodoro Technique to help increase your productivity. The technique allows you to focus on doing one task for 25 minutes and lets you take short breaks in-between, mostly a 5-minute break. After four pomodoros (25 minutes) take a long break which is around 15 to 20 minutes long. Francesco Cirilo, the inventor of the technique, believes that by chunking your time to 25 minutes makes you more focused and less distracted by external things.
Escape 2
Want to track how often you get distracted from work and the things that take your attention from an important task? Escape 2 by FocusList helps you track those distractions so that you can develop an effective strategy on how to escape these temptations the next time they beckon you from an important task.
HazeOver
HazeOver removes all the distractions by automatically highlighting a window or an app when you start switching windows. This way all other windows fade away from the background and you can focus on just one until you finish your task. You can set the intensity of the highlight from soft dimming to intense black so you can dedicate more time to the most important task at hand.
StayFocusd
StayFocusd is a free Chrome extension that blocks sites that consume your time. Once you programmed the websites you know are affecting your productivity, it will block you from accessing them while you're working.
StayFocusd can be customized not only to block a site but also specific page contents, such as videos, games and other forms of media that might consume your time.
Accompany
Accompany acts like your mobile executive assistant to help you bring your meeting preparation in top form. The app brings together your contact management and calendar and prepares a detailed report on the people and companies who will be part of your upcoming event or meeting. Accompany gathers all this information and email them to you the night before the scheduled event or meeting. It also informs you the last conversation you have with those people as well as their latest social media activities as well as financial reports, company profiles and news stories about them.
Week Plan
Week Plan is a priority planner for effective people. Inspired by “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey it features The Eisenhower Matrix, High Impact Tasks (HITs) and a powerful Week View. It's available on Android, iOS and web.
SaneBox
SaneBox is an email management app that works well with any email. Some of its features include SaneNews which groups all your newsletters and magazines in one place. SaneBlackHole which trains your mailing lists which emails need to go to the trash and SaneNoReplies which shows if your email has been opened by the recipient or not.
Fantastical 2
Fantastical 2 is a calendar app for iOS devices packed with powerful features for creating and managing schedules and events. Use the daily, weekly, or monthly calendar to create your events either by typing them using the menu-based interface or use the voice command feature and the app will analyze and convert it into a to-do, task, or remind me list. Fantastical 2 has added a map to its feature so you will know where the event will take place and how long for you to get there from your location.
Nebo
Nebo is an Android, Windows and iOS note taking app rich with features that automatically formats your handwritten notes to text. Interactive Ink technology allows you to write even mathematical equations, bullet points and diagrams. You can even make your calculations on Nebo and export them to Microsoft Office documents and text files. Its search tool is designed to make it easier for you to find and sort through your files.
Droptask
Droptask is a productivity app that uses the principle of the Venn diagram in dividing the tasks you have. These tasks are also color-coded based on the progress you make so you can easily visualize them. It also lets you know who is working on a certain project. The app also has a built-in calendar to inform you if there are any upcoming projects or tasks you need to focus on. Droptask also syncs seamlessly with Gmail, Dropbox and Evernote.
Dropbox
Dropbox is synonymous to cloud storage since it has paved the way in making cloud storage popular. Use Dropbox to store all your media files and access them anytime and anywhere as long as you're connected to the Internet. To date, Dropbox has integrated Paper to make project management and collaboration much easier.
Trello
If you haven't heard of Trello, it is one of the most preferred digital bulletin boards used by teams. The highly customizable interface allows you to create different kinds of lists from tasks to pictures. Aside from placing items under categories, you can also tag them as 'doing' or 'done' making it easier to keep track of projects.
GBoard
GBoard is your mobile keyboard from Google and a good alternative to Swift Key. Just like Swift Key, it has emojis, voice and gesture typing and GIF support. But what sets GBoard apart from other mobile keyboards is that Google Search is integrated into keyboard making it much easier to search for almost anything from the nearest bar to the latest NBA score.
Productivity Is Your Duty
Not even the best productivity tools can make you productive if you don't make it your duty. Once you commit to getting things done you enter the war zone fighting distractions. Tools and apps listed in the list above can help you fight distractions but it can quickly turn against you.
You don't have to use all the best productivity tools and apps. Pick a tool that fits your needs and incorporate it into your workflow. You don't have to chase the latest tools to get your work done, it's just another form of distraction. Less is more.
Best productivity apps guarantee best working environment! Have you ever thought how much time do you waste on typing and clicking, organizing files, and trying to find the date? It’s time to put your laptop to work with this list of 15 best productivity apps for Mac.
Best Mac Productivity Apps
Sometimes you don’t need full-screen apps with lots of features to improve your productivity. Instead, have a look at these small tools that do one-two things and make your life easier.
1. Krisp
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Krisp is an easy-to-use but powerful app that recognizes your voice and separates it from extraneous noise next to you, leaving only your clean voice. It’s one of the best productivity apps for Mac that can help you to have better conference calls. You can work from any place that’s convenient for you and don’t worry about the crying baby or airport announcement in the background. Krisp also launched on Appsumo Deals.
2. Magnet
To be productive means having an organized workplace. Magnet app does exactly that – organizes the space on your desktop. This small app allows you to drag windows to show two, three, or four apps side-by-side.
Having multiple windows side by side eliminates the neebad for app switching and enhances your multitasking. Organize your workspace and seamlessly copy the text from one window and paste it into the second one. You can also customize the shortcuts for the app for maximum efficiency.
Price: $1.19
3. Itsycal
Have you ever wondered why your Mac doesn’t show full date on menubar? We have. While we don’t know the exact reason why Mac doesn’t support this function natively, we’ve found a good solution with this nice productivity app.
Itsycal adds a small calendar on your menubar. With it you can always have a brief glance at the whole month, week, your day and even appointments. It integrates with your macOS calendar and reminders, and you can modify the appearance if you wish too.
Price: Free
4. Flux
Best Mac Productivity Apps Reddit
Sometimes you have to work during night or in place with bad lighting. For these situations use Flux – productivity app for Mac that changes the brightness and color temperature of your display. It matches them with the time of the day, so you call work better and feel less tired.
Price: Free
5. SelfControl
If you can’t resist the urge to check your Facebook, Twitter or any other website you stick for hours – this tool is for you. SelfControl app helps us to save us from meaningless waste of time of these websites.
Simply add the websites which distract you from your work, set the timer and turn it on. The app will block the mentioned sites for the specified time.
The best part is that even if you reboot your Mac, you can’t turn off the application until the timer’s up. So if your “selfcontrol” is not enough, use this small tool to be more productive with your time.
Price: Free
Best Mac Productivity Apps – Useful Tools
1. OmniFocus 3
This productivity app is all about managing your tasks. OmniFocus has a clean interface and every feature you need to get stuff done. And its sleek design is simply a perfect match for your Mac.
Add all your projects, to-do lists into OmniFocus and track all details like dates, notes, files attachments. Also you can easily synchronize between your iPhone or iPad. Free up your mind from storing all your tasks and enemies of every good conference call.
2. Bear
One of mac productivity apps in this list is called Bear. It’s a beautiful and flexible note-taking app. It has all functions that you’ve wished the pre-installed Notes on Mac would had.
With Bear it’s super easy to jot down your notes on the go. Write prose and outlines, create to-do lists and reminders for yourself, and many more. The best part is that many functions of Bear are free and you can enjoy all the perks without spending much.
Price: Free ($1.49 monthly)
3. CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac is a lifesaver for your Mac. It combines many optimization tools in single app. Monitor the performance, remove malware and clean up your macOS.
This is a must-have app for any Mac user if you want your device to be healthy. And you want it, right?
Price: One year subscription costs $49.95
4. Alfred
Alfred brings productivity to your fingerprints! This app for macOS boosts your efficiency by helping you search your computer and web with great speed.
You can use Alfred for multiple things. It allows you to open things, search for things, define and time them, easily calculate things and expand tests, contact people and manage clipboard and so much more. Definitely give Alfred a try and experience its possibilities.
Price: Free
Office Productivity Tools
5. 1Password
Have you ever forgotten your password? Now you really forget your passwords as 1Password will remember all of them for you. Using 1Password is super simple: just save your passwords and login to websites with a single click.
Besides, if you often have a hard time thinking of new and unique passwords – worry no more. 1Passwords has your back and it will create a strong password instead of you and sync between your devices.
Price: $2.99 monthly
Best Mac productivity apps – Utilities
1. Bartender 3
Have you ever wanted to organize the apps on menu bar? Now you can!
With Bartender 2 you can easily rearrange apps on your menu bar, hide them and even move to separate Bartender Bar. Give it a try and find out multiple variations of your menu bar.
Price: $15
2. AppCleaner
This small productivity app allows you to safely uninstall unwanted apps from your computer. As you know any time you install an application dozens of files are distributed throughout your System. Besides taking up much space, they leave traces which are hard to find with custom tools.
That’s why you need AppCleaner to clean up the mess and delete all traces of unwanted apps from your device.
Price: Free
3. Things
You definitely have a lot of things, right? Add one more “thing” to your list – Things app. This is a small and easy-to-use task manager which makes you truly productive.
If you’re tired of all big apps with dozens of features (most of which you don’t need), then Things is your choice. Give it a try!
Price: $49.99
4. MalwareBytes
Don’t believe people who say that you don’t need a anti-malware program on your Mac. While, there might not be a need for heavy-weight and cumbersome applications, Malware Bytes is all you need.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans your computer, finds and removes code that lowers system performance or destroys your system. If your Mac is running slow and annoying adware and pop-ups keep coming, definitely install this app and revive your Mac.
Price: Free
5. Gemini 2
Sometimes you can’t find the exact file you need, but often times it turns out you have multiples of the same file. Finding and removing every duplicate file seems like a redundant task. That’s what Gemini is for!
Forget about the problem of duplicate files with Gemini. It spots duplicates and similar files, sees how they’re different and deletes the ones you don’t need. Gemini is smart and it learns all the time to improve the process. Sounds amazing, right? Get yourself mac productivity apps like Gemini and free up tons of space on your Mac.
Price: Free
Best Mac Productivity Tools For Mac
Mac Productivity Apps Bonus: Email Analytics
This app is one of those mac productivity apps that will help you keep in track of and visualize your team’s email activity. It is private and secure and will let you to monitor and measure the email productivity of your team and other employees.
Email Analytics provides an opportunity to segment the teams which you need to monitor, and compare their analytics data to rule out the top performing members. You can see the analytics in real-time and the reports are updated frequently to ensure you get the most precise results.
This is great for boosting your and your team’s productivity in the long run, so give it a try on your Mac. There’s a 14 day trial after which you will have to pay $15 per mailbox a month.
By now you should already have your Mac ready to took off and allow you to be your most productive self. Let us know in the comments which Mac app is your favorite!