A good productivity app shouldn't create more tasks at work or in your personal life — it should shoulder some of your mental workload with thoughtful automations and a user-friendly interface. With the right app at your fingertips, you can dedicate your brainpower to more important things and move through your personal and professional to-do lists a little quicker.
1. IFTTT. The name rhymes with "gift" and stands for "if this, then that." This website and mobile app lets users create custom automations between various online services and devices — for example, you can instruct IFTTT to automatically mute your phone when meetings start or update spreadsheets when you receive receipts from payment platforms.
2. Canary Mail. This AI-powered email assistant composes emails for you and offers encrypted messages, read receipts, keyboard shortcuts, and a snooze button. It suffers from occasional bugs like many AI solutions, but it's worth a look for anyone who struggles to stay at inbox zero.
3. RescueTime. This time management assistant monitors what you actually do on your computer and provides periodic reports to help you understand when and how you get distracted. Perfect for people who struggle with mindless browsing and social media use.
4. Tody. This cleaning app won't automate your expense reports, but life is often a little easier in a tidy space (and who really remembers to regularly dust a ceiling fan?). Create a list of recurring chores grouped by room, set a frequency that works for you, and then straighten up whenever Tody nudges you.
5. Focus To-Do. This to-do list app utilizes the Pomodoro (like the tomato) technique, which breaks work into timed intervals (which are called Pomodoros and last about 25 minutes) with short planned breaks. You'll learn how many Pomodoros your routine tasks really take and learn to organize your time more effectively.