Any.do
Combining to-do lists, reminders and a calendar all in one app, Any.do is a no-brainer for those who want a seriously fresh start to 2021. Create grocery lists, take notes on the go and schedule appointments, all in one interface. For those prone to forgetfulness, the app will even send you reminders.
Any.do is free with the option for a premium membership.
Clear Todos
A pick for visual learners, Clear Todos declutters your life by color-coding tasks. The no-frills app strips away the bells and whistles of other organization apps, leaving users with straightforward yet visually pleasing checklists.
Clear Todos is $4.99 USD.
Fantastical
Snagging a spot on Apple’s Best of 2020 list, Fantastical is a scheduling app that allows users to organize personal projects, work meetings and family activities across time zones and devices. Developed by Flexibits, the program boasts handy extras including video link detection for Zoom and Google conference calls, 10-day weather reports and holiday reminders for different countries.
Fantastical is $4.99 USD per month.
Pocket Lists
Beyond to-do lists and calendar scheduling, Pocket Lists is a place to jot down anything and everything. Dedicated lists for “books to read” and “movies to watch” help organize your free time while a “Zen” checklist reminds users of self-care essentials. You can even set recurring reminders and create shareable to-do lists to keep family, friends and co-workers in the loop.
Pocket Lists is free.
Planner Pro
Make plans by the day, week and month with Planner Pro, a calendar integrated with to-do lists and notes. Much like a physical planner, the app features multiple tabs that let you switch between calendar, notepad and task view — there’s even a space for freehand notes and doodles.
Evernote
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to find Evernote on a best app list, especially considering the nearly 1.5 million Android users who already use it. Evernote is, hands down, one of the best organizational tools around.
Not only can you access Evernote from any type of device, you can use it as a collaborative tool, a project management tool, a place for checklists, and a repository for notes and media. Evernote also makes it easy to store your business and personal information in one place, making it ideal for entrepreneurial multitaskers.
TimeTune
TimeTune is a little-known app that’s great for establishing an efficient routine but not so much for collaborating or scheduling meetings. The purpose of TimeTune is to help you get the most out of your day.
Rather than linking with specific calendar dates, TimeTune is focused on developing routines, which can be daily, weekly or for a set number of days you predetermine. This type of app is fantastic for people who want to streamline their daily life as well as for those who have irregular schedules or work shifts that change seasonally. TimeTune also offers insights into how you spend your time and allows you to create custom reminders and widgets.
Sectograph
This cool little app probably won’t replace your heavy-duty business productivity tools anytime soon, but if you want a quick way to visualize your day, you should give it a try.
Sectograph uses your mobile device’s clock widget to project a visual circular chart of everything you have to do, in order, and synced with the time of day. It’s great for a quick at-a-glance overview of what you should be doing, how long you’ll be doing it, and what you have coming up next.
Day by Day Organizer
This app is free, beautifully designed and excellent for business use. What Day by Day does is sync with Google Calendar and Google Tasks and bring the combined functionality into a single Android-friendly application.
This organizer makes it possible to plan your schedule and maintain to-do lists (with or without due dates) and then view them in different formats across all your devices. There’s also a configurable widget layout for the home screen, and optional paid add-ons are available.
Doit.im
This super clean app claims to have more than 6 million users worldwide, and once you check out the interface, you’ll wonder why that number isn’t even higher. Doit.im is a task management app that allows you to create to-do lists, track the status of tasks, estimate how long tasks will take, and view a dashboard that shows what percentage of tasks are complete, incomplete or deferred.
While it’s not a replacement for full-featured project planning software, it’s a great tool for regular workweek planning.
INRIX
This free app isn’t about planning meetings or making to-do lists, but it can help you plan your daily transportation in an efficient way. INRIX Driver Apps feature advanced real-time traffic navigation that automatically shifts as conditions change.<p>
This app recommends departure times for destinations, provides updates on road conditions and even helps you find an open parking space. INRIX stays informed by gathering crowdsourced data from more than 275 million devices to get the most accurate and up-to-date information possible.
RescueTime
Innovative and clever, RescueTime is a workday planning and productivity app designed to help you maintain an ideal work-life balance. This app runs in the background on any device and then provides you with an analysis (complete with a productivity score) that shows you how you spend your time every day.
RescueTime takes note of how much time you spend on specific applications and websites, and you can log your offline work as well. The reports are clean and easy to understand, and the insight this tool gives you may help you find better ways to schedule your workweek. There is a free and a paid version of this app, and it is available across all types of devices, including laptops and desktops.
Slack
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Android version: Varies with device
Slack is one of the best planner apps for business use. Many companies use it, and there’s a good reason for it. The service hasn’t been the most stable in the past, but Slack improved a lot. This app will allow you to communicate with your co-workers in a number of different ways. Private messages are supported, as are so-called “Channels”. You can open up channels for all kinds of stuff, and lead group conversations in them.
You can also call whichever coworkers you want via Slack. Sharing documents is not a problem, and Slack does offer Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox, Asana, Twitter, and Zendesk integration. These are only some examples, more services are available. Deep notification customization is also on offer, so you can fine-tune it without a problem. All in all, Slack is a great option for business use.