The only iOS apps you need for a productive 2018

Yay! Yet another article on productivity apps added to the dozens published every week! Isn’t that great?

“I already have, like, a million different productivity apps on my iPhone, mate! Please, no more!”

I hear you, I hear you. That’s exactly why I’m not going to present you with 20 different apps (half of which do the same thing slightly differently) in this article. I’ve tried what everyone else has — I’ve installed tons of productivity apps on my device throughout the years, trying anything and everything in the pursuit of peak productivity.

“Ooh, this one syncs with my computer? Awesome!”
“This one backs up my data to the cloud? Sweet!”
“Oh hey, this one lets me make this extremely customizable thingamajig that I’m going to forget about in one week? I definitely need this one!”

But they weren’t really helping me be productive, I realized. Quite the opposite, they were distracting me. Using all those apps became a task in and of itself, and I would often replace an app with something slightly better. Then I read this:

Minimalism is the key to being productive.

And that was my moment of enlightenment. I realized that having dozens of apps in my phone won’t solve anything ever. You’ve got to be smart about it. So here’s my take on productivity apps through the lens of minimalism. 😀

1. Overcast (Free) 🗣

If you love podcasts then this app is for you, and if you don’t then you totally should 😈. C’mon, who doesn’t love podcasts? Podcasts are awesome, and so is Overcast. It’s free to use and you can browse and listen to all the podcast channels out there. My personal favorites are The Tim Ferriss Show, Planet Money and TED Radio Hour. It has something for everyone, ranging from general knowledge podcasts like Stuff You Should Know to very specific ones like 6 Minute Grammar. And it also has cool features like speed control and voice boost. Give a clap if you like it!

2. Todoist (Freemium) ✅

People love task managers, and devs know that. If you open the App Store, you can find task managers galore. But Todoist is the simplest of them all for personal task management. This app is omnipresent, it’s available on all the platforms you can think of, even Gmail. You can organize your tasks by Projects and Labels. My personal favorite feature is when you can save a website as a task using the Chrome plugin. Go check it out 🏃🏻‍♂!

Real quick! If you’re a startup founder looking for technical help or just a team to help develop your product, get in touch!

3. Spark (Free) 📬

Spark is love❤️. One of my absolute favorites. This app is also present for Mac, and you can manage multiple accounts in it. But the best feature is their smart view which basically declutters you mail box completely. They just launched a few brand new powerful features like an inbuilt Calendar, Team chats and more.

4. Moment (Freemium) ⏰

The best way to stay productive is to use your phone as little as you can, as I said in the beginning. Being mindful of just how much time we spend on our smartphones can be very powerful, and this app will help you do just that. It will tell you how many hours in a day you spend using your phone, and yes, I said hours. It can give you detailed reports on stuff like what apps you’re using the most and even what your family members are using. Really great app to help you be conscious of your time and focus.

5. Tide (Free) 🧘🏻‍♂

Do you like pomodoro apps? Yeah? How about white noise apps? Sweet! Tide has got both things covered. You can use it while working. Just set a pomodoro timer and nature sounds will help you focus. If that’s not your thing, there is some rad ambient piano music too. You can also use it to help you fall asleep easier, and it doubles as your alarm app. BONUS: you can also use this to make a daily journal or diary. 🤩

And that’s it, folks. Just 5 apps you need to have on your phone to have a productive year ahead. Minimalism is the key, like I said. Most of these apps can do multiple things, which solves the problem of needing multiple apps. Let me just end this by saying that apps don’t make you productive, they just help you amplify your productive habits, and this is all the help you’re going to need. 😃

Don’t forget to hit that clap button 👏🏼 if you like the apps.

If you enjoyed this story, you can check out more like this on our publication The Skynox Blog. We write about product development, lifestyle, health & fitness, and more interesting stuff. We also run a global initiative for open-source development, Team XenoX. If you’re a developer, you can check out and contribute to our open-source projects by starting here.

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