Nowadays, we carry our smartphones everywhere we go. It is an undeniable fact that with the right tools and the countless features it provides, it can be the ultimate personal assistant. Below we will explore the best productivity apps for Android that will help us organize our work or daily routine, manage our files, and save a lot of time.
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Task managers and To-Do lists
To begin our journey towards a more productive life, we need to organize the most important tasks of our day.
To do so, we will need apps that can help us to schedule our activities. With most of them, we can keep notes, create lists, and much more.
Evernote
Play Store Rating: 4.6★
One of the best productivity apps is Evernote. We couldn't write a list of productivity apps without mentioning it.
With Evernote, we can keep notes, save documents, images, sketches, lists, and even videos.
Anything we create on Evernote is stored online, and we can have access to it through our cell phone or computer.
Google Keep
Play Store Rating: 4.4★
Another excellent app is Google Keep, and many people see it as Evernote's rival. Nevertheless, it remains simple and pleasant.
Google Keep is a light app, and it allows us to keep notes and create lists. We can also change the color of each note and add labels that suit our needs.
The app stores our notes online, and we can have access from anywhere. Moreover, we can share our notes with other people.
OneNote
Play Store Rating: 4.2★
Microsoft's answer for productivity apps is OneNote, and we can find it on PCs and mobile devices.
OneNote is a simple note app that can help us write our ideas and make lists. Furthermore, it allows us to share and store our notes online.
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
From time to time, we all might get a notification from RSS Feed Readers for an article or receive a text from a friend about an interesting YouTube video.
The problem isn't with the articles or the videos, but with us. Several times we abandon a task just to look at our notifications.
Now we no longer need to hide behind excuses. We can just use Pocket.
In Pocket, we can store links from any website. Apart from a well-developed bookmarking app, Pocket is a content store tool. It allows us to save articles, images, and videos to watch later offline.
Asana
Play Store Rating: 4.1★
Asana is an app for organizing projects. It allows the creation and monitorization of group projects.
Through the app, we can set details for projects, such as deadlines, assign tasks to other team members, and chat with our co-workers.
With Asana we have a complete office manager wherever we are since all the data is stored online.
Trello
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
Our ideal virtual partner is Trello. The app claims to be the best assistant for any task at work or home.
Trello also allows to share Boards - that's how the tabs we create are called, and stores everything online. Like Asana, it is an excellent task and project manager.
The app can sync with Google Drive, Dropbox, Android Wear, and it's completely free.
Any.DO
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
Organizing different activities and creating lists saves us valuable time.
With Any.DO we can create lists with what we have to do, so we won't have to keep our mind busy with our daily tasks.
Apart from an app to save lists, Any.DO alarms us every morning for our daily schedule.
Furthermore, it can recognize specific data on our notes. For example, when we note down to "Call Harry," the app "understands" that Harry is a contact name. Thus, it will open the phone app and automatically call Harry when the time comes.
We must note that Any.DO syncs with various apps, and we can voice type with it.
Wunderlist
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
Any.Do isn't the only productivity app out there. Wunderlist is a similar application that can manage our tasks as well.
Apart from creating lists and timetables, Wunderlist allows us to share our lists with other people. With this app, we can set recurring activities and set deadlines.
Two exciting features of Wunderlist are the ability to print any list we want and use the app on all of our devices.
Todoist
Play Store Rating: 4.4★
The last productivity app we are going to see it Todoist. Even though with a quick glance it looks like yet another task manager, this app can do way more.
Todoist offers the same features as the apps we already mentioned, but it also has a unique characteristic.
This feature is called Smart Schedule, and it can help us plan the tasks of a week. The "smart" part of this function is that it creates a weekly schedule based on what we did the previous weeks.
Creating and managing files
During the day we manage different types of files. Often we share them with other users.
There are apps to help us create, edit, and manage files, wherever we go.
With these apps, we are productive at work and home.
WPS Office + PDF
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
WPS Office is a top-rated desk suite. It's probably the best Office suite for mobile devices.
It supports dozens of file types, 51 languages, and that's only the beginning of a huge list of features.
With WPS Office we can view, edit, and change PDF's into other file types. Apart from viewing PDFs, we can also print them wirelessly.
The app can encrypt data, but also store files online with Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Evernote, and OneDrive.
Last but not least, we should mention the easy sharing of documents through WiFi, NFC, DLNA, email, and even texts.
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Play Store Rating: 4.3★
We all probably used at least once a PDF file in our life.
Adobe Acrobat Reader isn't just a simple PDF viewer program. With this app, we can view, edit, and create PDF files.
We can also add comments on documents and highlight important things in them. Moreover, we can fill forms and sign documents.
Acrobat Reader syncs our files with either a free Adobe Document Cloud or through Dropbox.
It also allows us to scan files that it automatically transforms into PDFs.
Xodo PDF Reader & Editor
Play Store Rating: 4.6★
The next app on our list is Xodo PDF Reader & Editor.
It offers what Adobe does, but in a lighter package, so it requires fewer system resources. This makes it ideal for lower-end or older devices.
It can sync documents with Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.
Dropbox
Play Store Rating: 4.4★
Dropbox is a productivity app that can store our files in the cloud.
Of course, we could use a laptop or an external hard drive. But in this case, we wouldn't have access to our files through our phone.
Dropbox offers this exact ability. It's a backing up cloud service for every file type.
With a Dropbox account, we have access to our data from anywhere.
The app is available for every operating system and smartphone. Meanwhile, it offers access to the service through a web page.
The UI is simple, and we can organize, manage, and share our files.
An important feature is an auto backup of our folders and files.
Google Drive
Play Store Rating: 4.4★
Google's tool for saving data is Google Drive, and we need a Google account to be able to use it.
Apart from sharing files, Google Drive is also an office suite. Through the app, we can create text files, presentations, sheets, and more.
Google Drive is available on every operating system, and we can also use it via a web page.
The UI is very straightforward, and it allows us to auto backup specific folders, and share our files.
Email and communication
One of the best-known ways of communicating at work is through emails.
With emails, we can chat with our colleagues, organize various tasks, and send files.
This category of productivity apps allows us to have access to our email wherever we are.
Microsoft Outlook
Play Store Rating: 3.9★
Microsoft brought on our phones its email service.
Microsoft Outlook is a very usable app, and with the proper settings it can organize and classify our messages.
The features of the app are the same as Microsoft Outlook's website. We can send and receive an email, manage our attached files, our contacts, and our calendar.
Maybe most of us expected the app to be compatible only with Microsoft Outlook. However, we can use it with our Exchange, Office 365, Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and iCloud email accounts.
Most importantly, it can sync with multiple accounts, a feature that is not present in all productivity apps.
Newton Mail - Email & Calendar
Play Store Rating: 4.0★
Another email app is Newton Mail. Most of us might know it as CloudMagic.
This app is similar as the previous one, and we can say that the only notable difference is the scheduled messages.
With Newton Mail, we can cancel a message before it is sent automatically.
We should note that the developers have added a two-step verification. Also, through the settings, we can set a PIN code for the app.
However, the app is not free. If we think scheduled messages and a PIN code are worth $49.99 per year, then it's an exceptional email program.
Slack
Play Store Rating: 4.4★
Everyone who uses technology or works on a company must have heard of Slack.
Slack is one of the best productivity apps, and it can help us contact with our colleagues with instant messaging, instead of creating chaos with emails.
Sharing files with our colleagues adds to the confusion, especially if the recipients are more than one.
Sending data with Slack is simple, we just need to drag it to the conversation window.
Moreover, we can communicate through chat and voice.
Slack offers all these for free. So even if this is your first time hearing about it, you must give it a chance.
Automated tasks
There are times we just forget to do stuff. And others, we wish that all of our posts were made automatically on every social media platform.
Apps that automatically post on social media exist for a few years now, and they are great productivity apps.
IFTTT
Play Store Rating: 4.2★
The best app for automated tasks is IFTTT.
This app can perform automatically any task we might want. Anything we can do with an app on our phone, we can ask from IFTTT to do it for us.
It’s very powerful, yet it's hard to learn how to use it. But that shouldn't be a barrier on our way since the app has a bunch of pre-made recipes.
With a simple Google search, we can find a huge variety of pre-made tasks.
For more information about IFTTT, read our article:
Buffer
Play Store Rating: 4.4★
Buffer is our little assistant on social media, and it can help us get organized.
Through the UI, we can schedule our posts for a whole day.
We can use it to post on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
It's free, and it allows us to connect up to four social media accounts and schedule up to ten posts per account.
Paying for the subscription unlocks more features and benefits.
HootSuite
Play Store Rating: 4.1★
Another app to manage our social media is HootSuite. The app is relatively new but very popular.
In contrast with Buffer, it can manage YouTube accounts as well.
Moreover, using the Ow.ly service, we can shrink URLs and monitor how many times people click on them.
We don't have to pay for HootSuite unless the free version isn't enough.
In any case, if we're active in the social media chaos, one of these productivity apps will help us survive.
Serenity and concentration
When we work, our productivity gets affected by how focused we are on what we do. Many productivity apps can remove the distractions and disturbances from our environment.
Forest: Stay focused
Play Store Rating: 4.3★
The Pomodoro technique is proven to be the most efficient way to work. Everyone who uses it gets to be more productive.
With Forest, we can choose how long we're going to work and then press the start button. Immediately a tree will start growing.
While Forest is on our screen and the timer is on, we're not allowed to access any other app. When the timer reaches to zero, then our tree will be fully grown. But if we exit from Forest, it will be destroyed.
Of course, on the settings, we can create a list of allowed apps. These apps can be opened while we grow our tree.
The app is free, but when we pay $1.99, we get more features, such as syncing our progress.
With the paid version, we have the ability to donate on the Trees For The Future organization.
While we grow trees, we earn coins, which we offer as a donation.Then forestapp.cc makes sure to donate them to the organization.
Noisli
Play Store Rating: 4.3★
Noisli is an app that combines surrounding sounds with the Pomodoro technique.
The Noisli function is different from the Forest one. With the app, we can stay focused with the help of sound profiles.
Studies have shown that most people focus easier when listening to particular sounds. Maybe someone works more efficiently hearing the waves or the whistle of the air.
The app provides a list with dozens of sounds, and we can choose the ones we want, set the volume of each one, and create a unique sound.
We can create countless of unique sounds and have different profiles for working, studying, painting, etc.
Then we choose from the profile our preferred one and set how long we want to listen to it.
The app costs $1.99, and it's worth every penny.
Keyboards
A keyboard is one of the most used apps on our phone. Importing data can be done exclusively through these apps.
If we are looking for productivity apps that save us time, we need to find a convenient keyboard that suits our needs.
SwiftKey Keyboard
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
The functions of keyboard apps have developed a lot recently, while writing gets quicker and effortless.
Looking back at 2010, we'll find two friends who created the smartest keyboard of that era. These are the developers of SwiftKey Keyboard.
It was the first keyboard with a swipe function, which allowed typing just by choosing the first letter of a word and then drag our finger above the rest.
Writing with this smart technology can save us a lot of time. A few of the reasons people swear to SwiftKey are the themes and the ability to store our settings online.
Above all, we must note that it supports more than 150 languages, it allows saving our own words, has emojis, and it's free.
Swype Keyboard
Play Store Rating: 4.0★
SwiftKey's rival is Swype Keyboard; it offers what its competitor does but with a few notable differences.
The app has a 30-day trial, and if we want to keep using it, we need to pay $0.99.
One of the most exciting features of Swype Keyboard is gestures that allow us to do various actions by combining specific keys.
Gboard
Play Store Rating: 4.2★
Let’s not forget about Google's keyboard, Gboard.
Gboard offers more or less the same with the previous keyboards. It has a swipe function, themes, word suggestion, voice typing, and much more.
It also has two important functions; it supports GIF searching, can understand a lot of languages, and now it has integrated Google search.
With the use of the search function and Google Assistant's help, we can explore anything we want. Then just by tapping a button, we can insert any result to our text.
Other apps
We couldn't include the following productivity apps in any of the previous categories.
That's why we will list them separately.
Pushbullet - SMS on PC
Play Store Rating: 4.5★
Pushbullet is almost in every list of productivity apps, and the reason is simple. The app allows us to do things on our computer, that under normal circumstances we would only do on our phone.
With Pushbullet we can answer texts, send files, and receive notifications for various events, straight from our computer.
The app is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows Mac, Linux, and every browser.
Even though it's free, its services are limited. In case we like the app, we have to pay a $39.99 subscription per year.
RescueTime
Play Store Rating: 4.0★
Daily, we do multiple tasks, and it's very easy to get distracted. Many of us are prone to procrastination, and we might waste our time playing games, surfing on Facebook, or watching YouTube videos.
RescueTime monitors our activity and tracks everything, such as the apps we open and the pages we visit.
Meanwhile, it notes how long we used any application or how long we stayed on a website.
The app is free and compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android. It also has an extension for Chrome and Firefox.
The subscription offers a lot of extra features; for instance, it has detailed reports and blocks the most distracting websites. We can test it for 14 days and then we have to pay $9 per month or $72 per year.
LastPass Password Manager
Play Store Rating: 4.6★
The time we spend trying to remember our password and type it is important. Thus, a password manager can save us a lot of time.
Using productivity apps and especially one like this is mandatory.
With LastPass, we can store and manage our passwords.
The app has a password creation tool and it also auto-fills our login information.
Do you use any productivity apps?
We tried a lot of apps, few were good, others were not. Through our research, we decided that the above productivity apps are perfect for managing our time.
Do you use any productivity apps? If not, do you consider using any after reading our guide? Do you think we can be more productive when using an app?
Share your thoughts and knowledge with our readers in the comments.
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