50 Free Apps To Make You an extremely Productive person

keep up a correspondence with no trouble, tame your agenda, and get issues achieved with these nice tools.

October sixteen, 2015 

You’re running 1,000,000 miles an hour, trying to hold down a decent time table stuffed with tight deadlines on a good ship. From messages to meetings to managing meddlesome trivia, these 50 apps will let you work wonders along with your otherwise restricted time.

electronic mail And Communications
CloudMagic

Unify Your Inboxes

should you’re like most of the people, you’ve signed up for no less than a handful of e-mail services and products. CloudMagic (Android, iOS) does an impeccable job of tying well-liked email choices together into one highly effective, characteristic-crammed app. It’ll handle your company mail comfortably, together with Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, and a host of others, and which you can store messages to important-name word taking, checklist making, and CRM services and products.

keep up a correspondence along with your team

as a substitute of relying on a mish-mash of electronic mail, speedy messaging, text messaging, and contact calls, Slack (Android, iOS, internet) does a excellent job of streamlining issues down into a real-time communications instrument that can hook into a heaping serving to of well-liked 1/3-birthday party products and services. You and your team speak about topics in numerous virtual channels filled with updates, photography, recordsdata, tweets, and hyperlinks which can be open for all to peer, which will assist preserve everybody on the identical web page. The free providing lets you arrange an infinite choice of customers, archives 10,000 past messages, and might combine with up to 10 products and services (this is the full services record).

Procrastinate Smarter, not tougher

Boomerang (net) lets you briefly clear messages out of your inbox to return at a time and date you specify. It’s a lifeless-simple method to turn messages into individual reminders. that you can also use it to prewrite messages and time table them to be despatched later as smartly. need that shopper to suppose you’re working arduous on their large, essential challenge? schedule an email to ship out at three:30 a.m., although you’re writing it at 2 p.m. They’ll think you’re burning the middle of the night oil, despite the fact that you’re in reality burning a grilled cheese earlier than a Netflix binge. The free model permits you to play God with 10 messages each month.

never cease to reply to, “where Are You?” again

Glympse (Android, iOS, windows telephone) is a straightforward but powerful option to share your region with individuals for as much as 4 hours at a time—perfect for conserving your group knowledgeable about your whereabouts without needing to continuously replace them manually. Your invitees get a textual content message or e-mail with a hyperlink they are able to use to track you, they usually don’t need to have the Glympse app installed themselves, which is a big selling level.

Snag a temporary telephone number

Use Burner (Android, iOS) to arrange a disposable telephone number while you are interviewing candidates or gathering bids on projects—particularly these posted on publicly obtainable websites. You get a free number initially, which forwards to your primary number but can have its own separate voicemail greeting. which you can return calls using your virtual number so you don’t expose your personal quantity, and as soon as your project has wrapped up, which you could torch your burner number to steer clear of being inundated with phone calls.

talk Like you might be Texting

wire (Android, iOS) blends the straightforwardness of textual content messaging with the expressiveness of cellphone calls. The app lets you bandy 12-2nd voice messages back and forth between your colleagues, both in my view or in a gaggle. the house reveal shows little spherical bubbles with each and every of your fellow cord customers’ faces, together with how many messages you may have from every. tap each person to listen to their messages after which hang down to reply.

Make And Take Calls as if you are At Your Desk

when you work for a large-ish company, likelihood is you’ve got acquired a elaborate Avaya cellphone on your desk. if you happen to do, you might be able to use the Avaya one-X cell (Android, BlackBerry, iOS) app to route calls to and out of your smartphone while your purchasers are none the wiser. that you may search for colleagues by the use of your corporation’s cellphone directory and maintain your voicemail while on the go as neatly.

Create fast teams

must you find yourself working on project after challenge, every time with different individuals, check up on GroupMe (Android, iOS, internet, home windows phone). Assuming everyone knows how textual content-message works (right? right??), you’ll be capable of quick cobble collectively a private chat room where that you would be able to meet with coworkers, contractors, carriers, and purchasers. while you’ve wrapped up one undertaking, eighty-six the room and start over along with your subsequent team.

Harness Your internal Nextel

Relieve the glory days of push-to-discuss service. Voxer (Android, iOS) turns your telephone into a walkie-talkie, letting you and your work buddies right away bandy intel from side to side. in case you’re at an event, for instance, which you can add textual content, images, and site knowledge for some further coloration, and if nobody’s dwelling on the other end, that you could leave old-faculty voice messages for them to hearken to later.

send Self-Destructing Notes

Privnote (web) helps you ship messages electronically with out leaving a paper trail. simply write a note within the site’s publish-It-like interface and also you’ll be supplied with a unique URL. send the URL to your recipient by way of electronic mail, textual content message, or some other method, and after they click on the link, they’ll have get entry to to the notice, but the link and its message will get killed off for any person who tries to get right of entry to it someday.

Scheduling And meetings
daybreak

Get Your Day together sooner than Even Getting away from bed

Load up sunrise Calendar (Android, iOS, Mac App retailer, net). It makes conserving a calendar . . . fun? maybe not enjoyable, but it surely for sure makes it now not horrific. daybreak performs properly with Google, iCloud, and alternate calendars, connecting to your quite a lot of debts—fb, Twitter, Evernote, LinkedIn, and a bunch of others—to mechanically pull in pertinent info for you. you’ll be able to get birthday reminders, go back and forth updates, weather forecasts, and maps to route you to your subsequent appointment. adding entries is a snap, too: simply type in plain English (“Bike trip the following day at midday in Boston”) and the app will parse your meaning.

agenda meetings When individuals Can if truth be told Meet

Meekan (Android, iOS) not best hooks into the preferred calendar services, it’ll pinpoint everyone’s open time slots so as to time table conferences when it’s most handy. atmosphere conferences up entails little greater than coming into invitee email addresses, it takes time zones into account, and there’s a natural-language element that lets you enter issues like “breakfast with John on Tuesday morning.”

arrange dead-simple conference Calls

take a look at UberConference (Android, iOS, internet). that you may host a limiteless number of conference calls with up to 10 callers at a time, and there may be constructed-in call recording so you can play the calls back later. friends can name in the old-fashioned method or hook up with the conference by means of the online or mobile apps, which game some further features such as larger-quality audio. And the conference organizer has get admission to to a nice web-based totally dashboard, with the ability to mute person visitors or text with each one privately. not too shabby for zero bucks.

Get The Low-Down On Attendees

when you’re walking into a meeting with individuals you’ve by no means met, provide Charlie (iOS, internet) a are attempting. a couple of minutes ahead of your meeting is supposed to begin, the app will surface relevant information about attendees, pulling information in from a whole lot of available sources—social apps, information articles, and more. imagine it a device for automated one-pagers that you can use to your advantage.

Make displays Pop

Prezi (Android, iOS, web) helps you create attractive, cloud-synched shows that you could get entry to from all forms of gadgets. associate mobile apps help you follow your presentations when you’re for your way to your assembly and keep watch over your presentations on the big reveal when you’re there. that you could even circulate your presentations to remote attendees who can’t make conferences in person. The free version allows you to create publicly viewable shows, so that you make sure you’re now not outing any delicate company data.

tools
Quip

Tag-crew Your medical doctors And Spreadsheets

Quip (Android, iOS) injects a human component into an in any other case boring pasttime. It’s a moderately absolutely featured report and spreadsheet app that allows you to and your cohorts work on things at the comparable time, tied collectively via a real-time chat device used to keep in touch alongside your documents. recordsdata may also be pulled in from common cloud storage services and products and exported to phrase, PDF, and Excel formats after they’re completed.

cease Repeating the same duties

take a look at to look if they may be able to be automated with If (Android, iOS, internet). The app works like a digital Rube Goldberg desktop, connecting well-liked on-line products and services with one every other. let’s assume your boss wants you to add each tweet you send out to a spreadsheet. Bo-ring! previously referred to as IFTTT—which stands for If This, Then That—the app can do this for you robotically so that you do not need to copy and paste tweets all day. And let’s say the identical boss desires to get an e-mail from you each time you add a brand new event to the corporate calendar. Yep: that may be automatic too. it can be nice for coping with previous-schoolers who always want to be “kept in the loop” without requiring a whole lot of effort in your phase.

Digitally Detox

The tried-and-genuine CCleaner (Android, Kindle fireplace, Mac, computer) scours your computer systems and cell gadgets for excess crud—transient files, cookies, previous apps, and extra—to clean out the cobwebs and, in flip, velocity things up. Free versions of the app treat you to as-wanted cleanups, which can be masses efficient; paid variations provide real-time monitoring, computerized updates, misplaced file recovery, and top rate strengthen features.

document the whole lot

Microsoft’s free OneNote app (Android, iOS, home windows phone) is a notice-taker on steroids that allows you to type, handwrite, audio-report, snap pictures, and more. Notes are saved and synched across devices, with totally different codecs on hand—checklists, analysis, meetings, lectures—based on what you’re looking to do.

Fabricate A form, fast

forget paper. if you want to whip up a form on the go, Canvas (Android, iOS) is worth a glance. The app means that you can cobble collectively customized forms—invoices, fee experiences, checklists, work orders, and extra—and sports activities extra features corresponding to signature shooting and cloud synchronization. There are greater than 5,000 prebuilt kinds for you to finesse as you see match.

install A Ton Of home windows Apps directly

consult with Ninite (home windows) for an excellent click-and-pick collection of common windows apps. whether or not you’re putting in a brand new pc or need to update a bunch of your apps to their latest variations, the website online will build you a customized one-time installer that applications up the packages you want and installs them all in one fell swoop: No need to go from web site to web site, sit down through download after obtain, or weather installation after installation.

Get to understand Your telephone better

likelihood is, you most likely haven’t totally tapped into your entire cellphone’s features. Drippler (Android, iOS) gives Android- and Apple-particular variations that run down striking options, latest updates, and supply how-to articles that you should use to truly get into the nitty-gritty of that handheld computer that’s at all times for your pocket.

support Your model

Like most businesses, it can be completely cheap to assume that much of your advertising and marketing technique depends heavily upon in style social networks. try Postfity (net) to regulate your facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus debts. that you would be able to blast an replace out to multiple debts at the comparable time, or use the to hand scheduling instrument to dole your musings out at predetermined instances. The free version allows you to connect up to 5 debts and agenda as much as 10 updates.

grasp Screenshots In Seconds

FireShot (net) is a slick, lightweight screenshot tool that works with just about every browser to speedy snatch whatever’s on your browser window. that you could save the seen portion of the page, the whole page, or a choice of your choosing, all with a single click. as soon as you could have got what you want, that you would be able to obtain it as an image file, as a PDF file, or print it out.

keep All these Passwords Straight

for those who use the same password for everything (don’t do it!), check up on Dashlane (Android, iOS, internet). it can be a password manager for cellular units and desktops that retains observe of all of your logins, mechanically getting into your credentials as you surf. The app will mechanically generate new, tremendous-robust passwords for you and might lock itself down if you happen to lose your phone. The free version is limited to one tool at a time.

give protection to Your electronic mail address

stop buying and selling your electronic mail address free of charge stuff! MailDrop (web) permits you to create a onetime deal with that disappears after you’re performed with it—good for those fast-hit deals, downloads, and promotions. There’s no signup or passwords involved—by means of MailDrop’s admission, it should not be used for sensitive e mail—and that you can retailer up to 10 messages must you wish to have interaction in slightly of from side to side along with your recipient. go away your transient mailbox untouched for twenty-four hours, and it’ll vanish forever.

Convert movies along with your Eyes Closed

With several competing video formats in the market, it’s laborious to delight everyone. thankfully, Any Video Converter (Mac, home windows) makes it easy to convert a video from one layout to another—or a number of videos from one layout to every other. Drag your movies into the app, and select from greater than one hundred fifty imaginable output formats, all thoughtfully categorised for explicit gadgets, net codecs, and offline formats. Then hit the Convert Now button, grab a cup of coffee, and . . . smartly, that is about it.

Let Your telephone kind For You

You’ve never really had a method with phrases, and scratching out screeds on a smartphone can also be maddening. are attempting SwiftKey (Android, iOS) as a keyboard replacement. The more you employ it, the more it learns about how you sort, including the ability to pull information from widespread cloud-connected products and services you employ so as to return incredibly customized predictions. simply type your first word and the app will recommend the next one proper above the keyboard.

Surf Freely

the favored Betternet (Android, iOS, Mac, windows) provider provides a free, unlimited (albeit ad-supported) VPN connection that you need to use to sidestep blocked web sites and surf anonymously. There’s no signup required, making this probably the most perfect—if no longer the highest—VPN tools around.

Sync Your Stuff

There’s no scarcity of file-shuttling options, but Daemon Sync (Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, laptop) is value a glance, because of its sheer simplicity. Load the app up to your cellphone and set up the agent to your computer or Mac, and each time your devices are on the same wireless community, your phone’s pictures, videos, and different recordsdata you specify will seamlessly synch with the pc and get passed along to other mobile gadgets you may have.

Troubleshoot Your Connection

sluggish web? perhaps it’s if truth be told sluggish, or maybe your software is acting up. Rule one in every of them out with Speedtest (Android, iOS, net). The provider will connect you to a nearby take a look at server so that you could double-check your upload speeds, obtain speeds, and ping, with data relayed to you by means of a groovy-looking speedometer.

save Your data

Few things sting greater than a nice American knowledge overage. In that spirit, Onavo (Android, iOS) works to protect your treasured knowledge allotment. tell the app how a lot you’ve got to work with each month, and it’ll compress more than a few image files while you’re linked to your cell network with sensible tricks reminiscent of no longer loading pictures to your net browser except you scroll down to the purpose that they’re in view.

Scratch Out Some Designs

when you’re not able to deal with difficult prototyping and wireframing software, POP (Android, iOS) may well be right up your alley. brief for Prototyping on Paper, you sketch your thought out on paper, snap a photo of it, and then hint across the parts to your cellphone to quick create a digitized model of your design that you would be able to manipulate as though it’s a live interface.

Edit pictures without Breaking The bank

Photoshop may be powerful, however additionally it is pricey. Paint.web (home windows) is free and contours quite a lot of the same functionality, including a clean, simple interface and constructed-in effects alongside having the ability to use layers. there may be a vibrant person neighborhood as well, which deals up useful tutorials and plugins to extend this system’s functionality.

decrease Downtime

find it irresistible or not, your web site is most probably going to crash every now and then. Montastic (net) can regulate your website online around the clock, sending you an e-mail in case your website online goes down, and sending some other one once it can be back up. The free plan means that you can display as much as three URLs at a time, and exams in every half-hour, whereas less expensive paid plans shorten the test-in time to 5 minutes.

group
Any.do

Get Your ducks In A Row

relating to maintaining observe of life’s many, many duties, Any.do (Android, iOS, internet) bargains a variety of options without being overly complicated. that you would be able to even ahead an email message to show it into a role—the 21st-century an identical of stuffing submit-It notes everywhere your desk. And your entire notes, tasks, and to-dos synchronize with the net-based totally model of Any.achieve this that you may get entry to them from near to anyplace.

Put Paper as a substitute

TinyScan (Android, iOS) helps you digitize the mountain of bureaucracy, receipts, and takeout menus threatening to split your desk in half of. This quite simple however efficient scanner app permits you to seize images as PDFs which you could e mail to your self or shop to Dropbox, Evernote, Google power, field, and different popular cloud storage services and products. that you may store paperwork in black and white or colour, and that you can string several snaps into single documents if you’re working with multiple items that belong together.

Take No-Fuss Notes

Simplenote (Android, iOS) makes a speciality of letting you’re taking quick notes without being concerned an excessive amount of about organization. all your notes are searchable and synch to other gadgets, with a constructed-in to-do checklist that will help you keep heading in the right direction if you would like to get sure duties carried out. if you are no longer naturally super geared up, it is a good first step against a quite less messy lifestyle.

staff Your Google tools

deal with (Chrome, iOS) pulls your Gmail, Google Calendar, and to-do checklist together into one to hand dashboard. It turns your email messages into actionable items and serves them up in the middle column of a distraction-free interface, flanked on either facet through your projects and your calendar. The iOS app permits you to add new duties by means of Siri as well.

Whiteboard together

ultimately, a strategy to expertise the white-knuckled thrill of a . . . well, it’s still whiteboarding. even though you’re not in the identical room as your colleagues, which you can share an actual-time virtual whiteboard with SyncSpace (Android, iOS). Add text and doodles as a bunch, and while you’ve at last gotten all of your ideas down, your whiteboard may also be emailed around as a suite of pictures or even edited later if you would like to make some adjustments.

operating your corporation
Weebly

Get Your site Up And operating

go along with Weebly (Android, iOS, internet). The freebie account sports activities a slick drag-and-drop interface with numerous starter templates, free website hosting, and the ability to promote as much as 5 e-commerce products (Weebly takes a 3% minimize of each sale). The cellular apps make updating your web page with new content and sharing it on social networks a breeze as neatly. that you may even build your web page entirely from your phone when you are feeling adventurous. Weebly is an efficient choice for individuals who understand they want some type of internet presence however don’t want to put too much effort and time into dealing with one.

to find An administrative center On Demand

Breather (Android, iOS) helps you forgo the cost of a set place of business, providing up “spaces” that may be rented out across the metropolis for a half hour at a time. Meet with a client, respond to e-mail when you’ve obtained a while between appointments, or simply get off your feet for just a little. spaces may also be unlocked together with your telephone and game Wi-Fi, power plugs, and charging docks. The provider is presently available in the big apple, San Francisco, Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa, with additional cities on the way.

Make Your Mark

You don’t have to learn a stack of books or sit down via grad faculty to make sure your advertising’s on point. Primer (Android, iOS) is a to hand Google-constructed app that dishes up easily digestible lessons and tips that you can peruse each time you have got a couple of minutes to spare. subject matters embody merchandising, content, design, advertising, and extra.

do not get Delayed by means of Deliveries

Use Slice (Android, iOS) to track your applications from large-name retailers Amazon, very best purchase, Nordstrom, Walmart, and several others. The app robotically plucks your buy data from your email account and serves up a trackable map of your merchandise as it makes its way to your house. best possible of all, after you might have bought something, Slice will alert you to worth drops that fall within the retailer’s adjustment window, making it simple to avoid wasting on stuff after the very fact.

Seal The Deal

if you would like to ensure your criminal bases are lined, use Shake (Android, iOS). This app helps you whip up contracts that you just and any other celebration can sign prompt. There are preselectable templates on hand you could customise to your liking. Contracts will also be signed after which despatched electronically for signatures as neatly.

Get Your purchasers To Pony Up

Load up Zoho invoice and Time Tracker (Android, iOS, web, windows cellphone). straightforward-to-create invoices get prime billing here, however Zoho provides some nice extras like time- and rate-monitoring, habitual bills, and connections with online cost processors. The cellular app handles with regards to everything that the net-based totally model does, with a straightforward format and in a similar fashion tough function set. that you may invoice up to 5 clients using the free model.

Estimate Your Windfall

When tax season attracts near, get an idea of how a lot moola you’re getting again or—gulp—how so much you’re going to owe. TaxCaster (Android, iOS), from popular tax instruction provider TurboTax, asks you for some general data and then estimates the ultimate tally. simply enter your filing status, your profits, and any tax breaks you’re anticipating, and watch the dial at the prime of the app (expectantly) transfer from pink to inexperienced to point that money back is headed your method.

keep Your price range so as

the straightforward-to-use Mint (Android, iOS) app helps you corral all of your monetary money owed—banking, credit cards, loans, and extra—to existing you with a nice overview of what quantity of money you could have. as far as taxes go, the app does a just right job of breaking all your purchases down via class in an effort to to find more than a few deductions without combing thru statement after commentary from every of your financial establishments.

(Re)duvet Your Tracks

business mileage generally is a large write-off, so a excellent tracker like MileIQ (Android, iOS) is a should. The app can auto-log miles for you via the use of your cellphone’s GPS, or that you can manually add entries for previous trips. It’ll show you ways much of a deduction you’ll get—charges are at present fifty seven.5 cents per mile—and entries are stored in IRS-pleasant formats. The app lets you log forty drives totally free each month; month-to-month fees begin at $6 thereafter.

Make A Plan To amplify

try Centro business Planning instrument (Android, iOS) if you happen to’re on the lookout for some steerage when cobbling collectively a new marketing strategy. The app steps you via a series of questions that quilt budget, operations, your value proposition, target markets and more. The app is structured as a string of activities; while you complete all of them, you’ll have your self a nice little business plan to work with.

associated: productivity pointers from the Busiest folks

[photo: Flickr user Daria Nepriakhina]

fast firm , read Full Story

(131)