The best productivity apps in 2025

You're almost certainly here because you searched for "best productivity apps." I understand that impulse. You want to get more done in less time, which is about as universal a feeling as humans can have at work. The problem: productivity is deeply personal. And the words "productivity tools" mean a lot of different things to different people. What works for you may or may not work for me, which is why I don't believe there are objectively "best" productivity apps. 

Having said that, you're here for software recommendations, not my personal reflections on the nature of productivity. So here's a list of the best productivity apps I think most humans should use, based on hundreds of hours of testing from me and the Zapier team. 

The best productivity apps at a glance 

The best productivity app for organizing to-do lists

Todoist

Todoist pros:

• Feature-rich while still feeling minimal

• Flexible enough to accommodate almost any productivity workflow

Todoist cons:

• Feels like a web app even on the desktop apps

The worst place you could store that neverending list of everything you need to do, in my opinion, is in your mind. It's just stressful: you'll remember, at random moments, that there's something you were supposed to be doing, and that memory will result in panic. 

A to-do list app gives you a place to jot down everything you need to do so you can fill your brain with other important things—like what your dog's voice would sound like if he could talk. 

Todoist isn't the most powerful to-do list website out there. It's also not the simplest. But that's kind of the point: this app balances power with simplicity, and it does so while running on basically every platform that exists. That's a strong selling point—which is also why Todoist tops Zapier's list of the best to-do list apps. 

Todoist also integrates with Zapier, which means you can automatically do things like create Todoist tasks from Slack messages, emails, or any other app you use. Learn more about how to automate Todoist, or get started with one of these automated workflows.

Todoist pricing: Free plan includes up to 5 personal projects and 3 filter views; Pro plan for $5/month includes hundreds more projects, 150 filter views, and an AI assistant. 

If Todoist doesn't work for you, check out Zapier's list of the best to-do list apps and the best to-do list apps if you have ADHD.

The best productivity app for managing your calendar

Google Calendar

Google Calendar pros:

• Free and widely available to anyone with a Google account 

• Integrates nicely with almost any other calendar service you care to use 

Google Calendar cons:

• No desktop apps, but it integrates with lots of them 

There are only so many hours in a day, which means you have to budget them. A calendar is how you do that. You could use a paper wall calendar, sure, but a calendar app lets you invite others to an event. And in a world with arguably too many meetings, calendar apps give you a useful place to store the link to your Zoom call or meeting location. 

Google Calendar does all of this while being extremely convenient to use, particularly for people who already use Gmail. I could go on and on about Google Calendar features (and I have), but here are the key selling points: it's easy to load on any device, lets you see your calendar in several different views, and offers features to help you ruthlessly defend your time—all while being easy to use. 

Plus, Google Calendar integrates with Zapier, which means you can set all of your calendar-related workflows on autopilot. For example, you can automatically cross-post events across calendars and create calendar appointments from spreadsheets. Learn more about how to automate Google Calendar, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.

Google Calendar pricing: Free with a Google account; Business Starter for Google Workspace, which includes all Google apps, starts at $6/user/month with a one-year commitment.

If Google Calendar doesn't work for you, check out Zapier's list of the best calendar apps for more options.

The best productivity app for scheduling meetings 

Calendly

Calendly pros:

• It's a trusted name—which can matter when trying to get people to book with you

• Connects to a lot of calendars

Calendly cons:

• Free plan only supports one meeting type

If the real time-suck of your day isn't being in meetings themselves, but scheduling meetings, then you need a meeting scheduling app. 

Year after year, Calendly tops Zapier's list of the best meeting scheduler apps because it's reliable, easy to use on both sides, and the free plan is robust enough to get the job done. Once you set up your booking page, you can take a hands-off approach to the rest of your scheduling workflows. Invitees can choose from a selection of meeting types, see your availability, and book a meeting with you. No more back-and-forth "Are you available tomorrow at 11 a.m.?" And "How about next Monday instead?" 

By connecting Calendly to Zapier, you can also do things like create new Zoom calls whenever a new meeting is scheduled or add new meeting attendees to your email marketing list. Learn more about how to automate Calendly, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.

Calendly pricing: Free with limited features; paid plans from $12/month. 

Here's a full list of Zapier's top picks for the best meeting scheduler apps.

The best productivity app for AI-powered scheduling

Reclaim

Reclaim pros:

• Manages recurring events well

• Quickly reschedules and adjusts your calendar when it detects a conflict

Reclaim cons:

• Native task management is clunky

At one point in my career, I had everything scheduled in my calendar: sign on, do task A, coffee break, do task B, lunch—you got the idea. I spent an unreasonable number of hours each week just making sure my calendar was up to date, color-coordinating events, and tweaking the allotted time for each task. It was a nightmare of my own making. 

If I had an AI calendar assistant, I could've saved myself the organization headache. 

Reclaim.ai is one of the best options. You can enter all the tasks you have to tackle manually, and Reclaim will start dropping them on your schedule on its own. Better yet, you can integrate a wide range of task management apps and turn on sync, automating the whole process. As it populates your near future, it'll keep an eye out for deadlines, defending the time needed to complete critical tasks from an out-of-the-blue 1:1.

Speaking of 1:1s, Reclaim empowers your weekly catch-ups by rescheduling any recurring meetings if someone has to cancel, finding the best time slot for both and sending the appropriate notifications.

Reclaim.ai pricing: Free plan available for 2 calendars, 3 habits, and limited integrations and features; paid plans start at $8/user/month for unlimited calendars, unlimited habits, more integrations, and more advanced features.

For more options, check out Zapier's list of the best AI scheduling assistants.

The best productivity app for taking notes

Apple Notes

Apple Notes pros:

• Free and integrates seamlessly between your Apple devices 

• Consistently improving; it used to be incredibly basic, but now it's a competent notes app 

Apple Notes cons:

• Getting it to play nice with Android or Windows is a fool's errand

I'm constantly scribbling down notes: during dog walks, while I'm watching a movie, even while showering (I wouldn't recommend it). For the most part, none of these random thoughts warrant taking up space in a formal document. 

This, to me, is what note-taking apps are for: quickly writing things down so you can reference them later on. I treat my note-taking app as a personal journal, but you can also use it to store notes related to a particular project. 

If you're firmly entrenched in Apple's ecosystem, which I am, it only makes sense to use the free note-taking app that's built into all macOS and iOS devices: Apple Notes (also called Notes or iCloud Notes, depending on how you're accessing it). You can also use it through your browser. Head to icloud.com/notes, and you get an online version of the app with all your synced notes—even if you're on a PC or Chromebook. It's a nice bonus that keeps your notes from being totally locked into your Apple devices.

The one drawback is that Apple Notes isn't accessible on Android. If you regularly take notes on the go, you're better off using Microsoft OneNote. It's free and works across all platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and the web.

Apple Notes pricing: Free for 5GB of storage across all iCloud services; starts at $0.99/month for 50GB. 

Check out Zapier's roundup of the best note-taking apps for more suggestions. 

The best productivity app for summarizing meetings 

Fireflies

Fireflies pros:

• Generative AI features (AskFred) 

• Automatically sends meeting recaps

Fireflies cons:

• Some screens are too cluttered

Not to play into the "kids these days" argument, but my attention span is embarrassingly short. (Case in point: I just got sidetracked staring at a bird building a nest outside of my window.) Which is to say that I have a hard time focusing during meetings, let alone jotting down coherent notes. 

This is where an AI meeting assistant like Fireflies comes in. It transcribes everything everyone says in the meeting, assigning it to the appropriate speaker once you identify who's who in the app. When the meeting is over, it'll start working its magic on the transcription. For example, it'll isolate key points discussed in the meeting, such as tasks and questions, and offer a list of topics tracked, making it easy to filter later.

The whole point of an AI meeting assistant is to save time, so you'll want to connect Fireflies with Zapier to automate your other meeting-related workflows. For example, you can automatically turn follow-up items into tasks in your task management app. Learn more about how to automate Fireflies, or get started with one of these pre-made templates.

Fireflies pricing: Free plan includes unlimited transcriptions and limited AI summaries; paid plans start at $10/user/month (billed annually) and includes unlimited AI summaries and more storage.

Check out Zapier's list of the best AI meeting assistants for more options.

The best productivity app for blocking distractions

Freedom

Freedom pros:

• Support for multiple blocklists

• Optional focus sounds

Freedom cons:

• Setup takes a little time and can be confusing

Every distraction you could possibly imagine is available at your fingertips. And it's all delivered by brilliant engineers who are doing everything they can to keep you looking at more and more and more of it. It's understandable if you have trouble getting stuff done in that context, which is why focus apps that block distractions are so helpful.

Freedom is a great tool for the job. It runs on every platform and can block distractions—both websites and apps—on all of your devices. That means you can't, for example, block TikTok on your computer only to pick up your phone and look at it there. With Freedom, you can set up multiple block lists, and then start timers for any of them. 

The downside: there's no long-term free version, just a free trial. But if you don't want to pay, you're not out of luck: Freedom offers a few free Chrome extensions. There's Pause, which will delay distracting sites from opening; Limit, which will cap how much time you can spend on distracting sites; Insight, which tells you how much time you're spending online; and Focus, which is built for students and blocks all non-educational websites.

Freedom pricing: $3.33/month billed annually or $8.99/month billed monthly; $199 for a lifetime subscription. 

Check out Zapier's list of the best focus apps to explore other options.

The best productivity app for time blocking 

Sunsama

Sunsama pros:

• Simple, intuitive interface

• Seamless integration with popular project managers

Sunsama cons:

• No free plan

When there's no time to waste—which, let's be honest, there's never any time to waste—and you have to nail down your priorities, adding structure and consistency becomes a necessity. That's where time blocking apps are an excellent way to manage your schedule: they force you to plan out every minute of your day.

Sunsuma was designed with simplicity and functionality in mind, with a clean, intuitive interface that makes planning your day less of a chore and more of a ritual. Sign on in the morning, and you'll be asked which tasks you have to work on, how long you think they are, and when you want to do them all. 

At the end of the day, Sunsama gently nudges you to review what you accomplished and what can roll over, leaving you with a sense of closure and readiness for tomorrow. Sunsama can also sync updates across your apps automatically—for instance, moving a Trello card to a new column once you've completed it. 

You can do even more to streamline your time blocking process when you connect Sunsama with Zapier. For example, you can automatically turn starred emails or activity in your CRM into a Sunsuma task. Here are some workflows to get you started. 

Sunsama pricing: No free version, though there is a 14-day free trial; starts at $20/month (or $16/month on an annual plan). 

Check out our roundup of the best time blocking software for more options.

The best productivity app for tracking time 

Toggl Track 

Toggl Track pros: 

• Generous free tier 

• Easily accessible from anywhere—mobile, desktop, and via browser extensions

Toggl Track cons: 

• Granular time insights available only on paid plans 

Unlike time blocking apps that proactively carve out dedicated periods of time to work on certain tasks, time tracking apps retroactively give you insight into how you're spending your time. This way, you can identify inefficiencies in your current workflow and streamline processes. Or, if you're a freelancer, record billable hours. 

If you're looking for a time tracker that's both free and powerful, Toggl Track is a great choice. It offers a generous free plan for freelancers and anyone who needs to track their time efficiently. And unlike many time tracking apps, Toggl doesn't require you to fill out a client, project, or task before you can start tracking. Just start the timer, and if you need to sort out the details later, you can.

Toggl also offers handy features like a Pomodoro timer, upgraded dashboards and reporting features, and plenty of integrations. You can use Toggl Track's Zapier integrations to do things like adding new time entries to a spreadsheet, starting new timers when calendar events start, and creating clients based on a database. Learn more about how to automate Toggl Track, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.

Toggl Track pricing: Free for up to 5 users; $9/user/month (billed annually) for the Starter plan, which includes time rounding, billable rates, and customized reports. 

If you're looking for more recommendations, check out Zapier's full list of the best time tracking apps.

The best productivity app for setting Pomodoro timers

Pomodor

Pomodor pros:

• Easy-to-use app 

• Available on the web 

Pomodor cons:

• Not much more advanced than a stopwatch

If you use the Pomodoro Technique to structure your day, there's only one thing you need: a timer. Sure, you could use the timer app on your smartphone—if you have the mental fortitude to ignore the temptations that come with using your phone. But if you, like me, have no such strength, then a Pomodoro timer is a much safer solution. 

There are plenty of timer websites out there, but Pomodor stands out for a couple of reasons. The most important: you can customize the length of the work and break periods as well as the number of Pomodoros you do before a long break, so you can fit it into how you like to work. 

Pomodor's countdown also displays in the URL title bar, meaning you can quickly tell how much time you have left in your working period while working in another tab. There's also a Dark Mode. It's not the most fully-featured timer on the market, but it offers just enough to help you stay productive.  

Pomodor pricing: Free (but donations to the site designer are recommended). 

If you're looking for a little more oomph, check out Zapier's list of the best Pomodoro apps for more web- and mobile-based options.

The best productivity app for building habits

Habitica

Habitica pros:

• The RPG conceit successfully gamifies habit building

• Essentially free to use

Habitica cons:

• More bells and whistles than you might need for simple habit tracking

I've been practicing my French using Duolingo for years now. And the primary reason I keep going back for more lessons is because of the gamification of it all. A daily gold star for putting in one minute of learning? Yes, please. 

No matter what habit you're trying to build (or break), a habit tracker can help you meet your goals by gamifying the process. Habitica is a habit tracking app that turns the whole process into a role-playing game (RPG). You can add tasks, daily activities, and habits to a list—but you can also battle monsters with your friends. It also works on iOS, Android, and the web, allowing you to easily track your habits on any device. 

While Habitica is more complicated to use than other, simple habit tracking apps, it's far and away the most fun to use—at least, if a pseudo-retro gamified experience appeals to you. It's especially motivating if you get your friends to use it too. You can all form a party, go on quests, and fight bosses. 

Habitica pricing: Free plan with most features; from $4.99/month for bonus items, the ability to buy gems with gold, and more. Group plans for $9/month plus $3/month per additional member. 

If you prefer to track your habits primarily on mobile, there are better options. Here's Zapier's full list of the best habit tracker apps for every device. 

The best productivity app for bookmarking articles to read later

Instapaper

Instapaper pros:

• Extremely simple

• Can send articles to Kindle devices

Instapaper cons:

• The free version doesn't have a search feature

Instapaper lets you build your own little library of things you actually want to read—minus the clutter. No pop-ups, autoplay videos, or cookie banners yelling at you. Just clean, readable text you can come back to anytime, even offline.

You can save content from pretty much anywhere using browser extensions or a bookmarklet, then read it later on the web or in the mobile app. You can also customize your reading experience by changing the font, background color, or text size to fit your preferences.

If you're a scribbles-in-the-margin kind of reader, Instapaper lets you add notes alongside your highlights so you can quickly scan back through what stood out to you without reopening the original articles. There are also some niche but surprisingly useful extras, like speed reading (a mode that flashes one word at a time to help you move through articles faster), a Kindle integration, and the ability to export your entire collection as an EPUB file. 

And Instapaper's Zapier integrations let you automate your reading workflows. Do things like automatically sending articles from an RSS feed or social media directly to your Instapaper reading list. Get started with one of these workflows, and customize them to use your favorite apps.

Instapaper pricing: Free; Instapaper Premium for $5.99/month (or $59.99/year) offers full-text search for all of your articles, unlimited notes, and text-to-speech.

Check out Zapier's list of the best read-it-later apps and the best bookmarking apps for more options.

The best productivity app for email 

Microsoft Outlook 

Outlook pros: 

• Useful built-in calendar

• Feature-rich app 

Outlook cons: 

• Really corporate feel for a personal email app 

If you're looking for a robust email client, Microsoft Outlook is surprisingly your best option.

Outlook works with not just Microsoft accounts but also Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo! Mail, and standard IMAP/POP3 email addresses. It's a full-featured email client that can handle everything from managing multiple accounts to organizing your inbox with Focused Inbox, which helps prioritize important emails. You can also create personalized profiles to separate your work, school, and personal emails, which makes it easier to stay organized.

Outlook also brings several productivity-boosting features to the table. The ability to @mention people within emails (automatically adding them to the To: field) is incredibly handy for team communication. It also includes modern email tools like follow-up reminders, delayed sending, and email scheduling. The best part: you get all of this for free. 

But Outlook isn't just an email client—it also includes a calendar, task manager, chat, and even note-taking features. You can also use Outlook's Zapier integration to connect to thousands of popular apps and streamline your productivity even more. Do things like copy events across calendars, send emails automatically, and get notifications for important emails. Learn how to automate Outlook, or get started with one of these popular templates.

Outlook pricing: Free.

Check out Zapier's list of the best email apps for more suggestions. Want more platform-specific lists? There's the best email clients for Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android. Or take a look at the best AI email apps.

The best productivity app for all-in-one messaging

Beeper

Beeper pros: 

• Free

• Mobile versions available 

Beeper cons: 

• Might not be free for long 

You might consider messaging to be more of a distraction from productivity than a part of it. But if you spend a lot of time communicating across multiple platforms, it makes sense to consolidate and simplify that process into one streamlined app. 

Beeper is still relatively new, but it nails a lot of the features you want in a universal messaging app. There's a unified inbox for all your messages, you can search all your chats on every service at once, and you have granular control over muting and notifications. The app is also fast, modern, and easy to use, with a secure backup system that syncs your messages across devices. 

While it has yet to get iMessage working on Android smartphones, it still supports a wide range of services, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Signal, and Discord. 

Beeper pricing: Free, but the company will probably introduce a paid plan in the future—likely around $10/month for premium features. 

For more options, check out Zapier's list of the best all-in-one messaging apps.

The best clipboard manager app 

Windows logo key + V

Win + V pros: 

• A real clipboard manager built into Windows 

Win + V cons: 

• Lacks advanced features 

Copying and pasting text is one of those things that you probably do dozens or even hundreds of times a day without really thinking about it. Which means there's a good chance you've also accidentally copied one thing, got distracted, copied another thing, and then lost that initial copy. 

Clipboard managers allow you to copy a bunch of different things, store them in a super clipboard, and paste them later on. 

If you're a Windows user, your system already has a built-in clipboard manager. It even syncs your clipboard history across multiple PCs. Just copy text as normal, and then when you want to paste it, press Win+V. The first time you do it, you'll get a pop-up asking if you want to enable the clipboard manager. Click Yes, and you're good to go. 

Of course, the Windows clipboard manager is more basic than a dedicated app. It's limited to 25 items, and you can't copy large images or files—though you can pin things to the clipboard if you frequently need the same clips. It also gives you quick access to special symbols, emojis, and GIFs. So if you have a PC and just need something that allows you to copy and paste a few items at a time, it's a great option.

Win + V pricing: Free and included with Windows. 

Maccy is another solid option for macOS and is free(ish). For more feature-rich options, check out Zapier's list of the best clipboard managers.

The best productivity app for reading RSS feeds

Feedly

Feedly pros:

• Free plan is sufficient for most people's RSS needs 

• Great mobile apps for reading on the go—plus it integrates with almost every feed reading app you could want 

Feedly cons:

• Sponsored ads can be frustrating 

If you want to follow a publication, writer, or something else online and see everything they publish—not just what your social media algorithm throws your way—the best way to do it is with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader. 

Feedly is the industry standard for web-based RSS readers, and it's easy to see why. It offers a clean and simple user interface—enough for casual readers who want to see all of their websites in one place. 

But you're not limited to only curating and aggregating content. Upgrade to the Pro or Pro+ plan to search your feeds, add notes to content, and highlight important passages. You can even use Feedly's built-in, AI-powered features to pull in or exclude content that match a particular criterion from your feeds, summarize articles, and suggest related articles. 

You can also use Zapier's Feedly integration to connect it with thousands of other apps. This way, you can do things like share articles on Slack or save tagged articles to a Google Sheet. Here are a few more examples to get you started. 

Feedly pricing: Free plan lets you follow up to 100 sources and use the web, Android, and iOS apps; Pro plan starts at $8/month and includes up to 1,000 sources, search, and third-party integrations. 

For more options, check out Zapier's list of the best RSS reader apps.

The best productivity app for creating and sharing screen recordings

Loom

Loom pros:

• Super easy to use and works across devices

• Generous free plan

Loom cons:

• The mobile apps aren't perfect

Whether it's for a presentation or troubleshooting a problem, screen recording tools make it easy to record what's on your screen and share it.  

Loom is a great first tool to check out in this category. It's easy to set up, works on all major platforms, and makes it really simple to share recordings. You can record just your screen, your screen with webcam video, or just your webcam. You can also do some basic editing in the browser before sharing the final product with others. Loom also offers AI features, including automatic transcription and auto-generated titles, summaries, and chapters. There's even an option to remove filler words and silence. 

It's all very quick, which makes Loom an easy solution to recommend. 

Loom pricing: Free for 25 videos of up to 5 minutes; Business plans start at $12.50/month/user with unlimited videos and recording length.

For more options, check out our list of the best screen recording tools. Want to share your screen in real time? Use a screen sharing app.

The best productivity app for managing your passwords

1Password

1Password pros:

• Easy to use across any device

• Transparent about its security

1Password cons:

• No free plan

Password managers fix a lot of the problems with passwords for you. All you have to do is remember a single master password, and the app takes care of the rest. And since data breaches are way more common than you'd think, password managers help protect you against unauthorized access and harmful attacks—and keep all your information private.

1Password is one of the biggest names in password management. It's the best option for most people looking for a password manager because it's easy to use, incredibly secure, and works on pretty much every browser, with all your passwords syncing across all your devices. With 1Password, you can also create "vaults" to keep more than just your passwords organized—you can also store credit card details, auto-fill information like addresses, and store up to 1GB of private notes and files.

1Password pricing: $36/year for a Personal account; $60/year for Families with up to five accounts. 

Check out Zapier's list of the best password manager apps for some more options.

The best productivity app for generative AI

ChatGPT

ChatGPT pros:

• Powerful

• Fun and easy to use

ChatGPT cons:

• Like any AI, it's prone to hallucinations

ChatGPT is the original AI chatbot—and it remains the go-to one. It's incredibly simple to use: start a conversation by writing your prompt at the bottom of the screen via the web, mobile, or desktop app. 

The desktop app also gives you the full power of ChatGPT's conversational abilities without needing to keep a browser tab open. Just hit option+space (Mac) or Alt+space (Windows) to open a dialog window and start a new conversation, search the web, or take a screenshot (and then ask a question about it). You can also use Advanced Voice Mode to have a real-time conversation with ChatGPT. 

ChatGPT lets you do everything from AI image generation to data analysis and creating custom chatbots—and it's impressively fast. It also remembers your conversation context, so it can give more accurate and relevant responses as you go along. Plus, with the latest o1 model, the app is even faster and more reliable at handling complex queries. 

You can even integrate ChatGPT into your existing workflows with Zapier's ChatGPT integration. Do things like generate replies to Slack messages, draft email copy, and summarize data, straight from the apps you use most. Learn how to automate ChatGPT, or get started with one of these examples.

ChatGPT pricing: Free plan available; $20/month for ChatGPT Plus, which includes advanced features and access to newer models.

If you're looking for more options to experiment with, check out Zapier's roundup of the best AI chatbots.

The best productivity app for automating your workflows

Zapier 

Zapier pros:

• Offers a no-code app builder, database tool, and chatbot builder all in one platform

• Built-in AI at every step

Zapier cons:

• Free plan is limited to two-step automations

Yes, you're on the Zapier blog, but bias aside, Zapier is the ultimate productivity tool: it allows you to connect all your existing productivity tools—and automates your workflows to make you (and your tools) more efficient.

With Zapier, you can build a productivity system tailored to your needs, connecting the apps you rely on every day and using Zapier's built-in tools to support you. Here's an example: Let's say you're building a client database. You can use Zapier Interfaces to create your landing page and forms, store all your data in Zapier Tables, and build a custom chatbot to answer your clients' questions. Then you can send any information to all the other apps you use, too. And if you're a visual learner, Zapier Canvas makes it easy to visualize your workflows and see how this will all work together.

And that's just scratching the surface of what's possible with Zapier. With thousands of app integrations and AI built in to every part of the platform, Zapier can be your productivity command center. Learn more about how to automate your entire workflow using Zapier. 

Zapier pricing: Free plan includes unlimited Zaps, up to 2 Interfaces projects, and 5MB of file uploads; paid plan starts at $20/month for multi-step Zaps, unlimited Premium apps, and webhooks.

Other productivity apps worth checking out

This article could go on forever, but I think the above apps are a great place to start. If you're feeling particularly motivated to add more productivity apps to your tech stack, here are a few other suggestions. 

• Mobile scanning apps, like Microsoft Lens, let you scan documents using your phone while also digitizing any text using optical character recognition (OCR). Check out Zapier's list of the best mobile scanning and OCR apps for more choices. 

• Text expansion tools, like PhraseExpress, let you create text snippets and templates for things you type regularly. Then, just type your custom shortcut, and let the app fill in the rest. 

• Dictation software, like Apple Dictation (for Apple devices) or Windows Speech Recognition (for Windows), lets you type by talking. Here's Zapier's list of the best dictation software.

• Mind mapping software, like Coggle, helps you map the connections between different ideas while you're brainstorming. Here are Zapier's picks for the best mind mapping software. Or take a look at the best brainstorming tools overall.

As you consider these productivity app suggestions, remember one thing: the specific app doesn't matter. The best productivity app is the one that works best for you. The most important thing is having a system.

Related reading: 

• The best productivity apps for iPhone

• The best Mac productivity apps

• The best productivity apps for Windows

• The best productivity extensions for Chrome

• Microproductivity: How to get mundane tasks done, finally

This post was originally published in September 2018 by Matthew Guay and has also had contributions from Justin Pot. The most recent update was in December 2024.