In today’s fast world, it’s impossible to keep your daily plan in your head in hopes to not miss an important occasion.
Long gone are the times of misplaced post-it notes in hopes to keep tasks in sight. Today we’re blessed with endless digital daily planner apps. They make our lives easier, keep us organized and productive.
If you’re not using one yet, it’s time to start right now. If you’re not sure which one would suit you best, I have listed the 5 best daily planner apps for you to have a variety of choices. These specific apps are chosen for several good reasons. They not only help you to boost your productivity but also make your daily life much easier.
Before we get started, there are a few important criteria that need to be taken into consideration. Matching the app with your personal preferences and expectations is an important task:
- Focus – Focus is a key element in getting things done. It is crucial for effective and efficient management without wasting time. This is the first element we will be looking at when choosing the best daily planner app for ourselves.
- Organization – This is the main promise for most of the daily panner apps – to keep you organized. And it is probably the first reason we are thinking to get the app in the first place.
- Habits – Boosting productivity would not be possible without creating improving habits. It is important to keep ourselves accountable to stay on track to reach goals.
Below you will find the 5 best daily planner apps. Try them out. Decide for yourself which one works best for your personal needs and preferences.
Note, these apps aren’t in any particular order. All of them are great at what they do. My aim is to help you get a better understanding of how each of them can serve your needs to boost productivity.
1. Serene (macOS)
Serene is a true winner when it comes to the laser focus category as it helps to shield you from distractions. It lives up to its promise by not letting distractions hold you back.
The distraction blocking feature helps you enhance focus to achieve more in less time. It’s designed to get you into deep work and achieve goals faster.
It not only keeps you organized but also improves habits to focus on deep work.
With its One Daily Goal approach, it helps you stay on track without getting distracted by tasks that don’t contribute to one daily goal.
Key features include:
- Focus session timer – clearly defined intervals of focused work with a timer that shows you the timing. Knowing how much time you have left to complete tasks, gives you extra motivation.
- Website and App blocker – blocked access to websites keeps your focus in check. Knowing the apps that highly distract you will help to increase focus. Staying productive during focus sessions allows staying on tasks without unnecessary interruptions.
- Activities tracker – getting clear on your productive times is a great way to track your activity. While knowing your most common distractions is a key element in improving habits.
- Daily planner – setting up your daily plan according to one focus goal is a great way to staying organized. It helps to get stuff done with clearer intention and focused attention.
- Focus music – playing background music can be a great tool to keep yourself focused and motivated.
- Phone silencer – putting your phone on silent mode automatically eliminates unnecessary distractions.
Serene has 10 free deep work hours, and its paid offer is $4/month.
2. Todoist (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
Todoist is one of the most popular best daily planner apps amongst solopreneurs, team managers, and larger companies. This app keeps you organized and on task making sure nothing gets forgotten.
Todoist supports many other app integrations which allow better workflows and easier tasks management. With many advantages, this app lives up to the standards of a highly organized management system. It supports subtasks, sub-projects, recurring tasks, notifications, and more.
Key features include:
- Prioritizing tasks – getting the most important things done keeps you productive.
- Task management – creating subtasks, indicating recurring tasks, including due dates for individual tasks is an easy breeze. Labeling tasks by priority, by context, or personalized system, gives you a customized approach. Setting reminders help you manage better and achieve faster.
- Progress management – keeping track of progress with the app’s measurement and reporting features. It allows to follow the actions and take measures according to the wanted outcome.
- Project management – setting up project goals will allow you to make sure you’re on track throughout.
Todoist has a free version, and its paid offer starts from $3/month.
3. Things 3 (iOS)
Things 3 is your personal organizer for business and life. It provides the highest support to boost your productivity and keep you organized. Its simple layout is easy to understand, manage. It lets you start right away as there is no need for a feature introduction.
Key features include:
- Easy input – getting your tasks in the app should be easy, simple, and a smooth process. Easy input means less wasted time. And this is exactly what this app provides.
- Heading – adding titles to your checklists is a great way to keep tasks separate. It allows you to focus on completing the project and not miss a thing. This means each task can be dialed down into smaller tasks with checklists supporting them. It looks exactly like you would create it on paper. The difference is the option to set a deadline, add tasks to your calendar, and organize them by your unique categories.
- Integrations – added your email to your to-do list is just one of the examples for smooth tasks management. Seeing your to-do and tasks together as you integrate your calendar is a way to never miss a thing.
- Planning – seeing all your upcoming lists neatly laid out helps you follow the plan you have set out to do. Scheduling repeated actions on automation will save a lot of time. Reminders will keep you on track.
- Search option – finding made easy. This option lets you search for any word you’ve ever typed in the app. It gives you the ability to create alarms and notifications for your various tasks.
Things 3 costs $49.99 on Mac with 15-day free trial. It’s $19.99 on iPad and $9.99 on iPhone.
4. Any.do (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
If you want to stay organized and get things done, Any.do promises that and more. Its time management features keep you on the tasks. They remind of scheduled activities that can’t be missed.
Amongst the usual features like due dates, prioritizing, automatic notifications, recurring tasks set up, reminders, and a drag&drop interface for easy-to-do list creation, it has other beneficial key features:
- Data Synchronization – adding a scheduled event on your calendar and synchronizing it to multiple platforms like Google Calendar and WhatsApp reminders keeps you efficient.
- Offline Access – knowing that you will be able to access your tool anywhere anytime gives a great deal of freedom, peace of mind, and the ability to always be on top of things.
- Task management – integrating your to-do list with a calendar makes planning and scheduling easy.
- Voice capture – being on a run, it’s handy to leave a voice message to yourself that turns into a note on your to-do list. You never know when the next brilliant idea will come to mind!
Any.do has a free version. Its paid offer starts from $2.99/month.
5. Trello (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
Trello is for individuals and teams looking to be more productive. It is focusing on helping teamwork reach new levels. Its features allow customized workflows. Simple user experience combined with strategic collaboration between team members for effective work.
Tasks can be grouped into boards and cards which can contain another set of tasks in themselves. Individual tasks can be assigned to groups or individuals with deadlines and checklists. If you want more, here are some of the key features:
- Effective to-do list – adding due dates, assigning to a specific team or person lets you manage the progress.
- Collaboration – inviting anyone to get things done. It helps you make things happen without a complicated onboarding process.
- Instant messaging – discussing tasks in real-time adds efficiency and makes it easy to communicate from anywhere.
Trello has a free version. Its paid offer starts from $10/month.
Bottom Line
Choosing the right tool for daily planning can be time-consuming, I hope that this process was made easier for you.
Whether you are managing your personal time, your team, work projects, or creating a plan for a vacation, use what suits best your specific needs.
Choosing a daily planner app to boost your productivity is a great way of keeping your mind focused and your progress high. The planner apps help you to make most of your time with ease.
More Productivity Tools
Featured photo credit: William Hook via unsplash.com
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