Best productivity apps for 2025

Tech moves seemingly at light speed. Apps that help workers stay organised, focused, and on time are no exception. Here, we take a look at what’s available and what works best to create capacity across concentration, organisation, and productivity.

 

 

Best apps for concentration

 

Working for hours on end or deep thinking requires intense focus. Concentration apps help manage time, block out distractions, and chart progress. Here are top apps for concentration.

 

 

Forest

 

The premise is that mobile phones are distracting workers. Forest uses elements of gamification to help audiences concentrate. Users start by planting a virtual tree. A timer starts and the tree starts to grow from seed to sapling. Once fully grown, coins are awarded. A real tree is planted on behalf of users when enough coins are collected.

 

Pros: Blocks out mobile phone distractions.

 

 

Cold Turkey

 

Instead of blocking out the mobile phone, Cold Turkey takes out distractions on the computer. Shut out domains, specific sites, search criteria, keywords, or remove the internet all together.

 

Pros: Perfect for deep thinking, workers can filter out distractions but still search for specific resources or block out the internet entirely.

 

 

Stay on track with organisation apps

 

Organisational apps keep people productive by scheduling reminders, managing tasks and taking away a bit of admin. Popular apps include some of the below.

 

 

Remember the Milk

 

Remember the Milk is task-oriented and lets users create a list, categorise the items, set timers, and attach files. For teams, the task or entire list can be delegated to someone else.

 

Pros: Super easy to use and is accessible across all devices.

 

 

IFTTT

 

IFTTT stands for ‘if this, then that’. The app itself is an efficiency enhancing tool and uses simple logic to connect tasks together. A powerful example is one where IFTTT links notes with the calendar. If a note includes details around a meeting on a specific date with someone, then the app then automatically creates a calendar booking.

 

Pros: A huge time saver when you add up all the tasks that can be automated.

 

 

Todoist

 

Similar to Remember the Milk, Todoist is another list-based app. For both individuals and teams, this app has the list functionality and integrations with other platforms. In addition to features that Remember the Milk has, Todoist connects with Teams, IFTTT, Google Workspace, and others.

 

Pros: Easily connects tasks and integrates with related apps.

 

 

Calendy

 

Take the headaches out of scheduling. Calendy app opens up the calendar to internal and external parties who want to book meetings. Users can generate a link for others to click into and arrange an appointment.

 

Pros: Great for external stakeholders to find time with you.

 

 

Clockify

 

As the name suggests, Clockify takes stock of time worked on something. Set up an activity on the platform and then start the clock. Once the job’s finished click the app again. The platform keeps tally of different items. Clockify works best for activities like freelance and shift work.

 

Pros: Clockify also includes a reporting dashboard.

 

 

Supercharge projects with productivity apps

 

Apps in this category simplify complex tasks and create time. Below are our favourite.

 

 

Pocket

 

Pocket serves the researcher and those on-the-go. The app is a virtual bookmark. Once installed, there’s a little down-arrow button to help clip media and save it. When you’re ready you can view the content on any device.

 

Pros: Great for surfing quickly and saving to read later.

 

 

Trello

 

More of a project management platform, Trello is a virtual Kanban board. The brainstorming and task board is perfect for projects. Each basic ‘card’ includes a task, responsibility, and timeline. Cards can then be moved across stages or categories, ensuring that things get done.

 

Pros: Even teams on a shoestring budget can use this productivity app – there is a free version.

 

 

Notion

 

Imagine a supercharged version of SharePoint – but not just for documents. Notion is a content organiser for teams. Dubbed a ‘homebase’, the premise of the app is to aggregate practically everything from action lists, calendars, files, projects, and more. Everyone accesses the same workspace.

 

Pros: Notion can scale with fast-growing teams and processes.

 

 

ClickUp

 

Billed as ‘one app for everything’, ClickUp is a productivity app that incorporates calendars, task masters, boards, and project management features. The platform makes sense out of all the content by creating custom views. What makes custom views powerful is that you can track exactly where things stand. A fundraising charity worker could track any workstream that includes the words ‘fundraising’ and then keep onto that.

 

Pros: Not only are custom words and workstreams trackable, you can even change how it appears. Kanban style, tasks, or priorities are all options.