The iPhone and iPad have revolutionized our ability to organize ourselves and stay on top of our task list, and the app store is full of time-management tools that can help us be more productive and efficient. Using productivity apps doesn’t have to be complicated: here are five top time management apps for the iPhone and iPad that could help you organize your life and reduce your stress levels.
Things: iPhone – $9.99; iPad – $19.99
At $9.99 and $19.99 for the iPhone and iPad apps respectively, Things isn’t cheap. It is, however, one of the most popular task management apps on the market, and uses principals from David Allen’s Getting Things Done system to capture to-dos and arrange your products. Using this iPhone and iPad productivity app, you can create new items on a to-do list, organize them into projects, assign tasks to certain people, and schedule reminders to receive notification when a task is due. As well as viewing tasks or projects that are due today and in the near future, you can schedule repeating tasks that automatically reappear on set days, weekly or monthly.
Although the different functions of this efficient time-management tool might seem complex, Things is a simple organization app to use, and you can sync between your desktop, iPhone and iPad to keep changes to your lists and projects up-to-date.
Instapaper: $4.99
It’s a familiar situation: we decide to give ourselves “just 10 minutes” browsing Facebook, Twitter or similar, yet are still there an hour later. Instapaper helps us stay on track and removes the temptation to aimlessly surf by allowing users to save articles to read another time. Once you’ve saved an article, you can open up the Instapaper app on your iPhone or iPad at a more opportune time and catch up on your reading.
Evernote: FREE
Evernote is a note-taking app that allows you to capture all your ideas in one place, sort them into folders and save them for later. Using Evernote, you can capture text, picture or audio clips and store them on your iPhone, iPad or Desktop. Notes automatically sync between devices and you can share your files with others too. The app and desktop account are free, however you can access extra features by upgrading to the premium version. These features include the ability to edit notebooks offline, share your notebooks with others and add a PIN for extra security.
HiFutureSelf: FREE
HiFutureSelf is a simple yet effective app that enables you to schedule messages to yourself in the future. With the ability to send messages and reminders to friends, HiFutureSelf can also function as a social app. It’s useful for business and personal messages: whether you know you have a tough day head and want to send yourself pick-me-up slogans, or you want to ensure you remember to ask a crucial question during a meeting.
GoodReader: iPhone – $4.99; iPad – $4.99
The GoodReader app allows you to read and annotate files on your iPhone or iPad. Use the app to read books, view pictures and magazines. If you want to make a note of something, you can use the highlighter, comment, or freehand drawing functions to make your mark on the text. The app is compatible with PDF, TXT, MS Office, iWork and HTML files, and can also display pictures and audio files. Sync your GoodReader documents with other users or your desktop using dropbox, iDisk or Google Docs when you’re finished so you can access your work anywhere, anytime.
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