Boost Productivity // 9 Apps To Help You Work Smart 

Boost Productivity // 9 Apps To Help You Work Smart 

In early 2020, it was reported that the total number of mobile apps on the planet had reached a massive 8.93 million. App stores on the other hand were topped by Google Play, Apple Playstore, Windows Store & Amazon Appstore in position one to four respectively.

Apps, short for applications (mostly mobile), have significantly improved how we connect and productivity in some cases. Remote teams can now easily communicate in real-time, virtually on video & audio, no matter where we are  located. The virtual life is one we came to know intimately through the pandemic.

Although, despite virtual meetings and conferences becoming normal, critics say that because they don’t allow chance conversations & encounters, it is unlikely to mean the end of physical conferences entirely.

Whether you are a businessperson, a professional, or a student, it is estimated that we look at our phones an average of 80 times a day. It does make sense in a way, our phones have become not only communication devices, but our personal assistants, timekeepers, calendars, fitness trackers, productivity tools, meeting rooms, entertainment platforms, and for those who are content creators their tools of trade.

It is possible that one of the most promised new year resolutions is to take a digital detox. It is defined as taking a break or reducing the use of tech devices, as a way to focus on real-life social interactions without distractions. However, easy as it may sound, it is almost impossible to do.

Install these Apps & Boost Productivity

Smartphones have changed the way we do things & live our lives by making it quite easy to maneuver through the day with ease. We have put together apps that we think you should consider installing in 2021 to help boost productivity.

Fantastical is an  iOS exclusive app and the perfect tool for increasing productivity. You can install this app on your smartphone, and execute multiple work-related tasks on the go. This visually appealing organizer app can be synced between multiple devices. Moreover, you can integrate apps like Google Hangouts, Google Meet, and Zoom, and manage them from the app itself.

Ayoa helps you in maintaining your tasks and notes within the app to execute them timely. Add notes, checklists, comments, and more after each meeting or brainstorming sessions to not forget them. There are multiple types of views included in the app to display projects. You can either view your projects in the list format or with colorful bubbles.

Boya App  allows you to load your Debit and Credit Cards onto your phones to make instant Mpesa Paybill and Till number payments, transfer money directly from your Card to mobile accounts countrywide.

Once you add all your cards on the easy-to-use secure Boya app, you do not have to worry when you forget your wallet at home.The app also lets you to easily grow your credit based on your payment history.

Boya are app developers based at our Karen location. Last year we had a chat with Anthony Gacheru, Vice President of Growth at BOYA.CO and he shared some insights around the app that you can read here.

OmniFocus is an iOs exclusive app, that can be synced with the Apple watch as well to make it more convenient to use. You can create and accomplish daily tasks with the help of supporting features like reminders, tags, due dates et al.

Work Smart, not hard. Install productivity boosting apps and work from anywhere, anytime!

Basecamp can make collaboration and team management easier. The app lets you organize everything in a place and you can keep a track of every team member to review their performance and work.

Any.do will help you as a working professional stay organized and get more work done in less time. With Any.do, you can keep your tasks, lists, and reminders organized in one place and sync them seamlessly across all of your devices.

From minutes of meeting to project details—there are always a few things that you always have-to-have on your fingertips. And that is where the note-taking applications come into the picture.

These are the kind of productivity apps that provide you a safe and easy-to-access place to save and share all your amazing

The app also had Gmail integration; professionals can now easily turn email threads into actionable items that are automatically synced to Any.do’s cross-platform applications.

RescueTime is a time-tracking app that we all need  in our lives – especially if we’re not quite sure where the time we spend awake is spent well.

The problem with time trackers, however, is that they take up a lot of your time – you need to add in tasks, start and stop timers, make sure you don’t forget to switch between tasks, and so on. Overall, they simply depend on user input too much, often meaning they eat up more time than they save.

RescueTime is different,  as it works in the background, keeping track of the apps and websites you visit and how much time you spend on them. You can label certain apps and sites as work-related, you can block some off entirely, and you can get a weekly roundup of how you’ve been spending your time.

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Time Doctor is a time tracking tool that helps freelancers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and enterprises increase their productivity. It also offers project management and budgeting options, reports and team monitoring, distraction alerts and offline time tracking.

Time Doctor can help you optimize the way you spend your time at work, ensuring you make the absolute most of every day. The organization notes that users of the tool experience an average of 22% of boost in productivity.

Calendly acts like a personal assistant in the sense that if you have a lot of meetings to schedule on a weekly basis, Calendly will simplify that process for you with the intuition of a skilled administrative assistant.

The app simplifies the process of scheduling and removes the tedium of having to follow up with people or communicate sudden schedule changes. The tool responds to your preferences and only shares need-to-know information.

Calendly integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook and other tools to connect with up to 6 calendars. You also have the option to integrate with a wide range of other productivity apps, such as Zoom, Zapier, and HubSpot.

There are a few more applications probably not in the list but are equally important. We hope these listed apps kick start in helping you to have a productive rest of the year.

Feature Photo by Ono Kosuki from Pexels