Productivity apps recommendations?

[Pen]

I have recently started using an iPhone, and am looking for good productivity apps to keep projects organized and flowing smoothly if possible. 

Calendars, To Do lists, etc. Do you use the included calendar and Reminders apps?  Others you have found good?

I have OneNote. I have heard mixed things about Todoist, Calendars 5, and Google Calendar. 

What says hive?

[Murphy101]

I love the Cozi calendar app. We use the free version and it’s wonderful. 

[Familia]

2 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

I love the Cozi calendar app. We use the free version and it’s wonderful. 

Ohh, that looks great!  Was it hard to get everyone to buy-in to using it?

[Targhee]

I use Habitica ? 

[PeterPan]

I use Calendars5. My dd is trying OmniFocus. 

[Murphy101]

7 hours ago, Familia said:

Ohh, that looks great!  Was it hard to get everyone to buy-in to using it?

 

Not even slightly. My rule is the event doesn’t exist unless it’s in the cozi calendar, so that’s a big incentive for them to use it.

[Pen]

These all look interesting!  

[Pen]

3 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

 

Not even slightly. My rule is the event doesn’t exist unless it’s in the cozi calendar, so that’s a big incentive for them to use it.

I just downloaded cozi. Any hints on set up?

what is the choice between daily and weekly for agenda emails about?  Which is better and why?  Should all family members be on the same setting?

[Murphy101]

12 minutes ago, Pen said:

I just downloaded cozi. Any hints on set up?

what is the choice between daily and weekly for agenda emails about?  Which is better and why?  Should all family members be on the same setting?

 

I don’t do the email agenda but my dh does. It just sends you an email on upcoming calendar events. He is good with once a week but I check the calendar multiple times a day bc I’m busier than him and my stuff changes frequently. All my members set their own settings. I don’t care how they have it set as long as they are using it. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Murphy101

[Pen]

11 hours ago, PeterPan said:

I use Calendars5. My dd is trying OmniFocus. 

 

How is your Dd finding OmniFocus?  It looks expensive after the 14 day trial compared to some other apps, but would be worth it if it worked. 

It seems to have a few features to help with project management such as parallel versus projects that have to be done in order that I don’t see on other apps. 

OTOH besides higher price it seems to have some terms that are unnecessarily complicated. 

I think both it and one called things 3 look probably better for me than Todoist. Though Todoist can be spoken to in native language when could be helpful. 

[extendedforecast]

I use notability, one note, Apple calendar, office lens, pages, numbers, and reminders (because I don’t know of a better app). My current favorite is numbers, with one note a close second.

I know that technically numbers, pages, and office lens aren’t “productivity apps,” but I include them because they help me be productive and are fun to use, which keeps me motivated to do my work. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by extendedforecast

[Pen]

8 minutes ago, extendedforecast said:

I use notability, one note, Apple calendar, office lens, pages, numbers, and reminders (because I don’t know of a better app). My current favorite is numbers, with one note a close second.

 

Except for notability and office lens, I have these same apps either having come installed or that I added. Also I used the installed notes a lot. However I am feeling lost in my Notes, One Notes and reminders.  Do you have ways of using these for projects where you keep on top of your To Do stuff?  

 

I looked up up the two I don’t have and am not sure if they would help me, but am extremely glad to learn of them as they look like they could be hugely helpful to my dysgraphic son!

Edited August 14, 2018 by Pen

[Pen]

I am not sure whether to start with free trial of OmniFocus, which if I like it then would cost $39- $60 to continue, or whether to start with Tthings 3 which is $10 .  

[Pen]

5 hours ago, Pen said:

I just downloaded cozi. Any hints on set up?

what is the choice between daily and weekly for agenda emails about?  Which is better and why?  Should all family members be on the same setting?

 

 @Murphy101

I’ve got cozi started in use. So far so good.

I’ve never done a combo app with anyone. How does a family member participate such that I can use your wonderful method of if not entered on cozi it isn’t happening? 

I did put 3 other family members names, and an email address so far just for 1.  Do they get an email saying what to do to download it? 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Pen

[Murphy101]

18 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

 @Murphy101

I’ve got cozi started in use. So far so good.

I’ve never done a combo app with anyone. How does a family member participate such that I can use your wonderful method of if not entered on cozi it isn’t happening? 

I did put 3 other family members names, and an email address so far just for 1.  Do they get an email saying what to do to download it? 

 

I think they do get either a text or email advising how to download.

All my members have their phone number and name on the cozi and then they can just open the app on their phone and add to it when needed or see everyone’s schedules. 

[extendedforecast]

37 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

Except for notability and office lens, I have these same apps either having come installed or that I added. Also I used the installed notes a lot. However I am feeling lost in my Notes, One Notes and reminders.  Do you have ways of using these for projects where you keep on top of your To Do stuff?  

 

I looked up up the two I don’t have and am not sure if they would help me, but am extremely glad to learn of them as they look like they could be hugely helpful to my dysgraphic son!

 

I use notability for pdf worksheets that I don't want to print out. The kids use a stylus to write on my phone or their iPads.

I use one note for school and work. It is where I keep a diary of our school progress. I do this to help keep me accountable. I also keep a notebook of ideas that I want to implement in the future with the kids. For work (I'm a realtor and run a construction company with my husband), I use it for the construction business to store contacts and information and to keep checklists and report progress on projects. 

my iMac Apple calendar is synced to my phone. I'm still figuring out how to use this aside from work purposes. I'd like to have a family calendar where everyone can input their schedule and important dates for everyone else to see. If anyone knows how to do this, please share! 

Pages and Numbers are used to create tables spreadsheets and charts for both school and work. Chore charts, daily routines, utility due dates, reimbursement forms for the older kids, etc are some examples.

I set up reminders (and alarms) to keep me on track throughout the day. I tend to get hyper-focused on any one task and have trouble transitioning from one thing to another. I put a screenshot of my current reminders.

Office lens is used for my real estate transactions. I love it.

[Pen]

32 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

 

I think they do get either a text or email advising how to download.

All my members have their phone number and name on the cozi and then they can just open the app on their phone and add to it when needed or see everyone’s schedules. 

 

Thanks!  Ds got it downloaded and wanted to be red dot, not burgundy so that’s done. I have started talking about the concept of putting events he wants/needs me to know about on the calendar. And if being red dot helps I am ever so happy for him to have the red dot.

 I may ask him to do a pretend event just to see what happens before it is something real and important not to mess up. Otherwise the first shared event is one I put for next week. 

[Pen]

18 minutes ago, extendedforecast said:

'd like to have a family calendar where everyone can input their schedule and important dates for everyone else to see. If anyone knows how to do this, please share! 

 

That looks like what the Cozi calendar can do, and apparently can sync with Apple calendar if set up on Mac to do so. 

 

Thank you for sharing how you do other things!

 

what app is the Today list at bottom of page?  It looks similar to , but cleaner and with more room for information than my Reminders app if that’s what it is. 

[Murphy101]

Just as an FYI. You can set reminders on cozi too. It’ll send an alert to your phone one or more times at the intervals you set it to remind you for each event. I use he heck out of that feature. If my phone doesn’t ding, I have no idea where I’m supposed to be. Sad, I know, but that’s the reason I’m over compensating by using cozi. ?

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:

Just as an FYI. You can set reminders on cozi too. It’ll send an alert to your phone one or more times at the intervals you set it to remind you for each event. I use he heck out of that feature. If my phone doesn’t ding, I have no idea where I’m supposed to be. Sad, I know, but that’s the reason I’m over compensating by using cozi. ?

 

Oh yay!!!  I just set up a pretend event for today. Nice ding!!!

multiple reminders looks like it will take paid version now which if I continue to like it for the next couple of days I will upgrade perhaps to get rid of adverts which I find distracting. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Pen

[Pen]

Still debating between Things 3 and OmniFocus.

Unable to decide between them I am possibly about to choose Todoist.

This reminds me of a Dan Arieli book about decision making absurdity. 

 

And maybe I should get Habitica?  

 

Or all of them. Then I can keep busy with productivity apps instead of with being productive.   ?

[Pen]

19 hours ago, Targhee said:

I use Habitica ? 

 

It looks like it could be fun for establishing habits. Does it work offline or only online?

And would it give all my private habit info to the whole world via google?  I can imagine some things I might not want to share with Google. 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Pen

[Pen]

I got free version of Todoist.  

I don’t love its visual appearance, but do think I will like being able to talk to it.  

If it seems to work for me that will be positive. If it doesn’t, l will probably know more about using such an app and that might help me choose as between OmniFocus and Things3. If it works but is too full of adverts I can consider its own paid version. 

[TechWife]

I just use google calendar synced to my iphone and the reminders app, which I sync across all of my apple devices.

[Pen]

I like Cozi a lot so far!

I am finding Todoist frustrating.

Its look turns out better than expected, but it doesn’t take entries from my voice.  Maybe that’s a premium feature or maybe just does not work for me.

And at least so far I have been able to put in some projects, but not any sub tasks for a project.  So I have as a Project “Age in Place House” but not any sub tasks, and I cannot see where or how to put a sub task.  ?. Unless I can figure that out it is useless to me. And so far less useful to me than the Reminders that comes built in with the phone  

Also it supposedly is good for putting recurring tasks, but so far I cannot seem to do that either  

 

At least it was free.   

Edited August 15, 2018 by Pen

[Targhee]

4 hours ago, Pen said:

 

It looks like it could be fun for establishing habits. Does it work offline or only online?

And would it give all my private habit info to the whole world via google?  I can imagine some things I might not want to share with Google. 

It needs to be online to work. It sometimes asks if you want to share level ups  on FB but you can always decline.  Their privacy policy says it collects anonymous data - like just about any social media - but it isn’t as if anyone can see what you are doing by going to the website (or a search engine).  If you post in the forums they can see your comments, just like here, but not tasks.  Even though I’m in a party with family members I can’t see their tasks.  I will say the app can be a little glitchy, but it’s fine for my uses. 

[Ausmumof3]

The only one that works well for me is home routines. I do use the iPhone calendar.  But I schedule pretty much all recurring tasks through home routines even school stuff.  

[Pen]

6 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

The only one that works well for me is home routines. I do use the iPhone calendar.  But I schedule pretty much all recurring tasks through home routines even school stuff.  

 

Aha! That looks like it can handle repeating tasks which I cannot seem to easily schedule in other apps 

[Pen]

I hate to end up with multiple apps for scheduling etc. , but it looks like there is none that will “do it all”.  

[Pen]

My Todoist experience improved this morning as I am now able to enter a To Do by voice. 

[FairProspects]

We use Google calendar and sync it across 4 accounts for each person. I wanted to use Cozi, but could not get dh on board since he uses Google calendars for our office. It was easier to just switch over. I do like it and it has some cool features like being able to block "busy" without revealing details of the appointment, inviting others to the event, etc .

[Pen]

7 hours ago, kand said:

One of my kids installed it a week or two ago and she spends so darn much time playing on it and so little time actually getting stuff done (and her tasks include things like “rest” and “eat” and not so much “clear my bowl from table” and “do my math” ?). I’m the one who sent it to her, but it totally backfired. I installed it to see how it works, and it does appear a lot of people are using it well. 

 

Thanks for the heads up on that! !!!

I’ll stick with only promoting Ds having Cozi interface.  Unless he asks what the dragon? griffon? Icon is.  

For me though for certain types of repeated chores or habits I want to acquire it may help. 

[KungFuPanda]

Since I'm easily distracted, my best productivity application is to just use a pencil and paper.  If I'm looking at a screen I'm generally not as productive as staying completely in the physical world and ticking down my to-do list.  I do have several lists in Notes and just erase them as I do things, but I find organization books and apps SO interesting that I'll sit around reading and perusing them instead of doing the chores they're meant to organize.  

[Pen]

2 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Since I'm easily distracted, my best productivity application is to just use a pencil and paper.  If I'm looking at a screen I'm generally not as productive as staying completely in the physical world and ticking down my to-do list.  I do have several lists in Notes and just erase them as I do things, but I find organization books and apps SO interesting that I'll sit around reading and perusing them instead of doing the chores they're meant to organize.  

 

I don't expect to give up use of paper and pencil, but I am finding things that need to be done are getting dropped....especially with multiple step projects. 

Years back,  I had a paper planner I  had loved, but it was discontinued and no others seemed to work as well for me as that one had.  

Now, my first successful installation of a recurrent task on my electronic device tells me to check my paper organizers. ?

[Ausmumof3]

11 hours ago, Pen said:

 

Aha! That looks like it can handle repeating tasks which I cannot seem to easily schedule in other apps 

Yes!  And it is the only one I’ve ever found that works well for that

[Slache]

30/30

[Pen]

9 hours ago, Slache said:

30/30

 

What does 30/30 do?  

[Just Kate]

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

What does 30/30 do?  

I looked for it and can’t seem to find it. 

[Pen]

4 minutes ago, Just Kate said:

I looked for it and can’t seem to find it. 

 

Nor can I.  Though 30 is in lots of app names I saw. 

[Slache]

10 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

What does 30/30 do?  

You create a routine with a rough schedule.

• Morning Time: 60 minutes
• Chores: 20 minutes
• Block One: 60 minutes
• Break: 30 minutes...

As soon as you're ready to start, let's say at 7:46, you hit play. Instead of minutes it gives you times.

• Morning Time: 7:46
• Chores: 8:46
• Block One: 9:06 
• Break:  10:06

Oh, poop. We're 6 minutes behind schedule. I'll subtract it from Morning Time.

• Morning Time: 7:46
• Chores: 8:40
• Block One: 9:00 
• Break:  10:00

There. All fixed. La de da... School's getting done... The neighbor's back again. Yay. Hit pause. 26 minutes later, because some people can't take a hint, we hit play.

• Morning Time: 7:40
• Chores: 9:06
• Block One: 9:26 
• Break:  10:26

Now we're behind schedule again. Ok. I'll set an alarm for 10 and when it goes off I'll swipe card 3 (block one) and whatever's not finished will get done after break.

[Just Kate]

3 minutes ago, Slache said:

You create a routine with a rough schedule.

• Morning Time: 60 minutes
• Chores: 20 minutes
• Block One: 60 minutes
• Break: 30 minutes...

As soon as you're ready to start, let's say at 7:46, you hit play. Instead of minutes it gives you times.

• Morning Time: 7:46
• Chores: 8:46
• Block One: 9:06 
• Break:  10:06

Oh, poop. We're 6 minutes behind schedule. I'll subtract it from Morning Time.

• Morning Time: 7:46
• Chores: 8:40
• Block One: 9:00 
• Break:  10:00

There. All fixed. La de da... School's getting done... The neighbor's back again. Yay. Hit pause. 26 minutes later, because some people can't take a hint, we hit play.

• Morning Time: 7:40
• Chores: 9:06
• Block One: 9:26 
• Break:  10:26

Now we're behind schedule again. Ok. I'll set an alarm for 10 and when it goes off I'll swipe card 3 (block one) and whatever's not finished will get done after break.

 

Interesting! Is it available on for iPhone?

[Slache]

I have android and I can't seem to link to the apple store. I don't know what my problem is. It's multicolored. If you Google it it's all of the top results with reviews and videos.

[Slache]

Just now, Just Kate said:

 

Interesting! Is it available on for iPhone?

iPhone only. 

[Just Kate]

4 minutes ago, Slache said:

iPhone only. 

I have an iPhone and can’t seem to find it. Not sure what I’m doing wrong...

[Slache]

3 minutes ago, Just Kate said:

I have an iPhone and can’t seem to find it. Not sure what I’m doing wrong...

I can't access anything without downloading apple music so I'm stuck. Here's a review so you know what it looks like.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBsBfcoG83gY&ved=2ahUKEwif8fi41fHcAhUPGDQIHc37Aq8QwqsBMAB6BAgPEAU&usg=AOvVaw1M5bwFzuf4uKOLPqk6EhZr

[Pen]

Todoist is growing on me.  Especially now that I Know to pronounce it Todd-oyst for speech recognition to understand. 

[Pen]

22 minutes ago, Just Kate said:

I have an iPhone and can’t seem to find it. Not sure what I’m doing wrong...

 

16 minutes ago, Slache said:

I can't access anything without downloading apple music so I'm stuck. Here's a review so you know what it looks like.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBsBfcoG83gY&ved=2ahUKEwif8fi41fHcAhUPGDQIHc37Aq8QwqsBMAB6BAgPEAU&usg=AOvVaw1M5bwFzuf4uKOLPqk6EhZr

 

I watched the review and it looks interesting.  Ds will be in public school this next year, but the app format would have been an excellent fit for how we did homeschooling by time and do the next thing. And I can see how it could work well for a similar approach to daily life—though I can do it with regular timers  

However,  does not seem to be in App Store. Maybe it is currently unavailable. 

[Pen]

On 8/14/2018 at 11:44 PM, Ausmumof3 said:

The only one that works well for me is home routines. I do use the iPhone calendar.  But I schedule pretty much all recurring tasks through home routines even school stuff.  

 

I got it, but am having some problems learning how to use it, beyond the every day repeats. Or rather how to set it, add on tasks or modify them etc.   For example I would like to schedule certain recurring tasks for biweekly Monday and Thursday, some for Tuesday and Friday, some for Wednesday and Saturday   Can I do that and if so, how?

Min general,  hints, suggestions, advice you can offer would be appreciated  

btw in theory it looks like tasks *can* be set to certain months so that seasonal task setting is possible within the app, but I so far haven’t figured out how to put some items on some days and others on other days; monthly changes are way beyond my current level. 

Edited August 16, 2018 by Pen
Specifically requested use hints, advice

[Pen]

On 8/14/2018 at 11:02 PM, kand said:

One of my kids installed it a week or two ago and she spends so darn much time playing on it and so little time actually getting stuff done (and her tasks include things like “rest” and “eat” and not so much “clear my bowl from table” and “do my math” ?). I’m the one who sent it to her, but it totally backfired. I installed it to see how it works, and it does appear a lot of people are using it well. 

 

It looks like Habitica comes with preinstalled ideas for habits to develop, including ones that have to do with school and chores.  I wonder if your dd avoided those. 

[extendedforecast]

5 hours ago, Slache said:

I can't access anything without downloading apple music so I'm stuck. Here's a review so you know what it looks like.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBsBfcoG83gY&ved=2ahUKEwif8fi41fHcAhUPGDQIHc37Aq8QwqsBMAB6BAgPEAU&usg=AOvVaw1M5bwFzuf4uKOLPqk6EhZr

 

It’s been discontinued. The closest app I can find is sloth, but I’m not sure it’s even close.