Productivity apps recommendations?

[Slache]

2 minutes ago, extendedforecast said:

 

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

That is so sad! It's my absolute favorite app. I just can't afford an iPhone.

Sorry to have wasted everyone's time.

[Pen]

3 hours ago, Slache said:

That is so sad! It's my absolute favorite app. I just can't afford an iPhone.

Sorry to have wasted everyone's time.

 

I was interested to know about it anyway. 

And I got the sloth app which may not do what your app can, but is a super easy to use timer.?

Edited August 16, 2018 by Pen

[Ausmumof3]

16 hours ago, Pen said:

 

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. 

So you create a new routine then name it then go into edit.  You will see a field that says something like “show in every month and do not reset stars” or something similar.  There’s a small arrow next to it.  If you touch the arrow it should open a box where you can edit the settings for that routine.  In that section you can set routine  type (weekly, bi weekly, monthly, annual).  Below that there are check boxes where you can select which days the routine shows and which days it resets.  For me I set up one routine for daily tasks then one weekly routine for each day of the week that shows and resets on that day.   You can also create a monthly routine and choose which months to show and reset those tasks.  Does that make sense?  You can’t do individual tasks to show and reset but you create a routine that shows and resets at certain times that has the tasks in it for that time.  

[Ausmumof3]

If that’s really unclear you could pm me an email and I can send screenshots of how I did it.

[Pen]

3 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

So you create a new routine then name it then go into edit.  You will see a field that says something like “show in every month and do not reset stars” or something similar.  There’s a small arrow next to it.  If you touch the arrow it should open a box where you can edit the settings for that routine.  In that section you can set routine  type (weekly, bi weekly, monthly, annual).  Below that there are check boxes where you can select which days the routine shows and which days it resets.  For me I set up one routine for daily tasks then one weekly routine for each day of the week that shows and resets on that day.   You can also create a monthly routine and choose which months to show and reset those tasks.  Does that make sense?  You can’t do individual tasks to show and reset but you create a routine that shows and resets at certain times that has the tasks in it for that time.  

 

Yes. Thanks!  I think I made huge Forward strides. I think I am a little confused about the star resetting. Are we supposed to star things as we do them?  Or is it the other way around and we are supposed to turn off stars as we do tasks?

[extendedforecast]

19 hours ago, Pen said:

 

I was interested to know about it anyway. 

And I got the sloth app which may not do what your app can, but is a super easy to use timer.?

 

I agree. Thank you for sharing. Watching the video, the app looked so familiar to me. I looked through my purchased app but still couldn’t find it. Bummer. 

Pen, how do you like the sloth app so far? 

[Pen]

34 minutes ago, extendedforecast said:

 

I agree. Thank you for sharing. Watching the video, the app looked so familiar to me. I looked through my purchased app but still couldn’t find it. Bummer. 

Pen, how do you like the sloth app so far? 

 

I like it. I can of course set timer in my built in clock app, but it is way faster with sloth   Like currently I am on a 15 minute break getting some sunshine. And I know I won’t go over 

[Pen]

Also it doesn’t seem to have all those adjustments features as on 30/30, but it does allow multiple timed tasks to be set up for one after the other. So as soon as my break ends I am supposed to go make a timed phone call. 

I don’t know if a recurring routine can be set up. 

[Pen]

2 hours ago, extendedforecast said:

 

I agree. Thank you for sharing. Watching the video, the app looked so familiar to me. I looked through my purchased app but still couldn’t find it. Bummer. 

Pen, how do you like the sloth app so far? 

Another update. I sent them a message asking if changing the time of a group of tasks is possible. If not then it will be good for tasks one wants to do for x amount of time (eg work on math, declutter, take a break, Spanish...).  But not for something like my phone call which ended up that I got voicemail.  So it was done in one minute. But the sloth timer still had 9 more minutes to go prior to the next task. 

Scheduling a series of recurring tasks with times is a feature of the pro version which I cannot find the price of. 

[Ausmumof3]

8 hours ago, Pen said:

 

Yes. Thanks!  I think I made huge Forward strides. I think I am a little confused about the star resetting. Are we supposed to star things as we do them?  Or is it the other way around and we are supposed to turn off stars as we do tasks?

Yep you star as you complete then the stars reset on the days you choose

[extendedforecast]

56 minutes ago, Pen said:

Another update. I sent them a message asking if changing the time of a group of tasks is possible. If not then it will be good for tasks one wants to do for x amount of time (eg work on math, declutter, take a break, Spanish...).  But not for something like my phone call which ended up that I got voicemail.  So it was done in one minute. But the sloth timer still had 9 more minutes to go prior to the next task. 

Scheduling a series of recurring tasks with times is a feature of the pro version which I cannot find the price of. 

I haven’t had time to play with the app much, but I was thinking that there must be a way to end a task early and move on to the next one. I noticed that it’s easy to add minutes to tasks but no way that I can see to subtract time. That’s a definite drawback. 

ETA: I saw a review where a subscriber said she was disappointed with the pro version because the recurring tasks were only a list and had to be manually entered. Maybe I misunderstood, or maybe she didn’t know how to use that feature. 

Edited August 17, 2018 by extendedforecast

[Pen]

1 hour ago, extendedforecast said:

I haven’t had time to play with the app much, but I was thinking that there must be a way to end a task early and move on to the next one. I noticed that it’s easy to add minutes to tasks but no way that I can see to subtract time. That’s a definite drawback. 

ETA: I saw a review where a subscriber said she was disappointed with the pro version because the recurring tasks were only a list and had to be manually entered. Maybe I misunderstood, or maybe she didn’t know how to use that feature. 

 

HomeRoutines has a timer- looks like it needs to be set for each task- and tasks can be ordered.  It sounds like even the pay version of Sloth won’t do better than that. 

[Pen]

@extendedforecast the Sloth timer glitched and refused to stop beeping. That used up more time than it could save as compared to built in timer or Home Routines timer. I stuck the app in an extras folder probably will delete it. 

[extendedforecast]

5 hours ago, Pen said:

@extendedforecast the Sloth timer glitched and refused to stop beeping. That used up more time than it could save as compared to built in timer or Home Routines timer. I stuck the app in an extras folder probably will delete it. 

 

Thats a shame. I really wanted to like it. 

[Pen]

6 minutes ago, extendedforecast said:

 

Thats a shame. I really wanted to like it. 

 

I did too. 

Habitica is also glitching, but has enough positive going for it that I am trying to work through the glitches. Also its tech support is more responsive. 

[Pen]

@extendedforecast

I just got Office Lens. I think it may help with paperwork. 

[Pen]

Resurrecting this thread so as not to derail another thread where question was asked about my trying the apps

 

I got a number of the recommended apps installed, plus found some additional myself. 

 

I am trying out out a few that overlap in the area of calendar; to do lists; productivity motivators. 

Others are unique among what I have (for example Office Lens).

 

After some testing time I will cut down to what I am finding best.   More to follow if anyone wants more details. 

[Pen]

In the categories where I experimented with more than one here is my, so far, personal winners list:

Winner in category Project management type app:   “Todoist ”.   

Runner up: “Things. “

 

Winner in category calendar app for *family* use: “Cozi”

Winner in Category calendar app for *personal* use: “Summit”

 

 

Winners in category Habit Tracking /Training  

(unfortunately each of the following 3 have certain aspects at which they are excellent, and some areas where they are weaker, I have not decided which to drop down to as a single app )

1) “Strides”  Does the most in terms of serious habit tracking in a variety of ways   No nonsense      Hard Core!   Excellent on sending reminder notes to help keep the desired habit in mind at the right time.  Particularly good for making progress towards very important major life goals .  

2) “Productive”.  Easiest to use. Attractive colors on black background. Based on maintaining a streak of positive habits done daily (or on other schedule).  

3) “Habitica”. Gamified. App has some glitches where it didn’t work for me some days.

Most fun!

 I have become a “Mage” at “level 12”. And I am surprised at how motivating I am finding the gamification aspect.  I have tried to be honest with it about things not done or negative progress (such as: ate junk food, or added to clutter, or procrastinated). And it is especially good at allowing these negative mess ups to be recorded and to see the resultant hit to “health”.

It also in theory would allow me to play against others, but I haven’t tried that.  

Yet.  ?

Edited September 11, 2018 by Pen
Less is more

[katilac]

Just holding my place before I lose the thread! 

[SanDiegoMom]

I haven't delved into timer type apps and I am just starting out with to do lists, but I will say I love Google Keep.  Just simple to do lists, but they seem to be doing the trick for keeping the kids on task.  You can color code the notes and set reminders at times as well. My favorite part about Google Keep is that you can have checkboxes, and when you complete a task it crosses the item off, greys it out, AND drops it to the bottom of the list. I find that VERY pleasing and helpful. 

[Pen]

1 hour ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

I haven't delved into timer type apps and I am just starting out with to do lists, but I will say I love Google Keep.  Just simple to do lists, but they seem to be doing the trick for keeping the kids on task.  You can color code the notes and set reminders at times as well. My favorite part about Google Keep is that you can have checkboxes, and when you complete a task it crosses the item off, greys it out, AND drops it to the bottom of the list. I find that VERY pleasing and helpful. 

 

Is it something you have set up for kids to see/ use themselves ?   I have been using Cozi to present To Do checklists for others, and it helps a lot but I wish were a little different  ...

Crossing off and dropping to Bottom would be nice  That would help a lot while shopping for example.  Mine stays in same spot so I have to search for not yet crossed off items.  

For timer I am using the cellphone’s own timer or the timer on HomeRoutines. Those take setting it myself each new task time, but seems to be okay. 

Edited September 12, 2018 by Pen

[Targhee]

6 hours ago, Pen said:

 

Is it something you have set up for kids to see/ use themselves ?   I have been using Cozi to present To Do checklists for others, and it helps a lot but I wish were a little different  ...

Crossing off and dropping to Bottom would be nice  That would help a lot while shopping for example.  Mine stays in same spot so I have to search for not yet crossed off items.  

For timer I am using the cellphone’s own timer or the timer on HomeRoutines. Those take setting it myself each new task time, but seems to be okay. 

You might consider IGotThis. It was designed for families with one or more  member having ADHD.  It lets you do to-dos for people, and it alerts you when they are completed or missed.

 

And for pomodoro type timer I’ve been using Forest. It’s a little gamified, and it keeps you off your phone while it’s running which is nice.

ETA for spelling and autocorrect mistakes ?

Edited September 13, 2018 by Targhee

[Pen]

30 minutes ago, Targhee said:

You might consider IGotThis. It was designed for families with one it member having ADHD.  It lets you do to-dos for people, and it alerts you when they are completed or missed.

 

 

 

That looks interesting. I’d want to have Ds on board with trying it before launching the free 2 week trial. Can you tell me more about it in the meantime?

 

How do you get the parent and child to be on same app? Use iCloud and “family sharing “ or something else?  And it looks like it allows for real world rewards to be earned— how does that work and how were the rewards and what it took to achieve them decided on?

 

how much set up work does the parent have to do to make it run smoothly?

 

it looks like it would keep parent in more control of choosing rewardable tasks than, say, Habitica.   Do the kids get to assign things to themselves? or even to parents? or is it unidirectional ?

 

Also this thread got brought back up due to a question on a thread related to ASD — it looks to me like this app could also be helpful for ASD situations, so people looking here from there may be interested too. 

[Targhee]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

 

That looks interesting. I’d want to have Ds on board with trying it before launching the free 2 week trial. Can you tell me more about it in the meantime?

 

How do you get the parent and child to be on same app? Use iCloud and “family sharing “ or something else?  And it looks like it allows for real world rewards to be earned— how does that work and how were the rewards and what it took to achieve them decided on?

 

how much set up work does the parent have to do to make it run smoothly?

 

it looks like it would keep parent in more control of choosing rewardable tasks than, say, Habitica.   Do the kids get to assign things to themselves? or even to parents? or is it unidirectional ?

 

Also this thread got brought back up due to a question on a thread related to ASD — it looks to me like this app could also be helpful for ASD situations, so people looking here from there may be interested too. 

I have to admit I have not used the app yet. I too was waiting to get everyone on it - 4 of 6 in our house have adhd - for the free trial, but with the commotion of the new school year it actually slipped my mind until this thread ? And I think my starting up with Habitica with the oldest and DH kept it from resurfacing.

 I found out about it from a podcast (Tilt Parenting maybe?), and it sounds great! I wish I could answer your questions though.

[Pen]

9 minutes ago, Targhee said:

I have to admit I have not used the app yet. I too was waiting to get everyone on it - 4 of 6 in our house have adhd - for the free trial, but with the commotion of the new school year it actually slipped my mind until this thread ? And I think my starting up with Habitica with the oldest and DH kept it from resurfacing.

 I found out about it from a podcast (Tilt Parenting maybe?), and it sounds great! I wish I could answer your questions though.

 

How about whoever tries it first can post about it. For some apps I found you tube clips showing them in use. I’ll see if I can find one for IGotThis. 

 

BTW I was wandering around Habitica discussion forums and found that it may be possible for parents to have more control over dc use—somehow. I was not clear on the how. 

[Targhee]

18 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

BTW I was wandering around Habitica discussion forums and found that it may be possible for parents to have more control over dc use—somehow. I was not clear on the how. 

Really?? That would be great! Let me know if you find out how (aside from takingvtheir phone or logging into their account) I’d love to know. One of dd’s Habits is “tolerating bad Dad jokes” ? and another is “texting boyfriend” ?

[Pen]

 

[katilac]

IGotThis looks appealing, but that's a chunk of change to spend every single month. 

Remember when you just bought the dang software? 

 

[Pen]

@Targhee  There is a “parents guild” in the Habitica web version. Apparently if you make a “family” group (guild?) of your family members, you can see each others’ habits and progress. And.  ???  I’m not sure quite, but the “parents’ guild” seems a bit like a forum here where a question can be asked. 

You could also apparently have had complete control if you had signed them up as a child account, but that ship has probably sailed. 

[Pen]

12 hours ago, katilac said:

IGotThis looks appealing, but that's a chunk of change to spend every single month. 

Remember when you just bought the dang software? 

 

 

What is the price after the trial period? 

Never mind, I found it. 

 

If it helped hugely it could still still make sense to do it. 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Pen

[SanDiegoMom]

On 9/12/2018 at 1:33 PM, Pen said:

 

Is it something you have set up for kids to see/ use themselves ?   I have been using Cozi to present To Do checklists for others, and it helps a lot but I wish were a little different  ...

Crossing off and dropping to Bottom would be nice  That would help a lot while shopping for example.  Mine stays in same spot so I have to search for not yet crossed off items.  

For timer I am using the cellphone’s own timer or the timer on HomeRoutines. Those take setting it myself each new task time, but seems to be okay. 

 You can share google keep lists with other people if they have a google account. Mine both have google accounts and they set up there to do lists every morning with me right now. I'm hoping eventually they can do it on their own but they aren't there yet. And we literally make a new one every day, so it's not so much a planner as it is just a checkoff of tasks.