As the first and last things we look at each day, our phones can have a huge impact on our mood and the course of our day. As tools, they are latent with distraction – from social notifications and to chat pings – but as one of our favorite devices they also hold huge potential to support our productivity. Indeed, many of us now use our phones for work in some capacity, with work apps like Slack and Gmail co-existing with the likes of Facebook and Snapchat.
To truly maximize your phone’s productive potential, here are just seven productivity apps for Android worth checking out – from managing information between devices to automating entire tasks.
1. Timely – for automating essential admin
Timely for Android lets you harness the benfits of automatic time tracking on-the-go. You can see everything you work on each day from your Android screen – from documents and communication apps, to meetings and emails. Simply tap on “memories” from your private timeline to log them to your public time sheet – or let Timely’s AI draft them for you! Its GPS integration is particularly useful for those who work off-site, allowing you to accurately capture all travel time. You’ll need to use the web app to enable automatic time tracking, but the extra step pays dividends – enjoy accurate time tracking with minimal effort (and spend more time on the work that matters).
2. Outlook – for streamlining email management
Emails can be notoriously unproductive, especailly when you consider that the average worker spends 23% of each day checking, reading and replying to them. Thankfully the newly redesigned Outlook for Android offers a far more streamlined experience than the standard computer version. If you struggle to stay on top of your priorities, it can also help; its focused inbox keeps the most important messages at the top, so nothing slips through your net. You can jump from your calendar to your inbox in just a few taps, making it easier to schedule emails and share your availability with colleagues on the go. An easy way to manage busy days!
3. Dewo – for doing more deep work
Deep work is essential to producing quality work at an elite level. But it isn’t exactly easy to do; finding and structuring the time for it – and protecting your attention once you’re doing it – take a huge amount of effort. That’s where Dewo comes in. This AI-powered “deep work assistant” analyzes your productive patterns and actively helps you create the conditions for regular deep work. It can tell whenever you enter a flow state, automatically muting Android notifications to help protect your focus. It can also intelligently schedule meetings for you, using AI to find a time with the minimal impact on everyone’s productive routines and deep work availability. Install the web app for the full Dewo experience.
4. Solid Explorer – for easy cross-device file access
Android gives you unprecedented access to files stored in a multitude of cloud locations, but actually accessing them – without the assistance of an additional app – can sometimes be tricky. Luckily, Solid Explorer makes accessing and managing these files easy and stress-free. Its simple, friendly interface has plenty of useful features, from archiving tools to root access, and it connects directly to Google Drive, Dropbox and many other tools. If you find yourself wasting too much time looking for things on your Android device, don’t hestitate to get this app.
5. TickTick – for mobile task management
To keep on track of your to-do list, download TickTick, an Android task manager app with a smart interface. For a mobile app, its feature range is impressive: you can easily organize and arrange lists, schedule and create tasks, put together notes (via voice input or typing), monitor your calendar and get reminders about approaching deadlines. Cross-device syncing make it especailly handy, and since its ability to share tasks makes it really useful for allocating jobs – whether that’s household chores or office tasks! Great for staying on top of your tasks and keeping your priorities crystal clear.
6. DejaOffice – for staying on top of your schedule
DejaOffice for Android has countless useful widgets that summarize data and information on your home screen. You can also use shortcuts that take you directly to a specific function of the app. One of the best widgets has to be the Today widget, which collates and highlights your upcoming appointments, so nothing comes as a nasty surprise. It’s also the only Android Outlook sync app that allows you to choose whether you want to sync Cloud, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB Connect. Handy, if you can forgive the rather basic design.
7. Scalefusion Device Management - for managing mobile devices
It is imperative for organisations to ensure that remote teams that are dispersed across geographies achieve maximum productivity when conducting mission-centric operations. With Scalefusion Android Kiosk lockdown, organizations can lock down the corporate-liable devices into a single-app kiosk mode or multi-app kiosk mode to ensure that all the predetermined corporate policies, applications, and documents are the only ones utilized, eliminating the fear of alien intrusion or data compromisation.
