While the world is obsessed with productivity and getting work done within seconds, manufacturing companies have been working on productivity tools so that you can finish your tasks with less effort and time. At present, computer-savvy people are opting for various Mac gadgets for an enhanced computing experience. Mac is an operating system that runs a computer. There are different types of Mac gadgets like laptops and desktops. This operating system provides the user with some enhanced features that other operating systems might not deliver. Thus, professional people always seek for a system having a macOS. Corporate companies and leading educational organisations always try to work on a Mac environment for smoother execution and better results.
A productivity app is a software application that produces information in the form of documents, worksheets, presentations, charts, graphs, databases, and multimedia like digital images or paintings, audio and video. It is so named as it is designed to enhance one’s productivity in terms of works, especially for office workers, typists and even for personal tasks. Productivity software becomes necessary for boosting up one’s work efficiency and speed. Time is precious and you can’t waste any more!
Mac has been coming up with more and more improvised productivity apps since its launching day, which helps one to get jobs done with ease. A handful of productivity apps are presently available for Mac. These apps are designed by the developers to ensure that the productivity of a Mac gadget increases drastically. Individuals and companies can start using these applications according to their needs to meet their goals. When it comes to the working environment, employees can use top-notch productivity apps for quicker and convenient completion of the work.
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Types of Productivity Apps
There are two types of productivity applications available for users based on their work goals and needs. These include;
- Time Management Software: With this type, one can easily keep track of time right on the screen without having to do any manual intervention, no matter which task one is carrying out.
- Project Management Software: With a project management application, one can track major ongoing projects, their status and the progress of each team member.
Benefits of Productivity Apps
If you can choose the right productivity app for yourself and your business, you can be benefitted in several ways, including –
- Enhanced user experience and a seamless workflow
- Flexibility in your work
- You can save your time and energy
- Instant access to all the necessary documents and other data
- Brings organisation and harmony in the overall infrastructure
- Seamless coordination and collaboration amongst various colleagues, team members and organisations, thereby facilitating an effective interdepartmental collaboration
- Ability to complete projects or tasks within fixed deadlines
- Building up a better and more efficient talent pool, thus widening future opportunities
- Facilitates idea generation which helps to bring about innovations in one’s work procedures
- Enhances the internal systems of an organisation
- Makes learning easier and better
- Lets you carry on with conference meetings, group discussions or video/audio conference calls smoothly
- One can use a wide range of functionalities, thus promoting smart work
Essential Things to Check in a Productivity App
There are certain things that you must look for before subscribing to a productivity app. As these applications help you with task management, always look for the following in them:
- Usage Benefits: Any app will be beneficial for you only if it delivers the conveniences relating to your profession. Just be a little careful while choosing the right Macbook apps for suiting your needs. The applications are designed to perform some actions that can ease your activities while computing. Make sure you shortlist only those productivity apps which would be useful and beneficial for you and your business. Install only those selected few and move all others into the trash.
- Lets you manage time: An ideal productivity app would be able to save a lot of your time and get your work done instantly. Make sure that you can meet deadlines with a particular software and you are not having to spend a lot of time learning how to use it.
- Helps you manage your tasks and projects: Your software should be able to handle all your tasks and projects and help you cope up with your workflow efficiently. Make sure you are able to handle multiple projects and to-do lists simultaneously without facing any slowdowns.
- Comfortable sharing facilities: There’s no point in subscribing to any software which won’t let you share your work seamlessly, be it documents and other valuable information with other related individuals within the infrastructure like colleagues, clients, customers and organisations.
- Secured and encrypted data storage: Your productivity app should not only be able to store a wide variety and a considerable amount of data and information but should also be able to provide you with the necessary security and protection. You cannot afford to lose your valuable information or worse, a data breach!
- User-friendly interface: Your software must provide you with an easy-to-use and easily understandable interface with a good number of visible menu options. Make sure that your app is not taking up too much of your time in finding possibilities for carrying out a specific task.
Comparison Table of the Best Calendar Apps for Mac
Which are the Best Productivity Apps for Mac?
Now that you are aware of the factors that one must consider before downloading random software from the Mac app store, we have come up with a compiled list of the top productivity apps for increasing the productivity of your MacBook.
1. ToDoist
Comes for free for basic functionality, at $36 per year for premium features and at $90 per year for getting full-featured access for an entire team.
Being at the top of our list of the best productivity apps for Mac, the ToDoist app comes handy for those who need to jot down everything before starting to work. One can easily create a list of the major tasks of the day, the week, the month, or the year. With over 10 million users, this app is known for making work management easier and more comfortable.
Features
- It intelligently categorises your tasks and projects based on your entries
- You can discuss project details with your team members
- Provides interactive workspaces or boards to enhance a more collaborative work
- Can create meeting reminders based on entries like ‘tomorrow at 5 pm’
- The app lets you monitor deadlines and work progresses
- Get automatic or set manual reminders to upcoming tasks or due dates
- Assign priority levels to each task to complete them accordingly
- Enables you to create recurring events by simple statements like ‘every Monday’ or ‘every month’
- The paid version has backup and automatic reminder features
Pros
- The app will automatically set reminders by detecting your tasks or appointments at your preferred time
- You can plan projects and assign responsibilities accordingly to your team members and keep track of the entire team
- You can randomly enter tasks and plans into the app as fast as they appear in your mind and ToDoist will classify and prioritise them accordingly so as to make it easily accessible for you
- Integrates with platforms like Gmail, Google Calendar, Amazon Alexa, Slack and others
- The built-in Safari extension lets you make a quick plan of your day
- Syncs with Siri, Share extension, Today widget and many more
- Suitable for meeting both professional and personal goals
- The best features of the app are free to use
Cons
- Doesn’t work without an internet connection
- Users have reported facing issues while syncing between mobile and Mac
- Widget is not automatically updated every day unless you open the app
Compatibility
Compatible with macOS, iOS, Windows, Android
2. Clockify
It comes for free for basic features, and at a price point of $9.99 per month for extra features.
With this ultimate time tracker and timesheet software, you can track time while working on projects or tasks. Living in a generation in which time management is essential for carrying out a task efficiently, thus being able to measure the amount of work you can manage within a particular time. If you a freelancer or an agency with strict deadlines for submitting projects and assignments, time management is quite important. Being one of the top must have Mac apps, Clockify will help you achieve your targets.
Features
- One can track time automatically while carrying out various activities
- Helps one to record the amount of time spent on a specific task or project
- Create various reports on the basis of the time you have measured
- Manage your projects and assignments efficiently
- You can create billable hours by entering details like the amount of time required to complete a certain task and your prefered hourly rates
- Idle time detection facility
- Seamless switching between various devices enables you to track time from any device
Pros
- You can track the amount of time spent on a project directly from your desktop
- Lets you create billable amounts or to track how productive an employee or worker is so that you can generate a payroll
- You can add tags, annotations and sub-sections with each project, assignment or task as mind notes
- Lets you assign time slots to each task, project or client for better work productivity and time management
- The moment a particular time slot is over, the software notifies you to take a short break or to finish up gradually for starting the next task on the list
- Lets you set reminders about taking up tasks or completing any within a fixed time
- Provides you with a real-time representation of time taken to complete various tasks
- Lets you pause for some time so that you can focus on some other urgent task or make changes in the plan
- Allows you to manage several projects together and switch between them easily
Cons
- Some technical glitches regarding time slots and tasks might occur
- In the paid version, the subscription packages might not be suitable for people looking for cost-efficient productivity tools
Compatibility
Compatible with macOS, iOS, Windows, Android
3. Keyboard Maestro
Comes at a price point of $36.
It is an automation app designed to help you perform a variety of tasks like switching from one application to another, or opening and quitting apps with the help of keyboard shortcuts. This software enables one to have a seamless working experience by boosting up your time management abilities. If you are looking for a software that would help you to navigate through various apps and use your Mac in a more convenient and faster way, go for Keyboard Maestro.
Features
- You can set, record, design or even create your custom keyboard shortcuts according to your convenience
- You can navigate through various apps using these shortcuts without facing any delays
- Its Clipboard Switcher lets you manage and switch between an unlimited number of clipboards
- You can manage your clipboard history with the help of its Clipboard History Switcher
- It comes with a Window Switcher facility which lets you navigate between various windows easily
- The Application Switcher of the app enables one to switch between several apps
Pros
- It saves time and allows an efficient working experience
- A lot of repeated processes will be automated by the app with its ability to detect work procedures intelligently
- Randomly launches, quits or navigates through applications
- Comes with Restart, Shut Down and Sleep options for your Mac
- You can control the mouse and the scroll button apart from your keyboard
- You can control the volume of your Mac device
- Lets you control everything that’s required right from your keyboard
Cons
- It basically presents a list of commands
- Having actionable button presets instead of lists would have been better
- Look wise it appears a bit clumsy and often uninteresting
Compatibility
Compatible with macOS, iOS.
4. 1Password
Its personal package is $3.99 per month for individuals and $6.99 for a family of 5 members, with a free 30-day trial period.
Do you still have the habit of storing usernames and passwords in a plain excel sheet from which you copy-paste every time you require them? Do you use the same password for all of your accounts to get rid of noting them down each time? It’s time that you must switch to a software for saving all your passwords. 1Password is a password manager application which relieves you of going through the annoying process of remembering each and every password! This app would store everything for you.
Features
- Stores credentials in private vaults
- Lets you easily share your credentials lists with your family members or teammates
- Helps you to quickly open an account without wasting time searching for passwords while logging in
- Integrates with all major browsers and operating systems
- Lets you generate a password to lock and secure your credentials
- Gets easily synchronised with all major devices like Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more
- Lets you create strong and unique passwords or generate memorisable phrases
- Helps you to see all your information at one place by adding other accounts of your family members
Pros
- Once you create an account, the software will automatically create and save a password for you
- You would get alerts when a site requires you to change the password
- The app prevents you from creating duplicates of a particular credential
- Quite secure and reliable
- Face ID and fingerprint unlock feature available that works super smooth
- The app also stores two-factor authentication codes to help you sign in quickly
- Lets you assign into various websites and applications within a few simple clicks
- The inbuilt password generator lets you change your passwords or make them stronger anytime
- The app offers auto-fill options for details like usernames, passwords, credit or debit card details, bank account details, addresses, document ids, Wi-Fi passwords, and many more
- Vaults help you to store multiple passwords with classifications to help you keep work and personal life separate
- All data gets synced automatically between various devices and accounts
Cons
- The app doesn’t come with proper explanations of how to use it
- Often makes the user difficult to find saved security pins and account numbers
- App closes rapidly and one has to reopen it with its password every now and then
- The app behaves differently for each different browser or device. For example, the mobile version doesn’t come with all the features available on Mac.
- Doesn’t always work with web pages and can get a bit messy at times
Compatibility
Compatible with macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, ChromeOS, Linux, Web
5. Trello
It is free to use, with additional features coming at a price point of $9.99 per month.
Trello is a project management app which helps you to not only manage your projects with ease., but also make you enjoy while working on them. Its intelligent graphics can make work less stressful. With Trello one can break up a piece of a large assignment into smaller easily attainable ones. In this way, one can find it interesting to complete even the most tedious tasks.
Features
- You can create “Cards’ to break up your project into smaller chunks and to represent various stages of the project
- Once you complete a particular task, you can move by simply dragging and dropping the associated card to the next task list or close it altogether
- You can organise and classify various parts of your assignment with the help of lists, boards or cards
- With this app, you can prioritise your tasks
- Contains native notifications to remind you of completing a specific task
- You would get notified whenever someone adds a new task on a board
- You can add checklists or To-do lists on various cards
- Lets you assign tasks to yourself and your team members
- Enables you to add photos and videos, or attach other files
- You can display the cards with Calendar views
Pros
- Being one of the best task management app, it lets you create sections or topic clusters to make work procedures smoother
- Lets you share several tasks to relevant clients or team members for an efficient workflow
- Good user-interface
- Lets you create cards instantly from anywhere
- You can set a shortcut to open and access the main window from anywhere
- Keyboard shortcuts are available for carrying out specific tasks within the application
- You can work on multiple boards open on multiple windows simultaneously
- You can mark or ‘Star’ the boards you consider important or in the top priority and easily navigate between different starred boards with the help of quick shortcuts
- You can add comments or annotations for your shared members to see
Cons
- The app keeps closing down or freezes after a few moments of inactivity, making one to force quit and restart the app
- Often doesn’t save tasks one is working on due to technical glitches
- App keeps freezing and crashing from time to time
- Slower and buggier than the web version
Compatibility
Compatible with macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Web
While innovation is the key to success, the modern era of technological boom demands one to take the help of more useful and productive resources to achieve prosperity. With everyone around you rushing towards the finishing line of success, you can’t afford to be staying back. One has to be more efficient in their workflow and productivity apps can help one to achieve that. In such a highly competitive market and a sea of other companies swarming around, one has to struggle hard to stand out of the crowd.
