Best apps for boosting your productivity

Any.do makes task-management simple. You list tasks, prioritize, and set push reminders. This free app encourages you to review the list each morning and set a loose plan. It “nudges you throughout the day,” but with upbeat messages such as “Go make it happen.” (Android or iOS)

Carrot To-Do offers a “tough love” approach: Get lazy and you’ll be scolded. More often, its tone is winningly sarcastic, and you accumulate rewards for being productive, like simple games or episodes of an ongoing story. ($2, iOS)

Asana encourages collaboration within a work team or a family, and it connects to services like Dropbox and CloudWork to make sharing easy. (Free, Android or iOS)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Wunderlist cuts the cute stuff, like motivational phrases. But this free app handles its core tasks well. (Android or iOS)

Source: The Wall Street Journal