4 Great Time Management Apps

Whether you’re a student or a professional, juggling the various aspects of your life can be difficult. We can all agree that there’s one thing we could use a lot more of, and if it’s not candy or cartoons, it must be time. That’s right, time is something that is constantly escaping us, and we can never buy more of it. What we can do is learn to use our time wisely, and today we’re going to talk about some excellent tools to help you do just that. Let’s get started.

Trello

You’ve likely heard of this one before, and it’s for good reason. Trello has been around for quite some time now, and has established itself as a reliable, user-friendly task management system. Trello is available on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, and is free unless you’re opening a business account.

Trello lets you create boards and cards that represent different tasks you need to accomplish. These cards can be as simple or as detailed as you’d like, including dates, deadlines, comments, and more. Trello is great for professionals and students, as boards can be shared with other users in the event you’re working in a group.

RescueTime

Do you find yourself wasting way too much time with your eyeballs glued to your phone? RescueTime is here to…ehem…rescue your time! RescueTime tracks all your activity and compiles it all into a nice weekly report that shows you just how much valuable time you’ve been spending watching cute kitten videos on YouTube. If you think you’ve been too distracted, simply set an alarm in the RescueTime app and it will let you know when it’s time to get back to work.

Yes friends, RescueTime will make you accountable for your time and boost your productivity and efficiency, all while saving some extra time at the end of the day to zone out to those sublime Bob Ross reruns. RescueTime is available on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, and is $6.50 per month after a free two-week trial period.

Forest

If you like the idea of an app that lets you know when you’ve been wasting time but don’t want to spend the money for a subscription, Forest is an excellent option. The app is available on iOS, Android, and web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, and yes-it’s entirely free. When you start the app, you’ll plant a virtual seed that eventually grows into virtual tree after 30 minutes. The catch is if you attempt to sidestep your current task with some sweet gaming news on YouTube, your tree will die!

Forest keeps you on track for 30-minute increments as your tree grows by allowing you to create a blacklist of apps that are distracting. Grow more virtual trees, and eventually you’ll earn credits that can be used to plant real trees. Everyone knows virtual trees are cool, but real trees are where it's at. Get productive, be efficient, grow virtual trees, and help the environment. Sounds good to me!

Pocket

If you’re on the disciplined side but perhaps just a bit scatterbrained or forgetful, Pocket is a great tool to help you get organized. Let’s say you’re performing research for a report or for a project at work-Pocket lets you create bookmarks on any content that you think might be helpful, but that you can’t focus on at the moment. Ever had that moment when you saw something interesting but you just can’t remember where? Not anymore!

Another great feature is that any content you’ve bookmarked can be saved across a variety of devices, so no matter where you’re working, everything is right there for you to access. Other features include text-to-speech and an offline mode. Pocket is available for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, and offers both free and paid account tiers.

Depending on your needs, any of these time management apps would likely be a good fit. For this list, we selected the apps that we thought were the most user-friendly, creative in presentation, and that are free or as close to free as you can get. If you’re looking to get more focused and increase your productivity and efficiency, these apps have got you covered.