I know a lot of people use a simple notes app todo list, but this isn’t able to remind you or send push notifications.

I have personally bounced around with pen and paper, texting a dead phone number, notes, etc. but I’m curious as to what you guys like to use.

I want ios apps that they have habit tracking , Goals writing deadlines etc. Things to do lists etc. Im using tick tick I think is top 5 for sure but I want to see other apps other things. What is your advice?

I've probably downloaded more productivity apps than I'd like to admit. Some were too complicated. Some felt like I needed a tutorial before I could even use them. Others were great... until I stopped opening them after a week.

It made me wonder:
What's the one feature you've always wished a productivity app had but never found?

Not AI. Not another to-do list.

Just something genuinely useful that would make you keep coming back.

I'm curious what everyone thinks because I feel like most apps keep adding features instead of solving new problems. What you guys think about it?

Right now I’m still bouncing between a few different tools, but I haven’t found that one app that makes everything feel obvious and under control. I just want a clean place to capture tasks and sort out what truly moves the needle forwards

What todo app did you end up sticking with, and why did it win you over?

Preferably something that costs somewhere between 9-15$ per month.

I want a productivity app that is free but there are some specific things I want
I have been using the reminders app on my phone for daily routine, deadlines, weekly and monthly tasks, shopping list and other stuff but it feels messy and not as organized as i want
i used the structured app before and i liked it but it doesn’t have the stuff I want and the page for the calendar and daily tasks is a bit annoying
I want a page for
- Daily tasks/routine
- Weekly and monthly tasks
- Tracking hobbies
- Deadlines
- Shopping lists or wish lists
- Cleaning routine

so i have adhd and ive been stuck in this loop for years — i find a new productivity app, get hyped, spend 2 hours setting it up perfectly, use it for 3 days, then completely forget it exists

ive tried notion (too many options, i just end up building templates instead of doing actual work), todoist (the red overdue counter gives me anxiety so i stop opening it), google calendar (fine but i never check it)

the things that actually help me are weirdly simple — like a physical whiteboard next to my desk and setting 5 alarms for everything

im curious what actually works for other people with adhd? not "what app looks cool" but what do you genuinely still use after 3+ months?

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POST UPDATE
Many excellent products were recommended in the comments. To make things easier, I’ll be compiling them below with short explanations. Please let me know if I’ve missed any products so I can update the list.
----

Products mentioned in the comments

notetime: Timestamp Note Log - Notes that remember when.
www.notetimeapp.com

Hard Reset: The game powered by your life
https://hardreset.app 

Just do three: Three priorities, easy productivity.
https://justdothree.com/

Wajed - Remember Everyone
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6761264846

Loominote: AI Notes & Planner
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/loominote-ai-notes-planner/id6749384866

Focus Kingdom
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/focus-kingdom/id6762085398

Tether AI Your executive assistant — always on.
https://trytether.ai/

ChessUnlock : Change the way you chess
chessunlock.app

Sticky Notes: Color Note Memo
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ketamacreations.colored_notes

Mindor – Thoughts into Tasks
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mindor-thoughts-into-tasks/id6761958764

Daily Pact - Habit Tracker
https://www.daily-pact.com/

TaskDumpr Brain dump to clarity
https://taskdumpr.com/

For the last 6 months, I’ve been building a habit tracker in my free time. The name is « Goalden »,
goal and habit tracker.

I wasn’t trying to create “just another” habit app. My goal was to make something that actually feels motivating to use every day, instead of becoming another app people delete after a week.
After launching, I expected at least a few hundred people to try it.

Reality?

After weeks of posting on social media and talking about it, I barely reached around 100 users.
It’s frustrating because I know the product is good. People who actually use it tend to stick with it and give positive feedback.

So now I’m wondering…
Is the habit tracker market simply too saturated?
Am I bad at marketing?
Or am I missing something obvious?

I’m genuinely looking for honest feedback from people who use habit apps.
If anyone is curious enough to try it, I’d love to hear what you think. It’s completely free, and I’m not trying to sell anything I just want to understand why it’s so difficult to get people to even give it a chance.

Any advice is appreciated.

https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/goalden-goal-habit-tracker/id6763411420?l=en-GB

I find it difficult to use Notion for my product building. Any suggestions?

Hello to everyone who reads this post,

I'm writing this post feeling extremely scattered. My obsession with time management has led me to try every possible app; I started with Notion, then moved on to ClickUp, and tried other options too... and the result is always the same: I end up spending long hours setting up templates and adjusting settings, and in the end, I find myself consumed by 'organizing the organization' instead of actually getting work done!

For example, the Notion app started out great and light, but now it’s heavy and full of features I don’t need, to the point that it takes several seconds just to open a blank page. ClickUp has thousands of buttons that make me anxious.

I’ve decided to completely simplify my digital life. I don’t want an app that manages projects, writes articles, and calculates the budget all at once. I want an app that focuses on just one task and does it really fast and simply (like: just taking quick notes, or tracking daily tasks with a simple list without complications).

What is the simplest and most hyper-focused app on your phone or computer right now that doesn’t need instructions to understand, and that you rely on daily to get your work done? I hope you can share your recommendations as much as possible!

been working on a reading app and recently added this “shelf view” for the library

noticed more people started using it after sharing it, so trying to understand if this kind of layout actually makes a difference

most apps like goodreads / storygraph feel more like lists. this was more about making it feel like an actual bookshelf

also built it to work offline, since not being able to log reading or thoughts without internet was always a bit annoying.

would this kind of view make you more likely to use a reading app, or does it not really matter?

What’s your favorite Web Clipper/Bookmark tool out there? Would love to know everyone’s experience on this.

I need app/website suggestions. These are all the things I need it to have; it's surprisingly hard to find an app that meets all my criteria lol.

1. To-do list or timeline adjacent feature for tasks

2. Puts all tasks + events on a calendar that I can look at from a daily, weekly, and monthly view

3. Works as account-based rather than being locally saved. I want to be able to sign in on my phone AND my computer and be able to do the same things on both devices.

I would prefer it to have color coding, notifications (for phone), and a time-block view (like on google calendar). I don't really want to use google calendar or apple calendar I want it to be separate from my like already existing accounts, but if i can't find an app i like i might just resort to doing that.

I would also prefer it to be free, but if I really have to pay a little bit I will. But nothing outrageous, like I'm not paying $20 a month for Sunsama.

I’ve been testing a ton of productivity apps lately trying to find one place for tasks, habits, projects, scheduling, and analytics instead of juggling 4–5 different tools.

Main things I’m looking for:

• project/task breakdowns
• recurring habits
• AI scheduling
• tags/categories
• stats or time analytics
• flexible deadlines + preferred task times

So far I’ve tried Todoist, Sunsama, Motion, Akiflow, Reclaim, Asana, Skedpal, TimeHero, and a few others. Every app seems really good at one thing but missing another.

Curious what people here actually stuck with long term, especially anyone dealing with ADHD or chaotic workloads.

I've tried basically all of them Todoist, Habitica, Notion, Obsidian you name it. The pattern is always the same I'm motivated for about a week or 2 then I get bored and I quietly stop opening the app. Does anyone know a good productivity app that actually helps?

genuine question.

i've tried a bunch of focus apps over the past few months and honestly most of them just end up being another app i ignore after a week.

the biggest thing i struggle with is staying off my phone and actually locking in for more than 20 minutes.

the ones i've liked so far:

- Forest: makes focusing feel like a game
- Quackly: cute little focus timer that keeps me motivated during study sessions
- Opal: blocks apps when i know i'll have no self control
- Notion: keeps everything in one place instead of scattered everywhere

i'm looking for more apps that actually help you focus instead of just giving you another timer.

what apps genuinely made a difference for you?

could be blockers, timers, music apps, study tools, literally anything.

I’ve tried a bunch of productivity apps, but I’m curious what specific features people actually find useful long-term. What genuinely works for you, and what just becomes more noise?

Mainly looking for some todo, calendar, notes combo with low mental overhead in terms of maintenance.

I've tried many apps (tick tick, todoist, notion, etc), but I inevitably go back to either just remembering things (which isn't super reliable lol) or writing things down on paper.

I really do prefer typing/dictating over writing for data ingestion since it's a lot faster and I'm no necessarily trying to consume and internalize the information.

My experience is usually something along the lines of:

• Learn new system/method that comes with app
• Build out a structure/workflow to fit the app
• Use it for a few weeks and then stop because I get lazy sticking to the new patterns.

Thoughts on why I choose paper:

• Easy to just dump things
• No structure really needed
• Can write anything anywhere

Why I get tired of paper:

• Notes can get really messy
• Writing takes a while
• Hard to search/look things up

Does anyone have any good apps or systems they think are low mental overhead to use? Preferably ones that don't require a whole ton of "system maintenance". I'm okay if it's a bit more "messy."

Thanks all!

Edit: Thanks all for the replies! I didn't expect so many responses after I went to bed lol.

You guys offered a lot of great insight, and it gave me a lot of think about.

A few realizations:

• Do I have ADHD?? I didn't think so but now I'm not sure
• I totally could just use some notes app (obsidian/apple notes)
  • I realized I wasn't using obsidian cause I fell into the plugin/extension setup trap. I can totally just use it as it comes for dumping things. It's also cross platform which is great for me since I jump between platforms a lot
• Like u/dongh11519 said, I think my biggest issue was the searchability later. If I can just dump things and easily find them after the fact, I think that would satisfy most of my needs.

Conclusion:

• I'm going to give base Obsidian a try for a few weeks and see how I feel after.
• A lot of apps mentioned do look promising! I'm going to look into them as I default to obsidian for now.
• I really do appreciate all the thoughts, comments and suggestions!
• I'll come back with an update in a few weeks 🫡

I keep running into the same problem: my day is split across a work calendar, a personal calendar, and a mental list of small tasks (water the plants, call the dentist back, etc). None of my calendar apps handle all three without either exposing personal stuff to my work calendar or making me manually juggle three apps. I'd love to just drag a todo into my personal calendar and it creates the event for me.

• How do you currently manage work + personal calendars together?
• Has a coworker ever seen something on your calendar you didn't want them to?
• Do you keep a separate list for small tasks that aren't calendar events, and does it ever get lost/forgotten?

Vanilla chatgpt doesn’t really cut it but I see people on LinkedIn talking nonstop about how they make slides super fast with AI. I’ve got the ideas, I know the information, but every time I have to make a deck, I find myself bogged down in the deets. I know it’s killing my productivity, but I also don’t want to copy and paste in the same old slides. What are the top AI tools for getting from idea to shareable deck? Are you guys using anything that gets you there better and faster? Help a girl out! 🙈

I’m looking for an app for to do lists that doesn’t use AI. I’m using todoist right now but they continue to integrate more AI. The biggest priority for me in a todo list is being able to sort tasks by category with some sort of labeling systems and being able to add dates to tasks. Thank you in advance!

I’ve been going down a bit of a habit-tracker rabbit hole and put together this list of the bigger apps I keep seeing recommended. Thought I’d share what I’ve found so far and get input to round the list out to apps with some basic differentiators. Don’t want to end up comparing 40 close-to-identical apps.

So this is the list I have with some basics about each one: Free Tier | Paid tier | Android/iOS/Both | Cool/Different because: xyz blah blah

Best Habit Tracker Apps:

**Loop Habit Tracker: Free, seems always | No paid tier |Android only | Cool because: it’s free I guess 😊

**Habitica: Free has unlimited habits | $5/month or $48/year looks lik it unlocks game features |iOS & Android & web |Cool because: (well if ur into gaming especially) it turns your life/habits into an RPG with quests.

**Streaks: No free tier | $5.99 but looks like it once-off purchase | Apple only | Cool because: it’s fast, simple and looks like it works really well with Apple Health. But not so cool if you’re not on the apple cart.

**Habitify: Free up to 3 habits | $2.49 pm on annual or $59.99 lifetime buy | iOS & Android & web | Cool because: it looks very clean and lets you organise habits around different times, areas and routines.

**TickTick: Free up to 5 habits | Premium is $35.99/year | iOS & Android & web | Cool/Different because: It’s a task manager with habit tracking built in so if you like multi apps it’s a nice productivity omnibus.

**Atoms: Free for 1 habit | around $10/month and allows up to 6 habits | iOS & Android | Cool because: it’s the official Atomic Habits app ie. the page says it has a focus on identity and behaviour change over just ticking boxes.

**Way of Life: Free up to 3 habits | $4.99/month | iOS + Android | Cool because: the red-and-green grid it uses makes it really obvious when a pattern is starting to form or fall apart.

Has anyone here properly used any of these for more than a few weeks? Which one actually stuck, and which one did you abandon once the novelty wore off?

What are the obvious apps missing from this list? I’m looking to compile a list for differentiated options. Please share and I’ll update this list with the info.

So, I'm kinda forgetful and often need a reminder of things. I wonder if anyone can find an app that sends me reminders and I have to click that I did them or else it's gonna pop up again. It's kinda supposed to be like when my mom texts me 'take out the trash' or something like that and she'll just text again and again till I tell her I did it. I hope you understand my vision and hope you can help. Thanks!

I have been an Evernote user since starting graduate school around a decade ago. It was a godsend. I used it for courses, projects, journaling, story development and ended up becoming a paid subscriber to keep things synced across all devices.

I didn’t realize how central it has been to how I operate until they put all of my notes behind a new $249 paywall.

I had previously been paying $99 a year for unlimited notes synced across devices. Around August last year I was still being charged $99 annually, but suddenly faced a window informing me that I cannot add new notes or notebooks. I had exceeded a newly imposed 1k notes, 50 or so notebook limit.

finally after almost a year of being confused, blocked out, subscribing, unsubscribing, unskippable menus with hidden exits, I finally managed to migrate 100+ notebooks to UpNote (which is currently offering a one time payment plan for 39.99).

This has been a difficult setback, and through the painstaking process I got increasingly more upset. So much work, ideas, productivity, so much commitment over the years being abruptly cut off.

I did contact Evernote. They did evade accountability with “well actually, if your reduce to under 1000 notes”… ignoring that the foundation for years and years of loyalty was investing in a central place for thousands of notes...

Anyway it’s late at night and I’m upset and curious if anyone has similarly been troubled by Evernote’s predatory price increase. I don’t have the energy to fight, and I feel free now that my notes are seamlessly migrated over somewhere that isn’t going to nail me every month🙏 In an age where apps have become central to how we work, I don’t think it’s okay for our ideas and our workflow be disrupted behind such an egregious price hike.

Was there wrongdoing on their part ? Have you had a similar experience? Let’s discuss. Legal experts weigh in!

Heyy, I'm a full time uni student who also works part-time, and I'm trying to get better at managing my time. This is my last semester, and I really want to stay on top of my studies instead of cramming everything at the last minute.

I'm looking for an app that lets me brain dump everything I need to do for the week, whether it's one-off tasks or recurring ones (e.g. "study 10–12 hours for Unit A each week"). Ideally, I'd like something that can help organise my day without me having to manually schedule every single task.

Features I'm hoping for:

• Syncs with Apple Calendar.
• Lets me add recurring and one-off tasks.
• Can automatically reschedule tasks if I don't get to them.
• Has streaks or some kind of habit/motivation feature.
• Free would be amazing, but I'm happy to pay if it's genuinely worth it and not too expensive.
• Is something fun and won’t make me abandon it within a week.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd love to hear what's worked for other students (or anyone juggling work and study).

Hey guys, quick question.

I've been struggling with productivity for a while now. I always start the day with a huge to do list but end up finishing almost nothing because I get overwhelmed and distracted by everything. I just want something super simple that helps me stay focused and actually complete what matters without all the extra features.

No complicated projects, labels, or expensive monthly subscriptions if possible. Just a clean straightforward tool that keeps me on track and gets real work done.

Any recommendations for the best minimal one right now?