Long gone are the days where the only thing you could do with a phone was to make calls, send text messages and play a few boring 2D games. The advent of smartphones has made it possible and easier to do things we couldn’t do few years ago.

A recent survey on U.S. smartphone use in 2015 showed that 46% of smartphones users in the U.S. see a smartphone as something they cannot live without.

Smartphones are presenting us with an endless list of things we can do.

But the big question is: Are our smartphones making us more productive? With my compulsive desire to remain productive I’m always searching for new ways to harness the power of technology to become more organized and more productive.

Here are my 5 favorite apps which will make you more productive.

1. Any.do

Any.do App

Any.do is a great app for managing tasks, projects and different lists. It’s interface is clean and simple and it is very easy to use.

Any.do allows you to create different lists to manage different things. You can create a list for work projects, personal stuff, tasks and even groceries. If you are working in a team, you can share lists, tasks and projects with other team members.

Any.do syncs across all your devices. You can set reminders for tasks, add notes to tasks, comment on tasks, create sub tasks, upload files, delegate tasks and more.

Any.do also has a pretty neat feature called the “Any.do Moment” where you are reminded to plan your day at a particular time during the day. I personally find this feature useful since I have a bad memory and sometimes do not remember to set up my tasks for the day.

This feature is limited however, and you only have a number of Any.do moments each month. You’ll have to get the premium version of the app if you want more Any.do moments.

Any.do is available on iPhone, Android, as Chrome app, Chrome extension, and the Web.

2. Evernote

Evernote Web App

Evernote is a very versatile cross-platform app designed for note taking, organizing, making to-do lists, reminders, and much more. You can even use it as a cloud storage service. Simply put, Evernote helps you to “Remember Everything”. Evernote syncs seamlessly and instantly across all your devices.

You can access your notes from the web, the Windows desktop program, the Mac desktop program or from your Android phone, iPhone and iPad.

With Evernote, you can take notes, create checklists, snap and save images, create tasks and set reminders for tasks, make drawings, group notes into different notebooks and even make notes in your own handwriting. Evernote also allows you to share notes with other people.

Given the many features Evernote gives you, what you do with the app is all up to you. According to the company,

We don’t tell our users how to organize their notes in Evernote as everyone works differently: some prefer to throw everything into one notebook while others love to create lots of notebooks for various projects and work/life interests.

Try Evernotes Web Client or download the application for Mac or Windows. You can also download the Android and iOS versions.

3. Google Keep

Google Keep web app

Google Keep Android app

Google Keep is another great note keeping app which easily syncs all your notes to your Google Drive account. It doesn’t not have as many features as Evernote but it allows you to do a great deal of stuff.

Google Keep supports voice notes, photo notes, text notes and checklists. You can access and edit any of your saved notes from the web and it has a chrome app dedicated to standalone notekeeping. You can also set reminders for each of the notes your create.

Google keep is lightweight, making it very fast and ideal for taking notes and making lists on the go. It has a colorful and easy to use interface. You can make each notes a different color to distinguish different categories.

Google keep allows you to search and archive notes easily. You can also share your notes with others. Google Keep is available on Android and Chrome and also as a Webapp.

4. Todoist

Todoist is a great cross-platform task and project management application for personal and professional productivity. It allows users to manage their tasks from a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Todoist is available on over 10 platforms including Android, iOS, Web, Chrome, Firefox, OS X, Safari and even has plugins for Gmail and Thunderbird. With Todoist, you can create projects, sub-projects and sub-tasks, set due dates, get notifications on tasks and more.

You also get nice productivity charts as well. There are a number of other very useful features such as commenting on tasks, collaborating with other people, setting reminders, setting labels

and filters and more, but you’ll have to go premium to get access to those features.

Todoist has an attractive, distraction-free interface which makes it nice to use. Check out the Todoist website for all the platforms available.

5.Wunderlist

Wunderlist is an intuitive easy-to-use application which allows you to organize and share your to-do, work, grocery, movies and household lists.

Wunderlist makes it easy to manage tasks. Like the other apps mentioned, you can set reminders and due dates for tasks. You can also group related lists into folders.

Wunderlist also has a premium version which gives you more features such as collaborating with colleagues, friends and family, commenting on tasks, sharing lists and more.

Like Todoist, Wunderlist runs on a lot of platforms. Check out their website for all the supported platforms.

There are a ton of other productivity apps out there, but personally I like these five. Get one of these apps for free now and become more productive.

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