*Please note that all of the listed apps are not free.
- Freedom – This is an app that will help with blocking distractions while working from home.
- FocusMe – This is another productivity app that can help with blocking distractions.
- Cold Turkey – This is another productivity app that can help with blocking distractions.
- RescueTime – This is another productivity app that can help with time management.
- CaveDay – This online productivity ‘gym’ puts you in working sessions with other humans, along with facilitators to help keep you on track. See other options, some free and some that charge in this BBC article.
- Focusmate – This program pairs you with an accountability person and sets you up in virtual coworking sessions, designed to help you get through tasks.
- Headspace – This app provides guided meditations
- Insight Time – This app provides free meditations in various languages
- OneTab – This Google Chrome application allows you to group and pause tabs on your browser. This can both minimize distractions and save computing resources.
- Tomato Timer – This is one of many free Pomodoro timer options. The Pomodoro method has you work in 5 25-minute blocks with 5-minute breaks in between each block.
- Forest – This app provides a timer that allows you to block out distracting websites while the timer is running. The timer has a tree animation the grows when you’re on task and withers when you aren’t. The browser version is free, but there is also a premium phone version that will help you stay off your phone by withering your virtual tree if you pick up your phone during work time.
- OneNote – a digital note taking application
- GoodNotes – a digital note taking application
- Diigo – an application where you can store and annotate your readings
- Dropbox – digital storage and link sharing application
- Box – digital storage and link sharing application
- Momentum – This Google Chrome or Firefox extension allows you to set up a personal dashboard with a daily to-do list and inspirational quotes.
- Taskade – an application for making to-do lists and managing projects
- Google Keep – an application for making to-do lists and managing projects
- Todoist – an application for making to-do lists that allows you to tag each task with a variety of tags. This means you could tag tasks with both due dates and by class for faster sorting. SLIS student Ashley Fishbein has this great suggestion: she tags all her tasks by the length of time it takes to do them in addition to other tags. That way, if she finds herself with a spare 15 minutes of time, she can call up a list of all the things she has to do that will only take about 15 minutes, and get one of those tasks done. It’s a great way to use weird chunks of time between tasks and meetings.
- xmind – an application for creating visualizations of mind maps for organizing concepts
- Lucid Chart – a chart and visualization making application; you can upgrade a free account to a full account for free by using your Simmons email
- Grammarly – This app supports your writing by checking for mistakes and suggesting alternative wordings for concisely conveying meaning. This was recommended by fellow Simmons students.
- Skype – an application that allows you to make free voice and video calls to other users
- WhatsApp – a application to share messages