Best Mac App: Be Focused (Free) Be Focused. This article is powered by Be Focused, a Mac-based Pomodoro Timer app—no really, I write on a MacBook, Be Focused is my go-to Pomodoro app, and I used it while writing this article. The product is super simple to use. Add A Pomodoro Timer To Your Mac’s Taskbar With This App. You can adjust the technique to what best suits you, but the general idea here is to work for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute.
It's that time of the year again – time to make New Year’s resolutions. In addition to the traditional pledges to eat healthier or start working out, there’s one thing we all could do with: being more productive.
Who wouldn't want to get an extra hour a day? Or, at least, to get more done, both in personal life and at work.
As for the latter, your team’s productivity plays a vital part in your own success and well-being. It doesn’t matter how productive you are unless the rest of your teammates can keep up.
The Ultimate Writing App for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Focus: The Best Pomodoro App for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac Sponsor By MacStories Team. Focus is a time manager that helps you beat procrastination and work more efficiently using the Pomodoro Technique. How about a Pomodoro-like timer with a positive feedback loop? A game like experience where you score points, and where the difficulty level gradually increases. All that helping you to stay focused and work smarter, not harder. Use This Free Pomodoro App to Stay Focused on Your Work. Productivity techniques like the Pomodoro method have long said that bursts of work and relaxation are the best way.
If you are determined to make 2019 your best year yet, here are our top picks among team productivity tools to get you started.
Top 7 team productivity tools to try in 20191. Smart email client – Spark
I don’t know about you, but I simply can’t start my day if there’s at least one unread email in my inbox. The problem is, sometimes it might take hours to clear that mess, especially after a couple of days off. And there goes your productivity down the drain.
Spark is an email client that promises to make you “love your email again”. Rated as the easiest email client for Mac by SoftwareHow, it is distraction-free and packed with useful collaboration features. Its smart inbox makes sure you never miss an important email. At the same time, it automatically filters out unimportant emails, like newsletters or spam, so you don’t have to waste your time trying to declutter your inbox.
Using intuitive (and easily customizable) controls, you can archive, delete, mark as read or pin your emails with a single swipe. Plus, the app allows you to share conversations with your team, discuss the important things right in your inbox using a built-in chat or collaborate in real-time with shared drafts.
2. Lightweight team chat – Chanty
While emails are mostly used for formal, business communication, team chat is often considered to be a virtual water-cooler. It’s a place where you can catch up with your colleagues, discuss anything from urgent tasks and deadlines to funny cat videos or weekend plans.
Yet, your team productivity often depends on the team chat app you use. Overcrowded with unnecessary features, heavyweight communication tools can slow you down and turn into a major workplace distraction. That’s why we recommend Chanty, a lightweight and efficient team chat app.
It is very easy to set up and use: enter your email and team name, invite your colleagues and you are good to go.
One more point for Chanty is that it offers unlimited chat history. You can easily turn your team chat into a unified knowledge base with convenient file sharing and searchable message history.
To eliminate the distractions, you can customize your notification settings, mute any conversation, or turn on the “Do not disturb” mode.
On top of that, the app has a built-in task manager to help you keep your team progress in check.
And, most importantly, Chanty doesn't limit searchable message history in the freemium plan.
3. All-in-one collaboration tool - Quip
While Google apps, i.e. Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc., may be the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about file sharing and collaboration, there are more options to consider. One of them is Quip.
Owned by Salesforce, the app is a powerful collaboration platform that offers unified storage space for your team. By uploading your files to Quip, you can easily collaborate with your colleagues in real time, make edits or even discuss any questions on the spot – using a built-in chat.
But the best part is that it’s all included in one lightweight and user-friendly app (available on web and mobile). You don’t need to install any additional apps to manage your files (unlike Google), you can access and edit your documents, sheets and slides directly in Quip.
4. Intuitive and efficient task manager – Trello
We all have days that feel like an avalanche of meetings, deadlines and emails. You do your best to work things out, but the tasks keep piling on.
Sure, you can use a planner or put your agenda on sticky notes. Yet, neither of them will notify you of an upcoming deadline or remind you to get milk on your way home. To-do lists and task managers, on the other hand, can help you keep your tasks in check any time, anywhere.
Trello is a great option for keeping your team on the same page. It is a powerful, yet easy to use task manager.
The app lets you organize your workload using a convenient board layout with a drag-and-drop interface. It gives you a quick look at your current tasks and allows you to see progress in real time. How to install battle.net app on mac. You can also use labels to structure your team’s workload, assign the cards to efficiently delegate tasks, add due dates or checklists if needed.
In case any questions arise, you can discuss them in comments. There’s also an opportunity to attach files to your cards to make collaboration even easier.
5. Dead simple scheduling – Doodle
There’s nothing worse than trying to arrange a meeting with a person (or, what’s worse, several people) over a group chat. Switching between calendars, trying to find a time slot that would work for everyone, especially if you live and work in different time zones, can be a major headache.
That’s why scheduling apps enjoy pride of place on our list of team productivity tools. One of the noteworthy tools is Doodle. The app is super-convenient and easy to use. It takes only three steps to arrange a meeting.
Using Doodle, you can arrange group calls as well as one-on-one meetings, or even create polls.
6. Efficient workflow management – Process Street
It doesn’t matter if you are a part of marketing, sales, or customer care team, recurring internal processes make a huge part of your everyday work. But there’s a way to keep them orderly and in check: you just need to break it down to manageable pieces and put it in writing.
Process Street is a powerful workflow management app that helps your team run like clockwork. It allows you to create detailed checklists for the recurring tasks and, as a result, avoid many mistakes in the future.
Be it an onboarding process for a new employee, monthly newsletter, a customer support ticket, or a personal travel checklist, Process Street makes sure you never miss a thing.
7. Must-have tool for multitasking – Shift
When it comes to productivity and staying organized, Shift is another tool you should definitely try.
This handy app saves your time by putting all of your favorite tools you use on a daily basis in one place.
There’s no need to switch between multiple apps or browser tabs as you multitask. You can easily update your tasks on Asana, schedule a meeting on Doodle, or even have a chat with your family on Messenger, all while staying in one desktop app, i.e. Shift.
Bonus: Frevvo, Simple Workflow Software for Effortless Automation
With Frevvo, your customers have all the freedom to interact with you anytime, anywhere, and from multiple computing platforms, your business users are more productive, and your programmers are more efficient.
Create fully automated streamlined workflows with the help of visual form and workflow designers and point-and-click wizards. These easy to use features let you remodel expensive, manual processes into fully automated, streamlined workflows.
The best way to improve your team productivity is by becoming more efficient yourself
While all of the listed apps are amazing and totally worth a try, it’s impossible to build a strong, efficient team unless every one of its members is productive and invested in the results. So, if you want to improve your team performance, start with yourself.
One of the proven ways to boost your productivity is the Pomodoro Technique™. The time management method uses a timer to alternate your activity intervals (usually 25 minutes) with short breaks (5 minutes). As a result, this helps you improve your mental agility and increase personal productivity.
PomoDone App is a simple yet efficient virtual Pomodoro timer.
The app is easy to set up and use. All you need to do is create an account, connect the task management tools you use and select projects, boards or lists you want to track with PomoDone. That’s it.
You can track your workflow using a web/mobile/desktop apps or browser extension. The latter can also help you cut out distractions by blocking the selected websites while you are working.
If you want to take PomoDone App for a spin, there is a free Starter plan available. This could be a good way to start a new year (and make it your most productive year yet).
Author bio: Olga Mykhoparkina is a Chief Marketing Officer at Chanty a simple AI-powered team chat. This powerful and free Slack alternative is aimed to increase team productivity and improve communication at work. Having a 9-year experience in the digital marketing field, Olga is responsible for Chanty’s online presence strategy, managing an amazing team of marketing experts and getting things done to change the way teams communicate and collaborate. Follow Olga on Twitter or feel free to connect on LinkedIn.
What would you like to know and what would be the best way to share this information to you? What is the best tips & tricks, what workaround do you use? We'd really appreciate your insight on these ones to make our integrations better, more productive and much more efficient. Comments, tweets are always welcome.
In today’s fast paced digital world where our attention span is shorter than a Goldfish, everyone is looking for ‘hacks’ to achieve a monk like focus.
And why shouldn’t they.
After all, a higher focus means high productivity, more work, less error and most importantly, more money.
But tell me honestly:
How happy you’d be if I tell you there our specific apps out there designed to help people like you and me increase focus and become more productive.
These tools are called ‘Time Management Apps.’
A time management app is basically a tool that tracks all your digital activities and gives a comprehensive picture of which task, website or app is taking the most amount of your time.
Now, there are dozens of tools out there that calls itself the best in the business. But which one should you go with?
I’ve done the heavy lifting for you and analyzed the 5 most popular time management softwares and the results were quite interesting.
And I’m sure, by the time you’ll finish this article, you’ll have a clear picture in your mind regarding which tool you want to go with.
So, let’s get straight into it.
Best Time Management Apps
The main goal of this review was to find a complete time management tool that not only tracks time and is easy to use but also gives you detailed reports about how much time you’re spending on each task, and lets you block distracting websites too.
One that you can use individually as well as in your business.
According to my test results and first-hand experience, I’ve ranked these apps in best to worst order.
So let’s see which one won the race and which one came last.
1. FocusMe
FocusMe is the most complete time management app out there. It provides time tracking, website blocking, scheduling, and POMODORO support all in one package
At a cost of only a few dollars a month, it is also great value for money.
![]() FocusMe Pros:#1 Time Tracking with Detailed Report
FocusMe excels at core purpose of any productivity tool: tracking the total time spent on each website or app.
As soon as you log in to the app, it will automatically begin tracking how much time you’re spending on each website and app in your computer.
The reports break down by both websites and apps used, which gives you a clear picture.
#2 Website and App Blocking
FocusMe is one of the few tools that allows users to block distracting websites (social media, porn sites, news sites, games, etc.)
On top of this is the ability to block incoming emails on Gmail, while still being able to send them.
#3 POMODORO support
If you’ve done any reading about productivity, you’ve probably come across the POMODORO technique. The FocusMe app is one of a few tools that lets its users take full advantage of POMODORO via a customizable timer.
#4 Scheduling Tasks
With FocusMe you can schedule different tasks in your time management tool and track how much time is spent on each one. For extra efficiency, you can even decide the starting and ending time of each task.
#5 Lowest Price
At just $2.50/mo (billed $xx annually), you get access to all FocusMe’s premium features. Students can get 30% discount on all its plans, and if you like their Facebook or Twitter page, you can receive a 15% discount.
FocusMe Cons:#1 Works with only a few devices
The only disadvantage of FocusMe is the lack of compatibility with many devices.
FocusMe only offers a free Android app, with quite limited features. No iPhone option is currently available. On desktop, it works with Mac and Windows devices, but not Linux.
FocusMe Plans
FocusMe doesn’t have any free plans to offer, but the premium plan is free for the first 15 days, with no credit card required.
Paid plans start from as low as $2.50/month (paid annually). Students can get a 30% discount. There is also a 15% discount for liking and following them on social media.
Businesses must contact the company for a custom price.
Do I recommend FocusMe?
Definitely! The low price point and reporting/tracking features make it one of the best time management software tools available.
2. RescueTime
RescueTime helps you track your time and gain a clear picture of how you spend your time online.
However, while RescueTime does an exceptional job in tracking time and sending reports, it lacks a few key features. RescueTime Pros:#1 Brilliant time tracking and reporting
Accurate time tracking is one of the most notable features of RescueTime. The dashboard refrsshes every five to fifteen minutes, to give you real-time reporting for time spent on your phone or computer.
#2 Set Goals
RescueTime lets you set goals (e.g. restrict social media to one hour day) that can help increase your productivity.
This feature helps users know how they’re progressing towards their desired productivity goal. And this is a unique feature that ai couldn’t find in any other time tracking tool I tested.
#3 Website Blocking
RescueTime is great if you tend to get distracted by social media or news sites while working. The ability to block sites this requires the Premium service, but can be well worth it.
#4 Fast customer support
When I had a question, the support team got back to me within 5 hours and gave a detailed explanation about their product’s feature.
RescueTime Cons#1 Not so User-friendly interface (Android app)
The app interface shows a lot of things at once, such as total logged time, productivity pulse, a small timer icon in the bottom right corner, etc. This confusing as there are no clear instructions.
#2 No POMODORO support
Unlike FocusMe and Toggl, there is no POMODORO support in the RescueTime app.
#3 No scheduling
There also does not seem to be any option to schedule a task for a certain time period.
RescueTime Plans
RescueTime is one of the few time tracking tools with a free account option.
The RescueTime Lite plan comes with zero cost and limited features. RescueTime premium plan starts from $9/month or $72 when paid annually.
Do I recommend RescueTime?
As a free app, it enables you to track your time and also shows you how much time you’re spending on each website . If you need to block websites, then you can consider the premium plan. However, all things considered, it isn’t as great a deal as FocusMe.
3. Toggl
Toggl is by far the easiest time tracking and productivity app. It offers a clean, easy-to-navigate user interface. It is great for solo freelancers or someone with a small team.
It has many features like POMODORO and scheduling, but there are also a few features missing.
Toggl Pros#1 Easy-to-use interface
Toggl has a very clean home page with lots of white space. It clearly shows you how you can get started tracking your activities. It also does not require a download and can be used directly through a web browser on their website.
#2 Easy Scheduling
Scheduling a task in Toggl is just a matter of few clicks, which is a great for a time-saving app. You can also schedule a particular task for a specific time day or time.
#3 Great for Freelancers
Toggl is great for freelancers and for a small team. You can track client and add their name, project and other details in your dashboard. This is great for billing and remote workers.
#4 Project Tracking
Toggl makes it easy to track different projects. By selecting the “Projects” option or going to “Reports” it makes it easy to know how much time has been spent.
#5 POMODORO support
The POMODORO technique is supported by Toggl and is available even if you’re using the basic free plan.
Toggl Cons#1 No website blocking
Unfortunately, the ability to block websites is not supported by Toggl, which can lead to distraction and a drop in productivity.
#2 Slow Customer Support
Toggl does seem to have slow customer support, with their team taking days to respond.
#3 No website or app tracking report
Despite an exceptional job tracking projects Toggl doesn’t show you which websites you’ve visited or apps you used.
Toggl Plans
Toggl offers 4 different plans to its users. The basic plan is free with some decent functionality. The premium plans start from $9/month (billed annually) with a 30 day free trial.
Do I recommend Toggl?
For freelancers and teams looking for a free tool that can track client work and shows you how much time each project Toggl is a great tool.
4. Time Doctor
For freelancers or business owners who hire freelancers, Time Doctor is a fairly popular time tracking tool.
Despite being well known, Time Doctor’s user interface lacks many key features that limit it’s functionality.
Best Pomodoro App IosTime Doctor Pros#1 Time tracking for individuals and teams
While it takes a few minutes to figure out, once you get started Time Doctor does a decent job in this section. Of course, you have to download either their phone or computer app.
It’s also fairly easy to add team members to work on a group project. A simple email can invite them to the group to start tracking.
#2 Compatible with most of the devices
Time Doctor is compatible with almost all operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux and also provides Android, iOS, and Chrome apps.
#3 Exceptional customer support
When it comes to customer support, Time Doctor is the best in class. They answer questions within one hour and provide accurate help.
Time Doctor Cons#1 Messy Dashboard
When it comes to usability, Time Doctor is the most difficult to use app. Lack of white space and clear instructions make the dashboard cluttered.This means it takes more time to use, which sort of defeats the purpose of a time-saving app.
#2 No website blocking
Time Doctor currently has no way to block distracting websites or apps using this software.
#3 No POMODORO support
There is no function in Time Doctor that enables using the POMODORO technique.
#4 Can’t schedule task
Time Doctor does not allow tasks to be scheduled, you can only create projects and track time.
Best Pomodoro App Windows 10Time Doctor Plans
Time Doctor offers only a single plan: $9.99/mo per user with a 14 days free trial. There is no credit card to trial it, so it may be worth testing.
Do I recommend Time Doctor?
Time Doctor is the most complicated app and considering the high price and limited features, it’s not very appealing.
However, for a business owner needing to track employees on a particular project tit may prove useful.
5. Timely
Timely is an AI powered time tracking app that incorporates planning tools It has a great interface, yet lacks some key features like website blocking, POMODORO, etc.
Timely ProsBest Pomodoro Mac#1 Clean user interfaceBest Pomodoro App Mac
Timely features a clean interface that makes it clear how to get started with this app.
#2 Add team member
Timely is great for group projects and to see how much time other members are spending on the project.
#3 Compatible with all popular devices
Timely app works smoothly on Mac and Windows computers and on Android or iPhone.
#4 Task Scheduling
Timely also works as a planner, by allowing you to schedule activities ahead daily, weekly and even monthly.
Mac osx allow blocked app general security. Timely Cons#1 No website blocking
There does not seem to be the ability to block websites or apps inside the Timely app.
#2 No POMODORO support
For POMODORO fans there is unfortunately no support here.
#3 Slow customer support
While Timely is great to use tool, their live chat took over 36 hours to receive an answer.
Timely app plans
Timely does not offer free plans, but offers three different paid plans: Solo, Essential, and Company, which start from $7/month.
Do I recommend Timely app?
If you’re a freelancer who wants to track different projects as well as add multiple users it can be useful.
But it also lacks necessary features like website blocking, POMODORO support, detailed reporting, etc.
Conclusion
In today’s digital world where our attention span is less than a Goldfish and everyone is crazy about being ‘productive’, a time management tool is a must in your arsenal.
And if you’re looking for a tool that offers you all the required features in the lowest possible amount, go with FocusMe. It’s the best tool out there at the moment.
However, if you don’t want to spend a single penny but still want to track your time and stay productive, RescueTime or Toggl could be the best choice for you.
And finally, if you’re a freelancer who just wants to track your total time spent on each project, you can go with Time Doctor or Timely.
So that’s all from us. Now go out there and make the most out of every second of your day. I’m looking forward to read your blog post about ‘productivity hacks’ on BuzzFeed. ?
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