As the year is creeping to a close, I've been thinking about the apps that have come out this year and made life more organized and productive for individuals. This list covers some of my personal favorites, as well as those that seem to benefit the more disorganized people in my life. Enjoy!

Featured App Reviews



Timeful iPhone App

Timeful is a free iPhone app that intelligently helps you find time to do the things you want to do, without overriding the things you have to do. It has a superbly simple and clear interface, and the more you use it, the better it gets because it uses machine learning. In other words, the app pays attention to the tasks you typically do and learns over time when you are most likely to do them, such as completing work tasks in the morning, but remembering to call your mother back at night. Then when it's time to schedule similar tasks, it suggests times that are likely to be best for you. One of the app's co-founders and creators is behavior economist Dan Ariely; see my interview with Ariely to get an idea of all the complex psychological stuff that went into making this app tick.



Mailbox Android app

While the Mailbox app itself isn't new as of 2014, the Android version is (the Mailbox iPhone app and Mailbox iPad app had been out since 2013). The idea behind Mailbox is to make processing email faster and easier, so that you do it more frequently and with greater consistency. It has a few innovative features, such as being able to "snooze" messages—a game-changer in my book. If you're drowning in email and need some help, Mailbox is a wonderful app worth trying. Email power users, on the other hand, are less likely to feel drawn toward it, as it focuses more on simplicity and speed than fine controls.



Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout app

I use a lot of fitness apps, and one of my favorites for efficiency is The Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout App, available for both iPhone and Android. It's one of a few truly free apps that can help you break a quick sweat at an intensity level that's right for you, and in a limited amount of time, although longer workouts are available. It's great for people at any fitness level. The app is polished and smooth, with excellent instructions. I highly recommend it to business travelers who need to squeeze in quick hotel-room workouts.



Asana iPhone app

The task-management and workflow-management app Asana has been gaining popularity for a few years now, but an overhaul of its iPhone app earlier this year makes the platform much more useful to busy, on-the-go folks. If you use Asana, you'll definitely want to download the free Asana iPhone app. An updated Android app is reportedly in development, too. Hang tight, 'droid users.



Evernote

Another oldie but goodie that saw significant updates this year is one of my personal favorite apps of all time: Evernote. The Web app has a much more pared-down design these days, and a new chat function in all the Evernote apps makes it much easier to actually work with collaborators in real time using the note-taking app.



EasilyDo

Back in February, mobile app EasilyDo (there's an EasilyDo iPhone app and EasilyDo Android app) released version 3.0, and it made this personal assistant smarter and more powerful than ever. It's hard to explain what EasilyDo does, because it does a little bit of everything: automatically add to your address book new people who contact you; post "Happy birthday" on your friends' Facebook pages on the right day; automatically send a text message to your partner if you leave work late; tell you the state of your packages when you get an email confirmation with the tracking number; and on and on. A premium service ($49.99 per year) adds some very cool and features that keep you organized and productive, from real-time travel alerts for gate changes, to flagging important emails. EasilyDo is a wonder.

Further Reading

Mobile App Reviews