15 Productivity Apps For Students That Will Literally Change Your Life
If you are looking to change your life, these productivity apps for students are exactly what you need to help you do just that! Trust me when I say you will be your most organized and productive self after trying some of these apps!
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In my own life, productivity apps are the backbone of my organizational systems. I would literally not survive and get through my day without using some of these apps.
If you are looking to make some changes in your life–whether it’s to be more organized, more focused, or to just start using a calendar–productivity apps for students are the perfect place to start. These apps are the best to help you get motivated to make the changes in your life that you are trying to implement.
Regardless of your productivity goals, there is sure to be an app on this list that you will LOVE!
This post is all about productivity apps for students!
Productivity apps for scheduling & organization
1. Google calendar
Of all the productivity apps for students on this list, this is by far my most used one. I literally do not think I would be able to get through my day without looking at my google calendar.
The best part about google calendar is the color coding abilities, as well as the organization of it all. On the computer version, you are able to add personalized calendars based on the different parts of your life. For example, my calendars include blog stuff, “fun”, appointments, work, and school.
These calendars can then all be further organized by adding a custom color for each, in addition to sharing the calendars with other people if that is something you need.
Then, all you have to do is go on your phone or computer and add all your events to each of your categories!
2. Trello
Trello is an amazing resource if you want both a note-taking/to-do-list app in addition to a calendar app. The platform has both an app and desktop version, so you can use it on whatever device you need.
Trello has a million and one different capabilities as far as what you can organize and schedule on the app. I used to use the platform for my blog content calendar and it helped SOOOO much to organize everything.
Plus, you can color code on here as well, which makes everything better!
Productivity apps for to do lists
3. Google keep
Google Keep has been one of the only apps I’ve used for writing digital to do lists. The absolute best feature about the app is the ability to have separate to do lists at once.
On Google Keep, you make different cards depending on what you need. You can either have a to-do list style card (with a heading and then checkboxes underneath) or just a note. Then, you can color code each card depending on the category in your life.
For example, when I used to use it as an online agenda for school, each subject had a different to-do list card that held all my daily homework assignments I had to complete. Then, I had other notes with reminders for the class. This same system can be applied to different categories in your personal life, such as work, home, and family.
4. Todolist
Todolist is a super popular app to manage and organize your to do list. The app is pretty simple and streamlined. You can input different tasks that you have to do and it will organize it based on the date that you want to do each one.
Then, each day, it’ll have a compact and organized to do list for that day specifically. You also have the option to see your to do lists in list view or calendar view, which makes it super versatile for a bunch of different types of people.
The app also lets you add filters and labels to your tasks, which allow you to organize them even further to make sure you get everything done on time.
5. Clickup
Clickup is like Todolist on steroids. While the capabilities of Todolist stop at making and organizing lists, ClickUp has a bunch more functions. Not only are you able to add individual tasks for your to do list, but you can add specific dates and recurring tasks as well. Furthermore, you can also organize each tasks into different spaces, or folders.
The main difference between the two platforms is that on ClickUp, you can also store notes, docs, reminders, and more in the app. It is basically like a catch all app for everything you need.
As far as larger notes than to do lists, you can make different notepads to organize all of your docs.
Another cool feature on this app is the ability to track your time for different tasks. For example, if you had “study for math test” on the to do list, you can select that task and the app will time how long you take to complete it.
6. Someday
I have recently started using this as a digital to-do list tracker and it is so easy and organized!
The premise of this app is that you don’t have to do everything all in one day. When you go to put in a task for your to-do list, you are given an option to put it on today’s to do list, tomorrow’s to do list, or someday’s to do list. Then, the app keeps track of all three lists for you, allowing you to check things off as you complete them.
The whole platform is very minimalistic and not overly cluttered. If you are looking for a streamlined, no-fluff to do list platform, this is the one for you.
Productivity apps for note-taking
7. Notability/GoodNotes
For those who have an iPad and Apple Pencil, investing in a quality note-taking app is so helpful if you want to stay organized and productive. The two most popular these days are Notability and GoodNotes 5.
Having recently bought an iPad myself, I decided to purchase GoodNotes. Although both platforms are super similar, GoodNotes was cheaper and had a few features I loved that Notability didn’t.
If you are trying to decide which of these two platforms is best for you, these were the two articles I found the most helpful when I was doing research!
8. Evernote
Evernote is another one of the productivity apps for students that I could not live without. This platform has been one of the backbones of my note-taking process for my blog. Let’s just say without Evernote, I would not be able to run this blog.
Evernote is a super easy note-taking platform that keeps everything extremely organized. You can create nested folders with your different categories and topics, and then have notes in each folder. Evernote is also on the phone and computer, which makes it super easy to access your notes and documents on multiple platforms.
While there is a premium version of Evernote, I’ve been using the free one for years and it does everything I need perfectly!
9. Notion
Notion is a super great and user-friendly option for a note-taking app. The best part about this app is the ability to organize and categorize your notes. You can create different pages and subpages that house all of your notes.
From there, you create individual notes within the pages. As far as options for the notes, the app has a bunch of customizable inserts you can use for each note. For example, you can create tables, checklists, calendars, and more.
Productivity apps for focus
10. Forest
Forest is an app that helps to prevent distraction and procrastination on your phone. Once on the app, you are able to “plant a seed” for a tree that you are trying to grow. However, if you leave the app at any point in the specified time frame, your tree will die and you will have to start over.
Although the concept sounds a little stupid, you’d be surprised how well it works to prevent you from leaving the app and getting distracted on social media and other things on your phone.
11. Noisili
Noisili is an app that helps you focus through music. The app has a wide variety of white noise and other sounds to help you focus.
The only downside to this app is that you do have to pay for it. However, you are able to use the music offline once you buy the app, so it helps when you need to focus but don’t have access to wifi.
If you are looking for a free option, you can try searching for different study music on YouTube. While you may be interrupted by a few ads, the study music on YouTube is super helpful to stay focused and work productively.
Click here for my absolute favorite YouTube study music that I literally use religiously!
12. Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey is known on the internet as one of the harshest blocker platforms out there. So, if you seriously struggle with staying on task and focused, this is the internet blocker you need to be using.
It’s completely free and will block a bunch of your most used and distracting platforms on your computer, like social media, shopping, and more.
Basically, this blocker leaves nothing left on your computer except doing what you need to be doing.
13. Clockify
If you are trying to improve your time management, this is the perfect app to help you do it.
The point of this app is to clock what you are doing during the day to figure out where all of your time is going. While this is not the app to motivate and encourage you to stay focused during your work, it is a great complementary app to one that helps with focus.
Once you have completed a task, you input what you did and for how long in the app. You can do this for things like work, cooking, family time, social media, or whatever else you do during your day. Then, at the end of the day or week, you can look at everything you’ve been spending your time on. From there, you are able to analyze your day to see where you are wasting time and what you are wasting time on.
Productivity apps for self improvement
14. Tide
Tide is quite literally the only platform you need to improve yourself mentally. The app has SOOO many different features that you can use to improve upon your life. You pick a few goals in the beginning that you are trying to focus on and then the app guides you from there.
To help with focus, you can set specific time frames where the app will block all notifications and play calming music of your choise.
To help with sleep, the app has alarms and timers with white noise. The same goes for taking naps.
To help with stress, the app has guided breathing techniques for a specified amount of time.
There’s also different guided videos for relieving stress and meditation, which can help your mind and body calm down.
If you are looking for something to help your mental health, this is the app that you need. Personally, after learning more about some new apps for this article, this is one of the productivity apps for students I am most excited to start using!
15. Libby
If you are looking for some self-improvement in the form of books and audiobooks, Libby is the way to go. All you need is a local library card and then you automatically have access to thousands of books and audiobooks on your phone.
While you sometimes have to wait a few days or weeks for some of the books and audiobooks, the platform usually has any book you want, so it’s worth the wait!
Reminder about productivity apps…
I hope you found a few of these productivity apps for students helpful! However, keep in mind that you can’t change everything about your life in one day. So, don’t try to use a million new apps at once. If you start with 5 new apps and expect to use them all successfully, you are going to face some disappointment when it just isn’t sustainable.
Instead, pick one, maybe two that stand out to you and start with those first. Once you have consistently implemented those apps into your schedule and routine, then you can try some new ones.
Just remember to take it slow… the apps aren’t going anywhere, so there’s no need to rush!
This post was all about productivity apps for students!
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