(1) Twos App :
This is a great app for just getting stuff down as quickly as possible, from small notes to tasks and more. It offers great search functions as well as AI for scheduling. You can create lists from templates or make them completely from scratch using effective, standard bullet points, tasks, numbered lists or anything else you could need.
Twos App has a fantastically different approach and feel than most other news apps I have tried this year in the productivity sector. As a result, experimentation and building familiarity with the way it works is key to knowing if Twos is right for you.
I think that Twos is working for me, but in ways I don’t quite understand yet, being that I keep coming back to experiment, play and see what I can do pretty much daily. That says something, as often if something doesn’t click, I move on and try again in the future. But Twos keeps dragging me back, but in a good way.
(2) Twobird :
Similar sounding but very different from the above Twosapp. Twobird aims to solve work issues through removing clutter and keeping things organized. It handles your email, while adding fantastic features such as priority, fast unsubscribe and notification control. The design of email threads also leans towards chat-style messaging, as also handled by Spike below.
Task management is less than an arm’s length away in Twobird, thanks to its cross-functionality with its email handling. A key step that Twobird tries to remove here is actually removing a step. Twobird doesn’t want you going back and forth between clients and areas. It wants you to deal with tasks right from your email view, which is a nice approach, depending on how traumatizing your email handling can feel.
This finally brings us to notes which, again, should be handled less than a step away from your emails. Remember that removing steps is the target here. Fewer transitions, fewer clients and less switching. Someone had very specific problems in mind when bringing Twobird to my attention, and it definitely deserves at least a try.
(3) Spike Email : Now, I will preface this by saying that this will not work for my main email provider, Proton, but it is simply fantastic for regular email providers such as Gmail.
Spike has plenty of features, but in the same way that Google is involved in plenty of different markets, it is really just known for one great thing. Spike is known for its fantastic conversational email. So if you would rather handle certain people more like a chat or text app than email, Spike is the app for that purpose.
Just imagine your emails but in text message form with bubbles and being able to scroll back through your “chats” with ease. Spike is a bit of a shock to the system for boring people like me, but I think there is real merit in handling many emails this way. Pretty much all the standard emails are still here, but the presentation is what sets this app apart.
(4) Noteplan 3 :
Noteplan is another app with a high productivity theme that is strongly tied to scheduling. It has an absolutely fantastic look with great themes and is well established compared to some of the newer apps on this list.
Pricing for Noteplan 3 can be a little expensive, but it is built into the Setapp subscription, which is an absolute bargain if you didn’t already know.
Some of the strongest features of Noteplan 3 include a complete note taking experience, bullet journaling, daily notes and any number or type of lists. There is much overlap between some of these products, but Noteplan 3 is an established product with a keen user base that knows what they like.
The final bonus on Noteplan 3 is their fantastic Twitter threads. This gives you excellent and relevant tips, which are great even if you don’t use Noteplan, so they deserve credit either way.
(5) Capacities :
I have written about Capacities plenty of times, but each time I come to write a new article, I realize that I have just been spending more and more time in Capacities than pretty much any other single app. While its core strength is in the second brain area of notetaking and learning, I find even more use for it in trying to build out as many of my Notion pages as possible in it.
Reading, film or video game tracking is all possible and works brilliantly in Capacities. The pages I have built load significantly faster than their Notion counterparts and provide me with a much smoother experience.
Combine all of this with the calendar feature, which gives me the ability to do daily notes, build out templates and even do my weekly reviews, and you have so much good coming out of a really new, fresh product.
(6) Proddy :
A new, to me, habit tracking app. Yes, if you have read my previous articles, you will know my tendency to handles habits by myself through a custom to-do app. But I will always give things a go and Proddy is one such app where I have not only tried the 7 day trial, I have taken the plunge at £37.99 for the year, although the free version does still give you limited options.
Something that got my attention more than in previous apps is the great use of visuals and design that is across the app. They really want you to use this app and hopefully benefit from forming your habits in return. I especially love the mini-monthly view showing how well you have been doing on each habit. An immediate, quick visual is very striking in the same way bar charts and line graphs mean so much more than numbers. You can even view the year with a paid subscription.
The cost is annoying, yet worth it for me for now. A well-supported product that really helps you has got to be worth paying for and this is relatively small compared to the impact it might have on your life, so it is definitely worth a try, even if just on trial.
(7) Qobuz :
In my never-ending torment of trying out new music streaming platforms and constantly returning to Deezer, I am not in the midst of another Qobuz subscription.
It is actually quite lovely. Qobuz gives a fantastic quality of sound and enough suggestions and discoverability to keep most happy. Of late, my discoverability on Deezer has weakened, which I often find to be the case when using one music service for a longer period of time. Often bouncing between them every now and again helps with finding new music worthy of my favourite tracks list.
The community and userbase of Qobuz is tiny compared to the larger services, but that doesn’t matter to me when all I want is to discover, discover, discover.
So, there we have it.
Maybe you should give some a try, or just tell me how wrong I am.
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