Start The New Year With An App Review

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Start The New Year With An App Review for 2023

 

Many of us use apps that we know, like and are comfortable with and try not to succumb to the shiny new toy. Changing apps requires a learning curve and time, and it may not work out. Sometimes the risk is worth it as new apps are much more powerful and have features that the old standbys don’t have. The list below introduces some new ones and popular apps that continue to improve. Most offer free versions and/or trial periods. Free apps are nice, but if you want something that is well supported and offers continuing improvements, you’ll need to pay. Some work well for individuals as well as teams.

 

The list is meant to just point you to some newer apps that you may not be familiar with. Sometimes a change is what you need to get recharged. If you see something that looks interesting, you can likely find videos on YouTube extolling its virtues. Most sites have demos and screens to deepen your understanding of what it offers. Good hunting.

 

To Do Apps

 

  1. Superlist (from the maker of Wunderlist) available in Beta at https://www.superlist.com/ create lists for you or your team.
  2. ToDoist for business (doist.com ) this app has been out for several years, has good templates and help with great examples on website. Collaborative with team, assign tasks to members, lots of flexibility. Works across multiple platforms in Apple and PC versions.
  3. Motion for Teams – ( https://www.usemotion.com/teams ) AI enhancements helps with functionality. Can handle complex projects, use list views or Kanban style. Works across devices and different operating systems.
  4. Asana – ( https://asana.com/ ) combines work in one share space for teams. Large installed base. Customizable to see progress on stages and can add custom rules to fit your needs.
  5. Taskade – ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.taskade.mobile ) organize and collaborate for teams that are removed. Add tasks and notes and video chat. Part of the Google ecosystem.

 

Note Taking Apps

 

  1. Craft – ( https://www.craft.do ) mainly for personal use to help stay organized. Templates available and sharing of notes. Also has bi-directional linking to find things more easily.
  2. Notion – ( https://www.notion.so/login ) A powerful note app, with templates, lots of customizing, collaboration, database, and add-ons. There is a learning curve. Well crafted and fun to use. Create your own workflows.
  3. Evernote – ( https://evernote.com ) a seasoned notetaker widely used by millions. Several pricing plans, easy to use and available for team/business use. Continues to improve with new features. It’s Scannable app for IOS is very handy to capture documents and send directly to your account. Multi-tier use with Notes, Notebooks, and Stacks (multiple notebooks in none grouping).
  4. Obsidian – ( https://obsidian.md/ ) for serious notetakers, bi-directional linking, excellent graphing showing linked topics, all notes in markdown. Files are kept locally. Extremely fast searching. Many plug-ins from the Obsidian community to improve capability.
  5. Logseq – ( https://logseq.com/ ) like Obsidian but additional features.
  6. Amplenote – ( https://www.amplenote.com ) Create notes, tasks, calendar entry. Can embed pictures and videos. Publishing and collaboration.
  7. Reflect – ( https://reflect.app ) Some AI features, notes linking, shortcuts and codes. End to end encryption. Built in calendar
  8. Nimbus – ( https://nimbusweb.me/ )create notes, full documents or wikis. Personal and team use. Databases, spreadsheet, annotate.
  9. Apple Notes – part of IOS and MacOS and easily share notes between devices or other Apple users. Simple, straightforward, and handy for quick notes. Not as powerful as some of the apps listed above but has some surprising features once you look deeper.

 

Project Management Apps

 

  1. Trello – ( https://trello.com/ ) powerful app that has been around a while but gets better. Leans towards Kanban style planning but lists can be viewed also. Collaborate, use templates, integrate with other popular apps and features no code automation.
  2. Asana – discussed above is also a project manager offering Gantt charts, team functionality and more.
  3. ActiveCollab – ( https://activecollab.com/) Project view, Gannt charts, Kanban, in -app chat, personal worksheets.
  4. Walling – ( https://walling.app ) Visual work space “wall” to see your work and progress, other views too, click and drag to move things to suit changing requirements.
  5. Taskade (discussed above) also functions as a PM. Good for brainstorming with team members to plan weekly and monthly goals. Easy to share notes.
  6. Wrike – (https://www.wrike.com/vy/ ) – many large corporate users, tagging, integrations, Gantt charges, cross-tagging, dashboards, encryption. Leans towards MS environment but does work on MacOS.
  7. Notion – (discussed above)
  8. Monday – ( https://monday.com/ ) all platforms and OS’s. Large installed base, team collaboration, dashboards, code-free automation, create and share forms.
  9. ClickUp – ( https://clickup.com/download ) all platforms and OS’s. Chrome extension, voice assistant to create reminders and tasks, email-add-ons. Many views to see what you want to see, whiteboard to share, and customizable tasks to automate and assign.
  10. Teamwork – ( https://teamwork.com ) Many templates, track time, allocate resources, unlimited clients, reporting, workload planner, scalable to add CRM, Desk, Chat and more.
  11. Milanote – ( https://milanote.com/ ) sort of the Evernote for creatives. Create notes/to-do lists, add images and files, webclipper, whiteboard, works well with mobile devices, organize visually, easy collaboration
  12. Smartsuite – ( https://www.smartsuite.com ) multiple languages, different view boards, automations, team collaboration, all platforms and OS’s. Assign tasks to team members yourself as a personal to-dos. Several chart view starting with bar charts and advanced as heat maps.
  13. AirTable – ( https://www.airtable.com/ ) Intuitive templates, slide tasks around to suit team needs, change views to gain perspective, custom interfaces. Share data with others and integrate with other apps. No code reporting.
  14. SmartSheet – ( https://www.smartsheet.com/ ) build your own business app to navigate your project, wide integration and automation. Scalable to enterprise level all on one platform.