My Productivity Stack in 2024
An annual app and services recommendations list.
Each year I do an audit to take an inventory of the apps and services that I really feel further me as a productive person. 2024’s list got delayed for me, as I was waiting to see how some apps were being handed upon release, new ownership, etc.
My tech stack is below.
Writing: iA Writer
This is one of my favorite apps of all, because I love to write. iA Writer is a Markdown-based, focused writing app that truly gets out of your way. The blinking aqua-colored cursor is just ready to go. Just you and your words on a blank screen. You can add plenty of structure, all using Markdown and what the app’s developer Information Architects calls Content Blocks. Content blocks are other pieces of information that reside in the app’s library, like photos or other written documents. So you can, say, capture a quick snippet of writing without structure, and then pull in a corresponding and appropriate piece that you wrote weeks ago that would tie in nicely. You don’t have to think about structure before you write - just write. iA also has their iA Presenter app, which uses some of the same styling and concepts. The design is top-notch, too!
Task Management: OmniFocus
I have written much about OmniFocus over the years and have even been a guest on the Omni Show, the Omni Group’s (makers of OmniFocus) podcast. I keep coming back to this task manager as my rock, solid, privacy–first companion. I use this to drive my business, my personal life, and to move me forward as an artist. I can record my projects and goals here, and I use my lists to complete tasks in a GTD fashion.
With version four, OmniFocus is very robust on all devices! I highly suggest you look into it. Seriously, if you are heading the limits with your current task manager.
Calendar: Fantastical
No secret here.
Fantastical is the best. In fact, here is a list of what they have accomplished this year over at Flexibits, much of which has to do with Fantastical and its improvements.
Notable features of Fantastical that make calendaring easy with the app:
Natural language parsing. Entering information should be this easy on every productivity app.
Watch app. I can have almost a year worth of events on my wrist.
Openings and Proposals. Scheduling is so easy. You can give the potential invitees a link to choose from what times work for an event. Beats going back-an-forth over email.
Menu Bar app on macOS.
Widgets. I would argue that only Cultured Code has widgets as good. Information-rich, with thoughtful consideration as to what one might want to see, this is the way.
Fantastical has been my calendar app of choice since 2015. That’s not changing any time soon.
Contacts: Cardhop
You know how it is super time-consuming to enter all of the pertinent information about a new person in your life when you are doing it on any Apple device? Yeah, well…Cardhop takes care of that.
You can type Bob Jones 212-555-1234 bobjones@jonesymail.com and it will add those particulars to the new contact, “Bob Jones”. If Bob Jones is an existing contact, you can even type Call Bob Jones and a big green button pops up that you can tap to make that call. Just an excellent contacts app, from the same developers of Fantastical. There are even keyboard shortcuts that allow for the quick entry of a note, stamped with the date and time that you enter it. If you are helping people all day and/or simply maintaining a multitude of relationships (like me), Cardhop is your best pal in that arena.
Ideas:
MindNode
MindNode is how my brain works. I have taken all of those “Which side of your brain is dominant?” tests, and though I measure fairy balanced at this point, I have always favored the right (artistic, intuition) side. MindNode is perfect for all types of thinking, but for the right-brained of us, it allows you to just get ideas out as fast as possible. You can always organize them later within the app. They have even developed an excellent outliner that you can access very easily with a tap or a keyboard shortcut, if that is how you prefer to build out your ideas. It’s like peanut butter and jelly had a party. In a mind map. With stickers.
Totally indispensable. Not that you will need it much but the support team at Ideas On Canvas (makers of MindNode) are very responsive and helpful, too. I highly recommend the app for building out ideas and even checklists (they have a super-cool revamped Apple Watch app as of this writing).
OmniOutliner
The excellent venerable app from The Omni Group is a true left-brainer’s delight: you can filter, focus, have numerical columns, change themes and fonts and create the ultimate planning/brainstorming document. You can even record audio (which I do in the app on occasion for character voices)! It is the best outliner if you are looking for something that stays in its lane and does outlining to perfection.
Calculator: PCalc
James Thomson’s whimsical calculator app (sounds like an anomaly, but check out the About screen - which can also be downloaded here) is used at least 50 times per day on my Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, and Apple Watch (I used them all). The guy is a genius, and is in tune with all Apple platforms.
Pomodoro Timer: Focus
Beauty and brains in a pomodoro/task list combo? Yup. That’s Focus. The team at Meaningful Things has added some nice features in the past year, like a new watch app, completed session tracking graphics, and task management enhancements. They also listen. Example: I asked for a “clear deleted tasks” feature and got it. I use a Shortcut developed by Kirk Strauser which grabs a currently-selected to-do in the Things app, and adds a new task in Focus with a link back to the to-do. I tag to-do’s in Things with Focus (I only allow myself 3 per day), and these are the mission-critical, “if today ended and you only did these 3 things, then today was a success” tasks. I add them to Focus so that I can have a short curated list of my tasks while using the Focus timer. For example, if I have a to write a mailing campaign to partners, I know that it may take 2 hours to put it all together and get it out, and Focus helps me look at just that one task and has the timer running so that when it is time to take a 5-minute break I can do so. It helps me really zero in on what is important. The team is responsive, with great customer service, and the syncing across all apps with your current position in the timed focus is flawless. Great design chops here, too.
Background Noise: brain.fm and Dark Noise
brain.fm
I can write for hours with headphones on and the right background music or sounds going on. The company claims that they have “science-backed, patented music you won’t hear anywhere else” that allows you to focus. I believe it. It works for my brain.
Dark Noise
I was an early buyer of the app, and it excels at making background noise both fun and customizable. Never thought I would use an app like this, but bit does it help get me in the zone to write and tune out distractions. In fact, it’s pumping through my earphones as I tap these keys. I would like to see Charlie Chapman add some music to this app, too. I always saw something like brain.fm as a direct competitor and if the app began to have some chill, focused background music I might cancel my subscription to brain.fm. A lot of care goes into Dark Noise, and it shows.
Weather: Mercury
I had no idea that tracking weather could look so good! It has the ability to show you weather for upcoming trips that you are taking. Built by a small team that has great design chops. I mean, just look at these screenshots. Also the precipitation tracking is accurate. I would like to see a radar, and this is something that the team has told me that they are working on.
Podcasts: Overcast
The design could be friendlier, (I understand that app creator Marco Arment is working on a redesign), but the features are great. You can have as many lists as you want, each housing various podcasts (or single episodes) or genres if you like. I currently have a simply “Queue”, which captures all podcasts, sorted by release date and grouped by podcast. I have a favorites list, too (mostly episodes from Relay’s channel). The Chapter support is great, and privacy is of high importance to Marco, too. The Watch app is really nice as well, and you can download episodes right to it for an iPhone-free walk or jog if you like. There is even support for Macs with Apple silicon inside so that you can run the iPad app on your Mac. The only thing I wished for is a more robust syncing engine. Right now you must put the app in the background for it to sync (or pull to refresh), and only then is it synced on your other devices with the current stopping point in an episode. Works great, but would like a quicker sync. All in all, far better than Apple’s Podcast app. I also like Castro, but that app does not support sync (yet?).
Journaling: Day One
No app gets journaling right like Day One. I use it to collect quick thoughts about the day. I don’t try to make my entries pretty other than using Markdown and some pictures from the day (p.s. the app has great Markdown support). I love that I can enter thoughts on my wrist from the Apple Watch if I want to, and I can even text thoughts to Day One if I want to! The team at Day One has given you no excuse to not journal constantly. It’s really heartwarming to see an entry and some pics from years ago when I check out the On This Day calendar, which surfaces past entries from the same calendar date some time in the past.
Notes: Apple Notes
Sometimes it doesn’t get better than Apple’s built-in apps. Notes is a winner for me because of what you can throw at it. It handles every type of media that I can think of. It will store it and allow you to preview it in the app. The handwriting recognition and PencilKit support of the Apple Pencil (2) is amazing. I have tried many apps and always come back to Apple Notes. In fact, I have tried:
Bear. While I actually much prefer Bear’s design over Apple’s, I don’t find enough of a reason to switch. Bear is essentially packaging Apple’s features in a cleaner notes app, but it’s not enough of a reason for me to pay the subscription fee for Bear (which I am not opposed to in apps where it warrants it).
Craft. I found that it encouraged way too much time on the design of a document, and didn’t foster quick capture. I felt very stop-and-go in Craft.
Obsidian. No pencil support, though I liked the Markdown notes concept. Also doesn’t natively support various media.
Evernote. This app has been bought out by a new company recently and for years has felt like it was on its way out. It is very bloated, though the Pencil support is robust.
Goodnotes. The best Pencil support of any app out there, rivaling Apple Notes. However, keyboard input notes seem like an afterthought. Also, again, media support (think pre-recorded voice memos) is lacking.
Notability. Similar to Goodnotes’ points.
Pound for pound, Apple Notes is the clear winner for me (year after year).
Mail: Apple Mail
Ease of use, decent design, multiple mail account support, and now with my favorite feature: delayed email sending. I love the ability to write an email to a customer at say, 9pm, but not have it sent until 8am the next morning when I am ready to respond to it. I keep Mail closed as I work unless I am expecting something urgent, and tend to batch process. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s easy to drag mail right into Things if I need it. Sometimes I have even written an email on my Apple Watch while floating in the pool.
Now that is nerdy.
Book Formatting: Pages
If you didn’t want to spend money on an excellent writing app like iA Writer, Pages might do. I, however, only use it to format written text by outputting it from iA Writer (exporting it) into Pages so that I can make documents pretty. Pages is everything that Microsoft Word isn’t - well designed, easy to use, and thoughtful about its features. If I want to format a document for printing or sharing, Pages is my go to.
Data Calculation: Numbers
Numbers, like Pages, has a pretty specific use for my business. I keep a spreadsheet of business partner contacts so that I can manipulate data about dates and use drop-down boxes. The same is true of a list of customers. The filtering and category support is pretty neat. I like filtering down information based on where I am in the process using a combination of drop-down boxes, dates, and Categories in Numbers.
Books: Apple Books
If for no other reason than I would prefer to give a 30% cut to Apple over say, Amazon, I use Apple Books when making a book purchase. I have also written and published my book (shameless plug!) which is for sale on Apple Books, which made it easy to publish to.
Music: Apple Music
The app has the most artists and songs (to my knowledge), and is part of my Apple One Subscription. I think that like the Podcast app by Apple it has become a bit bloated, but it beats the competition in sheer availability of music.
Presentations: iA Presenter
Another hit from Information Architects. Like iA Writer, the blank cursor is your friend. Write the content of the slides that you want to present, and then worry about formatting. The formatting engine that is build into the app is quite intuitive, and you can input any photo you like, and even have a very professional footer or header that shows your logo if you have one. I recently had 15 minutes available to put a five-slide presentation together and did it with minutes to spare. I am using this going forward over Keynote. They are different beasts, and I am now erring on the side of bullet-point presentation rather than reading from a slide. Oliver Reichenstein, the CEO of Information Architects, is pretty opinionated (which I admire), and he recently shared his philosophy on presentations here, so you know where his team was coming from when the app was developed. I found it interesting.
Scratchpad: Tot
Tot is simple, lives in either your menu bar on the Mac, your Watch complication, your iPhone home screen - you name it. It is everywhere. I capture writing ideas here, and sometimes use it as a quick Post-It® style note when receiving a phone number or email address so that I can later save it. Invaluable.
Radio: Triode
I love the ability to listen to radio stations from my hometown of Ithaca while I live 1200 miles away now. Radio FTW!
Drawing: Linea Sketch
I am no artist, but I use this app to draw scenes from a novel, lay out my office, or come up with a scenario and draw pictures along with some handwriting as a sort of sketchpad when I am feeling arts-y.
The last three and final apps have that typical Iconfactory attention to design and just a bit of whimsy. I love their attitude toward app development. Fair, consistent, and they care about the experience.
What are your favorite apps? Let me know.