Make your phone productive!

This is the key to a useable system. The more of a hassle it is to input data, the less likely you are to keep it up.

So use widgets and shortcuts! When looking for a good app, also test that they have useful widgets and shortcuts available.

A water tracking app, for example, should ideally have:

• A widget with your goal and how close you are to reaching it;
• A way to automatically add a certain amount of water, through shortcuts or a widget.

Same for any habit tracker or nutrition app

It’s important not to have any superfluous apps in your system. If it’s not useful, it’s wasting your time and you’re less likely to update it.

Think about your routine and your needs, and pick your apps accordingly. Here are some you might find useful:

• Water;
• Nutrition;
• Exercise;
• Sleep;
• Tasks;
• Calendar.

Some aspects of the default apps are inconvenient. Adding water or nutrition data, for example, takes diving deep into the recesses of the Health app.

But sometimes they’re fine! Better than fine, sometimes they’re well integrated and have all the features you need. It’s worth it to check first, before you pay for a more fancy app you might not need.

Habit will not disappoint. It’s feature complete and has good widgets. The shortcuts are lacking, but it is free. It also integrates with the Health app. If you want to track sleep, steps, exercise, water, meditation… The sky is the limit, and Habit is your rocket.

I’ve got you. Waterful has a friendly octopus that needs you to drink water to survive. It has useful widgets, and you can also configure shortcuts to add any amount of water you want.

Remember to untick the show on run option on the shortcut and you’re one click away from logging your water.

The default is fine. It integrates with the sleep focus mode, and the paid ones don’t add much value.

Avoid subscription based apps, those will build up quickly and aren’t usually that special. The default reminders app is fine, but if you need a bit more Things 3 is great. It has useful widgets, of course, as well as shortcuts. It also integrates with your calendar, which is useful to better visualise your day.

Todoist and TickTick are fine, but some of the best features are behind the subscription pay wall.

The apple calendar is gorgeous and plenty functional. You can your google and microsoft calendars, and add events directly through it.

I’ve got nothing. Sorry. I could sit here and recommend you an app I don’t use, but my integrity won’t allow it. And a nutrition app is just not something I care about and I know I wouldn’t update it.

Here’s an important lesson. Know what you don’t need. It’s often even better than knowing what you need. You can quote me on that.

All the apps I recommend integrate with it. You can use their complications for easy access. Honestly, it becomes so easy to keep up the system even I do it.

Also use the shortcuts app, you can add most of your shortcuts to the watch. I have my water shortcut and a few others to turn lights on and off.

• Tide: I’m a hypocrite. This meditation app has a subscription. But this is worth it for me. Tide makes me meditate everyday, and it syncs with the Health app. Find your Tide, it doesn’t have to be paid.
• Drafts: Useful for quick capture of notes, on your phone or apple watch. The pro version is subscription based unfortunately, and I’m looking for alternatives. Please do tell me if you know any.

• EMMO: If you look past the weird translations, this is wonderful. There are widgets for quick capture of you emotions. You can add pictures, stickers, timestamps. Just don’t try to delete any of your emotions because it breaks everything.
• Stoic: Good to guide your day. It asks you a few quick questions in the morning and evening. Personally, I use Stoic in the morning and EMMO in the evening. I like that Stoic guides you, it’s just what I need when I wake up.

If for some reason you would like to know what is going on in the world, you poor soul, I recommend downloading all the news apps you like and putting their notifications in scheduled summaries.

I have mine during breakfast and the ride home from work, and I read all the headlines and click the articles I want to know more about.

If you don’t want to know, I feel you. If it’s really important I’m sure you’ll eventually hear about it.

Set up your system to be deeply integrated and have simple input methods. Shortcuts and widgets are your friends.

Don’t add apps you don’t need, they’re just clutter. When looking for the right app, make sure it has all the features you need, widgets and shortcuts, and that it integrates well into your system.

Now go forth and be productive!