The 10 BEST iPhone Productivity Apps for 2024!

Find your focus with Dropbox Essentials, everything you need to run your solo business in one place - www.dropbox.com/properhonesttech
Thank you Dropbox for sponsoring this video
I love the stock apps on my iPhone, but there are also a bunch of apps that I use everyday to be more productive. In this video, I'll share 10 of them with you.
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📲 The apps mentioned in this video;
Perplexity AI - apple.co/49gvRnp
Structured Day Planner - apple.co/3UN7Bou
Reminders - apple.co/3HZST69
Snipd - apple.co/3I2MsiN
Otter AI - apple.co/3OGLCvC
Annotable - apple.co/3SF8KvN
Notion - apple.co/3UzvFvc
Dark Noise - apple.co/3UGZLNk
Spark Email - apple.co/42FlVl2
Forest - apple.co/3HZTdBT
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - Perplexity AI
2:47 - Dropbox Essentials
4:37 - Structured
6:07 - Reminders (stock iPhone app)
7:21 - Snipd
9:05 - Otter AI
10:43 - Annotable
12:24 - Notion
14:04 - Dark Noise
15:16 - Spark Email
16:46 - Forest

[@ProperHonestTech]

Find your focus with Dropbox Essentials, everything you need to run your solo business in one place - www.dropbox.com/properhonesttech

[@SzamBacsi]

Hey man, how are the twins? I hope everything is well with you guys :) Another lovely video, next time find me an app that kick my butt for productivity hahhahaha CHEERS

[@ProperHonestTech]

@@SzamBacsi Twins are great, thanks for asking! Not huge fans of sleep at the moment, but other than that, they're great! 😂

[@swoodiptwo]

this guy looks like the kind of guy who has his life together

[@MarcoFlores-um7cj]

Just a fake life. He is as common as any guy

[@thebeaky]

Love your thorough content, and the fact that I already use about half the apps you mentioned makes me feel good 👍🏼

[@stephenmacneil5753]

You have the best channel for my Apple and proclivity needs and questions. Thank you so much…

[@Eximguy]

Absolutely loved all the apps suggestions. Keep going 😎 Bro.

[@januliq7]

i love that you always briefly mention what is included in a free version of the app 👌🏻

[@johnmiller5630]

Quality interesting content as always Tom. Had no idea about some these apps and now off to investigate.

[@maxh4296]

Really useful way to keep up with fast-changing tech apps. I downloaded four immediately. Many thanks 👍🏻

[@igorxavier832]

you always come up with great videos! i'm downloading a bunch of these. thank you! ;)

[@Don-ji9ro]

Thanks! As always, brilliant!

[@javtimestwo]

Your video was well thought out and it is clear you put a lot of time into this video. As a casual user myself, I can only relate to the reminders app on the iPhone. That is an app I try to use more and more. I cannot envision using any of the other apps you featured here. Keep up the great work! By the way, what is that piece of equipment to the right of your mouse, with all the different colored lights?

[@7federkleid]

Thanks a lot for this lovely video! I’ve already downloaded some of the apps. Have a great day!!🎉😊

[@BallfamilyAdventures]

Great video, as always. Thank you for the apps! One not on the list is Endel. Great for focus, I paid £19 for the year! Worth a look!

[@M4NA5]

Thanks to your tutorials, I’ve ditched 80% of third party apps in favour of native Apple apps. I think AI based search feature that you showcase here through the Perplexity app is something we might see natively embedded into Siri in iOS 18. Will look forward to your video on it.

[@brianko630]

I loved the transition markers you used between apps...the transparency, the fade in and out and the verbiage scattering the way it did. Any chance you'd care to share how you did that? I'd like to use it not in videos but in ppt transitions. Thanks, love the content....

[@abell8625]

Great video - thanks for the tips 👍

[@jo-anne8462]

Love the content here. I wanted to point out that background noise is built into the Mac (settings -> accessibility -> background sounds); though it's not as convenient, it is something that is available. It is especially useful if you are on a work mac where you are restricted from downloading apps.

[@genehager8481]

Very useful info. Particularly like the app Dark Noise with its sound variety. Thanks

[@UffeErupLarsen]

Thank you so much for this! It's very useful. I wish you would go in-depth on some of the apps, you have suggested. Even for the Reminder app, I'd love to see your detailed take on that one. :)

[@sammayet9002]

Splendid , thanks once again ❤❤❤

[@waynewilkins007]

Always great information Tom. As this video is about apps, is the an app that can record phone calls for proof of the conversation. Cheers Tom

[@amitc972]

Thanks, I'm trying to stay on the cutting edge but you did manage to mention some apps I didn't know about.

[@gregggullickson]

Nice list. Do you use any tools to visualize your thinking?

[@hidamitaka007]

Would you list out the expenses of your subscription monthly? It seems like all good apps are based on subscriptions and they’re not small money …

[@_Sujit_Mohanty]

Amazing video! Thank you very much!

[@anupamde3346]

Thanks a lot. Two apps I think you can feature are : Things 3. That’s my to do and future planning one. And the other is streaks. That’s the basic for building habits and uses the atomic habits basis.

[@colinthomas2525]

Amazing as always. The Otter ai looks great but what’s with all the data it gathers?

[@BrajendraVikramSingh]

Brilliant video!

[@andrus54]

Thank you, this is great content

[@hovelad]

Some great apps here to try out! At least 2 or 3 on this list that I think I will start using

[@BlindGordie]

I actually use one app for what I do, when composing blog posts for all of my blogs. The Notes app shoulders all of the load and I create folders for each of the blogs which are about specific topics and for example: I have a blog on The Simpsons and a blog on the rock band Queen which both require their own folders. If I have an idea for either blog I just go to the folder, add to it and hit Done and move onto something else. Something else I do is create a note which starts off a blog post, which I can add to for a future post and when the post is complete, I go to the Jetpack app. I go to the blog and create a title and paste the post, I had copied to the clipboard minutes previously. I also may have to correct any mistakes which I may have made with grammar or spelling, as I sometimes use dictation which sometimes gets the words wrong. That's one example for me!

[@rhyami]

Thank you! I really need this. :-)

[@IAmDavidWhipple]

You're a new dad? My wife and I just had a boy 6 months ago. Time management is more important than ever. Energy management is ultra important too. You're doing a great job with the creative content. Best wishes to you and your family!

[@dragonballjiujitsu]

Good stuffs as always.

[@RodBurkert]

Given your example use case of remembering an idea for a video, what is the benefit of Otter over Siri/Reminders.

[@fasttwitchmedia149]

Your dog is a beauty! I think I will try Otter AI. Maybe annotable too.

[@NephiHobbs]

Thanks man

[@jerryjackson522]

Have you ever used tick tick? I like apple reminder but it lacks consistence reminder alarms and pomo dora (focus mode). Can you please suggest this feature to apple? I believe apple can easily listen to you.

[@IAmDavidWhipple]

Perplexity is my new Ai app. I still sub to Chat GPT pro. But find myself preferring the former. Great tips and excellent production man!

[@kylechipman9472]

I've been using Structured Pro on and off since launch. It has trouble syncing between my devices, so I keep leaving it for the native apps hoping it'll eventually be fixed.

[@douglashornell-scott5126]

Tom, are you still using apples notes app?

[@mr_red13]

Would you recommend Structured over Things 3?

[@tabithaowens348]

Do you have a comparison of perplexity and copiolit

[@Simon-us4bn]

Give Endel a try for ambient sounds!

[@IvanHernandez-si8bq]

Thanks for the tips and videos you make, I wanted to ask a question regarding the sound of your voice in your videos. When I watch your earlier videos your voice sounded differently. Did you change your microphone or are you using a special filter or effect. Will appreciate if you could share the set up.

[@ProperHonestTech]

Thanks. Since my much earlier videos, I've treated my room for acoustics (some panelling around the room, some of which you can see in the background of my setup) but I've also started using a Sennheiser MKH50 microphone, positioned just above my head, out of shot.

[@tallulah210]

Where did you get the little shelf that’s on your desk?

[@Gusrikh1]

Most interesting and educational.

[@JonBushell]

Dropbox if you are reading this please at least tell us in the updates what the update is. Secondly a-z and z-a basic file name ordering like you can do every where else. Great video as always.

[@foodini666]

good video. curious how many subscriptions for apps you have going? looks like it can get as bad as streaming services piling up.

[@ProperHonestTech]

Definitely have quite a few. I try to limit them to only apps that I can use for my business, so that they become a justifiable expense.

[@aramtorkantech]

Good choices! I’d have Todoist as well, love it😍

[@albakausodiq4746]

Which would you recommend between Structured and todoist?, I’ve been reading reviews on both apps and they seem like very similar apps both aren’t really compared quite often. I also read Todoist has quite a few limitations, looking forward to your response 🙂

[@maikaimakena9424]

How do you like Type AI ??

[@nagamachiku8699]

Hi Tom: With all the stuff happening around you, when do you really find the time to sleep/eat/relax? I can see a few grey hairs there! Please, do videos on what you eat in a day! Do you use any Apps for making your meals? ha ha ha …

[@M4NA5]

I’ll miss Artifact. Are there any alternatives that share same functionality as the soon-to-be defunct news aggregator app?

[@ProperHonestTech]

Try Bulletin - brand new app, basically does the whole AI generated new summaries thing.

[@M4NA5]

@@ProperHonestTechThank you!

[@maikaimakena9424]

Do you use Apple Mail as your default email app?

[@Dan-bx3sw]

Spark has been a game changer for me. Not so much for the AI, but in the way it organizes and prioritizes. The desktop version is so good..

[@MatteoLongokr]

Premium version?

[@suzanner3894]

Another great video. Where do you come out on the privacy implications for AI requests?

[@AaAa-je5eo]

Agreed on both counts, great video as always. But interested in the privacy implications of some of these AI features? Especially where compared to a native apple tool that could do the same task in future. Ok, many of these aren't covered by Apple native products currently but long term I'd prefer to use some of these tools if Apple eventually integrate them. As mentioned, the Apple Reminders app is great which I also agree with.

[@FreerunMediaService]

I like the video's and they give a lot of nice information. There is a "but". In this video i see a couple of apps that need a subscription if you want to use the full potential of the app in general. My problem with this is the costs, if you have 4 apps with a subscription, it can cost you next to the phone bill, your internet subscription and the maybe multiple streaming subscriptions. It's becoming clear that more and more companies see how you can get easy money through subscriptions. Yes i know that software needs to be developed but i see more and more software being build that offers nothing more that the apps already in the phone and you have to pay up to use that app. Some apps even are a solution for a "problem" that isn't there. Can you show free software for iPhone that is also useful?

[@ProperHonestTech]

The best 'free' apps are the stock ones included on the iPhone, and I cover those extensively here on the channel. Most other free apps that are worth using are crammed full of ads, in my experience. Whilst I would prefer that apps offer a one-off payment, rather than a subscription, I don't subscribe to the notion that app developers see this as "easy money". Like you say yourself, these apps need to be developed, and that development costs money. I believe the people who make these apps deserve to be able to charge for them. In fact, I want them to, because I want them to continue to make amazing software, and they can only do that if they're charging for what they're producing. If, as you say, software is being developed that offers nothing new to the iPhone experience, the simple answer is for people to not download it. The people making the software would soon stop. The fact that so many successful app businesses exist would suggest that there's a market for what they're making.

[@leviandrenuet5878]

I love most of these suggestions, I’m just really dissapointed with the AI when it comes to speaking anything but english, so I tend not to use them.

[@M4NA5]

7:00 I’m surprised Siri didn’t respond with “U w0t m8?”

[@kaihsu9231]

Forest 2 is public now!

[@KensReviews]

I read Snipd as sounding like Sniped and I was really curious about what the app would do 🤦🏻

[@ralphmilleriii9957]

Annotable reminds me of an old android app that I once used named Skitch.

[@MrPecksniff]

Hello Mitsy 🐶

[@SamHalesJr]

Many top tech reviewers and KZbinrs, including MKBHD, would say that Google assistant is better than Siri.. I strongly disagree (I a pixel and an iPhone), and Siri's ability to set reminders flawlessly is a great example of where it is better than Google Assistant.

[@parkhamilton2978]

Is there another app similar to Artifact? I'm very sad its shutting down.

[@ProperHonestTech]

Check out Bulletin. I literally just discovered it earlier today.

[@keithnowicki2105]

No Drafts?

[@vlvr]

My favorite app and absolutely the fastest way to capture any idea that I've yet found.

[@ProperHonestTech]

I'll have to take a look!

[@brandonsmith6962]

Just get co pilot 😅

[@hannahshipman]

When do we get to meet Mitzy? :)

[@hannahshipman]

Oh. Just got to 9 mins in and..! :)

[@apinchofcoco8973]

Are any of these AI search apps going to rival google if they're not entirely free? Surely, that's where google will always win?

[@dkayw]

Perplexity is vague on their privacy and data collection policies. Does this concern you?

[@JonBushell]

Dropbox is very solid but so behind in features. They are all about business and have forgotten to give any useful updates to personal users for 5 years.

[@Streamlined955]

Wow! You walk your dog for 1 hour?

[@ProperHonestTech]

40 mins, but it’s a 10 min drive away.

[@StonedNoob]

@@ProperHonestTechthat must be so awesome. Plus I’m guessing there are tons of beautiful landscapes there in the UK. Lucky you and your dog haha

[@ProperHonestTech]

@@StonedNoob Not so much landscapes where we are, but loads of beautiful forest areas and beaches, lots of different options each day!

[@StonedNoob]

@@ProperHonestTech wow that’s surely so much better. Hopefully I visit the UK soon. Hope you both keep having wonderful walks.

[@choqao]

first bruh!

[@adrianmedinaliberty]

All these features are available in Samsung S24 Ultra for free, at least until the end of 2025. You don’t have to download any app because these features are built-in.

[@callmeNeno]

No thank you! Love my iPhone~

[@avinash7978]

iOS looks yuck, hard to imagine how people use it

[@nakulnawale8381]

Why is Forest paid? 🥲