Everything You Need To Know About Daily Planner Apps
If you want to stay organized with your tasks and time-management, there’s no better way to do that than to use a daily planner app.
Daily Planner App - The Best Way to Stay Organized and Manage Time
The time of sticky notes and refrigerator calendars is over. Nowadays, we have an endless array of digital daily planner applications to help keep track of time and tasks.
These apps make organization a piece of cake and take creativity to a new level. With these apps, you can manage every new task your coworkers or spouse throws at you.
Simply put, daily planner apps are your all-in-one tool for staying organized at work and home. But what exactly is a daily planner app, how does one work, and what reasons could there be to use one? You don't have to worry about that, as this guide will explain everything about daily planner apps. So with that said, let's jump right into it.
What Are Daily Planner Apps?
The need to make things easier gave birth to a technology that automates and streamlines our day-to-day lives.
Daily planner apps are, well, applications. They offer a replacement for the traditional way of writing things down using pen and paper. Daily planner apps are digital and accessible using your smartphone or computer.
That means you don't have to carry a physical planner to keep track of chores and work commitments - it's all on your phone!
The most obvious goal of daily planner apps is to help you stay organized. These applications achieve that in several ways. Most planner apps allow you to create reminders, enter tasks, keep track of appointments, and keep an orderly record of everything you've written.
If simplicity and tidiness are what you're looking for, daily planner apps are precisely that. They help you plan your day and keep track of tasks. Daily planner apps are the ultimate organization tools for professionals and homebodies alike.
Why Use A Daily Planner App?
We've somewhat teased the answer for you, but allow us to go into more detail to give you the complete picture. You might know about some of the uses, but the benefits of using a daily planner app are astonishing. Thus, here are several reasons why you should use a daily planner app:
Help Manage Time
It's hard to juggle tasks in your brain and determine which one to do first. On the other hand, a daily planner app solves the issue by giving you a detailed overview of what needs doing and when it needs doing. Simply put, a daily planner app is the ultimate solution to improve your time management and, most importantly, maximize your time.
Keep Track of Tasks
Another issue of juggling tasks in your brain is that it's easy to forget a particular task. With a daily planner app, you write down every daily, weekly, or monthly chore and make it seamless to keep track of all.
Be More Productive
There's also a psychological element to using daily planner applications. Namely, we tend to respond better whenever we complete a task. The "rush" encourages us to move on to the next item on the list and be equally efficient. It ultimately makes us more productive.
An All-In-One App to Stay Organized
While some planners focus on a particular aspect, such as planning meetings, events, or tasks, daily planner apps are our all-in-one place for work and home organization. Namely, there's no better way to stay organized than with an app that puts everything you need on your smartphone.
Key Features of Daily Planner Apps
Daily planner apps are handy tools that help us stay organized with our tasks and time management. But what are the main features of these tools that make them so worthwhile? Let's get into that.
Creating To-Do Lists
The primary goal of daily planner applications is the ability to create to-do lists. A to-do list is the bread and butter of these applications, as they make it seamless to create daily lists and add and remove tasks as you see fit.
There isn't anything more satisfying than ticking off each task as you finish it. After all, it puts you one step closer to getting your daily assignments done.
Setting Reminders
Some daily planner apps implement a feature that allows you to set reminders for important tasks. When we go about our busy days, some tasks will be more important than others. That's precisely why it's essential not to lose track of what's important. Daily planner apps allow you to set reminders for tasks you deem more important than others.
The reminder feature will highlight the task in some capacity. Common highlight features include bolding the task or the app sending you a notification.
Prioritizing Important Tasks
In addition to setting reminders, daily planner apps allow you to prioritize more important tasks. Having the ability to prioritize important tasks is as important as setting reminders. Therefore, these apps allow you to prioritize tasks in some capacity, as well.
Prioritizing is a great way to focus on the tasks we need to do more than others. It's also an excellent way to focus on what's important. We should also mention that the feature should work in accordance with the reminders feature if the app has it.
Calendar
The calendar feature of daily planner apps can help users stay on track and achieve their goals. By scheduling their day and tracking their progress, users can ensure that they are making the most of their time.
Most apps allow you to set specific tasks for specific goals using the build-in calendar.
Setting Tasks in Advance
Having the option to fill up the rest of your week with tasks is an important feature not many planner applications have. Those that do are what makes them better than the rest.
Some daily planner apps allow the option to add tasks for the next month and even a year in advance!
Overdue Tasks
No matter how much these apps aid us with tasks, some will end up unfinished. But what happens with these tasks? You've already scheduled your week, and suddenly an incomplete task needs your attention?
If that happens, the perfect outcome would be for the application to put the task in an "overdue" category. Some apps have this feature, but many don't. Overdue tasks still need resolving, so putting them in a specific category will remind you that there's still work to be done on undone tasks.
How to Use A Daily Planner App?
We've outlined the most important aspects of daily planner apps. We've, so far, discussed the benefits and uses of these applications, and we've discussed the most important features. But what about using the app? It's normal to assume that some applications are easier to use than others.
In addition, we can say that these apps work similarly. You're supposed to add tasks to days and have ways to "cross" them off the list. That's the simple way of using daily planner apps.
But we won't talk about how to use these apps. Instead, we will tell you how to use them most effectively. Let's do that.
Write Down the Most Important Tasks
The simple, and usually the most effective, way to use daily planner apps is to log on to your app and start writing down important tasks for the day.
You can do this in the morning or, preferably, the night before. That way, you know what you're supposed to do the following day.
Prioritize the Important Tasks First
Always start with the tasks that you deem more important than others. That way, you will always finish the most time-pressing tasks and have more time to dwell on the remaining ones.
Fill Tasks for the Week
Going day-by-day is one way to use your daily planner app, but an even better one is to fill your week with tasks and review each day before going to bed.
That way, you still know what needs to be done in three days' time but can review it the night before.
Tick Off Tasks As Soon As You Finish Them
This one is quite straightforward. The most basic way to use these apps is to immediately tick off tasks you complete. That way, you know exactly where you stand for the day and can immediately move to the next task.
What Are the Best Daily Planner Apps?
Now we come to the fun part of this guide. The internet is full of all kinds of daily planner apps - some better than others. To make sure you pick the best ones, here is a list of the most user-friendly and feature-packed daily planner apps.
-
We may be biased, but we believe our Bullet Journal App is one of the most comprehensive daily planner applications on the internet. There’s a few things that make Bullet unique.
Namely, Bullet allows you to create daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly to-do lists. So you can keep track of things like your new years resolutions. It also supports notes and events, so it’s not just for tasks, it’s for journaling too.
The app's user interface is also impressive and very easy to navigate. Simply add tasks for a particular day of the week and keep track of them in the daily log. Once you complete a task, cross off a task or add a new task seamlessly.
-
Notion is a daily planner app for project managers. The developers even call it that - a project management tool and part note-taking app.
Notion combines the best of project management and daily planning into a single application. It is the perfect application for users who want to take notes while working.
We've tried Notion, and we can say that the daily planning aspect dominates, as opposed to project management. You can use the app to create daily tasks, keep track of tasks, and assign tasks to projects.
The app includes a handy "Quick Find" feature that helps you find a particular task.
But the feature we're probably most excited about Notion is the web clipper. If you've used Evernote, you've probably had the opportunity to personalize your notes. We're talking about adding different headings, text, pages, to-do lists, etc. The features are excellent for creating your daily plan in the form of lists.
-
Trello has been around for years. It is a well-known application that allows you to create boards.
Boards are essentially what Trello is best known for. Boards in Trello work Kanban-style and allow you to add tasks. You can name the boards however you like, but one of the highlight features of Trello is collaboration.
Namely, you can invite people over to your Trello board and collaborate on tasks. Trello is mostly an application for professional use as opposed to personal use. Regardless, the app offers high personalization features where you can add images, stickers, and additional media to personalize your boards.
-
Google Calendar needs no introduction. If you've never used Google Calendar, you probably aren't aware of what exactly this daily planner app can do.
While most will assume that Google Calendar is a scheduling app, it can also be used as a daily planner. You can select a particular day and fill it up with tasks, events, schedules, etc. You can also fill up the rest of the week and use Google Calendar as a free daily planner app like the rest of the apps on this list.
However, a standout feature of Google Calendar is reminders. You can tell the app to remind you of an upcoming event, call, or meeting, making it easy to keep track of things.
-
My Study Life is a daily planner app for students. No matter how much you try to stay on top of things, a student's life is a stressful one. Therefore, it's easy to forget assignments or miss out on important meetings and tasks. Why go through the trouble of juggling multiple assignments when you can stay organized with this app?
My Study Life makes it seamless to organize your study life. That means you can schedule classes, tasks, exams, and assignments in one go. The app has a built-in calendar where you can see upcoming tasks; essentially making it easy to keep track of them.
-
Todoist is yet another popular daily planner app. The app allows you to create different projects and add tasks for each. You also get daily notifications for each project. With the addition of "Upcoming" and "Filters & Labels" sections, Todoist makes it easy to prioritize tasks and assign labels.
The "Upcoming" section allows you to view all upcoming tasks in the form of lists and even reschedule overdue tasks. Once you complete a task, you can archive it or delete it permanently. Todoist comes with free and paid versions. The free version doesn't come with reminders but will serve you well when managing daily tasks.
-
Things3 has all the features you need from a planner app to get the most out of your daily obligations. Even though the app isn't free, you can check out the 15-day free trial to see if Things3 is the daily planner app for you.
The thing that makes Things3 stand out from the rest of the daily planner apps on the list is the flexible interface. Namely, the app looks gorgeous and easy to use.
In addition, Things3 will sync across all macOS and iOS devices. Sadly, the app is only available for macOS and iOS devices, meaning you won't be able to use it on your Android device or Windows PC.
But if you are an iPhone or Mac user, Things3 is the daily planner to give a try.
With Things3 you can track your daily tasks, projects, and dates and organize each one the way you want. To use the app, start adding tasks and set times for each. You can add new projects, add tasks to projects, and personalize tasks based on your needs. Simply put, it's not free, but it will get the job done.
-
The last daily planner app on our list is Ticktick. Ticktick is a great daily planner app for freelancers. The app is simple to use, even easier to navigate and has advanced features.
Tikcick is a daily planner app that lets you create daily tasks and lists, add tags, and allows you to display tasks by filtering dates, lists, tags, etc. It's also color-coded, meaning each list gets its own color. That way, you will know what list the task you've added to is supposed to go to.
Once you finish a tag, click on the tiny square to mark it as complete.
Ticktick is also capable of tracking your daily tasks. The app includes both a free and premium plan. The free plan does limit the app, but upgrading is very cheap.
With an excellent interface and solid features, Ticktick is yet another capable daily planner app.
Conclusion
That concludes this guide on the topic of daily planner applications. As you can see, these apps are all the rage. They make life easier to manage by making it seamless to keep track of tasks, schedules, meetings, etc.
Therefore, consider using a daily planner app to keep track of your personal and professional obligations.