15 Digital Tools and Apps to Jumpstart 2018 Reach your productivity peak this New Year.
By Rose Leadem •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
From dropping some pounds to saving more money, many people set New Year's resolutions. But if you have trouble sticking to them, one of the best ways to jumpstart your year is simple: get organized. And luckily, there are plenty of apps and digital tools out there that make reaching that goal even easier.
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There are a number of different tools created to support a variety of different lifestyles, whether you're a workaholic, a minimalist or a traveler. From an app that personalizes your events and contacts using social media to an app that focuses on GPS and mapping to make sure you get to every meeting on time, here are 15 apps to help you reach your productivity peak in 2018.
Fantastical 2Fantastical 2
If you want a simple-to-use, straightforward calendar app, check out Fantastical 2. Its clean and simple format makes it easy to schedule and plan out days, months and weeks in advance with all of your reminders and events right in front of you. You can add audio notes to events and its feature, the Day Ticker, makes it especially easy to manage events and be notified of anything coming up.
Available for iOS, $2.99
AccompanyAccompany
While Accompany helps manage and schedule events, meetings and appointments on a calendar, it also creates a more customized experience. By connecting to your email, the app will create profiles for important contacts and businesses, which it will populate into specific events on your calendar. Accompany will email you information about the person or company you're meeting with in an "Executive Briefing" the night before, including contact information, social media posts and news stories, or company financials.
Available for iOS, free
Informant 5Informant 5
Informant 5 is a calendar, tasks and notes app that offers a simple and straightforward way to organize your life. You can customize the app, controlling how much text you want visible on the screen at one time. If you're a constant traveler, Informant 5 is especially helpful as it adjusts to different time zones, displays travel time ETAs and more. It also provide productivity tips to help you get everything done.
Available for iOS, free
CalCal
If you're a busy bee, you probably don't have time to spend inputting excess details on upcoming events. Luckily, with Cal, you don't have to. By simply creating an event and putting in basic info like a restaurant name, Cal will input contact invites and location data. The app is also visually pleasing, adding in themed pictures to your events.
Available for iOS and Android, free
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Peek CalendarPeek Calendar
Perfect for the minimalist entrepreneur, Peek Calendar is one of the sleekest calendar apps out there. Displaying only the necessary information about an event or alert, Peek Calendar doesn't overwhelm or clutter. It can be synced up to other apps and software such as iCloud and Google Calendar to help you manage and create events.
Available for iOS, $2.99
CloudCalCloudCal
If you're constantly busy, CloudCal can help you manage every bit of your time. Using its "Magic Circles" scheduling strategy, the app creates circles and colors them in to correspond to the various events and times throughout the day. It provides an overview of how much time you have available in a given day so you can better manage and book appointments.
Available for Android, free
Tiny CalendarTiny Calendar
If you're a Gmail user, Tiny Calendar is made to sync to your Gmail account to seamlessly organize and manage your upcoming events. With its straightforward setup, Tiny Calendar lets you view your calendar in a number of ways from 4-days to "mini month" to week agenda. Any changes you make in the app will automatically be made on your Google Calendar as well. The best part? You can work offline, so you don't have to worry about missing an event just because you're off the grid for a few hours.
Available for Android and iOS, $0.99
JorteJorte
Made for the avid notetaker, Jorte is perfect for people who like to add memos and notes to all of their calendar events. While the calendar can be viewed in daily, weekly and monthly formats, Jorte is particularly helpful by keeping task and memo bars open and in view. Allowing you to sync to other apps and calendars, Jorte can also sync across all devices.
Available for Android and iOS, free
SaiSuke 2SaiSuke 2
Not sure what scheduling format fits your style? SaiSuke 2 is a Japanese calendar app that offers your choice between 11 different formats. You can make your scheduling even more personalized by having the option to choose your own color schemes and gesture actions.
Available for iOS, $9.99
DigiCal+DigiCal+
Want absolutely everything in one place? DigiCal+ is an app that not only manages your personal calendar, but it will also add in things such as sports and TV schedules so you never miss your favorite team or TV series. While it lets users customize their calendars in terms of scheduling, it also offers seven different view modes so you're bound to find a format that best suits you.
Available for Android, $4.99
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Any.doAny.do
If you're someone who's always writing out your to-do lists but not actually making time for those tasks in your calendar, Any.do is here to help. Any.do helps people transfer their to-do lists into calendars so they can actually visualize their workload and get things done. Consider it a personal assistant who turns lists into actionable and organized plans.
Available for Android and iOS, free
TimepageTimepage
Created by the well-known journal, calendar and notebook company Moleskine, Timepage is the company's first digital tool. Combining events, maps, contacts and weather, Timepage is a subscription calendar service geared toward busy professionals and entrepreneurs who tend to overestimate how much time they need. The calendar app has specially created a "heat map" feature, which shows users how busy and full their days are so they can manage their time and divvy up their work throughout the week.
Available for iOS, $1.99 per month
Awesome CalendarAwesome Calendar
While its name may say it all, Awesome Calendar really has it all. From weather to notes to photos, the calendar app doesn't miss a thing and is a one-stop-shop for effectively managing your time -- and your life. Users can do everything from create an event to embed an image into their planner, and they can also cross-sync their schedule with others as well. So if you're someone who does a lot of group work, Awesome Calendar provides great support.
Available for iOS, $9.99
aCalendaraCalendar
If you're more of the traditional type but you're bored of Google and Outlook's Calendars, aCalendar is your next best option. The straightforward design makes the app easy to use, and its particularly useful in its expansive color coding abilities. So if you're someone with a regular schedule, aCalendar will easily help you manage these daily tasks on a regular basis.
Available for Android, free
Business Calendar 2Business Calendar 2
The highly-regarded Android app Business Calendar 2 recently got a makeover, and it offers a seamless user experience and visually pleasing format. Geared towards the busy professional, users can easily switch between view modes from month to week to daily, and receive event summaries that provide short briefings on any upcoming tasks, meetings and more.
Available for Android, free
