Must Have Apps: Productivity & Travel

When Sunrise, my go-to calendar app for years, shut down over the summer, I knew I had to find a new one. Luckily I did (which I'll share in a minute!) but I ended up re-evaluating a bunch of my go-to apps to see if there were other better options. Turns out the answer was yes! I wanted to focus mainly on productivity and travel because aside from the usual social media stuff, those are the apps I use the most.

Timepage by Moleskine (calendar)
I tried five different calendar apps and not a single one stuck. (Note: Google Calendar is actually another great option but I use it specifically for work.) Then I found Timepage! It has a beautiful interface that displays a week and month view seamlessly plus there's a ton of options to make it your own.

Bear (notes)
I loved Simplenote for years but the lack of functionality started to bug me. Why couldn't I bold text? Or add a link? I wanted something in between Simplenote and Evernote (which I've never liked) and found Bear. It's got the best of both worlds and the design is great.

Deliveries (package tracker)
I used to use Slice which I always found clunky but I didn't see any other options so I stopped looking. Then my coworker told me about Deliveries and I've been using it ever since. It's a bit more manual because you have to add each package you want tracked but it's got a great interface and overall works much better.

Wunderlist (lists)
I made the switch to Wunderlist a while ago when I realized having notes and to-dos in ten different places wasn't working. I still love it and haven't found anything else comparable. I even started putting reminders in there (instead of using the Apple Reminders app). Plus I like that I can collaborate on lists too.

Penny (budget)
Again, I've tried a bunch of apps for this like Minted, Spendbook and Wally but they all felt like too much work. Penny is really simple and while I was skeptical of linking my accounts, it's actually great. It shows me my spending habits on a daily/week/monthly basis, reminds me of upcoming bills and I can get a quick view of all my accounts.

GoodReads (books)
Do I even need to explain? The app has come a long way and while there are still improvements to be made (can we please be able to see quotes?), it'll probably always be my go to for looking up books and tracking my reading.

Hopper (airfare predictions)
Even though I look at different sites for prices, Hopper is what I use to watch flights for specific trips I'm planning. As we speak I'm watching three right now! I pretty much just wait for the app to tell me "buy now" and I've definitely saved money since using it.

Flightview (flight tracker)
This is such an ugly app but man oh man is it useful. When I had to travel a lot at my previous job, I wanted a way to track my flights: what gate, was it on time or delayed, what terminal would I land in. This has it all! Since then, I never travel without adding my flights on here the night before. I did try to find a nicer looking app to replace it but nothing worked quite as well.

Airbnb (homestay)
If you haven't tried Airbnb yet while traveling, I can't recommend it enough. After I used it two years ago for San Francisco, I've booked Airbnb instead of a hotel on almost every trip since. Obviously you have to be careful about your selections but I've had nothing but good experiences and you save so much money!

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What are your must have apps for productivity and travel?