Manage your work not a distraction to itself. These deskmates let your phone handle the hard stuff.
Update, February 2022: We’ve added new picks and refreshed the descriptions.
Otter
Otter is a great app to automatically record important meetings. The transcription isn’t 100 percent accurate, but it’s close enough for you to understand the larger context. Clicking on a part of the transcript will start the audio file at that point. Always be proactive and get consent before recording any conversation. The phone app works well for face-to-face meetings, but you need an Enterprise membership to fully integrate with Zoom. Otter offers 600 minutes per month of free transcription for meetings lasting up to 30 minutes, with plenty of support for less stable users.
Price: Free
Space
Knowing when to take a break is an important factor in staying productive. Whether it’s a walk around the block or a guided meditation, prepare strategies to reduce your anxiety during busy days. Subscribing to Headspace gives you access to a variety of soothing meditations. The app’s Spotlight tab has options tailored specifically for workplace situations. For someone who is easily distracted but prefers a little background noise, the HeadSpace’s natural sounds provide just enough atmosphere; “Cabin Downpour” and “Redwood Canopy” are personal favorites.
Price: $13 per month, $70 per year
Bag
Pocket store web articles, news stories, and online documents in your personal library so you can read them later in the app’s distraction-free interface. Collect industry headlines, sync them to your phone, and stay focused as you read articles offline. Basic services are free. For additional search functions and a permanent library of saved articles, Pocket Premium costs $5 a month or $45 a year.
Price: Free
Flora
Smartphones are a source of distractions and sometimes you need encouragement to put the screen down. When you set the focus timer with Flora, the app will plant a digital tree that only grows if you’re not using your phone. It’s free to download and Flora offers different subscription levels if you want your successfully planted digital forest to correspond to the real-world plantation.
Price: Free
Cushion
If your Achilles heel is a social media distraction, try automating it. Schedule your posts for the day in Buffer, then close Instagram and get back to work or your family. The app handles all the major social media platforms and gives you a report on what your followers have clicked on.
Price: Free
Act
From the people who brought you the iconic Moleskine notebooks, this app keeps track of tasks, appointments, and reminders. Arrange the list as obsessively as you want with custom color coding on Actions and set reminders freely if you need to move.
Price: $2 per month, $12 per year
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