A basic notebook is insufficient for me to set objectives, plan and track chores, exercise, and meditate on a regular basis, so I use smartphone apps instead. Today, I’ll discuss the most useful applications in everyday life, what they do, and how I use them. You may not find the most popular tools here, but you may discover some new and useful mobile apps for daily activities.
The Most Useful Apps for Daily Planning
I’ve tried a variety of planning methods and apps, and I’ve found the perfect answer for me: Notion for long-term and medium-term planning, and TimeNoder2 for daily planning. Allow me to tell you more about each instrument.
Notion — All-in-One Mobile App
Notion is a comprehensive platform for goal setting, managing work and personal projects, long-term and daily planning, and more. I use the online platform for analytics of my websites and YouTube channels, setting and tracking goals, and the mobile app for self-reflection. However, this website and specifically this article are focused on mobile apps, so let’s take a closer look at the Notion Mobile App, and you can decide what works best for you.
For my yearly goals, I used Andrew Ellis’ Notion template. On the homepage, I’ve listed all of the categories, including mental health, physical health, work, finances, music, and separate pages for websites and YouTube channels. At the bottom, there is a widget with a weekly task.
I also have a Self Reflection page, which I use for daily, weekly, and monthly summaries, and separate notes with questions that help me better understand my true needs, desires, etc. In terms of journaling, Notion is my most useful app in daily life. Although for you, it could replace most other apps, including time and fitness trackers.
TimeNoder2 — My Favourite App for Daily Planning
TimeNoder2 is my favourite app for daily planning.
I inadvertently discovered TimeNoder2 on Google Play. It turned out to be free and really useful. I use it for daily planning and time tracking.
The Tasks tab allows you to create and examine tasks for today and tomorrow, as well as completed tasks. The Schedule tab displays tasks on a clock.
I rarely use the Calendar tab.
And the Stats tab is a great delight. You may view information on tasks, projects, and the time spent on them. There are charts and lists, and the data display options include day, week, month, year, and total data.
It also includes a time tracker, habit tracker, planning using the Eisenhower Matrix system, task and event widgets. TimeNoder2 has been my personal discovery this year, and it may very well be the most useful app for daily use in 2025.
The Most Useful Apps in Daily Life for Reading
I love reading. Even while I can’t always dedicate many hours to reading a book from cover to cover, I make an effort to find at least half an hour every day. I would like to share my favourite reading applications that I use on a regular basis.
ReadEra – A Convenient App for Reading Books and Magazines
You may read downloaded books, magazines, and papers with the free ReadEra app for iOS and Android. It supports a wide range of formats, including:
- EPUB
- FB2
- Kindle (MOBI, AZW3)
- Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX, RTF)
- ODT
- TXT
I typically download magazines and books in PDF, FB2, or EPUB formats. Additionally, there are distinct tabs for authors, series, to read, have read, favourites, and to filter information by different forms. Additionally, you can make your own collections.
Blinkist — Most Useful Apps in Daily Life for Book Summaries
I use Blinkist to find new books. I browse through popular suggestions and read the brief version (15-20 minutes). If I like it, I purchase the full version of the book in either digital or print format; if not, I move on to new options.
I have a Blinkist PRO subscription for $139.99 per month, which is valid until December 2025, and I’ll most likely extend it. I am also testing the Headway app right now: I don’t see any major reasons to switch to it yet, but who knows what the future holds.
Most useful apps for better physical and mental health
In this section, I want to emphasize once again: I’m not giving any advice, especially regarding physical or mental health. These are simply the most useful apps in daily life for Android and iOS that I personally use in my life.
BetterMe Mental Health — My Favourite Minimalist Mobile App
BetterMe is a mobile app for Android and iOS that provides access to a variety of simple relaxation techniques. It helps manage daily stress and improve mental health through breathing exercises. I particularly enjoy the short practices lasting 3-5 minutes, which are evenly spread throughout the day: one exercise in the morning, one lesson from the course during the day, and a meditation in the evening, followed by a bedtime story and sleep sounds.
I use the free version of BetterMe Mental Health, and it’s more than enough for me. It offers a daily plan, a “Breathing” tab with 3-minute practices, “Interesting” with courses and short meditations, bedtime stories, and sound sets. The only thing I miss is a statistics feature, like a journal, but for quick relaxation, it’s a wonderful app.
YAZIO — My Favourite Calorie Tracker and Food Log
I admit, I’m a lazy person (I try to work on it, but it’s not always easy), so sometimes I forget to log what I ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, or how much water I drank during the day. However, this is definitely not the fault of the app, as it constantly reminds me.
I’ll do a detailed review of each of the apps mentioned in this article later, but for now, here’s a quick overview of what the YAZIO app is useful for:
- Tracking meals and counting calories.
- Searching for healthy recipes with calorie counts.
- Tracking daily water intake.
- Automatically tracking activity with the option to add custom activities.
- Adding notes.
- Intermittent fasting using popular methods like 16:8 or 5:2.
And a nice bonus — YAZIO can be used for free! There are ads and some limitations, such as limited statistics and no automatic tracking, but as a food and calorie tracker, it’s perfectly functional for free.
FitAI — Most Useful Apps in Daily Life for Workout
I’ll be honest, FitAI was a random discovery for me and one of my most spontaneous purchases. I don’t remember the details exactly, but I think there was a huge discount, so I quickly subscribed to the app to not miss the offer. Currently, there’s a 65% discount on an annual subscription — £94.99, but you can also choose monthly and weekly subscriptions for £11.99 and £5.49 respectively. Here’s a little secret: when you close the initial offer window, a second one pops up with a 70% discount for the first year, bringing the cost to £28.49.
What I like most about FitAI is the automatic generation of a weekly workout plan. If you don’t like a particular exercise, you can replace it yourself (the app offers over 3000 options) or use artificial intelligence to help.
Another great feature is recovery. On this tab, you can see how fatigued each muscle group is. This allows you to effectively plan your exercise groups for the week — for example, Back & Biceps today, and Leg Day tomorrow.
My subscription is valid until September 2025. Will I continue using FitAI after that? Most likely, yes. Although I love mobile apps and will continue looking for alternatives, I’m incredibly satisfied with this tool for now.
An Important Note
I haven’t described all the apps yet, and I’m constantly looking for something better, so this article will be updated regularly. I’ll make sure to include the date when I find a new app that I now use daily and share it with you. For example, I keep a journal in Notion, but I’ve already found several much more convenient — and most importantly — faster alternatives. I want to test them out first, but I’ll definitely tell you about them later.
I’m grateful that you visited my website and read this article. I’d be even more grateful if you share your own useful apps for daily use in the comments.
Hugs, lifted. See you next time!
