7 Best Timeboxing Apps For Maximum Productivity

Did you know you can increase your productivity with timeboxing by 15%?

And the best way to take advantage of this time management technique is by using timeboxing apps.

I’m an account manager and an SEO specialist, so it’s challenging for me to stay focused and get all my things done.

Let’s face it: how often do you realize that the day flies by, but you can’t be as productive as you wanted?

If you struggle to manage your time, then the right timeboxing app can be a game changer.

Here are the best timeboxing tools you should try in 2024 to become a high achiever.

As always, I personally tested all these apps, so you don’t have to!

What are timeboxing apps?

Timeboxing apps are tools to help you manage your time effectively and boost your productivity.

They are websites and apps based on the timeboxing technique, which is a way to manage and organize your tasks, dedicating a certain amount of time to a specific activity.

Imagine having a smart assistant who nudges you, saying, “OK, you can only spend 30 minutes on emails today.”

That’s what these apps do.

They help you divide your day into specific time slots for each task.

You get to decide how many minutes or hours go into each box.

This way, you can manage time better and stay on track with your tasks.

In fact, most of these time-blocking apps have timers that count down while you work. 

It feels like playing a game where you race against the clock to beat your own score or, in this case, finish your tasks before the buzzer!

They also remind you when it’s time to stop and take a break or move on to something else.

Top 7 Timeboxing Apps for 2024

Are you in a hurry?

Here are the best timeboxing apps in 2024:

• Sunsama: best overall
  
• Motion: best ai-calendar app for time boxing
  
• Akiflow: most straightforward to use
  
• Freedom: perfect time boxing apps for blocking digital distractions
  
• TickTick
  
• Upbase.io
  
• Fantastical
  
• Any.do

Sunsama

If you are looking for a simple app that allows you to maximize the benefits of time boxing, Sunsama is the right choice for you.

Thanks to its intuitive interface and management features, it’s one of my favorites.

It prioritizes specific tasks based on your needs.

This way, you can create a realistic and balanced work schedule, increasing productivity and focus.

Key Features

Sunsama is like having a personal assistant who knows your schedule inside out.

• A simple interface very easy to navigate, especially for beginners
  
• You can set reminders for upcoming events
  
• Drag and drop functionalities for a much easier use
  
• Lots of integrations with other project management tools and Calendar apps

Pros and Cons

Pricing 

Sunsama offers two subscription plans: 

• Monthly plan at $20 per month
  
• Annual plan at $16 per month

It also offers a 14-day free trial without the need to enter your credit card.

That’s true; Sunsama doesn’t have a free plan, but for its value for money, it’s definitely one of the best timeboxing apps.

Motion

Sunsama is one of the top timeboxing apps I tried, but it has some limitations.

In particular, it’s not the best choice for teams or project managers.

In this case, you need a timeboxing app like Motion!

It’s one the best apps when it comes to timeboxing, thanks to its intelligent use of artificial intelligence, which makes it a unique tool.

As I explained in my personal Motion App review, you just need to put your tasks in the calendar, and the tool will organize them for you using AI.

Sounds too good to be true?

Then you should try Motion for free and see for yourself!

Key Features 

• AI-Powered Planning: The app uses artificial intelligence to place tasks into your calendar. It finds the best times for you to work on things based on your busy schedule, making it easier to organize your day.
  
• Automatic Rescheduling: If something comes up, no worries! Motion automatically shuffles your tasks to new time slots, so you’re always on track.
  
• Color Coding: you can color-code different types of tasks and events. This makes your schedule easy to read at a glance.
  
• Meetings Assistant: Scheduling meetings can be a pain, but not with Motion. Its Meetings Assistant helps set them up without back-and-forth emails.
  
• Work Across Devices: Whether on iOS or Android or even sitting at your desktop – it’s all synced up.

Pros and Cons

Pricing 

Like Sunsama, Motion also only has paid plans but offers a 7-day free trial.

 Then, you can choose between these two subscription plans:

• Individual Plan: $19 billed yearly or $34 billed yearly
  
• Team Plan: $12 per user a month, billed annually, or $20 per user billed monthly

The free trial requires you to enter your credit card, but you will be able to familiarize yourself with all the task management features that make Motion AI an extremely unique and versatile app.

Akiflow

Not a big fan of overly complex screens and looking for something more minimalistic?

Then Akiflow is the timeboxing app best suited to your needs.

This tool will show you only the essential information, such as your calendar and to-do list, that you need to maximize your productivity.

Like other apps, you can easily drag and drop tasks and integrate Akiflow with other tools like  Asana, Google Calendar, Gmail, and Slack.

Key Features

• Minimalistic design, reducing distractions and overwhelming
  
• Timeboxing and Time blocking features: Akiflow is also one of the best time block apps on the market, thanks to its unique features
  
• Works with Other Tools: Akiflow plays nice with other apps, making it super easy to sync all your stuff.

Pros and Cons

Pricing

Akiflow also offers a subscription and pricing system very similar to Sunsama and Motion.

In particular, you can choose between:

• Yearly Plan: $19 dollars per month
  
• Monthly Plan: $36 dollars per month

As you can see, Akiflow’s prices are higher than Sunsama and Motion, especially when choosing a monthly subscription.

This is definitely the sore point of this timeboxing app, despite it offering a 7-day free trial.

But how much can saving time actually cost you?

If Akiflow is actually the most suitable app for you, then the price takes second place, as time is priceless!

Freedom

With Freedom, we’re not talking about planners, calendar based tools, or to-do list apps.

It is, in fact, a very simple tool.

Its goal is to block all distractions and dedicate you to a specific task with maximum focus for a specific period of time.

It is very useful if you work with your PC and telephone and tend to get distracted by various social media and shopping sites such as Amazon or YouTube.

I use Freedom every day, because it’s the only way to stay focused and reduce my common time wasters.

Since I started using this app, I have felt more productive, energetic, and free ( yeah, the name fits perfectly!).

This way, I’m limiting the amount of time I spend on these websites, especially when I’m working, or I need to focus 100%.

Key Features

I’ve been using Freedom for my daily planning, and it really helps me focus.

This app knocks out distractions so I can get things done.

Here’s what makes it stand out:

• Block Websites: You can tell the app to keep you away from time-wasting sites when you need to focus, the best option for deep work
  
• Schedule Focus Time: Set up times in advance for no distractions. Your future self will thank you
  
• Recurring Time Boxes: If you have a routine, Freedom lets you schedule those focus sessions ahead of time, on repeat
  
• User-Friendly Interface: The design is clean and simple. You won’t waste time figuring out how to use the app—it’s that easy
  
• Lists of Distractions: The app knows all the main online distractions and can block them with just a click.
  
• Free Trial Available: Not sure if it’s for you? Test it out with 7 free sessions before deciding.

Pros and Cons

Pricing 

Freedom offers a free version and three different paid plans:

• Monthly Premium: $8.99 per month
  
• Yearly Premium: $3.33 per month
  
• Forever: $ 99.50 just once

The great pro of freedom, in addition to its ease of use and effectiveness, is the possibility of a lifetime subscription deal; you pay only once, and the app is yours forever.

This makes this tool also one of the best focus apps, which I recommend if you need a simple method to increase your concentration.

TickTick

TickTick is another popular, interesting app that offers time-blocking and time-tracking features.

Available both on iOS and Android offers task management tools, such as to-do lists, habit tracking, Kanban boards, and a Pomodoro Timer.

You can add tasks with due dates, set up reminders, and view everything on a neat calendar.

They offer a free plan that’s pretty solid, but if you wanna unlock all the bells and whistles, it’s just $27.99 per year, definitely the cheapest app in this list.

Not bad, right? The focus on task management makes this a go-to app for daily planning or tackling big project lists.

Plus, checking things off feels oh-so-good!

With TickTick front and center in my arsenal of apps, I’m crushing my to-do list one task at a time – consider me a fan!

Upbase.io

Designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, Upbase.io is another app to keep all your tasks in one place.

It mixes timeboxing with a sprinkle of time blocking and Pomodoro to help you master your time like a pro.

The web app and Chrome extension come packed with features made for getting things done.

Picture this: an easy-to-use calendar, daily notes that keep your thoughts in check, and a handy Pomodoro timer to break tasks into bite-sized pieces.

You can get started without paying a dime because there’s a free plan waiting just for you (or anyone else; unlimited users are the cherry on top).

Want to unlock all its unique features?

Its premium plan goes from $5 per month for the yearly plan to $8 per month per person if you choose the monthly subscription.

Fantastical

Fantastical is not a specific app for time boxing, but thanks to its time management and task scheduling functions, it can help you take advantage of this powerful ally.

You can schedule time to complete tasks alongside your calendar events and easily share files and photos directly from your Cloud or Google Drive.

But its unique feature is the natural language processing ability to create tasks without writing the whole sentence in your calendar.

It’s also intuitive and user-friendly, key features when it comes to a time boxing app.

Any.Do

Any.Do keeps things simple and sleek, making it a breeze to plan your day.

 I love how this app lets you drag tasks right into your calendar and gets them lined up like little productivity soldiers.

It’s not just about lists; Any.Do has this cool feature called the “Moment” which nudges you every morning to review your day—kinda like having a personal coach in your pocket.

And for folks who are always on the go, its mobile apps sync seamlessly across devices, including iOS and Android.

What is Timeboxing?

If you’re looking for the best timeboxing apps to help you boost your productivity, I assume you already know what it is.

Anyway, let’s do a quick recap.

Timeboxing is a time management technique where you allocate specific time slots to each activity.

During this fixed time, you focus on one task.

Let’s make an example.

Here’s my typical working day as an account manager based on timeboxing:

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Review emails and prioritize tasks

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Client meeting

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Follow up emails and calls

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Focus time

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Client call

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Focus time

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Administrative tasks

As you can see, timeboxing is a simple yet effective way to organize your day and track time spent on a specific task.

If you want to improve your productivity in 2024, you should try this time management and productivity technique!

How can Timeboxing apps benefit you?

First of all, using a time management app is key to improving your productivity and staying consistent.

In particular, timeboxing apps helped me track the time I spent on each task and realize how I was spending my day.

My main problem is that I’m a perfectionist procrastinator.

This means that I spent hours and hours on a task to make sure it was perfect, but in reality, I was wasting time.

Knowing that I only have one hour for a task, for example, I can focus on what is essential.

Furthermore, it allowed me to focus on my priorities, delegating what was not crucial at that moment.

How can you choose the perfect timeboxing app for your needs?

Ok, you’re looking for a time tracking software based on timeboxing.

But with all these options available, which one you should choose?

Here’s what I recommend you:

• Are you a freelancer or solopreneur, or do you just want to improve your productivity? Then go with Sunsama.
  
• Do you want to integrate timeboxing into your team and use the power of AI? Then Motion is the right choice for you ( you’ll love it!)
  
• Do you need an app less complicated? Give a chance to Akiflow.
  
• Looking to stop wasting your time on useless activities but want to benefit from timeboxing? Install Freedom and see the magic happen.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Time is the most precious thing we have.

Don’t waste it.

You can work less time and be more productive, if you have an app that helps to do it.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a manager, a CEO, or just someone who wants to manage their time better.

The right timeboxing app can help regain control of your time and make you more happy and satisfied!