1. Fantastical
In this day and age where we always seem to have more than 24 hours worth of activities in any particular day, it is very important for anyone to have a calendar. Now, without delving into why a digital calendar would be preferable for most compared to a physical one, I will go straight into talking about Fantastical, probably the best app created for me! Apart from the usual calendar features like events, multiple calendars etc., Fantastical also has its own features, like its excellent natural language engine which means that things like “Guitar Lesson tomorrow from 11–12pm alert 10 min repeat every week” can be input into the app, meaning that calendar entries are quick and efficient! Moreover, many different calendars can integrate with Fantastical, such as Google Calendar, and even to-do list apps like Todoist and Apple’s Reminders! This means that essentially one’s entire student life can be imported onto a digital platform. And with lightning quick event entries, highly customisable alerts etc., it reduces the friction of scheduling one’s life digitally, and is definitely faster than a physical calendar too. This is especially useful for a productivity concept that I am in love with — Time Blocking. This app allows me to time block my days and weeks ahead of schedule, ensuring that I remember every event and I know immediately within a few taps of may smartphone whether I am free for an additional meeting. However, all of these excellent features do come with a steep price, which comes 5 USD/mth or 40 USD/yr, so if you are really strapped for money, it would be better to invest in an app or subscription which would be the most important for school life!
2. Things/Todoist
A task manager would definitely be essential in a student’s life, especially with all the homework, all the projects to work on every single day! Well, since I was unable to decide between Things and Todoist as the better app, I have decided to include both of them in this article! Each app though has its own special, extra feature that the other does not have. Now, apart from the basic to-do list management features like adding, deleting tasks etc., Things and Todoist both offer much more fine tuned modifications to each task, which will be loved by organisational freaks like moi. These features include subtasks, labels, projects, priority, recurring tasks etc. Now what is then the difference between the two apps. Things definitely offer a much more aesthetic app that is just so wonderful during usage, while Todoist would be much more affordable than things as it offers a free plan that is quite limited in its features like no notifications. Moreover, Todoist also integrates with more applications like Fantastical, while Things does not have such integrations.
3. Notion
Now for the most important app to me, is Notion. Notion is in its simplest, a note taking app. Notion utilises a block based system for its elements, like pages, simple tables, lists, databases, calendar and many more. For text editing, Notion has many different types of blocks for those too, like 3 different heading levels, quotes, highlights, code, and even support for LaTeX! This is literally only touching the surface of what this legendary app can do! It offers extreme levels of customisations within the app, with even Markdown support, so dedicated writers would definitely be jumping for joy! What’s more, they have excellent database features, while its definitely no Microsoft Excel, it does offer several unique features which definitely make their databases more fun than those in Excel, without shying away from essential features like formulas, relations. In addition, the Pro Plan is completely free for students, as long as they register with their school issued emails(those with .edu or any other relevant domain)! One thing, however, which may be a downfall for notion is the complex nature of using such an app. At first glance, the infinite features of the app may discourage users from ever using the app, but as long as users are willing to just put in some effort to learn how to use those features, they will realise that the app is actually extremely useful, as it is able to be a note-taking app, a calendar app, a to-do list app, a database app etc.
Do take note, I am by no means an expert in this field, but I believe strongly that it is not fair that I should not let my opinions on this matter be known, since it may be helpful to some individuals out there. Do follow me for more articles just like this as I project my thoughts and opinions out to the world!!
