14 Best Work From Home Apps to Enhance Productivity

It’s common knowledge that working from home is a win-win situation for many employees and employers. The right work from home apps help employees improve their productivity and enjoy a seamless working-from-home experience.

But, which work from home apps are right for you?

To help you choose the best apps to support your remote-work arrangement, we’ll list 14 remote-working apps and their:

• Best features,  
• Pros and cons,  
• Pricing, and
• ‘What’s new’ section.

Let’s start! 

Top 14 Best Work From Home Apps: Key Takeaways

Clockify — best for tracking work hours

Clockify is one of the free work from home apps that lets remote teams or freelancers track their work hours and optimize their productivity.

Why use Clockify to track work hours?

For starters, it takes just one click of a button for Clockify to start tracking time.  

You can quickly add: 

• The task description, 
• The project, 
• Tags, and 
• Choose if this project is billable or not. 

Freelancers or employees who work on different projects or tasks will find the Timesheet feature useful. It allows you to manually enter the different projects and the time taken for each at the end of the week.

And, if you are like me, you will also appreciate Clockify’s ability to automate calculation of billable hours and earnings — a must-have feature in work from home apps for freelancers! 

To track billable hours, you need to: 

• Set your hourly rates, 
• Track time, and 
• Decide which tasks are billable and which ones are not. 

Clockify then automatically calculates your billable hours and total earnings.

Clockify pros

• Integrates with 80+ third-party apps to ensure seamless workflow, 
• Granular reports that you can filter by project, department, user, currency, etc, and
• Single sign-on (SSO) and encryption to maximize security of data.

Clockify cons

• Advanced features, such as GPS tracking and single sign-on (SSO), are only available in the paid plans, and
• A wide range of features that can be overwhelming for those looking for a simple time tracking solution. 

What’s new with Clockify?

Clockify introduced many fixes and updates in January 2024 including simplified logging in process on all available platforms, and improved notifications via Chrome and Firefox extensions.

One standout update in December 2023 is the ability to export invoices as CSV or Excel files.

Plaky — best for keeping track of projects and tasks

Next on my list of the best work from home apps is Plaky, a free project management software that lets you seamlessly manage tasks and teams.  

Why use Plaky for project and task management?

What I liked most about Plaky is that it lets you quickly create projects and tasks while adding detailed:

• Task description, 
• Deadline, 
• Status, 
• Tags, and 
• Labels.

Once you create tasks, you can use filters, such as creation date, document title, creator, and type of document to find the desired file quickly across projects and tasks.

Plaky’s collaboration features are particularly valuable to those who work from home. For instance, you can share any task-related file and communicate with team members by mentioning a specific colleague in the comments, to quickly get their attention. 

Plaky pros

• Allows you to attach an unlimited number of files, as well as add unlimited number of users,
• Offers Kanban and table views that enable streamlined task management, and
• Helps manage permissions to ensure secure and controlled access.

Plaky cons

• Limited integrations with third-party applications, and 
• Other than Kanban and table views, there are no other views, such as list view.

What’s new with Plaky?

One of the updates from Plaky is the Timeline field introduced in September 2023, that visually represents the project’s details. In November 2023, Plaky launched Private Views that allow the creator of tasks to get an exclusive view of projects.  

Pumble — best for effective team communication and collaboration

Pumble is one of the best work from home apps that allows you to stay connected with employees, team members, and clients in real-time no matter where you are.

Why use Pumble for communication and collaboration?

Pumble makes it easy to chat with an unlimited number of users, no matter where they are located. As expected of work from home apps, Pumble supports audio and video calls that you can directly place from the app.

With Pumble, you can not only create a channel or start a direct message quickly but also make a channel private where only invitees can participate by just toggling the Make Private switch.

In Pumble, messages offer a range of functionalities. Being forgetful by nature, I personally found it very convenient that I could pin important messages and set personal reminders for future actions.

With built-in status messages, you can also promptly update your status, which is especially useful when working remotely. So, whether you are on vacation, in a meeting, out sick, Pumble automatically places a suitable emoji so that your teammates have a better understanding of your leave/absence.

Pumble pros

• The guest access feature lets you invite people outside of the company (clients, customers, etc.) into your workspace,
• Seamlessly syncs between browser and mobile apps, and
• A user-friendly interface and easy set-up.

Pumble cons

• Third-party app integrations are not as extensive as what other work from home apps offer, and
• No option to preview files within the app.

What’s new with Pumble?

In January 2024, Pumble launched a bunch of updates including the ability to collapse and expand sidebar sections in the Android app, adjustable grid size for calls, and enhanced user import limit.

In-call messages, meet recording, and the ability to set time zones are some of the updates introduced in December 2023. 

You can now buy your favorite work from home apps: Pumble, Plaky, and Clockify at a bundle price and save 53% on subscriptions!

Todoist — best for staying on top of your to-do list

If you are looking for work from home apps that help you manage to-do lists and projects, Todoist is a great choice.

Why is Todoist best for managing your to-do lists?

First off, Todoist makes it easy for you to create projects, add individual tasks, and descriptions to each project. 

Once you create your projects and tasks, you can choose to view them in the List view or the Board view.  

A feature that impressed me the most is the ability to create and add labels to organize my tasks. For instance, for my business workshop event, I selected the label “@email” to get a list of tasks that involved sending emails. This cut down the time it would take to manually hunt for such tasks.

With Todoist, it is possible to define automatic, recurring deadlines for each type of task by turning on ‘Smart date recognition’ in the Settings menu.

You can then type the recurring date when creating a new task.  

Todoist pros 

• The smart date recognition feature shows due dates automatically when you type a task, 
• A user-friendly interface, and
• A wide range of integrations, plug-ins, and customizable templates.

Todoist cons

• Some basic features, such as task reminders and calendar layout, are only offered in the Pro plan (Clockify offers Calendar view in the free version), and
• Does not offer detailed views, such as Kanban boards.

What’s new with Todoist?

Todoist launched the ‘ team workspace’ feature in January 2024 which allows teams to organize and view projects and tasks in one place.

In December 2023, Todoist introduced the manual sort option that allows you to rearrange your tasks any way you want.  

A simplified layout and the ability to view labels and filters in board layout were the updates announced in November 2023.

ClickUp — best for boosting productivity across the entire team

ClickUp is one of the visually-oriented work from home apps designed to manage everything from daily to-dos to your most complex tasks, even your business’s entire workflow.  

Why use ClickUp for boosting productivity?

With ClickUp, you can quickly get started with creating projects, tasks, and subtasks. You can: 

• Add the task description, 
• Assign the task to a team member (or yourself), 
• Set start and end dates — all within the Task space.

ClickUp offers different views of your tasks as you can see here. You can choose from: 

• List, 
• Board, 
• Calendar, 
• Gantt, and 
• Table views.

For me, one of the stand-out features of ClickUp is the digital whiteboard that allows me to collaborate with remote team members seamlessly. For instance, my team members and I could brainstorm on marketing collaterals’ design for an upcoming business workshop by drawing some designs, sharing website links, and YouTube videos. 

ClickUp pros

• The ability to automate workflows with the help of 50+ automation templates,
• Real-time view of which team member is online and the task or project they are working on, and 
• ClickUp AI helps you quickly write an engaging blog post or email.

ClickUp cons

• The free plan limits the file upload size to 100MB and restricts workspaces to 5, and
• Given the multiple features, the learning curve is steep for those new to such apps.

What’s new with ClickUp?

ClickUp 3.0 had some updates in October 2023, such as the new Task View 3.0 that makes it easier to create a task, set timelines, and priorities. 

The other feature updates introduced in October 2023 include a revamped inbox, universal search, and internal team operation management. 

Canva — best for design collaborations

Canva is a free platform that allows remote-first and hybrid organizations to work together on designs and create other visual elements from afar. 

Why use Canva for collaborating on designs?

Canva is a great tool that you can use to create stunning presentations, flyers, videos, documents, and much more.  

I personally liked the numerous options available on Canva to customize your slides. For instance, you can delete or add new shapes, images, fonts, videos, fields, colors, and much more. 

With the new Magic Switch feature, you can resize your presentation into any size, convert your presentation into a blog post or even song lyrics.

Canva offers ways to collaborate with your team, such as the whiteboard feature. For instance, you can pick a suitable whiteboard template, provide access to your team members, and collaborate on your project. 

Canva pros

• Multiple app integrations that you can use to enhance your designs,
• Easy for non-designers to get started with designs, and
• It is possible to collaborate on designs even with people who don’t have a Canva account.

Canva cons

• Advanced features are locked behind a paywall, and
• The paid plan is expensive for small teams.

What’s new with Canva?

Among all new features that Canva announced in October 2023, the standout feature is the advanced AI capabilities in the form of the Magic Studio suite of products. For instance, you can generate any text using Magic Write or use Magic Media to convert your text into images. 

Google Drive — best for file storage and synchronization

As one of the popular work from home apps, Google Drive lets you create and store documents while collaborating with co-workers and clients on these documents.

Why use Google Drive for file storage and synchronization?

The best thing about Google Drive is that it saves and syncs your documents and edits across devices in real-time. As a result, there is no concern of losing your document.

You can choose to share your documents with: 

• A restricted group of people (by entering their emails), or to 
• Anyone with a link, making Drive a great collaboration tool.

In addition, Google Drive boosts team productivity by allowing them to collaborate on documents. Team members can also comment, offer suggestions, and edit documents. As these comments and edits are tracked, they offer a clear audit trail for improved accountability.

Google Drive pros

• Cloud storage allows access to files from anywhere across the world,
• Simplifies file organization and retrieval of files through intuitive filters, and
• With Google Drive for Android, you can take photos of documents directly from the app and store them as PDFs.

Google Drive cons

• Apart from storage space, Google Drive restricts daily upload limits for files and individual file sizes, and
• The desktop and Android apps have slow uploading and downloading speeds.

What’s new with Google Drive?

In November 2023, Google Drive added a new filter that allows users to find files based on the people or groups the file is shared with. The other important Drive update came in December 2023, and it allows users to report spam and block unwanted users directly from the app.

Grammarly — best for writing impeccable emails and messages

Grammarly is a well-known online writing assistant that helps business professionals and bloggers write grammatically correct and stylistically optimized content. 

Why use Grammarly for impeccable writing?

Getting started with Grammarly is easy and quick. Once you upload the document to edit, the app asks you to set goals to get tailored recommendations on the tone, style, and vocabulary. For my write-up, I chose the following settings.

Other than punctuation errors, Grammarly points out issues with: 

• Spelling, 
• Grammar, 
• Choice of words, 
• Repetition, 
• Readability, 
• Style, and 
• Tone.

Grammarly gives you an overall score and a breakdown of scores in different areas, such as word count, readability, and vocabulary. This can help you see the areas for improvement — a feature that I particularly like.

Another useful feature of Grammarly is the ‘Generative AI’ that you can use to generate text or get suggestions for improvement. For instance, you can use the AI to create an outline, bullet points, simplify text, and make your write-up persuasive or friendly. 

Grammarly pros

• Grammarly integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace and social media,  
• Team members can align with their company’s brand voice thanks to the ability to define written communication guidelines, and
• Built-in plagiarism checker ensures the integrity of business write-ups.

Grammarly cons

• Does not capture every error, and suggestions are not always accurate,
• Advanced features, such as tone suggestions, are locked behind a paywall.

What’s new with Grammarly?

Grammarly introduced some new features in the fall of 2023, including the preservation of prompt history and allowing users to ask follow-up questions on the generative AI suggestions.

Calendly — best for easy meeting scheduling

If you are looking for a versatile scheduling tool that simplifies the process of setting up and managing meetings, Calendly is a suitable option.

Why use Calendly for scheduling events and meetings?

With Calendly, you can customize your availability for different types of events like one-on-one meetings, group meetings, or phone calls.

You can also choose the event type from: 

• One-on-one, 
• Group (with one host), 
• Collective (more than 1 host), and 
• Round Robin (Calendly assigns a host based on their availability).

Apart from specifying the app through which you will conduct your meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, and others), you can add detailed event descriptions and set event limits (such as, buffer time, daily event limits, etc.)

A feature that struck a chord with me is Calendly’s workflow that automates a lot of repetitive tasks, helping me save time and boost productivity. For instance, I could automate a “thank you” note to my event attendees by choosing the ‘Send thank you email’ workflow. 

Calendly pros

• User-friendly interface,
• Automatic detection of user’s time zone to prevent scheduling errors, and
• Analytics and reports help track your scheduling activity.

Calendly cons

• You cannot create custom automation workflows to match your team’s or business’s needs (you can only create your personal automation flows), and 
• Live chat support, event reminders, and multiple calendar syncing are available only in the paid plans.

What’s new with Calendly?

The sidebar received an update in October 2023 allowing it to consolidate all the scheduling features in one place. The other notable update in October 2023 is the revamped event type editor allowing users to make changes to their events without having to switch between windows or tabs.  

SignNow — best for signing your documents electronically

SignNow is a cost-effective and secure e-signature tool that helps people working away from the office electronically sign important documents.  

Why use SignNow for e-signatures?

There are many features that make SignNow a viable option for e-signatures. Once you sign up and create your signature, you’ll be able to customize it easily. 

You can then add users to create a team and collaborate on documents, templates, and signatures. 

It is easy to upload documents and insert specific signature or date fields on it and these are the features that impressed me the most.

Other than date and signature, you can also drag and drop other fields, such as radio buttons (checkboxes), attachments, stamps, and formulas, a feature of SignNow that I like. The drag and drop feature eliminates the need for manually adding checkboxes, additional documents, and stamps that can be time-consuming.

Users can also create a template and reuse it, a useful feature for those who have to get multiple signatures for the same document.

SignNow pros

• Compliant with the data security requirements of laws, such as GDPR,
• Unlimited templates and the ability to set notifications and reminders, and
• Mobile app version for e-signatures on the go.

SignNow cons

• Advanced features, such as contract management, contract negotiation, and workflow automation, are only available in the highest paid plan, and
• Users cannot import contact lists from other email services.

What’s new with SignNow?

SignNow’s November 2023 updates included a redesigned editor’s toolbar and the ability to export a document as a CSV file. Updates in January 2024 include the ability to track the progress of bulk signature invites and auto-fill suggestions for blank fields.

HubSpot — best for automating your emailing

HubSpot makes it a breeze for those working from home to create and send professional-looking business emails even if they do not have a design background.  

Why use HubSpot to automate emails?

As someone who’s always looking for shortcuts, HubSpot’s pre-built templates are undoubtedly the best feature that helps me create emails or email newsletters in seconds.

The sidebar on the left has multiple fields that you can just drag and drop on the email, including social media buttons, image, text, video, and other formatting options.

HubSpot also makes it easy to import your contacts in .xlsx, .csv, and .xls formats. You can also choose Record ID, a unique identifier that HubSpot gives to each contact, to remove any duplicate email addresses or contact information.

What’s more, you can craft engaging email text and CTAs using HubSpot’s content assistant.  

HubSpot pros

• Intuitive interface and user-friendly email builder,
• Customizable dashboards and reports give you an overview of your marketing emails, and
• A wide range of integrations make email marketing and contact management seamless.

HubSpot cons

• Email automation, the ability to test different versions of emails, and advanced analytics, are available only with the paid plans, and
• The plans get more expensive as your business and number of emails grow.  

What’s new with HubSpot?

One of the updates in October 2023 is the advanced filters that allow users to find CTAs (Call to action), such as newly created or recently published CTAs, across email newsletters, website forms, etc. In addition, the “Gallery” mode update offers detailed preview images of CTAs along with their performance.

nTask — best for task and team management

nTask is a scalable project and team management tool that allows you to manage your remote teams and their work in a single interface.

Why use nTask for task and project management?

nTask supports project management by enabling easy task creation, team collaboration, creating Gantt charts, adding comments on tasks, and much more.

In addition, Kanban Boards in nTask makes it easy for teams to collaborate.

Once you create a board, you can add tasks and change their statuses as In progress, Completed, Under review, etc.

For instance, once I completed the marketing brochure design for the business workshop event, I dragged it from In Progress to the Completed list.

Kanban boards in nTask give you and your team members a thorough insight into all your projects, their statuses, details, and more.

What’s more, I really liked that nTask makes it easy to keep an eye on project risks. For example, you can list issues within the project and initiate conversations with team members to resolve the issues and streamline project management. You can also assign priority for issues and specific people to resolve them.

nTask pros

• Collaboration features, such as workspaces and team chat, 
• You can send files and real-time notifications to team members, and
• A clear view of task dependencies and risks associated with projects.

nTask cons

• The free version does not offer Kanban boards and board templates, and
• Attaching photos and documents is not a seamless process.

What’s new with nTask?

The company announced a set of updates in November 2020. These updates included features, such as budget estimation, different billing options, project hierarchy, and a revamped dashboard.  

ProofHub — best for project and team management

ProofHub is an all-in-one remote work facilitator with useful virtual project management and collaboration features for teams.

Why use ProofHub for project and team management?

With ProofHub, you can quickly create projects, tasks, or subtasks — an aspect that impressed me the most. 

For instance, you can create or add a project, task, topic for conversation, a template, or an event with the Quick Add button on the sidebar.

After you’ve created a task or project, you can add team members and assign roles to provide different access levels to each member. 

In addition to choosing from the three predefined roles of admin, owner, and regular user, you can also create custom roles (such as project manager). 

And, if you are working on multiple projects and tasks, you can get detailed insights on them at any time using filters such as:

• Specific projects,
• Project milestones, 
• Overdue tasks, 
• Resources, 
• Time logged, and 
• Billable or non-billable hours.

ProofHub pros

• Built-in chat application and discussions sections makes it super easy for teams to connect and communicate seamlessly,
• Supports bulk allocation of files, notes, and tasks, and
• Each team member has a clear view of their tasks.

ProofHub cons

• Limited integrations with third-party apps, and
• The files you upload from third-party apps are not stored within ProofHub.

What’s new with ProofHub?

In September 2023, ProofHub released some new features, such as a new widget to customize the layout of the dashboard and the ability to personalize the “Me” view by using background images.

Zoom — best for virtual meetings and conferencing

As one of the widely-used work from home apps, Zoom needs no introduction. The online video and audio conferencing app is ideal for holding online meetings, training, and webinars. 

Why use Zoom for virtual meetings?

When trying out Zoom, I found the option to  sync my contacts from Google Calendar, Microsoft Office 365, and Microsoft Exchange to quickly create my contact list particularly useful.  

I also found starting a video or audio conference, creating Breakout rooms, sharing screen and messaging conference participants quite intuitive. 

Another feature that makes Zoom stand out in every scenario relates to customizable whiteboard templates that support team collaboration.

Regardless of where they are, team members can add comments, express ideas, or draw designs on whiteboards. 

Zoom pros

• Suitable for both 1-on-1 and group calls,
• Supports interactive video webinars for up to 100 active participants and up to 50,000 view-only attendees, and 
• Zoom plugins and extensions allow scheduling meetings directly from the calendar.

Zoom cons

• Occasional glitches when sharing screen, video, or presentation, and
• Features such as video recording, Zoom Scheduler, and usage reports are only available in the paid plans.

What’s new with Zoom?

As of November 2023, Zoom now allows users to create graphs and charts directly from the whiteboard. Also, a new feature launched in December 2023 lets users copy text from web pages or documents along with formatting and paste it into Zoom team chat.  

Use Clockify to accurately estimate project progress

Work-from-home apps are here to stay — and for good reason. They help you automate your workflow and monitor where your time goes.

For example, a work hours tracker like Clockify lets you:

• Set estimates for a project,
• Mark a task as either billable or non-billable,
• See remaining time on projects, and
• View the amount of money your project is earning.

The image below shows how Clockify does this in action.

In this example, you can even see if employees worked longer than estimated and who contributed how much to the project.

If you’re particularly passionate about not wasting time or profits, you can integrate Clockify with your favorite apps, like QuickBooks and Salesforce — or use 80+ other integrations.

As soon as you set up QuickBooks in your Clockify account, you’ll see a green button in the top right corner titled Send to QuickBooks.

With this integration, you can run a detailed report or send time entries from Clockify directly to QuickBooks. This lets you process invoices faster and calculate billable hours in a jiffy. 

Whatever work-from-home app you choose, ensure it’s well-integrated with your time tracker to make every second count.