ADHD Apps for Adults

Sometimes I wish I didn’t live in a society so full of technology. I worry that it isn’t always a good thing.

However, as someone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), technology can be a great tool for helping me to cope with daily life and to manage my time.

I will admit I am not the first person to rush out and try a new app. There have been times where I have downloaded apps and never bothered to open it. I even forget to use the ones that started as life-changing for me once the newness wore off.

If, like me, you are a constant procrastinator, lose your to-do lists and all those sticky notes, are forgetful or have trouble with information overload, apps can very well save your sanity.

Five Best ADHD Apps for Adults

I searched the apps that have helped me the most and scoured the app store to see what was out there for helping those of us with ADHD to be more productive. I also read through reviews and ratings to find out which apps might be most beneficial if you have ADHD.

As everyone is different, I think every list would be different, but there are five apps I think are great if you need that extra nudge to stay on task.

Five Beneficial Apps for ADHD

• Evernote
• Home Routines
• Due
• Priority Matrix
• Unroll Me

Evernote (iOS, Android)

This app was very confusing to me at first. I gave up on it multiple times. People who were fans told me I would learn to love it.

I still don’t use it to its full potential, but some of the key features include:

• Capturing ideas as searchable notes, notebooks, checklists, and to-do lists.
• Creating notes in a variety of formats such as text, sketches, photos, screenshots, images, audio, and web clippings.
• Use the camera to scan and organize paper documents, business cards, whiteboards, handwritten notes, etc.
• You can make personal checklists and set reminders.
• Multi-device sync.
• Can search for handwriting, notebooks, tags, documents, and PDF.

Evernote can be a great place to store everything from recipes, grocery lists, to-do lists, and an excellent way to get rid of paper clutter. Paper clutter is my nemesis. Evernote is free, but there is a paid upgrade.

Home Routines (iOS)

This isn’t available on Android. I use it on my iPad.

I don’t usually pay for apps, but this one was an exception. It’s currently $4.99 in the app store.

With Home Routines you can:

• Create checklists for routines and complete them on chosen days of the week.
• Reminders and notifications help you stay on track.
• Checklists will automatically reset.
• Customizable “Focus Zone” sections with detailed cleaning lists and the ability to add rooms and tasks for up to seven zones.
• Built-in timer for speed cleaning sessions.
• To-do lists.
• Sync feature so you can use offline.

Some reviews of this app are negative, saying it is a waste, but for people like me – who forget to do their chores, or start and then end up in the middle somewhere with nothing accomplished – this is a pretty handy app.

Due (iOS)

Another paid app that is listed at $4.99 in the app store, this one is also not available for Android.

This app is pretty fantastic if you forget bills and then end up paying late fees.

With Due you can:

• Set reminders for everything you need to do.
• Repeatedly alerts you until you mark an item as done or reschedule it.
• Recurring reminders.
• Natural date and time parsing.
• Syncs with other devices.
• Do not have to set up an account to use.
• Works offline.
• Ability to change text size, offers full voice over support, and has seventeen languages available.

Priority Matrix (iOS, Android)

This app is free but does have an upgrade to a Pro version that will cost about $149 yearly. This one is geared toward business, but it has some great features, even in the free version.

• Four quadrants to focus your top priorities and projects to help you (and your team) work on the right things at the right time.
• Projects can be kept private, or you can share and collaborate with a team.
• Set deadlines.
• Share notes, upload files, add comments, assign tasks to team members.
• Daily, weekly, and monthly reports.
• Integrates with other tools like email, calendar, Siri, and Google Docs.

The Pro version offers features such as desktop apps, extra storage, advanced reporting, and productivity coaching. If you own a business or work on multiple projects at a time, this app might be worth looking into.

Unroll Me (iOS, Android)

This app is designed to clean up your email inbox.

Features:

• Unsubscribe to unwanted email lists.
• Consolidate sales and newsletters into a daily digest, so you get one email instead of many.
• Can keep any emails you don’t wish to add to your consolidated list in your inbox.
• Works with multiple email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, iCloud, Outlook.com accounts, and Google apps.

After installing, it goes through your email account finding all the email subscriptions. You can then go through them one by one and decide to unsubscribe, add to your digest, or keep in your inbox.

I had a few thousand emails in my inbox that I was dreading going through and this app helped me a great deal. Unfortunately, it couldn’t help me with all the spam that was in there, but it’s nice to get one email that contains the ads and newsletters that I want to see. My inbox is much cleaner.

The Takeaway

There are so many helpful ADHD apps for adults, and it’s hard to pin down the best ones. These are my five top picks of the moment.