First of all, you can pat yourself on the back for taking the first step in dealing with Adhd. We know how hard it is for you to cope with these overwhelming feelings. And believe us, after all the hurdles you’ve had to overcome because of your ADHD brain, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. And now you’ve got help with some of the best ADHD apps you can download on your phone.

The Best Apps for ADHD Brains to Improve Your Focus, Productivity, and Emotional State

If you have ADHD, there are challenges in everything you do. Whether it’s completing a task, reaching goals, meeting expectations, or staying productive, everything seems complicated because of ADHD.

For the uninitiated, ADHD is a condition in which a person has difficulty concentrating, controlling impulses, and managing emotions. It’s not a disease but a set of symptoms that include chronic stress, sleep problems, low self-esteem, financial problems, anxiety, employment problems, sometimes compulsive eating and substance abuse, and difficulty maintaining relationships.

How Do These Apps Help?

People with ADHD often suffer from the following symptoms:

• Hyperactivity and Impulsivity
• Inattention with a short attention span
• Easy distractibility
• Making careless mistakes
• Inability to stick to tasks
• Lack of attention to detail
• Constantly changing tasks
• Difficulty organizing things and tasks, etc.

These all cause a lot of trouble for people with ADHD and can be managed with a little help and the right tools. The best ADHD apps work in different ways and help you improve your productivity on a daily basis.

Some of the most common areas that these apps help with are:

• Time management and productivity
• Organization and planning
• Mindfulness and relaxation
• Money management
• Dealing with symptoms

To help you navigate this blog and find the right app you need, we’re dividing this blog into the following subsections:

• Best ADHD Apps for Time Management and Productivity
• Best ADHD Apps for Organization and Planning
• Best ADHD Apps for Mindfulness and Relaxation
• Best ADHD Apps for Money Management
• Best ADHD Apps for Mind Mapping
• Best ADHD Apps for Symptoms Management
• Best ADHD Apps for Pomodoro Technique
• Best FDA-Approved ADHD App for Kids
• Best ADHD App for Adults

So, let’s start with the first section!

Best ADHD Apps for Time Management and Productivity

Focus@Will

Provides background music specifically designed to improve focus and productivity.

Focus@Will is a subscription-based application available for iOS and Android, macOS, and Windows. It uses scientifically composed music to help you increase your focus and concentration. The music helps you reduce distractions and maintain your productivity.

The app is ideal for increasing your concentration and productivity while working, studying, writing, or reading. However, it’s not free and costs $7.49 monthly or $52.49 annually.

Rescue Time

Tracks how you spend your time on your devices and provides reports and insights to help you be more productive.

Rescue Time is a time-tracking app that helps you understand how you spend your time on your mobile and computer. It collects data about how much time you spend on which tasks and categorizes them. It also classifies them as productive or distracting on a scale of five, depending on the tasks you set for yourself.

With this app, you can’t only track your overall activity but also limit unproductive activities. The app is free, and there is also a premium version with some additional features for $6.50 per month.

Asana

Helps you organize and track tasks and projects.

Asana is a project planning and organization app that helps you prioritize your tasks to increase your productivity. It has a unique and intuitive user interface and offers numerous customization options such as label colors, subtasks, recurring tasks, and more. The app also enables collaboration, which is especially important for you as a team player.

It is suitable for both students and professionals. It is aimed at both individuals and enterprises and is available in both free and premium versions for individuals and businesses. The premium version for individuals costs $13.49 per month, and there are different plans for businesses and companies.

Todoist

To-do list app that helps you keep track of tasks and deadlines.

Todoist is an excellent app that helps you keep track of all the events in your life (if you list them), organize your tasks, and not feel overwhelmed. Not only can you manage your tasks with this app, but you can also achieve your timely goals. Since it’s completely free, it’s also suitable for a small budget.

The “due date” feature is really great. You can just write “tomorrow” or “Monday” in the field and still stay on track.

Trello

Project management app that uses a visual, card-based system to organize tasks and projects.

Trello is like a to-do list but has a great user interface with colorful cards, visual board layouts, lists, and much more. It helps you organize your tasks, prioritize them, and customize your workflow. The simple interface is customizable and makes it easy for you to track progress.

It’s a free tool that lets you collaborate and communicate with others by simply adding them to your board. There are also premium plans with more features for individuals and enterprises.

Evernote

A note-taking app that can help you keep track of ideas, notes, and tasks.

Evernote is a note-taking app and is great for people with ADHD, both in school and work settings. You can use it to organize notes and slides and develop strategies for your studies. Plus, the app is completely searchable, meaning you can find anything in your notes that will make you productive, especially if your ADHD brain forgets where you filed the note.

Evernote also offers to-do lists to help you organize and better prioritize your tasks. It’s free and works via the cloud so you can access it from any device.

Focus Bear

Productivity app specifically designed for people with ADHD to help them stay focused and get more done.

Focus Bear is specially designed for people who need help with focusing and ADHD. It’s a premium tool that costs $5 per month and offers useful features such as distraction blockers, tools for strengthening habits, yoga, and exercises, and it uses the Pomodoro technique.

The yoga videos and daily journaling are the standout features of this app. Overall, it helps you increase your productivity by keeping distractions at bay and promoting routine in your daily activities.

Amazing Marvin

Customizable productivity app that allows you to create workflows that work for you.

Amazing Marvin is another top-notch, feature-rich to-do app designed specifically for people who lack focus and organizational skills. This app works on the principle of daily planning and is highly customizable and user-friendly. It also offers features like time tracking, GTD (Getting Things Done), notifications, and soft deadlines that help you organize your tasks, prioritize and manage your time better.

The app costs $8 per month, but there’s also a lifetime deal for $300 that gives you access to all the features, updates, and lifetime support.

Tick Tick

To-do list app that also includes features like a calendar, reminders, and a Pomodoro timer.

Tick Tick is another to-do list platform that uses the Pomodoro technique to improve your time management and productivity. It offers a GTD overview, cross-platform support, custom task views, and many other features to boost your productivity.

It is a premium tool, of which there is also a free version. However, the free version lacks many features, so it won’t have a significant impact on your time management and productivity. With an annual purchase, it costs $27.99, which is really affordable compared to other programs.

Best ADHD Apps for Organization and Planning

Clear Todos

Helps you organize your day and manage distractions.

Clear ToDos is a great task management and scheduling app that offers a fast, simple, and intuitive interface. It is ideal for ADHD brains as it offers a clear interface. It mainly focuses on your organization and time management needs and excludes unnecessary features that cause distractions.

If you’re an iPhone user, it takes full advantage of the multitouch features built into iOS and provides a great user experience. It costs only $4.99, and its simplicity makes it ideal for ADHD brains.

OmniFocus

Task management app that can help you keep track of tasks and deadlines.

OmniFocus, as the name suggests, is an exceptional app that helps you focus on the right tasks and improve your organizational skills. It has a GTD reviewer, which is a must for ADHD sufferers to track their progress. Also, you can break things down by both projects and contexts, which makes planning easier.

The downside is that it’s only available for Apple devices and is a bit pricey at $50 in the Apple Store.

CalenGoo

Calendar app that helps you keep track of your schedule and appointments.

CalenGoo is a great calendar app and task manager. It helps you organize your tasks and schedule activities around a calendar interface. It integrates seamlessly with Google Calendar, Exchange, CalDAV, and iCloud systems and puts everything in one place. Color-coded labels let you prioritize your tasks more efficiently.

Full syncing with Google Calendar and its user interface set it apart from its competitors. Plus, at $5.99, the price is very fair.

Opus Domini

Virtual day planner app that can help you organize your schedule and tasks.

Opus Domini is a powerful planning app with an interface reminiscent of a daybook. It is popular among people with ADHD because of its clear daily planning and organization features. It also helps you organize your daily tasks, repeat tasks, master tasks (important tasks), and even lets you prioritize easily. The Weekly Milestone – Compass feature is unique and allows you to measure our progress over time.

The app is free and available for both iOS and Android. However, it offers iPad users some additional features like multiple planner views, sub-tasks in the main tasks, inspirational quotes, etc.

Best ADHD Apps for Mindfulness and Relaxation

Headspace

Provides guided meditations and mindfulness exercises to help reduce stress and improve focus.

Headspace is a highly successful app with over 70 million downloads and a 4.9-star rating. It offers various guided meditations and mindfulness exercises to help your ADHD mind relax and rejuvenate. There are hundreds of videos ranging from meditation to breathing exercises – everything you need to get calm.

It also offers an optional routine and schedule feature that can help you manage your ADHD symptoms on a daily basis. It’s suitable for both children and adults and has a very simple user interface. The app costs about $70 annually and is really worth trying out!

Calm

Offers meditations, sleep sounds, stories read by celebrities, and more to help you relax and focus.

Calm is similar to Headspace in many ways. It has over 100 million downloads and a 5-star rating and is popular among people with sleep problems. It features meditation sounds and videos, as well as sleep stories from celebrities like Harry Styles, Matthew McConaughey, and Bob Ross. With this app and its range of meditation and mindfulness content, you can calm your mind.

The app costs $70 per year and offers several custom features in premium mode. The app has won several awards, including iPhone App of the Year from Apple in 2017 and Editor’s Choice from Google Play in 2018. While Headspace is best for meditation, the Calm app is best for sleep issues in ADHD individuals.

MoodKit

Based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and includes various tools to improve mood and help you relax.

MoodKit is a unique app that uses cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help you relax and lift your mood. It was developed by clinical psychologists and serves as a professional treatment app. The app offers various activities designed to lift your mood and put you in mindfulness. It has some unique features, like a thought checker that helps you control negative thoughts, a mood tracker that keeps track of your progress, and a MoodKit journal – your personal journal with templates.

This app costs only $4.99 and is really a great app for relaxation and awareness. The user interface is a bit clunky, but the app is very functional and can certainly help you with ADHD.

Happify

Uses science-backed activities to help you improve their happiness and well-being.

Happify is another science-based app that uses CBT skills and positive psychology to help you with your thoughts and feelings. It has good content and a very engaging interface. It includes in-app games and activities and doesn’t feel like other therapy apps. Instead, Happify is a fun app that helps you with your mental health.

The app has a free version, but most features are limited to the premium version. The premium version costs $15 a month and is worth a try.

Pacifica (Now Sanvello)

Uses CBT principles to help you manage stress and anxiety and includes guided meditation techniques and goal-setting tools.

Pacifica is one of the most affordable mindfulness apps for people with challenges, costing just $4 per month or $30 per year. It uses traditional CBT techniques and also provides tools to manage depressed mood, anxiety, and stress, and promotes mindfulness, relaxation, and health in the user.

Every time you open this app, it asks you about your mood and suggests different activities, including self-help guides, relaxation techniques, and even group chats. With this app, you can put your ADHD mind in a relaxed state.

Best ADHD Apps for Money Management

Mint

A free money-managing app that helps you keep track of your finances and budget your money.

Mint is a great app for you if you have a hard time managing your money. It was named the best budgeting app by Forbes and is also very useful for ADHD brains. The app easily consolidates all your expenses and income in one place and helps you manage your bills and savings goals from one platform. It also helps you track your spending and savings, which is often a problem for people with ADHD.

The app is free, but there is also a premium version that costs $5 per month. However, for most ADHD users, the free app is a sufficient help. For more features, you can try the paid app.

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

Uses a proven method to help you get a handle on your personal finances and also teaches you the subtle art of budgeting.

You Need A Budget, also called YNAB, is a great app for managing budgets. This app not only tracks your spending but also teaches you how to effectively create budgets and stick to them. The app encourages you to take financial responsibility.

The app offers live workshops and has hundreds of helpful guides and articles to help you learn the art of budgeting. If you’re stuck with your ADHD mindset or can’t control your spending, YNAB can be a great financial companion. It’s a paid tool with a monthly plan for $15, while the annual plan costs just $100.

Rooster Money

Designed to teach children and young people how to manage money.

Rooster Money is a great tool for kids with ADHD to help their parents monitor their spending. It not only helps you track how your child spends their money but also teaches your child how to manage money, which is very important for a growing mind.

And the unique debit card feature (with a limit and linked to the parent’s account) teaches your child discipline and good spending habits. However, this app is limited to the UK only.

PocketGuard

Budgeting app that helps you keep track of your spending and find ways to save money.

PocketGuard is a money management app that helps you keep track of your spending and know how much money you have in your pocket. The unique “In My Pocket” feature helps you know how much money you can spend. It synchronizes your accounts and summarizes all data at a glance. You also get customized reports about your spending and savings.

The app costs $8 per month, and there are other plans, including a lifetime plan for $80, which makes it very affordable. The “In My Pocket” feature is noted in user reviews as being very helpful for ADHD brains.

Goodbudget

Budgeting app that uses the envelope system to help you manage your money.

Goodbudget uses a unique envelope budgeting system and categorizes your expenses. These envelopes contain a specific amount you set when budgeting (e.g., $100 for groceries, $200 for gas, and so on) and help you keep track of your spending. Although there is a paid app, the free app is similar to the premium app but has fewer features (the free version has 10+10 envelopes). It also lets you analyze your income and spending trends.

It also offers many free resources, such as small courses and podcasts, to help you become financially responsible. The premium version costs $8 per month and gives you unlimited envelopes.

Acorns

Investment app that helps you save and invest your money.

Acorns is a great app for passive investing. So if you are having a hard time saving and investing money, Acorns can help you with that. It has an automatic savings feature that lets you save money and invest in low-cost investment portfolios. Another feature that this app shines with is the Roundups feature. This feature rounds up your card purchases and pushes the excess change into your investment portfolio. This way, you invest without even realizing it (technically, you do, but not to any significant extent).

The downside is that the app is very expensive due to its flat fee structure and has no tax strategy. But overall, it’s a unique app!

Best ADHD Apps for Mind Mapping

SimpleMindPro

The app helps you develop a healthy routine and manage your ADHD symptoms with mind mapping.

SimpleMindPro offers a unique solution to organize your disorganized thoughts and ideas. It uses excellent visualization capabilities with structured frameworks and helps you sort things that block your ADHD brain. Moreover, it’s highly customizable and allows you to restructure your mind maps, add checkboxes, to-do lists, progress bars, connect topics, and much more.

The app also lets you share and even print your mind maps. The app is available for $9.22 on Google Play, and the price varies depending on the platform.

MindNode

Mind mapping app with color coding, font customization, and additional features to help you connect and visualize your ideas.

MindNode is a leading mind-mapping app that helps you organize your cluttered thoughts and ideas. It also uses visual branching tools to create excellent and descriptive mind maps. Besides, you can use it to organize storyboards and even write down your creative ideas.

The app helps you visualize complex ideas and lets you navigate through them easily. Furthermore, the fold and unfold branch feature also helps you keep your mind maps organized. It’s a great mind-mapping app that’s quite affordable at $2.5 per month or $20 per year.

Best ADHD Apps for Symptoms Management

CogniFit

Fun gaming app that improves your cognitive functions with interactive games and helps you improve your focus, memory, and attention

Cognifit is an amazing gaming app that can help you manage your ADHD symptoms. The main areas that the ADHD brain struggles with are focus, memory, and attention. And that’s exactly what CogniFit works on with interactive games. The app primarily helps you improve your cognitive skills by asking you to play lots of games and recording your progress over time. Many users have indicated that their ADHD symptoms have improved.

It’s a paid platform, and prices depend on the number of cognitive games offered. The basic 20-game package costs $20 per month, while the 60+-game package costs $30 per month. This app is a great way to find help with ADHD through fun games.

MentalUp

The app is designed for kids to improve their intelligence and cognitive functions by playing brain training games

MentalUp is one of the best apps for kids with ADHD. If you are a parent who is worried about your child, you should definitely try this app for your kids. It contains over 120 educational games for kids aged 4 to 13. It has a bright and colorful interface, so your kids will love using the platform. The 20-minute games are designed to improve your child’s memory, analytical thinking, logic, attention and concentration, and problem-solving skills.

The app is available in both freemium and premium versions. The free version is good to try out. Upgrading to the premium version costs $70 per year. There are also 3- and 6-month plans available for $35 and $50, respectively.

Best ADHD Apps for Pomodoro Technique

Brain Focus

Based on the Pomodoro technique and can help you improve focus and productivity.

Brain Focus is one of the best Pomodoro apps for smartphones. The app helps ADHD and focus-deficient brains to manage their time and productivity effectively. It has a very easy-to-use interface and menus and many options to customize timers. It also has a dark design that saves your device’s battery.

The app allows you to choose your own focus and break time. This way, you can stay focused on a particular task for longer. The app is free and a must-have if you want to focus better using the Pomodoro technique.

Focus To-Do

Combine a Pomodoro timer with a to-do list to help you stay focused and productive.

Focus To-Do is, as the name suggests, a to-do list manager with an integrated Pomodoro function. It gives you the advantages of both worlds. The to-do manager offers to-do lists, due dates, customizable folders, data entry, and more. Also, the app lets you set the total number of pomodoros (time span) that you need to complete a task. This way, you can also manage your time. Besides, the app has features like notifications, reminders, priority levels, etc., so your ADHD brain won’t miss any deadline and can focus on the work.

This app costs only $3 for 3 months, and you can also get it for life for $9. It is a low-cost Pomodoro app with built-in task manager features.

PomoDone

Integrates with popular task management apps like Trello, Asana, and Todoist to help you stay focused and productive.

PomoDone is a unique workflow management app that uses Pomodoro technology and integrates well with third-party apps like Slack, Girhub, Trello, Asana, and Microsoft Teams, to name a few. The app can help you improve your productivity and focus by dividing long tasks into 25-minute time slots followed by breaks. It also lets you track how much time a task takes and measure your productivity.

The app is paid, costs $4.96 per month, and integrates seamlessly with other workflow platforms.

Best FDA-Approved ADHD App for Kids – EndeavorRx

EndeavorRx is the only FDA-approved ADHD help platform to date that is therapeutically approved to improve attention function in children with ADHD. This game-based app is specifically designed to help ADHD children by addressing their sensory stimuli and mortar challenges and targeting the specific neuron systems in the brain related to attention control. The app has reputable data from clinical studies that prove its effectiveness.

It is a prescription app that your child typically uses for only 25 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The studies claim that the behavior of users with ADHD improved after two months. It is a unique app with proven results. The platform costs $99 per month, but this cost can also be covered by insurance (you’ll need to discuss this with your doctor).

Best ADHD App for Adults – Shimmer ADHD Coaching App

The Shimmer ADHD Coaching App is designed specifically for adults struggling with ADHD. The app provides you with a personal coach to guide you and help you with your specific needs and requirements. The coach also helps you identify your specific challenges and develops targeted strategies to overcome them.

Unlike other ADHD apps, Shimmer also provides you with the emotional support you need later in life. The coach gives you the reassurance and validation you need to understand that what you’re going through is normal and everything will be okay. The app provides crucial support for adults with ADHD to boost their self-esteem and self-confidence.

The only downside to this app is its price. It costs $100 per month, which is affordable compared to professional counseling, but may not be feasible for college students. But overall, it’s just the ADHD management app an adult needs!

Wrapping Up: Leverage These Apps To Make Your ADHD Life Easy

Living with ADHD is hard, but it can be greatly improved if precautions and measures are taken. Nowadays, there are hundreds of apps on the Internet that can help you organize your tasks and work, prioritize them, and get them done on time. They also help you feel less overwhelmed and manage your thoughts and emotions effectively.

With the right apps and tools, you can streamline your personal and work life. If you make these ADHD apps a part of your everyday life, they can help you significantly with your mental, emotional, and physical health.

FAQs about the Best ADHD Apps

1. Do ADHD apps really work?

ADHD apps can really help people manage their symptoms and improve their daily lives. These apps especially help you with:

• Organize your tasks, projects, notes, and reminders in one place.
• Track your time, productivity, and habits.
• Cope with stress, anxiety, and negative emotions.

2. What are the best ADHD apps for improving productivity?

There are many ADHD apps that can help you increase your productivity if you use them properly. Some of these apps are:

• Focus@Will
• RescueTime
• Asana
• Todoist
• Trello
• Evernote
• PomoDone
• Focus Bear

3. What are the drawbacks of using ADHD apps?

While there are no serious or significant downsides to using ADHD apps, as they mainly help you cope, they should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment. This is mainly because they may not treat the underlying causes or factors of your ADHD symptoms. Also, some apps may not be compatible with your individual needs and preferences.

4. What app makes you a routine for ADHD?

Routinery is an excellent app designed specifically to help people with ADHD create and stick to a routine. It allows you to create detailed routines, set timers, and track your progress. It helps you build a daily schedule to make you more productive.