With a seemingly endless amount of productivity apps available on the market, it can be overwhelming to find one that works for you! We've tested a lot of different apps, and here are our 5 top picks we use everyday!

For Productivity: Todoist

This is my favorite productivity app, and I have used a LOT of productivity apps. The thing that sets Todoist apart from other list-based productivity apps is its ease of organization. You can easily color code your tasks and group them as needed including adding nested tasks for items that may have several steps. It even has a space for simple lists like groceries or movies you’d like to watch, anything that isn’t particularly time sensitive.

Scheduling and rescheduling inside of this app is so easy. You simply type in whatever due date you want, “Every Wednesday” “Every Other Day” “Tuesday at 6pm” and the app intuits what you mean and sets the schedule. Rescheduling is just as easy, which is great for me since I frequently find myself having to reschedule meetings.

Finally, I love the little widget on the iPhone. I find it so much easier to keep track of my day when the list is right in front of me everytime I open my phone. Todoist even has stats if you like to track the improvement in your habits! Altogether, it’s definitely the best productivity app I’ve used.

For Tracking Practice: Modacity

This app has it all! Modacity is a recorder, metronome, tone generator, timer, and progress tracker all in one. The app's sleek and user-friendly design makes it the practice app my thumb always reaches for. Odds are, if I need a tool during my practice session, Modacity has it, which keeps me from having to switch between several apps, and increasing my desire to scroll through Instagram.

What I personally love about Modacity the most, is it is designed to keep you engaged and motivated. Modacity makes it easy to create practice playlists, and will show you how much time you’re spending, track your progress, and even help you set reminders.

For Time Management: Forest

If you’re like me, you’ve developed a bad scrolling habit over the course of quarantine, and it is so easy to lose 20 minutes of valuable practice time to what was supposed to be a 5 minute break.

The Forest App is a very cute and simple solution!

You simply set the timer for however long you want to stay off of your phone and while you go about your errands, a tree grows in your forest. However if you exit the app before the timer ends, your tree withers. If you let it grow for the full length of the timer then you get more a little tree in your forest and coins that will let you buy different kinds of trees or even get rid of some of your withered ones.

It’s a very simple reward system, but I’ve found it to be far more effective than any other timer based systems or Apple’s own screen time limits. There’s just something nice about seeing your little forest grow.

For Rhythm: Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer

I’ll admit it… I’m a bit rhythmically challenged. Even worse, even when my rhythm IS correct, I lack confidence in it, but this app is definitely changing that. Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer has a seemingly endless list of exercises that you tap along to with a metronome. The progression is very natural and eases you into the levels where you might have a little more difficulty. The color-coded notes let you know if you have a tendency to be early or late and can even tell you how far off you usually are.

If you’re struggling too much with a rhythm you can always put it into practice mode and tap along to get the feel of a new rhythm. I’ve already noticed significant improvement in my internal rhythm and started to understand my most common mistakes.

Even better you can create your own rhythms to practice as well! One of my new arias has a lot of tricky rhythms in it, so I’m excited to put some of those passages into the app to practice when my vocal cords need a break.

For Sight Reading: Ella

This is an awesome tool for singers and teachers! If you're looking for an easy way to keep up with your sight-singing and ear-training exercises, check out Ella!

Ella uses the microphone to detect your pitch and provide accurate evaluation and feedback in real time. This is great for students who are looking to continue to improve their pitch, rhythm, and sight-reading at home.

With every exercise you pass, you move onto the next level of difficulty, which makes the whole process feel like a fun game. Even though it starts out with extremely basic material, it's still a great exercise as you move into more complex patterns. I would definitely recommend it!

Any apps that you're loving? Let us know down below, or send us a DM at @operaoffstage! Happy practicing!

- Opera Offstage