Whilst an app is never going to save your life, it may be able to make things just that little bit easier for you to deal with or even help you understand how your mind works. Let's have a look at some of the apps that might be able to help you on your ADHD journey. If it were up to us, these apps would be free for use but unfortunately you may have to pay for some of these.
Should we find any free ones, we will let you know (or if you know something we don't, let us know here).
Focus@Will
Designed to increase your focus and attention, Focus@Will uses specially engineered audio in which frequencies similar to the human voice are removed. Why? We are wired to pay attention to them, and they distract us. I’ve been using Focus@Will while writing this. I’m two weeks into my free trial, and I might spring for the paid membership after it is up. Focus@Will even has a channel called “ADHD Type 1.” I can’t listen to it, but I do like the channel “Alpha Chill,” set to medium energy level.
Evernote
How often do you ask yourself, “Where should I save this file so I can be sure to find it later?” only to not be able to find it later? Evernote, a cloud-based platform, can fix that. I didn’t start out liking this app. I didn’t like it because I didn’t understand it. But I kept hearing productivity experts say that they initially didn’t like the app, but came back to it. So I did what they suggested. I searched YouTube for Evernote tutorials. I now use the app all the time. Evernote allows you to capture information, categorize it with tags, and store it in “notebooks.”
Google Voice
Google Voice gives you a number that can be forwarded to any phone you use. It will ask the caller to state his name, and you decide whether you want to take the call or send it to voicemail. Google Voice also allows you to receive e-mail or text transcriptions of voicemail messages. The transcripts aren’t perfect — what is, really? — but being able to read a transcript of a voicemail message is easier for us adults with ADD.
Brainsparker
Brainsparker helps you overcome creative blocks by kick-starting your brain with random creativity prompts, including “trigger words,” quotes, images, questions, and more. By forcing you to consider new ideas, Brainsparker can catapult you past challenges and remind you of the joy of creativity.
Finish
“The procrastinator’s to-do-list,” Finish lets you add tasks and divide them into “short term,” “mid term,” or “long term,” as defined by you. Rather than showing due-date reminders, the app shows you how much time is left for a task, and moves it from category to category while doing so. The app’s Focus Mode may be ideal for users with ADHD, as it displays only the most important tasks in your list and hides the rest.
Todoist
If you are looking for an app that will allow you to add sub-tasks to your tasks, and sub-projects to your projects, try this. It has many e-mail and Web plugins to make it work with your current systems. The premium version of Todoist includes location-based reminders, calendar sync, productivity tracking, task additions via e-mail, and more.
Sleep Cycle
There aren’t many apps that can change the quality of your life, but this one can. Sleep Cycle uses your phone’s motion sensors to pick up on movement while you’re asleep. The intelligent alarm feature will wake you as early as 30 minutes before your alarm, based on your lightest phase of sleep. The app also allows you to see how daily activities affect your sleep quality.
That's Mental Mate!
