Apps

8 apps to use when working from home

Conquer your to-do list and maintain your productivity!

Published

March 13, 2020

Kenrick Buduan

The outbreak of COVID-19 shows no sign of stopping. With no end in sight for the deadly disease, companies are resorting to a remote working environment for their employees. After all, most employees use smartphones and laptops that makes work from home possible.

For employees working at home for the first time, it can be a difficult task on where to start. There are many apps out there that could potentially distract you from reaching your full productivity levels. That’s why we compiled apps which can help you on your daily grind at the comfort of your home.

Tide (meditation and timer app)

Working for hours can be draining. As such, you tend to lose focus and your productivity levels suffer as a result. This is where Tide comes in. The name itself invokes a familiar sight on a calm beach. For the app itself, the combination of meditation and productivity timer in one makes it a great tool for everyone working at home.

You can set different timers for focusing on your work. By default, the app uses the pomodoro technique where tasks are divided into 25-minute sessions with breaks in between. The app’s breathe mode allows you to meditate and focus on your breath. Meanwhile, the sleep and nap timer tracks and helps you achieve that elusive sleep after a long day of grinding at work.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Slack (work collaboration app)

Slack is a household name for remote work collaboration. As a matter of fact, we use this app at GadgetMatch for updates and pitching in articles. The app is straightforward to use — it’s comparable to most chat apps on the market, but better. You can reply to someone’s message, which will become a thread in itself where you can also react and reply to keep the conversation going.

Slack shines the most when used as a collaboration tool for work teams. As such, the app may not be useful to you if your company doesn’t have its own Slack workspace. You’ll need an invite to join a workspace and a channel. Once you’re invited, you can say anything to the channel you’re allowed in. Plus, you can also message a fellow user directly and privately.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Gmail (email app)

Who doesn’t use Gmail to handle their email inbox? Google’s mail service has been around for a long time, making it a popular tool for sending and receiving emails. To utilize Gmail for best productivity, you can create automatic filters and labels which does the job of sorting out important work emails from personal ones.

Gmail’s smart compose feature is also a plus when typing new emails to your colleagues and bosses. And with the intelligent features baked in, you will see important emails right in front of your inbox. That makes it perfect for dealing with tasks with tight deadlines.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Microsoft To-Do (to-do list app)

A day’s work is more exciting if you have a to-do list to conquer. Microsoft To-Do is basically that: a to-do list app, but with added features so you can conquer the day with confidence. By default, the app takes you to the “My Day” tab, where you can add your own to-do for the day. You have the option to create a sub-task within a certain task too, making it a versatile companion for focusing on your daily hustle.

The app’s versatility doesn’t stop there. You can remind yourself of an upcoming to-do, and even set it to repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Plus, you can even set it to repeat at a custom time. The biggest advantage of this app, however, is the option to set a due date. Setting a deadline for a certain task is very useful especially when working at home where numerous distractions abound.

And unlike other to-do list app, you can add images, notes, and files directly to a certain task.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Microsoft Office (document creation app)

If you ever need a mobile companion for editing documents on the go, Microsoft Office app will more than suit your needs. Almost everything that you would expect from the desktop app is on the mobile app too. In the past, Microsoft used to offer three different apps for editing document, spreadsheet, and presentation files just like in the desktop. However, the company recently released a brand-new app which bundles Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even Lens in one.

From the app, you can open and edit any documents from the local file directory or your OneDrive account. Microsoft Office even supports opening and converting PDFs, so you can view and edit an important document from your email inbox.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Google Keep (note-taking app)

Keeping tabs of notes while working on a certain task can be daunting. While some of us may opt for a physical sticky-notes to keep tabs of the important stuff, some prefer a digital solution. After all, it’s much easier to use a digital note-taking app that synchronizes your notes on all devices.

That is what Google Keep does for its users. It’s dead simple to use and you can jot your notes within the app in no time. Additionally, you can change the color and label of your own notes if you’re obsessed with organizing stuffs. The biggest advantage of this app yet over its traditional counterpart is the ability to store and sync your notes from the cloud. Worrying over a sticky-note that you were supposed to pin on a board is now a thing of the past with this app.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Toggl (time tracking app)

It can be a struggle to keep track of the time you work on something while at home. Toggl is a timesheet app that simplifies time tracking for you. You can set the app to automatically track the time while you work on a certain task. The time tracked can be displayed on your calendar too.

At the end of the day, the app will nudge you with stats and reports so you can see how productive you are for the day. This is useful if you always struggle completing a task because you had numerous distractions at home.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

LinkedIn (work social networking app)

LinkedIn is a social networking site just like Facebook. However, it’s more focused on work-related stuff. Here, you can follow a company’s profile for any updates related to work and daily operations. Plus, you can also follow a colleague. Following a colleague allows you to message him/her at any time of the day too. This is useful for getting in touch with a workmate regarding any company announcement that you missed while at home.

You could also search for new jobs on LinkedIn. The job search feature allows you to search for a part-time freelancing gig. More importantly, you could build connections with other people who can vouch you for a job you’re applying. And since this is a social networking site for work, your own profile will serve as a resume where you can post your achievements and boast your real-life skills.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

Bonus: Forest (productivity gaming app)

Who says that work at home can’t be fun? This app literally gamifies your work session. It works by letting you grow a virtual tree within a 25-minute period. The tree slowly grows as time progresses. However, once you leave the app, the tree dies. You wouldn’t want a tree to die, so you’ll be left with no other choice but to stick to the app and let the timer finish.

As such, you will be forced to focus on your work while the tree grows. It’s relaxing and satisfying to watch your tree grow while you conquer your task within the given time. The app cultivates a habit of productivity too, since any tree you’ve successfully grown will earn you coins that you can use to purchase another tree species. And the best part about this is that you can donate that coin to tree planting and conservation efforts for our planet.

Download on Google Play Store or Apple App Store

As general rules, the CDC or The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed these to help with preventing the spread of COVID-19:

Stay home when sick
Cover coughs and sneezes
Frequently wash hands with soap and water
Clean frequently touched surfaces

Apps

Honor, Xiaomi are working on their own Privacy Displays

Samsung’s Privacy Display is apparently very popular.

Published

June 24, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Normally, a smartphone brand’s blatant copying of another brand’s feature is not a good practice. Today, however, there is a new feature that we wish other brands would copy: Samsung’s Privacy Display. Thankfully, some brands, like Honor, have finally gotten the message and are working on version of the feature.

As reported by Digital Chat Station on Weibo, Honor is reportedly working on a privacy screen for its smartphones. Likewise, Xiaomi is working on the same thing, potentially launching the feature for the Xiaomi 18 Pro.

For the uninitiated, the Samsung Privacy Display is a built-in feature that blocks visibility of the screen at certain angles. If you’re not looking at the screen from the front, all you’ll see is a black void. It’s a built-in version of those protective screens that you can buy separately. Besides adding a nice layer of protection against scratches, it’s also meant to prevent snooping from your shoulder.

Samsung’s take was widely acclaimed for being insanely useful. When it arrives, this feature will be a godsend to more brands. Even better, users will no longer need to rely on third-party screen just to enjoy the privacy.

That said, there’s still no indication as to when these features will arrive on either Honor or Xiaomi.

Apps

Meta is reportedly experimenting on a gambling app

Users can spend virtual points on Arena.

Published

June 24, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Meta does not have the most stellar of reputations. Despite offering the world’s most popular social media platforms, the company, through its various experiments throughout the years, continuously proves that it has other priorities than just providing the best for its users. Today, another reported experiment wants to take Meta to a new market that its users might fall into: the prediction market.

If you haven’t heard of the prediction market, consider yourself lucky. These apps, such as Kalshi, are basically just gambling platforms without the glitz of playing cards or the rigor of the stock market. Users gamble on mundane circumstances like the weather and more serious ones like war.

Today, as reported by The New York Times, Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly asking Meta to develop a prediction app of its own. Interestingly, the experimental app, supposedly called Arena, will use virtual points, rather than real money. However, Meta has not ruled out real money — and hence, real gambling — in the future.

Meta is entering the industry at an extremely volatile time. The world is starting to crack down on prediction markets. Some users, for example, have been accused of using insider information to get easy wins on these platforms. Some markets have also accused these platforms of subverting anti-gambling laws.

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

Published

June 19, 2026

MJ Jucutan

In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.