Transcript for:
Essential Productivity Apps and Tools

Sometimes you just need to focus and your home screen can be a big distraction. Sure you could switch to a minimalist launcher, but having that set as your default all the time can get pretty boring and even a bit annoying. That's where Focus Home Screen comes in. It's not like other launchers that you have to stick with.

Instead it's a temporary launcher that you can use to focus on your home screen. that you can switch to whenever you need to zone in and cut out the distractions. And when you're ready to go back to your usual setup, just tap on the power button below the clock and you're back in business. It's honestly the best way to boost your productivity without committing to a minimalist setup 24 seven. Next up is Extinguish, which lets you turn off your phone screen completely without locking it.

It's useful if you're listening to a video or running a game in auto mode and want to save some battery. There's a floating button that lets you black out the screen. Once the screen is blackened, the touchscreen is disabled, but audio keeps playing.

And to turn it back on, all you have to do is hit the volume key. Now I know there are other apps out there that do the same thing, but this app uses an Android function to really turn off the screen instead of just overlaying a black picture, so it gets as dark as it can get. You just need to enable it with the Shizuku app, but it's worth it. We're stepping it up this time, showing off even more apps than usual.

So drop a thumbs up for your boy for putting in that extra effort. I even saved the best app for last. So make sure you stick around to the end so that you find out what it is.

Also, if you're enjoying the content, why not get subscribed? Only a small percentage of folks watching actually are, and you may be missing out on other awesome quality content that I push out in the future. And of course, it's free and you can always change your mind later.

All right, next up is Sleepy Time. It's perfect for figuring out the best time to go to bed and wake up so that you feel refreshed in the morning. It shows you future times and the duration of how much sleep you'll get. So for example, if you want to wake up at 6 a.m., but you still want a full nine hours of sleep, it'll tell you to go to bed by 8.45 p.m.

Or if you go to sleep right now, it'll let you know what time to set your alarm for those nine hours. It's all based on 90-minute sleep cycles, so you can wake up after a complete cycle. and not feel groggy. This next one isn't for your phone.

It's a browser extension for your computer that I know most of you will like. It's called Material You New Tab and every time you open a new tab in Chrome or Firefox you get a fresh theme that looks just like Google's Material You design. It has those familiar Google style widgets, different color themes, and it just looks super clean.

Plus you can search across different platforms, not just Google. And there's an AI tool shortcuts for quick access to some of your favorite AI models like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and more. Unfortunately, you can't find it on the Chrome store, but it's available on GitHub and they have step-by-step instructions on how to get it set up. Next up is Apple Remapper.

It's kind of a niche app, but it's super handy in specific situations. Whenever someone sends you a link from Apple Maps, this app instantly redirects you to Google Maps or Waze, whichever you prefer. It's a simple app, but it saves you from the hassle of actually needing to ask your friend for the address. The only downside is that it does cost $2 to download.

There's been a few times where I've gone on a trip and it was a real pain to keep all of my tech charged up. Small battery packs just didn't cut it for some of my bigger devices, and hauling around a huge power station when making a short trip is a bit of an overkill. Luckily, I found the sweet spot. EcoFlow's River 3 series, the sponsor of this video.

These portable power stations are not only powerful, but also have a super compact and fantastic design. The River 3 gives you a whopping 245 watt-hours of capacity, but if you need more, you can upgrade to the River 3 Plus or even the Max for double the juice. I also love that they're about the size of a projector, so you can fit them into any small space. They've also got all the ports that you need, even AC outlets, so you can charge pretty much almost anything you want.

Plus, unlike other power stations in this size bracket, the River 3 gives your devices a longer runtime. Up to 15 hours more for those devices that consume less than 100 watts. And it's all thanks to EcoFlow's cutting-edge X-Core 3.0 technology, which...

squeezes the most power and efficiency into a compact package. For example, you get faster charging without worrying about overheating. When it does charge, it's super quiet under 30 decibels, which is around the noise level of a library.

It uses GAN material to keep things cool and trim down the size by 30% when compared to other power stations. It can even act as a backup power source in case of an outage, switching over in less than 20 milliseconds. Unlock next level power for every scenario with EcoFlow's new Delta III and River III series. Enjoy iEcoFlow.

Google Tech exclusive pre-order offer and use my code 24EFPDFHTM for an extra 7% off on River 3 standalone and it's only valid until October 25th. Okay, moving on. Some of you might know this already. The Google Pixel 9s have a redesigned weather app that looks incredible. In one of my last videos, I even showed off how you can get it on any other Android.

I'll link that video in the cards. Well, I recently found an even better app called Weather Master. And it basically combines features from the Pixel 9 weather app and the old Google weather app into one.

It's like a perfect blend of both with tons of extra features. You even get clothing recommendations, info on how the weather will feel based on wind and humidity, how long the day will last, a live precipitation map, and more. The only catch is that it's not on the Play Store, but you can grab it from GitHub.

Remember how I said earlier that your phone can be a big distraction? Well, with Mindful, you can block all distractions and stay on track. It lets you block short-form content, limit website access, and even cut off the internet for specific apps.

There's also a bedtime mode to pause distracting apps and activate do not disturb mode. The UI is super clean and it gives you a ton of info about your app usage, data, and focus time. Plus, it's free, open source, and has no ads or sketchy permissions. A solid choice for anyone looking to stay focused.

I can't count the number of times I've come across a website, completely forgotten about it, and then regretted not being able to find it again later on. That's where Linkora comes in. This app lets you save and categorize links effortlessly, making it easy to revisit them later on. It's perfect for organizing things like gift lists or articles you want to read later.

I mostly use it to save cool things I find on social media or any website to buy later. It does have a few bugs, but for the most part, it works well. If you're still using Musée Live wallpaper to switch between backgrounds periodically, you should definitely try PaperEyes instead. First of all, it's completely free and open source, but beyond that, it has features that Musée doesn't. For instance, you can store multiple wallpaper folders, so if you want to switch to a different style in the future, you don't have to remove your current ones.

You can also do individual scheduling so that the lock screen wallpaper changes at a different time than the home screen wallpaper. And get this, you can even set different wallpaper folders for the lock screen and home screen. Of course, you'll still get the usual features like blurring out the background, changing the brightness and dimming.

Definitely worth checking out. Untracker is another niche app that's useful every now and then. If someone sends you a link, you can use Untracker to remove all the tracking parameters by sharing the link with the app. And that's pretty much all it does.

But it's super handy for those long, messy links from Google. Amazon, YouTube, etc. If you're like me, you probably dismissed a notification by mistake. Or you dismissed an important one entirely from having so many. That's where PinIt shines.

It keeps a history of all your past notifications and even lets you pin any current ones to the top of your notification panel so that you don't forget about them. You can even add notes. or schedule them to pop up again at a different time or date.

Plus, you can search through past notifications or create custom ones to remind yourself of things you need to do later. And of course, it all comes wrapped in a clean material you design. Whenever a site, app, or merchant asks for your email, don't give them your personal one. You'll likely get spammed and your email might get spread around. Instead, use Dismail to create temporary emails that forward any emails that you signed up for within the app.

That way you can easily dispose of them if you start getting spammed. It works great, but I'll admit the design could use a little work. Anyways, tap this card right here so that you can watch a playlist of all the previous best Android apps.

Thanks for sticking around to the end. Drop a thumbs up if I helped you find a new app. Love you guys, see you in the next one.