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Editorial Team · 2026-10-11
Best Productivity Apps for iPhone, Ranked by Our Scores
By Editorial Team · published 2026-09-15 · updated 2026-09-15
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Things 3 is the highest-scored productivity app on this site at 8.5, and it is the only one on the list that costs money — $9.99 once, with no subscription and nothing else to buy. The six free apps under it are all from Microsoft or Google, all edit or organise for nothing, and two of them show adverts inside the free tier. Every app here was installed on an iPhone, scored on five criteria and reviewed on this site; the ranking is those scores, and for each one we state exactly where the free tier ends.
How we ranked them
Each app has a full review with five sub-scores — core function, ease of use, monetisation, performance, and privacy and permissions — and the number at the head of each entry is the weighted result. For productivity apps we paid particular attention to two things: what the free tier withholds, because Microsoft and Google both sell subscriptions around these apps, and install size, because two of them are among the largest apps in our catalogue.
AI chat apps — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude — sit in the same store category and score 7.6 to 7.7, but they are a different kind of tool and get their own list. Everything below is a task manager, an editor, a mailbox, a file store or a sign-in key.
1. Things 3 — the only paid app, and the only one with nothing to sell
Things 3 scores 8.5 on a 9.5 for ease of use, the clearest interface in our catalogue: Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday and a Logbook, projects broken into headings, and the day's calendar events shown beside the tasks. A scheduled date and a deadline are separate fields, which is the detail most to-do apps get wrong.
The price is $9.99 once, as of September 2026. Sync is included, there is no subscription and no advertising, and it holds 4.8 stars across 28,000 App Store ratings. The limits are fixed: Apple devices only, no shared lists, and the iPad and Mac editions are separate purchases — which is why monetisation is a 7.0 despite the honest model.
Good for: anyone who wants a task list that stays usable after a bad week. Not for: anyone who shares lists with a partner or a team.
2. Microsoft Authenticator — free, no adverts, and a very short data card
Microsoft Authenticator scores 8.1 for doing one job properly. Sign-ins are approved by tapping one of three numbers rather than a yes button, so an accidental tap approves nothing; prompts name the country and platform that asked; and it holds 30-second codes for non-Microsoft accounts such as Discord, Figma and Instagram, generated offline. Free, no adverts, no purchases — a 9.5 for monetisation — and 4.7 stars across 692,000 ratings.
The 7.0 for core function is about what it stopped doing: password autofill was withdrawn in stages during 2025, and backup restores passwordless work accounts as names only.
Good for: anyone with a Microsoft, Discord or Figma account. Not for: anyone who wants it to remember passwords — that job moved to Edge.
3. Microsoft Word — a real editor, free on a phone
Microsoft Word scores 7.7, and the free tier is broader than its reputation: full formatting, table style galleries, spell-checking, comments, co-authoring and Read Aloud, with documents opening exactly as they were saved on a desktop. The subscription, from $9.99 a month, adds Copilot drafting and nothing else that matters on a phone.
The costs are a 545 MB install, a recent-iOS requirement, and nine collected data categories with location and device identifiers shared onward.
Good for: editing a real document without a laptop. Not for: an older iPhone short on storage.
4. Microsoft Excel — honestly free below 10.1 inches
Microsoft Excel also scores 7.7 and is the rare Microsoft app whose free tier is complete where it counts: charts, sorting, filtering, ink annotation and threaded comments with @mentions all work on a phone at no cost, and downloaded files edit offline. The subscription only becomes compulsory on a screen larger than 10.1 inches. It holds 4.8 stars across 9.55 million Google Play reviews.
What no design fixes is twenty visible rows, and the data card lists installed apps and search history among what is collected.
Good for: checking, filtering and annotating a workbook someone else built. Not for: building one from scratch.
5. Gmail — every mailbox in one app, and the heaviest install here
Gmail scores 7.6 on a 9.0 for core function: it signs in iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo and any IMAP account alongside Google ones, sorts arrivals into Primary, Social, Promotions and Updates, and its search filters by sender, label and attachment. Nothing is sold inside the app.
The two marks it drops are visible. Advertising appears as entries in the Promotions tab, and at 746 MB it is the largest install in our catalogue, growing further as mail is cached. The privacy mark is 5.0 for twelve collected categories.
Good for: anyone juggling more than one address. Not for: anyone who wants a mailbox with no advertising in it.
6. Google Drive — a file app, not just a bucket
Google Drive scores 7.5. The camera scans paper into PDFs, search filters by type, person and date, an activity tab shows who asked for access to what, and Gemini summarises a long file with its sources shown. There is no advertising badge.
The catch is the quota: the free 15 GB is shared with Gmail and Photos, and the fix is a subscription from $1.99 a month. Editing a document also needs the separate Docs, Sheets or Slides app installed.
Good for: scanning, finding and sharing files. Not for: anyone who thinks 15 GB will last.
7. Microsoft Outlook — the best AI summary, behind a subscription
Microsoft Outlook scores 7.5. One inbox for Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, Gmail, Yahoo and IMAP; a Focused tab that separates newsletters from mail that matters; RSVP buttons in the row. Copilot's thread summaries cite the message each point came from — a rare case of AI in a mail client that can be checked rather than trusted.
It ranks last because the free inbox carries advertising between messages, Copilot needs a $9.99 subscription, and the data card lists the emails themselves among what is collected.
Good for: anyone who already pays for Microsoft 365. Not for: anyone who wants the AI without the bill.
What we left out and why
ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok and Meta AI score 7.3 to 7.7 and live in the same store category, but a chat assistant is not a productivity app in the sense used here, and they are compared against each other in a separate list.
Bottom line
Things 3 wins, and the price is part of why: $9.99 once buys the clearest task app on iPhone with nothing else to sell you. Below it the list is free, and the ranking is decided by what each app withholds. Authenticator withholds nothing. Word and Excel keep only Copilot and large-tablet editing behind the subscription. Gmail and Outlook are both excellent mailboxes that show you adverts, and Drive is generous until the shared 15 GB runs out. If you install three, make them Things 3, Authenticator and whichever of Word or Excel you actually open.
