As the whole world move towards automation, the search for the best mobile apps for online business intensifies.
That is why, in this article, we reveal the top applications you can use now to improve your productivity.
But why apps and why now?
Well, it turns out, as of 2020, at least 31% of businesses have fully automated at least one function (Source: McKinsey).
Interestingly, the same research found that companies are now pursuing automation more than two years ago.
On an unseemingly unrelated trend, there are over 5.22 billion mobile users in the world, according to GSMA Intelligence.
In fact, for the last 12 months, the number grew by 93 million!
Why?
A smartphone is already a necessity.
10% of people check their phones every four minutes.
Thus, it doesn’t come as a surprise to know that 88% of mobile time is spent on apps.
If so, what are they using it for?
To understand this, you need to look at the most downloaded app category on popular mobile apps marketplaces; Google Playstore and Apple App Store.
Starting with Apple App Store, here is what it looks like;
And then here is Google Play Store’s top categories as measured by the market reach as of September 2019.
It looks like most people are busy playing games on their phones.
As you can see from both instances, mobile business apps is among the top 3 most downloaded categories.
Here are the best mobile apps for online business
#1. Slack
Slack is one of the best mobile apps for team collaboration.
Being a channel-based messaging platform, you and your team can work together more effectively, connect all your software tools and services.
Additionally, the app makes it easy for you to find the information you need to do your best work.
Slack Features
As a platform, Slack allows you to integrate your favorite applications like Google Drive, Office 365, and 2K+ other tools.
To aid collaboration, Slack allows you to send messages (text, video, voice) with your team.
And thanks to its seamless integration with apps like Dropbox and Google Drive, you can easily share files.
Is Slack free?
Slack comes with four plans that include a free option. Under this package, you have access to:
- 10,000 of your team’s most recent messages
- 10 integrations with other apps like Google Drive, Office 365, and many more
- 1:1 voice and video calls between teammates.
Slack alternatives;
- Google Chat.
- Chanty.
- Microsoft Teams.
- RocketChat.
- Discord.
- Mattermost.
- Flock.
- Ryver.
#2. Google Drive
Do you feel like you need to share or store a file fast?
Google Drive has your back.
This is a cloud-based storage tool, which means that you can save files and access them anywhere anytime from a mobile phone, tablet or computer.
How?
Turns out, you can have the application on your computer and your phone as well.
To get it, all you have to do is get a Google account (Gmail).
Google has made it possible to access all of their products through one source; Gmail account.
Features
What makes Google Drive one of the best mobile apps for an online business?
Well, besides giving you free 15GB of cloud storage, the app supports collaborative upload and editing of files.
This means that you and your team can work on a project without the need to be in one location physically.
Additionally, Google Drive integrates smoothly with other Google apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Forms.
Is Google Drive free?
Google Drive comes free of charge with every Google account. Inside, you get 15GB of cloud storage.
But if you need more storage space, you can buy more storage within Google Drive or upgrade to Google One to get extra benefits.
Alternatives to Google Drive;
- NordLocker
- Dropbox
- Tresorit
- pCloud
- Box
- Mega
- Sync.com
#3. Evernote
You know how brilliant ideas sometimes rock your head at such an expected and weird hours and you wish you had a notebook?
Well, Evernote is your answer.
This is one of the best mobile apps for online business because it helps you capture ideas and find them fast.
Evernote gives you all the tools you need to turn your inner genius into tangible ideas.
Additionally, you can access your ideas anywhere anytime, thanks to Evernote’s ability to sync to all of your devices.
Features
Easily enrich your ideas with images, audio, PDFs, and other spices.
This way, you can express yourself freely.
With their web clipper tool, you can instantly save any webpage (minus the ads).
It gets even better.
You can enrich the saved webpage by adding notes, arrows, and highlighting points for easy comprehension.
Have paper documents you’d wish to backup?
No problem.
Evernote allows you to scan any document and instantly back it up online and accessible on all of your devices.
Is Evernote free?
Evernote comes with a free plan. Inside, you can sync up to 2 devices, find notes fast with search and tags, apply rich formatting to your notes, clip web pages, etc.
However, there are other two paid plans.
And all give you access to additional premium features and tools.
Evernote alternatives;
- ClickUp
- Google Keep
- OneNote
- Dropbox Paper
- Bear
- ProofHub
#4. Todoist
Let’s face it, sometimes things get out of hand, thanks to a ton of distractions.
As an online business owner, keeping a schedule is vital to the success of your business.
To do that, you need to prioritize your task by executing first the 20% tasks responsible for 80% of your income.
That is where Todoist comes into play.
This is one of the best mobile apps for online business you must have.
Todoist is a cloud-based application that helps you get your to-do list and make it available on any device you are using.
With over 1.5 billion tasks created in 150+ million projects, it tells you how important this app is in running an online business.
Features
Todoist allows you to easily organize and prioritize your tasks and projects.
By doing so, you will always know exactly what to work on next.
More importantly, you can delegate tasks right within the app.
This way, the most important tasks get done by the right people, thus freeing up your time and mind to focus on other business needs.
Better part?
Todoist makes it possible to assess your progress and discipline.
How?
Set daily and weekly goals, and visualize your productivity trends.
Is Todoist free?
You can access Todoist completely free. But the plan has restricted access to some features like project limit, reminders, comments, or labels.
To reap the optimal benefits of using this task management app, consider upgrading to Premium or Business.
Starts from as low as $3 per month.
Todoist alternatives;
- Trello.
- ClickUp.
- monday.com.
- Wrike.
- Any.do.
- Microsoft Planner.
- OmniFocus.
- TickTick.
#5. Freshbooks
This list of best mobile apps for online business is incomplete without an accounting tool.
Introducing Freshbooks.
This is a cloud-based accounting software perfect for self-employed entrepreneurs.
Through the app, you can instantly generate and send invoices, track time, manage receipts, expenses, and accept credit cards.
Forget about getting geeky and techy.
Freshbooks has been created with you in mind and you don’t need tech or accounting knowledge to use it.
Features
Freshbooks helps you eliminate the invoicing headache.
With this software, you can easily make generate and send invoices.
Better part?
You get paid faster too.
Are you tired of keeping receipts?
Freshbooks allows you to keep track of all of your expenses.
All you have to do is log and organize them inside Freshbooks.
Is Freshbooks free?
While Freshbooks doesn’t have a free plan, it comes with a 30-day free trial. Luckily, no credit card is required.
After the trial, you can choose between the available premium plans starting from $4.50 per month.
Freshbooks alternatives;
- Invoicera
- Hiveage
- InvoiceBerry
- The Invoice Machine
- Harvest
- QuickBooks
#6. DocuSign
DocuSign is one of the must-have mobile apps for online business.
Why?
At some point in your online business journey, you will have to append your signature on a document, especially for freelancers.
DocuSign is simply an easy-to-use digital transaction platform letting you send, sign and manage legally binding documents securely in the cloud.
Features
The tool easily integrates with Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, among other tools.
For example;
You can collect leads on Salesforce and let them sign the deal virtually.
This means that you no longer travel in person hunting for signatures.
Is DocuSign free?
DocuSign comes with a 30-day free trial.
After that, you can upgrade to any of their two paid plans.
DocuSign alternatives;
- PandaDoc
- HelloSign
- SignNow
- Adobe Sign
- RightSignature by Citrix
#7. Mailchimp
Another one of the best mobile apps for online business.
See, no matter what ‘gurus’ say out there, email marketing remains one of the best ways to market a business online.
In fact, it’s been found that you get an average of $42 for every $1 you invest into your email list.
Now, at the forefront to help you realize your email marketing dreams is Mailchimp.
Features
With their mobile app, you can;
- Create campaigns
- Review the reports
- Add subscribers (manually or through the signup forms)
- Build landing pages
- View your audience
Simply put, you can run an entire email marketing campaign through your phone.
Is Mailchimp for free?
Mailchimp comes with a free plan.
However, the features are limited to not more than 2,000 contacts and at most 10K emails per month.
For more features, check out their premium plans.
Mailchimp alternatives;
- ActiveCampaign
- MailerLite
- Sendinblue
- GetResponse
- Moosend
- Zoho
- Mailjet
- ConvertKit
#8. Skype
Running an online business means having the freedom to work from anywhere in the world.
While there, you still need to conduct meetings with clients or the team.
For this reason, if you want a better communication experience, Skype is here for you.
With this app, you can message, video call, or voice call with your team or family members from anywhere in the world.
Features
With the Skype app, you can call landlines and mobiles from anywhere in the world at insanely affordable rates.
Additionally, Skype supports live subtitles.
This means that you can read the words that are spoken during an audio or video call.
Is Skype free?
You can use Skype free of charge on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet.
The only time you pay is when using features like voice mail, SMS texts, or making calls to a landline, cell, or outside of Skype.
Skype alternatives;
- WhatsApp.
- Talky.
- Viber.
- ooVoo.
- WeChat.
- Slack.
- Jitsi
#9. Stripe
As they say, money is the lifeblood of any business.
Stripe is an online payment processing platform that allows businesses to send and receive payments over the internet.
Features
Stripe integrates with virtually all the popular eCommerce tools.
For example;
If you won a Shopify store, you can use Stripe to accept payments from customers.
Is Stripe free?
You can sign up for a Stripe account free.
However, the company charges high credit card processing fees of up to 2.9%.
Stripe alternatives;
- Square Payments.
- Venmo for Business.
- Amazon Pay.
- GoCardless.
- CardConnect.
- Shift4 Payments.
- Heartland Payment.
- Braintree Direct.
#10. SurveyMonkey
Why guess when you can just ask?
To conclude our list of the best mobile apps for online business, here is SurveyMonkey.
With this app, you no longer have to guess what your customers want.
All you have to do is create a survey and wait for their answers.
Features
SurveyMonkey allows you to create customer satisfaction surveys displayed strategically.
This way, you can truly grasp the voice of your customers.
Is SurveyMonkey free?
Just like most of the apps in this list, SurveyMonkey operates a freemium business model.
This way, they allow users to access basic tools for free while keeping advanced features to paying users.
SurveyMonkey alternatives;
- Google Forms.
- Constant Contact.
- Qualtrics Core XM.
- Google Surveys.
- Doodle.
- Zoho Survey.
- SurveySparrow.
What’s your favorite business app?
In your quest to improving your productivity, these apps may be of tremendous help.
What is your must-have app not included in this list?
Also, don’t forget to get a free landing page here.