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Top 20 Tools for Digital Nomads

You'll Never Work Alone

Remote work is something we’ve learned to embrace at Toggl, with almost 40% of our team working remotely from other countries across the world.

Needless to say, we’re pretty excited about the different tools that help make the nomadic life easier. This is our Top 20 going into 2016:

Travel & Living

Even the most spontaneous nomads are smart enough to plan their journeys - especially when it comes to picking flights. If you like being a bit more strategic about picking your locations use Pocket for storing travel ideas - it’s a great tool for saving any inspiring articles you might come across when making up your travel plans.

Getting to a new city is one thing - living there is another. Even digital nomads have bills to pay and groceries to buy, so having the best knowledge about local living conditions is absolutely crucial.

Gathering information from multiple sources can be difficult to manage - apps like Teleport and NomadList are great for comparing local living costs of different locations (but the latter also includes information on weather & safety, for example).

If you’re only stopping at every new city for a short while, be sure to check out Whatsitlike to see the best time to go to a specific location (if you’re looking to get tanned, Northern Europe in January is not the best time or place for you).

Once you’ve landed in your new temporary home city, you’ll need a place for getting some work done (you’re still technically employed, remember). Every digital nomad knows how frustrating wifi-hunting can be, so hit up Compass or Workfrom to find coworking spaces and worker-friendly cafes.

Work & Productivity

Online productivity tools are getting more and more important everywhere, but for the digital nomad, they are absolutely inescapable.

Keeping track of your time will be essential - be it for accurate billing or improving your time management. Toggl Track is simple to work with, and lets you easily share your time reports even with people not using the app.

Time tracking is one thing, but you will also need to keep track of your many work projects. Trello is a fantastic tool that is incredibly easy to use (and hey, easy on the eyes too!). It uses a system of cards for organizing any type of work you might need to do.

But it’s important to not crowd your project management app with every little thought that crosses your mind, so it’s a smart idea to store your notes separately. Yeah, napkins and notepads can work too, but if you need something that can store your list items on multiple devices, you’re going to want an app.

Evernote is a great cloud-based tool for storing ideas. Also adding to its usefulness is the app’s ability to record audio and attach images to your notes.

Finally, you can’t do without a good to-do list. We really like Todoist as it works both for following a straightforward list, to categorizing your items by types and deadlines.

You’re also going to need storage - both for easy sharing of files and for backing up your precious work (nowhere do laptops disappear more than on the road). The most obvious solution is of course Dropbox. For transferring large files, you can also try the beautifully designed WeTransfer.

Staying in touch

Poor communication can wreak havoc on local teams, let alone people separated by oceans and time zones.

Slack is a groundbreaking team chat tool** (in fact, it’s the fastest growing business tool ever). That’s not just because of its capabilities and numerous integration options, but also because it has a genuinely delightful personality - often Slack feels less like a chat client, and more like a member of your group.

As a more video-oriented alternative, there’s no better app than Room - it requires no sign up and the video chat link can be shared with anyone! For special occasions such as birthdays and promotions, consider celebrating your colleagues by sending a group card with Kudoboard.

Do better work with Toggl Track

Time tracking can transform the way you work. Track time, get and share insightful reports and stop wondering where your day went.

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Bottom Line

As a nomad, you'll be spending a lot of time looking at a screen. But you shouldn't forget to turn away and look around as often as possible.

These tools will help you stay organized and spend less time on worrying, and more on living. If you do feel too overwhelmed to enjoy your life on the road, fire up your Toggl Track timer and see if you're not wasting too much time on things that give you nothing back.

Remember that you didn't hit the road to be on a 9 to 5!