The necessity of being organized, productive, and keeping everything in one place are challenges that have to be beaten to make the Digital Nomad lifestyle sustainable. While being a Digital Nomad since 2016, I have found it inevitable to have a list of preferred tech tools & apps that helps in many aspects of life. These aspects range from cloud document storage, personal finance, communication, travel organizing to finding a place to work.
As 2020 proved to the world that working remotely is the future, many of the tools in this list aren’t useful to only Digital Nomads. Whether you are a Digital Nomad, remote worker, business traveler, freelancer, or working from home, you can make use of this list.
In this list, I have collected over 70 tools for 15 aspects of life that I personally use, tried, or have used in the past, in addition to a brief description of each one of them:
Travel Planning & Destination Info
TripiIt
A time-saving travel organizer that helps automate the creation of itineraries, reminders & more.
Maps.me
It could be the best offline maps app in the market. It has proven useful as an alternative to google maps whenever there is no internet access.
Nomadlist
NomadList provides destination information in addition to many other features. The free version is limited and a paid subscription is required. It won’t provide 100% accurate info since it is based on the members’ votes.
Teleport
A city comparison tool that includes metrics like quality of life, cost of living, salaries and more, etc. It is more related to expats’ lifestyle but long-term nomads can make good use of it.
Coworking Spaces
WorkFrom
A community-built list of worldwide places to work from. It is not limited to coworking spaces but also cafes and public areas.
Coworker
It could be the biggest coworking spaces directory on the web, with the option of buying a monthly global pass to access different spaces.
Travel Insurance for Nomads
Safety Wing
A flexible travel insurance tailored for digital nomads. It includes worldwide coverage, starting at $45 per month. SafetyWing also offers full-fledged health insurance for remote workers and health insurance for remote teams.
World Nomads
One of the first travel insurance providers for nomads. The cost and coverage depend on the countries that you will visit during your subscription period.
Accommodation
Airbnb
One of the world’s biggest apps to find accommodation, with millions of hosts worldwide offering accommodation on different scales and price ranges.
Coliving
My #1 choice as an Airbnb alternative for digital nomads. It has many options for accommodation in Coliving Spaces in +50 Countries
Note Taking & To-Do’s
Google Keep
My personal favorite on this list. It has a simple interface and syncs across the web, desktops and phones. It supports many types of notes, including image notes that you can instantly create from your phone camera.
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft’s simple yet powerful note-taking app. It supports different types of notes that sync across devices and can be shared.
Notion
Notion is considered a project management tool too. It is more than just a note-taking app. Many teams and individuals use it as a space to share ideas & collaborate. It can also be used by individuals.
Evernote
A feature rich app that supports different ways to create notes including creating directly from web pages. It is used by many teams and individuals as an idea sharing space.
Apple Notes
The app with the least features in our list, however, it is preferred by many iPhone, iPad & mac users. It supports adding short text notes, which can be synchronized using Apple’s iCloud.
Despite not being a note-taking app, Pocket is used to save articles, videos, and stories from the web or any other app.
Communication
Skype
You may call it old-fashioned, however, Skype remains in competition as one of the best texting and video calling apps.
Slack
For small remote businesses, professional teams and online communities, Slack is a great app that can be used for free.
Whatsapp
Whatsapp Business
Whatsapp isn’t just a texting app anymore. In addition to the famous Whatsapp, Whatsapp Business is a powerful tool for communicating with your leads and existing clients.
Zoom
Just another online meetings service. Due to Covid19, it has become one of the most used apps worldwide as numerous businesses turned to using it.
Finance & Money Transfer
Payoneer
Provides many convenient ways to get paid as a freelancer or an online business, including bank transfers & credit cards. The Payoneer pre-paid master card is a big advantage.
Wise
Formerly, Transferwise. It could be your best option to send and receive money wherever you are with an amazing exchange rate, covering many countries and different currencies.
XE
For frequent travelers, Xe is one of the most accurate currency converters online. They have recently launched a money transfer service.
Stripe
The most common solution for e-commerce payments is compared to similar services like Paypal.
Paypal
Maybe it is the most famous money transfer and payment service for individuals and businesses worldwide. The high fees are a big disadvantage, though.
Finding Best Flight Fares
Kayak
Perfect for airfare comparison in many regions. However, it doesn’t have the same worldwide coverage as Skyscanner.
Remote Job Boards
Freelancing Platforms
Toptal
By claiming that they accept only the top 3% of freelancers after a screening process, they promise projects of world top companies too.
UpWork
The most famous online freelancing platform. Despite being a huge platform, the competition is very high & there are many less serious clients.
Fiverr
The once was a micro-services platform is now a one-stop shop for many businesses worldwide. Fiverr has recently introduced Fiverr pro program.
99designs
Exclusively for design projects. Clients can post project requirements or host design contests where freelance designers can bid or participate.
Freelancer
Another freelancing platform similar to UpWork, however, the quality of the projects offered and the rates are generally less.
Skill Building and Self Development
SkillShare
Courses covering topics including Illustration, Design, Photography, Animation, Productivity & many more.
Udacity
Focused on technical and business courses taught by top world experts. This explains the higher cost compared to similar websites.
Linkedin Learning
Formerly, Lynda.com. One of the oldest e-learning websites after being acquired by Linkedin.
International Open Academy
Offers many certified courses. The most highlighted one is the 120-hour certificate TESOL course, which is necessary for online English teaching job seekers. Currently, there is an %80 discount on this course.
Productivity & Time Tracking
Clockify
The best & simple free time tracking options for freelancers and small teams with paid plans for companies and bigger teams.
HubStaff
One of the time tracking and reporting software pioneers. Hubstaff offers more integration features for software development teams.
Boomerang
An email scheduler for Gmail. It is has proven useful for remote workers who work across different time zones.
Cloud Storage & File Management
Google Drive
Google Drive is my favorite of all time. With free 15GB of storage and the power of Google Docs, it is a great cloud-based replacement for desktop office software.
Dropbox
Preferred by many businesses and individuals worldwide. The price tag is a disadvantage, though.
WeTransfer
When it comes to sending large files, WeTransfer provides the best experience among other file-sharing options.
Project & Task Management
Trello
Trello’s visual boards can be used for personal task management, project management, and collaboration with clients or internal teams.
Asana
A project management tool built for small teams. It is more focused on project management compared to Trello, although many users find that Trello has a more user-friendly interface.
Other tools
Speedtest
Internet speed Testing is a necessity for Digital Nomads. This is a tool that gives the ability to test your connection speed against many servers worldwide.
Fast.com
The speed testing tool developed by Netflix. It has proven to be more reliable than SpeedTest in many cases.
Canva
A web-based design tool with many great templates to create designs such as social media posts, documents, flyers, business cards, and even short videos.
Grammarly
An AI writing tool that can help with spelling corrections, suggestions & more while writing emails, documents or messages. The free version is great, while the premium version provides more advanced features that can make your life easier.
World Clocks
In case you need another extension for the new tab screen, you can use world clock to display it whenever needed by a simple click on the icon in the browser header.
Stay focused
Another browser extension that helps raising productivity by blocking time-wasting websites
Are there more?
If you use an app or a tool that you believe should be on this list, please let me know in the comments. You can also get in touch via email at info@nomadicmemoir.com, on Facebook, or on Instagram. In case there is some task that you use a physical tool for and wanna replace with a digital tool, you can check My Minimalist Digital Nomad Packing List article.
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