Looking for useful apps for freelancers? You’ve come to the right place.
A freelancer’s work can be done from anywhere and anytime – if you have the right tools.
From your home office, your bed, or even while relaxing on the beach, the power to run your business rests right on your fingertips.
Any self-employed individual can take their small business to the next level with the right tools by using these must-have apps for self-employed freelancers.
Table of Contents
Best apps for self-employed freelancers
SignNow
As a freelancer, you need to sign documents from time to time. Maybe you’re hired to redesign a website and need a contract to ensure you’ll be paid. Maybe you agree to write content for an online publication.
Regardless of what gig you’re performing, you really shouldn’t be making agreements without having a signed contract as a self-employed freelancer.
The old-fashioned way was to sign paperwork and either mail or fax it back physically. The newer way was to print, sign, and then email the contract back. Well, there’s a new way to sign documents now, electronically.
With the SignNow app, your client could be a block away or a whole world apart. It makes no difference. So whether you’re at your home office or enjoying yourself while on vacation, you can close deals in minutes.
I like this app over the other digital signature apps because the first 5 signatures every month are free. So if you work exclusively on big projects – and thus don’t have lots of contracts to sign – this app is perfect for you.
Download SignNow for iOS here.
Download SignNow for Android here.
Expensify
Self-employed entrepreneurs don’t need to create expense reports to turn in to the boss. But freelancers need to keep track of all of their business expenses.
This is especially true when it comes to filing your tax returns. Any self-employed freelancer needs to deduct all business expenses to lower their tax liability.
The Expensify app simplifies everything for you. You can take a picture of a receipt, and all the pertinent information gets added to your account. Then, with ease, expense reports can be created to give you a good idea of where your money is going.
The app also features automatic mileage tracking. Just open the app, and your mileage is recorded and reported.
Download Expensify for iOS here.
Download Expensify for Android here.
Google Calendar
You can keep up to date with your appointments with the Google Calendar app for Android smartphones and now for Apple users.
If you have an iPhone, you can use the built-in calendar app. But what if you’re not entirely in the Apple ecosystem? Well, the solution is to use the Google Calendar app instead. This way, you’ll have access to all of your appointments and to-dos everywhere. Even if you’re on a public computer, you can just visit http://www.google.com/calendar and log in.
Google Calendar integrates nicely into Gmail as well, with events such as flight and restaurant reservations automatically being added.
Google also makes other useful apps for the self-employed, such as Google Translate, Google Sheets, and Google Docs.
Google has always been available on Android, but not for iOS until recently. Here’s a video for the iOS version.
Download Google Calendar for iOS here.
Download Google Calendar for Android here.
Paper
Paper is basically a note-taking and drawing app. But its’ simplicity allows your imagination to flow. You can start with a blank canvas or annotate photos if you wish.
Freelancers can use it to jot down ideas in a visual way. Flow charts, pie charts, and basic designs are all good uses for this app. Other freelancers will use it to write business plans, goals, or presentations while on the go.
Your designs aren’t just senseless doodles that are just for fun. You can invite others to collaborate with them. I can see how this could be useful if you’re redesigning someone’s website or logo. You and the client can both go and make edits to the rough draft, so you both are on the same page.
Download Paper for iOS here.
Paper is not available on Android.
PayPal
PayPal is a must for freelancers. The days of sending checks are almost a distant memory. Clients want their product immediately, and freelancers want immediate payment too.
In comes perhaps the largest online payment processor around, PayPal. With their mobile app, freelancers can send payments as well as see payments posted to their accounts. You can then withdraw your money to your bank account in one business day.
PayPal for Business offers more robust features such as invoices and merchant services. To process payments in person, you’ll use the Paypal Here service. For this, you’ll need a mobile card reader ($14.99) or a chip card reader ($79.99). They’ll also take 2.7% of each transaction you process.
Download Paypal on iOS here.
Download Paypal on Android here.
Remember The Milk
Freelancers have a lot of things to do. Remember The Milk is a task management app that helps to keep you more organized. Don’t be fooled by the name. While it can indeed be used as a grocery store list replacement, it can also help you be more productive.
Here’s how it works. You first create a list. You can create as many as you’d like to help organize your task list. Then you can create tasks and even subtasks—each with different colorful tags and even reminders.
This is one of the most useful apps for freelancers that I can recommend.
The key to accomplishing a lot isn’t being a workaholic! The keys are managing your time effectively by taming your to-do list to focus and complete your most important tasks first.
Download Remember The Milk on iOS here.
Download Remember The Milk on Android here.
Hubstaff Time Tracking App
If you operate a small team of employees or independent contractors who travel to jobs, you need to keep track of their performance. With Hubstaff’s GPS monitoring and time tracking abilities, you’ll able to know your team is on track.
You can track how long it took them to reach the destination and how long they stayed there from within the app. With this data, you can automatically generate timesheets and invoices to figure out how much to pay your employees and how much to charge the end customer.
Bonus: Hubstaff also has Hubstaff Talent, a free resource for companies (and freelancers) looking to find remote talent worldwide. As a freelancer, it’s hard to do everything on your own, so why not outsource some of your work?
There’s a lot of ways you, as a freelancer, can utilize the services of others.
- You can hire a short-term freelancer to be a virtual assistant to help manage your social media accounts.
- If your website needs some TLC, you could hire a programmer to fix bugs or a web designer to revamp your site completely.
- If you need help with content, there’s plenty of competent copywriters available to help craft blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, or just proofread your work.
Download Hubstaff on iOS here.
Download Hubstaff on Android here.
Clockspot
Employee time tracking is also a lot easier when handling it all online. This powerful software solution has numerous features that make it easy for managers to track employee hours, hours per project properly, and a wide range of other options.
SurveyMonkey
Have you ever wanted to take the pulse of your customers but had no idea how to do it? You can create or participate in online surveys from your mobile device using their free service or Pro software. Obviously, the professional version of the software has many more bells and whistles than the free option.
Freshdesk
Helpdesk solutions can be tricky for many of us. This helpdesk tool is perfect because it works for Android and iOS, allows you to get ticket updates and receive notifications, tells you about new assignments and new tickets, and many other excellent features.
HootSuite
You can take social media management to the next level using this software. Not only does it provide social media management tools, but it also provides analytics tools and is available for iOS and Android. Publish more and better social media posts using this software for free.
ActivTrak
Company managers and higher-ups love this app because it allows them to view employee data and track productivity right from the comfort of their smartphones. You’ll know exactly what your employees are doing by monitoring their Chrome browsers, Chrome OS, Mac OS, Linux, or Windows software.
Salesforce Sales Cloud Professional
Gain access to vital customer information and sales data on the go using this app. It’s free to check out, and it offers a comprehensive platform that instantly puts important data right at your fingertips no matter where you happen to be as long as you have access to the Internet.
Evernote Scannable
It’s very easy to get cluttered up with documents and notes and other papers that could typically be avoided. Evernote Scannable makes it simple to quickly scan documents, business cards, meeting notes, and other important files to your company, and it works with Android and iOS devices.
