The Best Tools for Digital Nomads Working Remotely in 2023

The year 2020 saw many people forced to work from home. However, once restrictions started being lifted and employees were allowed back into the office, plenty of people still wanted to work remotely. After all, there are benefits to not traveling to and from the office each day, such as:

• Saving time and money on commuting.
• Having more flexibility over working hours.
• More control over your work environment.
• Better focus because you’re not being distracted by chatty colleagues.

But remote working doesn’t just mean working from home. If you are no longer tied to a single workplace, you can effectively work from anywhere. Some people adopt a digital nomad lifestyle, freely traveling while working remotely.

But if you want to be a successful digital nomad, some tools will make your life easier. So, here are the best apps for remote workers in 2023.

Coworking Space Apps

Although many digital nomads are happy working alone in their hotel rooms or by the pool, others appreciate the discipline of shared office space. A coworking space can provide this, giving you a place to work where other people are also working.

There are several coworking apps you can use to find such spaces wherever you are:

1. Coworker is a free app that gives you access to its database of over 25,000 coworking spaces in 172 countries. Although the app itself is free, many coworking spaces will cost money to use. Alternatively, you can sign up for their Coworker’s Global Pass, which starts from $100 per month and gives you access to over 5,000 coworking spaces with a single global membership.
2. Workfrom provides information on many public places you can work, including coworking spaces, cafés, restaurants, hotel lobbies, and parks. You can view details such as Wi-Fi speeds, noise levels, seating, and food options. It is free to use, although there are paid plans starting from $5 per month.
3. LiquidSpace has over 18,000 available spaces and more than 10,000 venue partners. It features on-demand and dedicated office space and has flexible booking terms. The app is free to use, although paid plans are available too.

Collaboration & Organization Tools

As a digital nomad, you may often be working alone, but you still need to collaborate with others and stay organized. Of all the digital nomad tools, these are perhaps the most important.

1. Active Collab is an excellent project management tool that helps teams get work done together. It enables team members to know what they need to do, so they can get on and do it. It also makes it easy to plan due dates so team members don’t miss deadlines. Pricing starts at $8 per team member per month.
2. Notion is an ‘all-in-one workspace’ for individuals and teams. You can organize everything in there — notes, to-do lists, and work in progress. Having it all in one place keeps you organized and saves time switching between apps. The free version will be enough for some people, but others may need to upgrade to a paid version, starting from $8 per user per month.
3. Trello is another great project management and collaboration tool. Tasks are organized into boards, such as To Do, Doing, and Done. You can also view tasks on a timeline to know when they are due and who is working on what. There is a free version with some limitations or paid options starting from $5 per user per month.
4. Evernote is a note-taking app that helps to keep all projects, tasks, and ideas organized. You can take notes from anywhere, add details, put them on your calendar, and set reminders. There is a limited free version for individual use or paid versions starting from $6.67 per month. However, if you want to collaborate with colleagues, there is an Evernote Teams version from $14.99 per user per month.

There are also other project management tools you might find helpful, so do research and find which one suits you best.

Additionally, if you ever need to create presentation videos for your team members or clients, it’s worth getting some good video editing software. Although many people consider Final Cut Pro to be the best for macOS, if you’re a PC user, there are various Final Cut alternatives for Windows you can try instead.

Cloud Storage

If you are working remotely, you are mainly going to be using your laptop for your work. But you shouldn’t just store all your files on your laptop. If it gets stolen or breaks, you will lose everything. Cloud storage solves this problem and makes sharing files with colleagues easier.

Here are some excellent cloud storage solutions worth considering:

1. Sync.com has superb security and is reasonably priced. For individual use, you can get 5 GB for free or 2 TB for $8 per month. For teams, prices start at $6 per user per month.
2. Google Drive is an ideal solution if you already use Google Docs. For personal use, you can get 15 GB free. Business plans start at $12 per user per month for 2 TB per user.
3. Microsoft OneDrive is a good option if you already use Microsoft’s other products. For personal use, you can get 5 GB free, 100 GB for $19.99 per year, or 1 TB for $69.99 per year. Business plans start from $5 per user per month.
4. Dropbox is another popular cloud storage service and integrates with third-party tools, such as Google, Microsoft, Slack, and Zoom. Pricing starts at $7.99 per month for 2 TB storage for individuals or $12 per user per month for 5 TB storage for teams.
5. Egnyte also has many third-party integrations. Business plans start from $20 per user per month for 1 TB of storage.

Time-tracking Tools

Keeping track of work time is important for digital nomads, and time-tracking tools enable you to do that accurately. If you are a remote employee for a company, you can show your boss the time you have worked. If you are a freelancer, you can ensure you are accurately billing clients for the work you have done.

Here are some excellent time-tracking tools:

1. Clockify is an extremely popular spare-time tracking tool used by millions. It has everything you need — a timer, timesheet, calendar, reports, invoicing, and more.
2. TimeCamp is ideal for remote teams and includes productivity tracking, project budgeting, timesheet approvals, and billing and invoicing. The free version includes a time tracker with unlimited users, projects, and tasks. Paid versions with more features start from $6.99 per user per month.
3. My Hours is great for freelancers. It allows you to coordinate projects and tasks, track work hours, and create beautiful-looking reports for your clients. The basic version is free, but the full Pro version costs $6 per month.

Tools to Help You Focus

Being your boss might seem like a fun idea, but it requires a lot of self-discipline to stay on track. Here are a couple of tools to help you remain focused:

1. Focus@will is helpful if you are struggling to concentrate while working in noisy public spaces. It provides background music specifically designed to help you focus while blocking out the noise of your surroundings. Prices start from $7.49 per month.
2. Stayfocused is ideal if you find yourself distracted by social media and news. This free web browser plugin blocks any websites you ask it to, preventing you from becoming sidetracked.
3. Freedom allows you to block access to certain websites, apps, and more while working on your computer or phone for a specific amount of time so you can focus on what’s really important. 

In addition to these apps, there are also many easy time management techniques that can be helpful to implement.

Money Management Apps

As a digital nomad, you may be on the move a lot, traveling between countries. So, you need to make sure you keep track of your money. Here are a couple of great apps to help you do that:

1. XE Currency is a free app that enables you to transfer money in 65 currencies to more than 170 countries and monitor up to 10 currencies of your choosing.
2. Xero is an excellent app for managing your business expenses and helping you with your bookkeeping and accounting. You can send invoices, track cash flow, set payment notifications, and categorize bank transactions. Pricing starts at $25 per month.

Travel Insurance

Being a digital nomad can mean having the adventure of your life while getting your work done. But a life of travel does come with risks, which is why travel insurance is so important.

Here are some great places where digital nomads can get travel insurance:

1. Genki is a travel health insurance that can cover medical expenses and treatments from a couple of days up to two years.
2. World Nomads is one of the leading providers of travel insurance and covers many essential things, such as baggage loss, stolen passports, emergency medical expenses, car rental damage, and more.
3. Safetywing is another popular travel insurance provider. One great feature is that the insurance automatically extends every 28 days until you cancel it. This is ideal for digital nomads who are unsure how long they will be away.
4. Travelex is another good choice for travel insurance, covering everything you would expect. It has three insurance plans — Select, Basic, and America.

Health and Wellbeing Apps

Being an effective digital nomad isn’t just about maximizing productivity, being organized, and collaborating remotely with others. You also need to take care of your most important asset — yourself.

Here are some fantastic apps to keep your body and mind in good shape. Although these are not specifically digital nomad tools, they are beneficial for anyone, particularly those often busy with work.

1. Seven helps you stay fit, seven minutes at a time. It provides short, scientifically based workouts you can do from anywhere without equipment.
2. Mealime enables you to eat healthily by helping you plan your meals. The app is free to download and use, but you can upgrade to the Pro version for $2.99 per month.
3. Headspace is a guided meditation app that can bring some calm into your daily life. The price is $69.99 per year, with a free trial.

Other Apps that are Useful When Travelling

1. iTranslate is a translation app that can help you read, write and speak in 90 languages. Pricing starts from $5.99 per month.
2. Hopper is useful for booking flights as it shows you the best time to book your ticket. The app is free to download and use.
3. Every Time Zone, as the name suggests, shows you every time zone around the world. This is useful for planning the best time to communicate with colleagues and clients around the world.
4. NomadList helps you plan where to travel next by showing you lots of helpful information about many popular locations around the world. There is a limited free version, or you can get the full paid version for a $79.99 one-time payment.
5. NomadRest is a free app that shows you the best places to stay the night — hotels, apartments, and Airbnbs.

Best Tools for Digital Nomads

Being a digital nomad comes with numerous benefits. But there are many digital nomad tools and apps that can make your remote working life much easier. Here, we have looked at some of the best apps for remote workers.

Hopefully, by using some of these tools and apps, your digital nomad life will go from strength to strength.