After years of hunting, I've finally found a productivity app I can use on Android, Windows, and iOS

Everybody who’s ever looked for a productivity app has had something different in mind. A glance at our guide to the best productivity apps shows such a massive variety that it’s hard to know where to start.

Some people want an app that helps their word processing, improves their wellness, organizes their calendar, schedules their emails, or reminds them of what work is due. There’s no one thing that a ‘productivity’ app does; it’s all about the user.

I don’t want to communicate better, or let an app micromanage my day. What I’ve always wanted is an app that helps me be productive in a creative sense: letting me jot down ideas, thrash them out against a wider project, fully explore and explain them on a large board, and understand at a glance what a mess of notes, lines and graphs means.

I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect app for years, and never found the right one. I need different kinds of elements I can create. I also need to use a stylus on compatible devices and a keyboard when that’s available. I know, I want the Cinderella app.

Not helping my search failure is that I’m always working between my phone, computer, and iPad, and each one is on a different operating system. I know it’s chaos, and Liquid Glass means the iPad’s probably on the way out, but for now that’s how the cookie crumbles.

After years of hunting, I recently stumbled across an app that I think ticks all my boxes. I’ve been using it for several months and only decided to write this story when I took a step back and realized how fundamental it was for my creative process.

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Searching for the perfect app

An app-le a day

I had a particular criteria when hunting for my dream app, which made it hard to find the perfect option.

It had to be compatible across all of my devices: my Android phones, my iPad, my Windows PC, and whatever other gadget I’d end up testing.

The app needed to let me use a stylus, whether it was to handwrite notes and ideas or draw circles and diagrams to convey my ideas. But it also needed to let me type neater notes, perhaps with sticky note-style additions or shapes I could draw to get the same effect.

I also wanted the dream app to feel like a blank piece of paper or whiteboard, which I could fill with ideas and notes scattered across its span, not a text document that I’d slowly populate from top to bottom with words.

And most importantly, I needed it to be simple. I didn’t want to pay big bucks for a super-app with features I wouldn’t use, or that’d eat through my device’s battery when I was checking ideas. And I want to see neither hide nor hair of AI.

That meant I couldn’t use most of the popular apps labeled ‘productivity’, which try to micromanage all your communications, your life schedule, your health and hobbies. I can look after those things already. I just want an app that lets me produce (literally, in some cases, given I do a lot of film work).

This set of criteria ruled out my go-to multi-app tools (the Google suite), as well as my favorite stylus apps, and some popular suggestions I’d received. That was, until I tried Microsoft Whiteboard, which I’d never even heard of before.

What makes Whiteboard great

A blank slate, literally

Whiteboard is one of Microsoft’s many note-taking apps, and, like most, it works across multiple systems. I have it on my iPad and my Android phones, and I use the web browser on my computers.

To open it, you’ll see a deceptively simple interface. There are options for drawing, adding sticky notes or stickers, shapes and text boxes — and a few other tools, like image adding, for the really hardcore users.

Look at the image above: you’re literally just looking at a web of handwritten scribbles and sticky notes.

But that’s all I needed. I first used Whiteboard on my iPad to plan a story idea, and within an hour, I had created a lovely mess of charts, lists, graphs and handwritten notes.

The aforementioned image above is about a quarter of it: sprawling, and incomprehensible to anyone except me (and, oftentimes, not even to me, but that’s what I love about the process).

Whiteboard has limited elements, which means you’re never at risk of overwhelming yourself with too many options, or getting lost in its menus.

But each element has customization options (different pen types, sticky note colors), which means there’s scope to design a note board that’s quick and easy to understand.

Very quickly, Whiteboard became my go-to app when I wanted to be productive. I love using it to brainstorm ideas, as its tools let me run wild without getting in my way, but when I return to a board later, it’s easy to understand what I wrote.

The limitations of Whiteboard

It’s not all colors and notes

Anyone who’s used Microsoft Whiteboard might be a little confused about this seemingly glowing write-up.

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The app ticks all my criteria: compatibility, tool set, simplicity. But it has some massive drawbacks, and using it can sometimes veer into the ‘teeth-pulling’ territory.

For one, it’s slow. It often gets confused about basic commands and takes a while to react. It’s never in a hurry to load my board when I first boot up the app or web page.

I also find selecting layers infuriating. If you want to edit a text box that you’ve placed in a sticky note, and also drawn lines around it, good luck getting Whiteboard to select the particular element you have in mind.

So it’s not the perfect app by any means, but as someone who needs OS-agnostic productivity, I haven’t found any better.

Needing an iOS, Android, and Windows-compatible app wouldn’t be a problem if Android tablets were worth it, but until I find a genuine iPad alternative (or Liquid Grass finally breaks me), I need the best of all worlds.