MindFlow is an app with quite a few uses and is geared towards a couple of different areas. It’s first and foremost a productivity application which can help you stay on task and get things done. It’s a mixture between a to-do list, a calendar, and what the creator is calling a mind map all wrapped up into one app so you don’t have to use multiple apps to get all of these things. Using MindFlow, you can mark things you have coming up or things you need to get done at certain times throughout the day, week or month, and you can link all of those events together to create visual map of all your tasks, appointments, and events.
Before you can start creating mind maps of your own to help you stay on task and stay reminded of any important upcoming activities happening, you’ll want to head to the Play Store and download MindFlow.
Upon opening MindFlow for the first time, you can immediately jump into creating your own flows by hitting the “+” button or you can watch the demo video by tapping anywhere else on screen. The demo video is recommended as it can be a big help to understand how the app works and what it can do.
The demo video shows you how to create flows and make the most of their capabilities, while also showing you how to cut the links between events and appointments and such.
Each flow event, task, or appointment has multiple elements to it to differentiate it from the next or prior one. For example, if you have an appointment with a client you can double tap on the screen to create a visual marker for that appointment, then add things like a name, an icon to denote that it’s an appointment, and you can even add notes, and reminders.
If you have a task to complete and it involves colleagues, you can enter that into the notes and you can even add the contacts for those colleagues as well as attach any needed files that will be relevant to the task.
If you find MindFlow useful but you still want to keep using a calendar like Google Calendar, MindFlow lets you export events to the Google Calendar app so you can keep all of the information you need in both places, that way you ensure there is less of a chance you’ll miss something.
One useful feature is the ability to zoom in and out to swap between views depending on how you find things more productive for yourself personally. If you like looking at things in a calendar type of view, you can leave things as is as soon as you open MindFlow. If however, you prefer looking at things as a project, MindFlow allows you to zoom out to see things in a project view.
If you have a meeting and you enter that into your flow, you can keep yourself reminded about where the meeting is happening by adding a location as well as the other data like contacts and any notes. If times change for that meeting, you can long press on the icon for the meeting from the calendar view to drag it to a new specific time. If you’re collaborating on projects with someone you can also share the flow you have created with them by simply tapping the share button that sits in the top right corner of the application.
If you’re the type of person that can more efficiently get things done by seeing everything laid out in front of you visually while being all connected, then MindFlow is likely a perfect app for you. It helps you stay on task with projects, keeps you up to date on events and appointments or important meetings, and with the ability to add contacts and other information to the different things you add into the flow, it feels quite comprehensive. It might seem a little challenging to use at first because there are so many things you can add into a flow, but spending a little time with helps a lot and watching the demo certainly helps you become acquainted.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – MindFlow was snappy throughout most of the time using it.
- Features (4/5) – There were a decent number of things that you can do with this app that are very helpful for anyone who likes to be productive and stay on top of tasks and other things.
- Theme (4/5) – The app looks decent and although it could be more visually striking and in line with material design guidelines, most users should find the UI to be easy to work with.
- Overall (4/5) – MindFlow definitely has quite a few strengths that can make it easy to pick up and integrate into your life.
Pros
- Lets you create visual maps of everything important
- Lets you edit quite a bit of information
- Calendar and Project views available
- Export to Google Calendar option is great
- Ability to add location, contacts and attach files to events or tasks was helpful
- Demo video is a nice touch for new users who need to see things working to get the hang of things
Cons
- Could not get the linking of events in the flow to work, however, this was discovered to be a bug and an update has since been pushed out to the app to fix it.
- App began to crash shortly after using it and was not able to get it working again.
- Some parts of the UI were cut off visually. For example, when entering the name for a newly added event, the text bar that shows the characters you’re entering for it are mostly out of view on the popup panel.
Overall, MindFlow is actually a pretty nice little app that can help you stay on task and keep up with all of the important things happening in your daily life. The app was easy enough to use and it never really felt sluggish which was nice to see, and although it stopped working for me personally shortly after installing it, when it was working it was easy to see how it could become an integral part of my day-to-day. As someone who uses Google Calendar quite a bit, it was also nice to see the option to export events to it so I could keep things in both places. If you stay on task better and keep yourself reminded of important events by seeing things visually, then MindFlow just might be what you need.
