Are you a small business owner who’s glued to your iPhone? Join the club.
Your phone is the gateway to your company, and many of those flickering apps on your home screen are essential to running your business.
The thing is, there are thousands of apps to choose from. In this article, we break down the best iPhone (and iPad) apps for small business owners, whether you’re looking to easily sync assets, ramp up productivity, stay connected with your team and customers, or simplify accounting and expenses.
What are the best cloud storage apps for small business owners?
Best for owners who want to hit the ground running: Google Drive
Google Drive gets you up and running fast, because it's already part of the Google Workspace tools you likely use every day. It offers generous storage with real-time collaboration and native ties to Gmail, Calendar, and Docs.
On the iPhone app, you can upload and access files anywhere, share folders with employees or clients, co-edit docs and sheets on the go, and search across all business files instantly.
Pricing: $7/user/month (Business Starter, 30GB pooled storage, billed annually) or $14/user/month (Business Standard, 2TB per user), with a 20% surcharge for monthly billing.
Best for business owners who need to sync files fast: Dropbox
Dropbox makes sending large files fast and painless, especially when it comes to sharing a video, design file, or contract from your phone. It does this with block-level sync, which only re-uploads the part of a file that changed instead of the whole thing.
On the iPhone app, you can upload photos and documents automatically, share large files via link instead of email, access offline files, and scan documents directly with the camera.
Pricing: $15/user/month for the Standard plan (5TB storage, 3-user minimum) or $24/user/month for Advanced (unlimited storage), with a 20% discount for annual billing.
Best for business owners who already pay for Microsoft 365: OneDrive
One big benefit of Microsoft 365’s commitment to bundling services: if you're already paying for Outlook, Word, or Excel, you're getting a full terabyte of cloud storage via OneDrive per user at no extra cost.
On the iPhone app, you can access and edit Office files, automatically back up camera photos, share files and folders with teammates, and scan paper documents into PDFs.
Pricing: $6/user/month (Business Basic, 1TB storage, web/mobile Office apps only) or $12.50/user/month (Business Standard, adds desktop Office apps).
What are the best productivity apps for small business owners?
Best for task and project management: Trello
Trello is the gold standard for project management for many small business owners, and for good reason. Its drag-and-drop board layout makes project stages instantly visual. Owners can see exactly what's in progress, blocked, or done without digging through lists or spreadsheets.
On the iPhone app, you can create boards and cards for projects or clients, use the task manager to assign tasks and due dates to team members, tackle to-do lists by adding checklists and attachments, and get notified when something moves or is completed.
Pricing: $0 for the Free plan (unlimited cards, up to 10 boards), $5/user/month for Standard, or $10/user/month for Premium (adds calendar/timeline views and AI features), billed annually.
Best for small business owners drowning in disorganized notes: Notion
If your business notes are scattered across sticky notes and the Notes app, Notion brings order to the chaos by simplifying note-taking. It consolidates notes, docs, task lists, and project trackers into a single connected workspace, so nothing gets lost.
On the iPhone app, you can jot notes on the go, build and check off task lists, organize client or project databases, and search across every note and document from one place.
Pricing: $0 for the Free plan (unlimited blocks, 5MB upload cap), $10/user/month for Plus (unlimited uploads, basic AI writing), or $20/user/month for Business (adds full AI Agents), billed annually.
Best for focus and time management: Forest
Though, as we mentioned up top, most small business owners are glued to their phones, a lot of them wish they weren’t. That’s where Forest, a different kind of productivity app, comes in. Forest turns staying off your phone into a game, using a dying virtual tree to motivate you to do heads-down work.
On the iPhone app, you can set a focus timer, block yourself from other apps while it runs, watch a virtual tree grow, and review analytics on focus sessions over time.
Pricing: $3.99 as a one-time purchase for iOS, with no subscription. The app donates a portion of proceeds to plant real trees through a nonprofit partner.
What are the best communication apps for small business owners?
Best for communicating with customers: WhatsApp Business
If you need to be in near-constant contact with customers, WhatsApp Business is a no-brainer for business communication. The biggest benefit is that it lets you message customers on a platform billions already use daily, with tools built specifically for storefronts rather than personal chat.
On the iPhone app, you can build a product catalog, set up automated greeting and away messages, organize chats with labels, and message customers directly from a business profile with hours and location.
Pricing: $0 for the app itself. It caps broadcast lists at 256 contacts with no automation or CRM integration. If you need those, upgrades to the paid WhatsApp Business API are priced per message and by country.
Best for staying in touch with your team from anywhere: Slack
If it’s your own team you need to stay connected with, Slack is the perfect iPhone app to do so. It organizes team conversations into searchable channels instead of scattered texts or email threads, so you can check in on any project or person from your phone. It also easily integrates with other apps like Google Drive, Trello, and more so you can receive notifications when any updates are made in those apps.
On the iPhone app, you can message individuals or channels, join voice/video huddles, share files, and get notified the moment something needs your attention.
Pricing: $0 for the Free plan (90 days of message history, 1:1 huddles), $7.25/user/month for Pro (unlimited history, group huddles), or $15/user/month for Business+ (SSO, advanced AI), billed annually.
Best for sending email campaigns on the go: Mailchimp
Have a contact list you need to update about campaigns, sales, or product drops? Mailchimp is the app you need. It combines email marketing with lightweight CRM features in one app, so you can build your audience and send campaigns without sitting down at a desktop.
On the iPhone app, you can send campaigns, scan business cards to add contacts, call/text/email leads directly, and get real-time alerts on new subscribers and campaign performance.
Pricing: $0 for the Free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends/month), $13/month for Essentials (500 contacts), or $20/month for Standard (adds advanced automations), scaling with contact list size.
What are the best accounting apps for small business owners?
Best for sending invoices on the go: FreshBooks
For solopreneurs who send out lots of invoices, FreshBooks is an invaluable app. Its interface is built around creating polished, professional invoices quickly, with the flexibility to scale from a handful of clients to unlimited ones as the business grows.
On the iPhone app, you can create and send invoices, turn on time tracking, log expense tracking, instantly accept payment processing, and even track work travel expenses with mileage tracking.
Pricing: $23/month for Lite (5 billable clients), $43/month for Plus (50 clients), or $70/month for Premium (unlimited clients), plus card processing fees of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.
Best accounting app for Free users: Wave
Not every small business owner is ready for a paid plan, and that’s where Wave comes in. Its core accounting tools, like invoicing, estimates, and expense tracking, are genuinely free to use with no usage caps, making it the strongest $0 option for owners not ready to pay for accounting software.
On the iPhone app, you can create and send unlimited invoices and estimates, track expenses, accept online payments, and view basic financial reports, all at no cost.
Pricing: $0 for the Starter plan (manual bookkeeping, unlimited invoicing); the $19/month Pro plan adds automatic bank feeds, OCR receipt scanning, and removes Wave's branding from invoices.
Best app for expense tracking and reimbursements: Expensify
Expensify takes the tedium out of expense management. Its SmartScan feature reads receipts and automatically categorizes spend into expense reports, and it handles reimbursements end-to-end—exactly the manual work small teams have the least time for.
On the iPhone app, you can snap photos of receipts for automatic data extraction, track mileage, match card transactions, and submit or approve expense reports using simple text commands via its AI assistant, Concierge.
Pricing: $5/user/month for the Collect plan (billed for every workspace member) or roughly $9-$36/user/month for Control (billed only for active users, adds budgeting and ERP integrations).
The best payroll app for small business owners: Gusto
Running payroll as a small business owner can get tricky. But with the right software solution—and iPhone app—you can do it easily, from anywhere.
Run payroll from anywhere: Process regular or off-cycle payroll in minutes, so you're not tied to a desktop when it's time to pay employees or contractors.
Approve timesheets and hours from anywhere: Review and sync employee/contractor hours (including overtime and PTO) directly to payroll from your phone.
Manage expenses in real time: The expense feature lets you review and approve employee reimbursement requests quickly, giving you live visibility into spending.
Access compliance and tax tools: Access dashboards for compliance tasks and tax to-dos directly in the app to stay on top of deadlines.
Handle I-9 verification remotely: Guided I-9 completion with E-Verify integration works well if you manage a distributed or remote team.
Pricing: The app itself is free to download, and Gusto’s plans are available on Simple, Plus, and Premium tiers, starting at $49/month.
FAQs
What's the best all-around app for small business owners on iPhone?
There's no single best app for small business owners. The apps that will suit your business best depend on what you need. Google Drive is the strongest pick for cloud storage and collaboration, Trello or Notion cover productivity, WhatsApp Business and Slack handle communication, and Wave or FreshBooks manage accounting. Most owners end up combining a few from each category rather than relying on one all-in-one app.
Can I run my small business on free iPhone apps?
Yes, several tools on this list have genuinely free tiers. Wave offers free invoicing, estimates, and expense tracking with no usage caps, Trello and Notion have free plans with unlimited cards or notes, and WhatsApp Business and Slack are free to use for messaging. Paid upgrades typically add automation, storage, or advanced features as your business grows.
Is Google Drive or Dropbox a better file storage and syncing solution for a small business?
It depends on what you need most. Google Drive is the better fit if you already use Gmail, Calendar, and Docs, since it bundles storage with real-time collaboration and no extra learning curve. Dropbox is the stronger choice if you regularly share large files like videos or design assets, thanks to block-level sync that only re-uploads the changed portion of a file.
What's the difference between WhatsApp Business and the regular WhatsApp app?
WhatsApp Business is a separate, free app built for storefronts rather than personal chat. It adds a product catalog, automated greeting and away messages, chat labels, and a business profile showing hours and location (features the standard WhatsApp app doesn't include). It caps broadcast lists at 256 contacts unless you upgrade to the paid WhatsApp Business API.
How much should a small business budget for iPhone apps each month?
Costs vary widely based on team size and the tools you choose. A solo owner could run almost entirely on free plans like Wave, Trello, and WhatsApp Business, while a growing team might spend $50–150 per user monthly across storage, productivity, and communication apps. Some tools price per user; others, like FreshBooks, charge one flat fee regardless of headcount.
