I remember seeing a tweet stating that “todo apps are the ‘hello world’ post of app development.” You know, the one everyone has to make to get started as an app developer and usually comes about because they realise they need to get organised and dislike all the options currently out there.
There are thousands of different todo apps out there, and if you are not careful, you can end up wasting time switching between todo apps constantly searching for the “perfect todo app” (spoiler alert, there isn’t one) or building your own. So to save you time and to indulge that silly part of my brain that asks the question (I wonder what… is like) I wasted hours of my own time switching between todo apps and trialling out some of the bigger names out there (as well as some of the more obscure ones).
I accept that this will be quite subjective and you may well disagree with my opinion at the end. However, I believe that the criteria I use to evaluate the different app choices will be something which we can all agree on and instead of stating the “one perfect” todo app, I will instead suggest a selection of todo apps which are better for different people, and why they are better for them.
If you still disagree with me, fine, leave a comment below.
Here’s our roadmap for this little task management tool adventure:
- Criteria
- Best Analogue Task Management Tool
- Best Android Task Management Tool
- Best Team Management Tool
- Best Free Task Management Tool
- Best GTD tool
- My Personal Choice
Criteria
Let’s set some ground rules before we continue, we need to have some criteria for evaluating these tools so that we can pick the better tools from the mediocre tools. As such, I am using the core components of the GTD system for our criteria. They are as follows:
- Capture (recording your ideas quickly and easily)
- Processing (getting your ideas to the right place)
- Review (reflecting on your tasks, eliminating unnecessary ones, adding extra tasks etc)
- Organizing tasks
And a couple of extra aspects which are also important for a good task management system such as:
- Monitoring your productivity (how many tasks have you completed over a period of time)
- Prompting (tools such as notifications to encourage you to do actions at the right time)
Aspects such as User interface, design, features and so on will be viewed in light of these criteria, after all it doesn’t matter if your todo app can sing and dance if that doesn’t actually help you get through your tasks.
Best Analogue Todo List
For some people, paper is more than good enough for them to get and stay organized. The original GTD system was based around paper and there are plenty of other markup systems to help you organize your thoughts and ideas such as the bullet journal and the dash plus system.
That’s one of the great advantages of paper, you can switch system, cut parts out, grab a new book, and draw all over it. Of course, sometimes freedom is a barrier for some people and you miss out on some of the great digital features like permanency, syncing, reminders based on time, location and so on. If those don’t matter for you, then paper will see you right.
A couple of suggested tools for paper include:
- Moleskin journals
- Field notes book
- Flashcards with a paperclip (or the Hipster PDA)
Of course, you can just use any old slip of paper for this system.
Pros:
- Easy and cheap to replace
- Not limited to text (great for visual thinkers)
- No expensive phone/computer needed
- Easy to start again
Cons:
- Regular replacement costs
- Doesn’t sync
- Easy to lose data
- No notifications or reminders
- No intergration with files or documents
Best Android Task Management Tool
I have been an on and off Android user for years and have an awkward relationship with todo apps. I’ve used a few and found faults with each one. Generally, I found them to be ugly, have a poor UI, lack some vital features or require you to adopt a full GTD system straight away.
This is no longer true and the different todo apps have improved dramatically in every aspect I mentioned above. The great advantages with Android todo apps is they are generally freemium (often with a free tier that is enough for most people) and usually have a web counter part which supports them as well. This is great for letting you access you todo list on a variety of platforms which can help you to view them from a different perspective. With all this in mind, the best Android todo app is:
Todoist
Todoist is not just an android todo app but also has web support and works on Windows mobile, Blackberry, iOS, Windows, OS X, Chrome and so on. It has a beautifully clean interface (though maybe a little simple for some) and with the labels system, you have contexts, projects, basically the full GTD. It also has these interesting filters which you can set up to really break down your task into what you need to do NOW, helping you not to think about what you should do or waste time planning, but instead just do what you need to do!
The premium option is also really cheap (a couple of bucks a month) so it won’t break your bank if you do upgrade, but the free option maybe enough for you anyway. This adds on some extra fine tune controls with great customised filters, location alerts, greater notes and the ability to track your productivity over time as well.
Strangely enough on Android, Todoist seems to have a less “material design” (the new design standard on Android) interface than iOS which seems to have adopted a stronger Material design look.
Pros:
- Minimal interface
- Multiple labels (categories?)
- Can share tasks and lists
- Cross platform support
Cons:
- Pro version requires subscription charging
- Interface may be too “minimal” for some.
An Alternative: Tasks: Astrid To-Do List Clone
A while back there was this incredible todo app on Android called Astrid. It had everything, simple to use, but also lots of power features if you wanted them. Unfortunately Yahoo picked them up and then promptly shut the service down. It was a real shame but the app still lives on…sort of.
In Tasks: Astrid To-Do List Clone you get a clone of Astrid, minus the Astrid sync service and a few other services that really made Astrid great.As such, your todo list is locked into your phone only, but it does have some nice features such as being aware of your calendar and brining up tasks to discuss if it sees you have a meeting. A very clever feature.
If you are willing to take a risk that this app will get updated (it seems to be a one man operation and as it is free, it doesn’t really encourage the developer to keep at it) and just need an app for your phone, then this could be a good choice for you.
Pros
- Can silence phone during meetings
- Smart reminders
- Completely free
- follows material design
Cons
- indie development (don’t expect rapid updates with all the latest features)
- Limited to just your phone (no sync)
Best Team Management Tool
Managing a team present a whole new set of challenges. Often you not only need to be able to keep track of what you are doing, what someone else is doing and what they have already done, but you also need to communicate and clarify what you want people to do, or discuss an idea with other members and help it evolve. Sometimes you need to be able to move tasks between team members, allow them to send files, screenshot or screencasts to explain what they have/will do and generally collaborate.
There are a host of offerings that seek to solve this problem, some treat each aspect as separate, the communication and tasks management, while others seek to combine them with mixed results. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, such as having fewer “inboxes”, focusing on one function, tracking what tasks other members have completed, better User Interface and so on.
Asana
Asana is actually the app we used to collaborate on for the second ChurchMag Press release “Social Media Handbook: Church Edition” and Editor in Chief, Eric Dye’s personal tool. It let’s you assign tasks to team members and discuss items surrounding the tasks and projects. You can then add files and send them back and forth.
You have granular notification settings so that you won’t be buzzed all hours of the day, but still get the most important notifications over critical tasks AND you can keep your personal tasks separate from group tasks (so if you need to break the tasks down into smaller steps or just need to run a personal errand, you can keep that private).
Asana’s interface isn’t the most natural from the off, due to its combination of discussion and tasks, it can be a bit confusing where you have to go to do certain things. However, once you are familiar with it, it is very easy to use.
Pros:
- Communication as well as tasks
- Separation of team tasks from personal tasks
- Can upload and share files
- Free for most small teams
Cons:
- Online only
- Confusing interface at first
- Merges tasks and discussion
- Might be “one more app” you have to check
The Best GTD System
If you love the GTD system then you have a couple of clear choices. Omnifocus and Things. Yes, these are Mac and iOS only apps, but they are such great choices for a traditional GTD system.
Omnifocus 2
Omnifocus has a gorgeous, clean and simple interface. Omnifocus encourages users to enter in data for projects and contexts as a hardened GTD practitioner would. The forecast view is a popular way to see the upcoming tasks for the day, week and calendar appointments too.
The addition of Flagged tasks, location based reminders and Siri integration make it a great choice for iOS and Mac GTD enthusiast.
Pros:
- Beautiful interface
- Make the most of iOS features like Siri
- Forecast view
- Can be adapted to not quite GTD
- Easy to add tasks
Cons:
- High price of each app
- Not as adaptable as some tools
- iOS and Mac only
Things
Things is a bit more business than Omnifocus 2 and has a variety of ways to view data similar to Omnifocus with projects, areas and tags. The addition of tags helps for creating such lists as an energy, or time context which can be really useful to work out what you can get done when you have a few minutes free, or helping you to priorities time for a larger task.
Just like Omnifocus, it can link with Reminders to import task and can be used to add a location based reminder. However, Location based notifications and tasks aren’t supported in Things, so you can’t add a task from the things app and give it a location.
Pros:
- Serious but easy to use Interface
- variety of ways to organise tasks
- can customise more on the MacCons:
- High price of apps
- traditional interface
- iOS and Mac only
IQTELL
Although many tools can be adapted for a GTD system, IQTELL was developed with a GTD system in mind. IQTELL has a web interface, Android and iOS app, so unlike the previous mentioned options, it can be used by PC and Android users, too.
IQTELL has apps for both task management and email management which help you bring items into their GTD system as well as support for Evernote and other applications to bring in the system. The review system is the best I’ve seen around as it helps you change perspective easily. The major disadvantage is the pricing system is high with a free trial before becoming a minimum of $5.95.
Pros:
- The most complete GTD system
- For PC, Android, iOS and Mac users
- Email and Task apps
Cons:
- High monthly recurring price
- Must use GTD system
The Best Free Task Management Tools
Personally, I feel a little awkward when it comes to free tools. On the one hand it’s great not to waste money when you can save it. This is especially true of the Church as we want to make sure we are good stewards of what God has blessed us with and make sure that we bless others as much as possible too, rather than waste money where we don’t have to. On the other hand, I know developers who put in hours of long hard work to create a great product for the love of it and the hope that maybe this will let them support their family. Imagine how annoying it must be to then have someone come along and say that this app (which only costs a few bucks) should be free. Or other cases where an app has had to stop being developed because the free level was too good and not enough people gave money for the pro version for it to be profitable.
As such, I’m cautious when it comes to recommending free tools, a worker is worth their wage. However, for some of you a free tool makes perfect sense. Especially if you have been using a paper todo list and are wondering about the merits of an electronic version, or if you really want something basic then a free tool will be perfect for you.
Wunderlist
Wunderlist supports so many platforms that I’m willing to bet you can use it on your device. Wunderlist has a collection of lists that you can add and remove from. You can also share lists with other people to open up the option of collaboration. You can use hashtags for contexts if that’s your thing and you get some really nice backgrounds which you can choose from. If you wanted to pay for the pro version then you can also add unlimited files to tasks, unlimited subtasks and assign as many tasks to others as you like.
Pro:
- Free profile is good enough for many
- Apps for pretty much every platform
- Beautiful backdrops
- Great sync service
- Sharable lists
Con:
- Lacks some advance features for GTD fans
- no inbuilt context (though that can be hacked)
Apple Alternative: Reminders
If you are “all in” with the Apple ecosystem then you have a great task management tool already, Reminders. This is by far the best free tool for an Apple device as you can add tasks via Siri (great if you are on the go), access them on a Mac/iPad/iPhone, sync via iCloud and more.
Pro:
- Free
- Siri intergration
- Syncs across devices
- Share tasks
- Simple interfaceCon
- Too simple for some
- Only for Mac and iOS
Alternative: Anydo
I used to love Anydo. It looks great, has very simple lists and the daily any do review is a really nice touch to encourage you to plan your day. But I fell out of love for any do in a big way. The main issue is any do suggests some times during the day to be reminded about your tasks, at which point you can snooze the reminder, delete it or mark it as done. The reminders usually occurred when I was doing something else so I had to snooze them. Then they’d come up again and pester me, and I’d snooze them. After a while, I started doing tasks in spite of Anydo . In the end, all the app did was make me feel guilty about what I was/wasn’t doing. I changed to a more traditional system and the problem vanished.
However, some people love the reminder system and the simple interface, so don’t let my opinion put you off too much.
Pros:
- Anydo moments for planning your day
- Super simple and gorgeous interface
- Links with associated apps from developer
- Chome app
Cons:
- Too simple for some
- Anydo moments can be annoying
An Interesting Task Management with Calendar Tool
I recently started using my calendar more to schedule time for certain types of tasks, such as writing, checking social media and so on. This was inspired by Patrick Rohne’s challenge that “a todo list is a wish list, an item on a calendar is a commitment.” If you really want to get something done, you allocate time to do it. As such I was intrigued by the idea of Timeful, an app which aims to merge your todo list and calendar into one system. You simply sync it with your calendar, then add in your todo tasks and set the habits that you want to take up. Then the app will make suggestions on when you should do different habits, tasks, and so on, during your day.
It’s an interesting twist and make a lot of sense…but it’s not there yet. Tasks are all in one giant list and the habits frequently end up as an interruption. Also from a personal perspective, I don’t trust it to work, so that has hindered me from really getting to grips with it. I kept another todo app on the go and didn’t fully enter my tasks into the app, as such I haven’t really seen it at it’s full potential. However, I fear it wouldn’t suit my sort of system.
This looks like it would be a great tool for someone who has a simple list of tasks and wants to take up some habits too. If you have a lot of different tasks in different areas then I don’t think this will suit you…yet. You’d do better to keep a task manager, calendar and habit app for the same effect.
My Personal Choice
As I entered into this challenge I suspected that I might end it wanting to change my todo app to another option, but in fact, it has reinforced my decision to use Todoist. The interface is really great (personally the iPad looks the best and strangely most Material design like), it can be used as an incredibly simple todo app with just simple categories and at the same time it can be used for a full on GTD system AND collaborate with other users AND set up some automation for adding tasks or after you complete tasks.
In every criteria (capture, processing, organising, reviewing and action) it excels, and it will work on any device. I can access it on my office Windows computer via Chrome, or on my phone and home computer. If my phone broke tomorrow and I could only afford a low spec Android phone, I could use it. If I bought a top of the line new iPhone then it would work, too. And it would look great on both with all the same functionality.
I suspect this will be a great choice for you as well as it can be adapted to a very simple system or a highly complex system depending on your needs. If you like GTD, go for it. If you use a “Zen to done” system, that’s cool too. Plus, with a great free level and a premium option that won’t break the bank, there really isn’t much of a reason to not check it out.
Todd V says
very good selection of task management apps for multiple platforms. My only frustration with entrusting my task managent to a program has been that they either stop working well for me or they are no longer supported. I hate it when my stuff gets stuck in a program and then I have to figure out what to do next. This is why I developed an approach to productivity that doesn’t require an application but uses the natural way we organize files to organize and get things done. It’s an approach called “Ready-Set-Do!”
Chris Wilson says
Sounds interesting Todd, I can understand your frustration about when an app get shut down. I know there is “taskpaper” which is an adaption of Markdown and so that might be easier to ship out your tasks from one app to another if it was shut down. I’m intrigued by your idea though, using the way files are organised rather than requiring a list. I’ll certainly check out more.
Of course, there is always paper 🙂
Riley Adam Voth says
Hey Chris, nice roundup! In all this fun, did you ever try Azendoo? Having tried so many apps and methods, began using it for my project management (and only for full fledged projects) a few years ago. Works great for team management too. I actually migrated from Asana after I started using it.
I tried to like Asana but a year ago it’s mobile apps were horrible and it had no style. I like style. Plus, Azendoo updated way more often than Asana. So, they won me over. Now I’ve become so entrenched in Azendoo I haven’t wanted to try out ToDoist – even though I do want try it – if you get me. Ha.
Chris Wilson says
Hey Riley, Nice to see you online a bit more again 🙂
I haven’t tried Azendoo but it looks interesting. My first glance suggests it’s more for team collaboration (would you agree?) do you use it for a team project or for just your personal stuff?
My general experience has been that tools which are made to work with teams (and add in communication features) aren’t as good for a personal task management tool. They discourage being used for personal tasks as well as team tasks. That’s a very big generalisation I know but sometimes I wonder if it is better to have the communication and project co-ordination separate from task management? or maybe it’s just a personal mindset issue where I like trying to keep good boundaries to stop working all the time!
And I completely know what you mean about wanting to and not wanting to try a tool. That’s why I did this investigation to be honest! I’d had issues with Omnifocus (well actually with my apple hardware!) and wanted a tool I could check on my works PCs, I tried todoist, liked it and then had a crisis over which tool was best for me! So I tried as many as I could!
I’m glad you’ve got a tool that works for you.
Riley Adam Voth says
Yea Azendoo is geared for team collaboration on projects, and I do like it for that. Most of my projects I do individually, but I love being able to share only certain “subjects” or the occasional entire “workspace” with other collaborators. It helps me break down my projects into their different “subjects” and track and prioritize what I’m working on. Plus, I send attachments and leave comments for myself as if I’m working with a clone of myself, because sometimes, by the time I return to that subject again I will have no idea what happened or needs to. So I’m a team with myself in that regard. Ha.
I’d say as a personal, daily, to-do list it wouldn’t be any good though. For that I just stick with Any-Do. I actually really like the intrusive reminders. Haha.
Chris Wilson says
Ha I like the leaving notes idea. I think David Allen(?) said that you should write tasks for your dumb future self. That’s what I’ve taken to doing now and I can see how leaving attachment or notes for your future self is a great idea. I might start doing that with Todoist actually!
Michael Hyatt says
I have tried all the apps you mention, but Nozbe is still my first choice. I have used it for years. To me, it has the perfect balance of beauty, power, and simplicity. Best of all, the developers just keep making it better. Great post! Thanks.
Chris Wilson says
Hi Michael,
Thanks for leaving a comment, It’s nice surprise to find someone whose blog I’ve commented on many times, comment on a post I wrote! I’ve heard you talk about Nozbe on your podcast (and refer to it on your blog) Some of the integrations with other services look very good (we all know how much you love Evernote). I have a couple of questions though. Is there a web based version?
1. I know you can get a PC app but for some people, they can’t install a program on a PC but can use a web browser app (that’s a situation I’ve found myself in this year).
2. I see Nozbe has some collaboration features built in, but I know you have started using Slack recently as well. How do you use these tools in collaboration?
Thanks again for replying.
Loreen Liberty says
Trello & Active Inbox are the two tools I’m currently using. I’ve tried Evernote, GTasks, and Astrid ToDo in the past. I checked Evernote again this month – I just don’t like the interface. GTasks works great with Gmail and Google Calendar – but I wanted something where I could have everything into one system.
I like the interface of Trello and the ease of use of the cards. True – it can be time consuming to “flip the cards over” to see the backs – but it’s great for “at a glance” for an entire project. http://trello.com/
Active Inbox is a Chrome extension which runs in GMail. It can turn any email into a Task and you create projects which take advantage of the GMail labeling system. http://www.activeinboxhq.com/
Chris Wilson says
Trello is a great point Loreen and honestly, I really should have included it but there is a (not so) good reason I didn’t. I (hugely subjective here) don’t see it as a task management app. I know it is, and I know some people really love it for that but for me, this is a creative project organisation app due to its design. I know it’s not but I think this shows Trello’s huge strenght, it’s for people who view tasks differently and prefer a different visual style. That doesn’t work for me but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have included it.
If you’d like, I’m sure Eric (editor in chief) would love a post on Trello, especially from someone who actually uses it rather than someone who it isn’t designed for.
Speaking of Active inbox, have you tried “Inbox by Gmail”? They’ve certainly been aiming to merge the task aspect into the inbox with the addition of ‘reminders” within the app. Doesn’t seem to be on the level of Active inbox yet but I have no doubt that is the direction they are heading in.
Thanks for the recommendations Loreen.
Eric Dye says
Great review, Chris. I like Trello for some project management, it looks like I’ll have to give Nozbe a looksy, and once again, you tempt me with Todoist. 😛
Chris Wilson says
But should you switch tool Eric ;P
Eric Dye says
Create a flowchart and maybe I can use it to make my decision. 😉
Tim Gossett says
Terrific article! However, everyone’s needs, thinking styles, organizational realities, and platform preferences are different, making it really hard to choose one best one.
For me, I recently switched from Wunderlist to Gneo, after a pretty comprehensive list. The Evernote integration and the 4-quadrant important-urgent system won me over within minutes of using it. Later, I realized the way it integrates the calendar and tasks is really pretty brilliant. The lack of a desktop version doesn’t matter to me since I use Evernote constantly.
If I was looking for something collaborative and cross platform, I’d choose Priority Matrix. That’s a pretty sweet app and fairly similar in iOS to Gneo.
One more I just love, though I found it to actually be too powerful for my typical needs, is 2do. Definitely should be looked at by anyone with significant requirements.
Chris Wilson says
Thanks for the comment Tim and mentioning Gneo, I remember looking a bit and its a good one to include, especially with the four quadrant system. Great to hear that you’ve got a tool that works for you. And I hope some other people will learn about it from your comment.
Rachel Blom says
Great post Chris! I’ve been looking for a new to do app (I use any.do right now, but it’s too limited for me), so I appreciate all the research you’ve done to help make my choice a lot easier 🙂
Chris Wilson says
No problem Rachel. I’d love to know what you settle on and why.
Giovanni says
Hi Chris, have you tried Timeneye(www.timeneye.com)? It has a great integration with Basecamp to track time directly from your to do list and you can also create report filtering by task and task categories. It’s great if you are a freelancer and you are working on multiple projects – you can just select a task, set a hourly and total budget and avoid projects overruns and going out of budget.
Chris Wilson says
Hi Giovanni,
Timeneye seems to fill a different need than the one I intended in the article of task management tools as it appears to be more for time tracking rather than organising tasks. By the way, can I ask if you happen to be the Giovanni who is listed as the CMO on the webpage?
Nicole says
I have been using producteev (http://www.producteev.com/) by jive for couple years now. There are some cons but honestly all the pros out weigh them for sure. I’m a graphic designer and in my experience most task management software is so time consuming and taxing on my artistic brain. Producteev is easy and doesn’t bog me down with too many details but it’s more advanced than just a to-do list.
Chris Wilson says
That’s a real challenge Nicole, the system which is simple but has the features you need. I’m glad you found a good one that works for you. The free offering looks REALLY powerful too!
James from GTDNext.com says
This is a great list! One tool for GTD I’d like to call out as an alternative is GTDNext (http://gtdnext.com). MakeUseOf.com recently called it the best app for GTD.
We have created an interesting combination of an outliner with GTD list support. Please take a look and I’d love to talk to you more if you would like to discuss our app.
Like your site very much!
Chris Wilson says
Hi james, Thanks for reaching out to the Churchmag community. GTDnext looks like it could be a great choice for some of our readers, I can’t tell too much from the homepage though. It would be nice to see a few extra details, screenshots etc. For example, does it have a mobile app/mobile webpage? I guess that would be pretty essential for many of the Churchmag readers. Thanks for reaching out.
James from GTDNext.com says
Good idea for adding more info to the home page. We have a free version, so many people just take a look that way.
We do have mobile support via mobile web browser. Our app is smart enough (responsive design) to allow for a great experience on mobile web browsers and tablets. Dedicated apps are in process.
Todd D. says
Great post Chris! I have used Todoist for awhile now, but recently switched to TickTick. It’s available on Web and Android, not sure about iOS. What I really love about it is that from my perspective, it is capable of everything provided by Todoist, but additionally it has a “calendar subscription” option (Pro version) that allows me to see my calendar events right from within the app. I find this very helpful for planning purposes. You should check it out!
Chris Wilson says
I just checked Todd and it looks like TickTick does have an iOS app! I can certainly understand the appeal of calendar intergration, all the big names seem to be moving in that direction at the moment. I still like the simplicity of the separation but I can certainly see why it’s useful. Maybe todoist will add it soon. Anyway I’ve had enough of switching for a while! Thanks for the recommendation though.
Tobias says
I am using Ticktick for some time now and it’s the best mix of simplicity and power for me.
It doesn’t stand in your way like many tools I tried.
What I am missing is a good project view. If more than some tasks belong together I find it hard to keep track of them, especially if the project has some wait states and is not managed every day.
Perhaps anyone has a good idea for this?
Though it’s no reason to switch since its overall balance matches me so well.
Btw the free version is so powerful that I am just a pro to support the project with affordable €1.5/mo.
James Cooper says
I’ve tried many of the options above (and great write ups Chris), but I generally end up coming back to a paper and pen! However, there’s one app that’s not mentioned on this post and that I use like a ‘virtual moleskin’ – Simplenote. Granted it’s not got many of the features of the apps/services in this post – but it what it does, it does brilliantly. I’ve even blogged about Simplenote 🙂 (https://churchm.ag/goodbye-evernote-hello-simplenote/)
I do something like this with Simplenote: http://sebastianraschka.com/Articles/simplenote_gtd.html but there’s some more ideas in that post that I’m going to try.
Eric Dye says
I tried Simplenote for a while. Not my groove—I preferred Evernote—but I DID like that it was super clean and minimal. If I didn’t need some of Evernote’s extra bells and whistles, I’d use it, too.
Chris Wilson says
oooh! I’m glad this may have been useful for you then James! I still love paper as well, espeically when things really seem hectic or slow. It’s nice to just go back to paper and make a simple list. I also like using it to breakdown projects on paper and brainstorm. There’s something a bit special eh.
Caro says
Chris, thanks for this post, and thanks to everyone else for also posting! I now have looked at way more apps than I ever could have on my own – much appreciated!
I’m currently using OmniFocus 2, and have been desperately searching for a one-stop-shop that includes calendar items, tasks within the calendar (i.e., with assigned time slots for working on the task), and the ability to keep searchable meeting notes that have tasks embedded within them, that I can then assign specific time slots to. And, of course, ways of creating projects and/or color-coding are important as well =D So, if you come across something like this, let me know – it seems that every few months I have to dive back into the productivity apps: “Has it been created yet?!” Your post (and the subsequent comments) helped me with this time’s digging around online – and saved me a ton of time, even if “my” app hasn’t been created yet – guess I’ll just keep muddling on…
Chris Wilson says
Hi Caro,
I thought I left a reply a while back… I guess I didn’t! I’ve certainly seen some iOS apps moving in that direct and I’m sure other systems won’t be too far behind. Do you use Forecast mode in Omnifocus 2? That has an element of cross integration (I know it’s not really the same). I’d also take a look at Timeful mentioned above, I think that’s the closest tool I can think of at the moment.
I’ll keep an eye out for something similar, it does sound like it could be very useful. If you find it then leave a comment and let me know too!
Thanks for your comment and good luck with your search
Chris
Lawrence Jones says
Pocket Informant might work for you. It’s nice for a day view as well. For me it’s OmniFocus, even though I have to go check my calendar.
Dave says
I’ve been looking for the timeslot allocation as well, and am trying GQueues. It’s a bit ugly and simple, deliberately like GSuite, but it allows tasks to be given a timeslot and shown inline in your calendar (a GQueue calendar is inserted into your calendar). It also then allows you to drag/move these tasks around your calendar if you need to, in your native calendar app or in the similar GQueue app.
It’s not great at all the other stuff, but for this, it’s worth considering, at least for projects consisting of tasks that you want to calendar.
Tarmo says
Hi!
As a task management for teams there’s Teamweek. It uses the Gantt’s approach but in a much more lightweight way. Clear and simple visual about everybody’s tasks. Worth to check out and try. It has an integration with Basecamp and Toggl too.
Disclaimer: yes, I also work for this software but it does not make it any worse 🙂
Cheers,
Tarmo
Chris Wilson says
Hi Tarmo,
thanks for suggesting another tool, it’s good to hear you are “dog fooding” your own product. Is it a Mac and iOS only product? I know many of our readers are Android users.
Thanks for your message
Chris
Colodia says
We were using asana few months back but they lack some features as you have to pay for third party integration apps and there is user limit too so we switched to proofhub as don’t need integration of other tools offer unlimited users. Your post help to guide software owners what are people looking for in 2015. I think Proofhub is another competitor. .
Chris Wilson says
Hi Colodia,
thanks for adding ANOTHER tool into the mix (there really are hundreds aren’t there!) How many people do you have in your team? I know many people (including churchmag) use Asana because it has a free tier which they don’t expand beyond. Proofhub looks like it is only premium, which isn’t a problem but just good to know!.
Thanks for the comment.
Chris
Franco says
Great article! I use Todoist across different platforms and I enjoy the simplicity and ease of adding tasks.
I just wanted to mention that it also integrates with Gmail so that you can add your emails as tasks – very handy.
Chris Wilson says
Ooo great tip Franco. I usually use Cloudmagic on my mobile device to add email tasks to Todoist but I should probably grab the Gmail extension!
Yvano says
Hi Chris,
Thanks for this post
I suggest you to have a look to Firetask app. There is an integrated calendar mixed with a GTD method : it is still quite rare and finally very useful. The app could be improved (I’m waiting since a long time for it) but it is not bad at all for someone who needs GTD + calendar combined methods
Yvano
Chris Wilson says
Sounds like it might be a good fit for Caro! thanks for the suggestion Yvano
Hanna says
Tasks management is very important to our daily life, it affects the productivity that we can get.
I would like to organize it like this with my tasks organizer :
First, list the work things that i need complete today or this week.
Second, set the priority of each one. Some belongs to normal, some belongs to the highest.
Third, limit the time. Doing everything must have a time limit. Set the time for each one can helps to control the whole process better.
Fourth, set reminder. This mainly helps me to know that should do right now and be more focused.
Fifth, set recurrent tasks. Some tasks needs focus every day, or every week, or even every month and year. Considering this, a recurrent task can help a lot to save time and alert me.
Chris Wilson says
Great simple system Hanna, Do you have a review time or action like that to insure you are only doing important projects etc?
Hanna says
I do the review twice a month, once in the middle and one time near the end of it. 🙂
Caro says
I am checking out Firetask right now – thanks for the tip, Yvano!
Peter Wyro says
I have been in search for the perfect GTD app for years and years, starting with a really useless application from Franklin Covey. For years, I used toodledo and couldn’t find a very good replacement that met all of my needs. I’m currently using IQTELL. In many ways, it’s the juggernaut of the GTD system’s out there because of the comprehensive way that it integrates all of your email addresses, evernote, other team members, etc..
However, it’s imperfect and complicated and the mobile experience is just not there. From a mobile perspective, I love wunderlist, but it lacks some of the more comprehensive features of toodledo. I liked todoist, but I’m interested in TickTick. Great topic.
John William says
Great resource for those looking to implement the right task and team management tools for their business.
Another application I wanted to introduce is Invoicera. It’s an innovative web-based application that includes features like task management, team management, online invoicing and time tracking.
I prefer using Invoicera and suggest you to add this tool to your list as it’d help most of the businesses.\
http://www.invoicera.com/task-management.html
Chris Wilson says
Wow John, Invoicera looks like a really good tool for a business and seems to combine many tools which other companies have in separate apps, I’ve been looking for a good integrated system or tool for a while so this looks quite nice. Thanks for mentioning it.
Tomer says
A question please if I may regarding your use of Todoist – don’t you find it frustrating you can’t edit the order of the oh-so-important tags? It is only sorted by amount, and that’s not helpful.
Also ios app only supports ios8 and above now…. isn’t that tricky for people with (oh dear god the shame!) 3-year old phones?…
Cheers!
Chris wilson says
Hi Tomer, I can move *labels* around fine (just long press then move up and down), is that what you mean by tags? I don’t know what else they could be. Maybe this is a feature in one of the newer updates/the premium version (I’ve paid for the subscription so that may influence my view). Also iOS 8 can (whether you’d want to is another thing) on an iPhone 4S or more recent which is four years old and you can still get the older version onto your device. I can see why not having the latest would be frustrating but developers have to stop developing for older systems at some point, especially if they want to make the most of the new features.
Let me know if you really can’t move the labels around, It may well be a premium feature and I can understand why you might not want to pay for a premium subscription. Personally, I’ve found it completely worth the $2 a month, but that’s me 🙂
All the best.
Scott says
I’ve been a Todoist Pro user for 1.5 years. Just as an FYI to those who are looking for a system, Todoist still have not implemented filtering by project on their Android app. Which makes it unusable on that platform for GTD.
I found your article because I’m looking for a company with a better record of responding to basic feature requests. I’ll be leaving Todoist as soon as I find a new tool.
Filter-by-project on Android has been a requested feature for MONTHS. It makes people wonder if Todoist even have an Android developer on the team.
Getting the word out…
Chris Wilson says
Hi Scott,
I’m actually on the Android Beta track and there is a huge material design update coming with filtering by projects.
It’s coming (and looks really good).
Sridhar Ramachandran says
If you have too many work-related apps and lists, you can use Yoke to track Wunderlist, Todoist, Asana, JIRA, Pocket, and more in one dashboard.
Join the beta at http://yoke.io
Tom Helderweirt says
I like Azendoo. It is not completely set-up as a GTD tool, but you can do this if you are creative. I like the lay-out and the feel of Azendoo. They are constantly up-grading and improving.
Eric Dye says
It’s been a while since I looked at Azendoo. I’ll have to take a looksy again. 🙂
michael jeacock says
i’m using ticktick. it has apps fo everything and it imports your calendar events and lets you import your tasks from any.do if you are switching.
donci27 says
I use RemindersPro. Like iOS Reminders with the missing components – gestures, sort, filter, group, etc. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reminderspro/id1021703188?mt=8
Shawn says
Great article. Still relevant several months later. I was online looking for a project management app, something similar to Trello for some initial brainstorming when I came across this article. I am always surprised how few people are aware of my favorite GTD app Informant Pro(previously Pocket Informant). I’ve tried nearly everything on your list with the exception of Omnifocus and I love the calendar-integration of Informant Pro along with its task/ project management functions. This is one of the few apps that successfully struck a balance between task management, project management and an integrated calendar.
Let me state that I conduct the majority of my work on an iPad and MacBook Pro, albeit less and less now that I can edit Office documents directly from Dropbox. I also use the Informant Pro app on my iPhone, which syncs flawlessly with the web app and to whatever device I add to the be synced with my account.
I also use it in conjunction with Notebooks(a powerful note taking app) and have created a workflow that fits my needs. Evernote users can sync up with it so that their tasks land on the calendar. The calendar mirrors whatever you have on your native iCal. This comes in handy if you use an exchange account with your corporation and would like to keep things separate. It’s project management features are still lacking, but the developer has been updating the app regularly for the past three years. I have used the PM tool for everything form running my product development company to remodeling my house. I would say that as a collaboration tool, this is not your app. This is meant to be a personal management tool.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
SprintGround says
We’ve launched a new Task Management tool!
SprintGround
http://www.sprintground.com
It’s designed for software development teams.
Shahid Durrani says
Good one..i like your post which apps manage to life in right way,I appreciate your great work. thanks for sharing. keep me more update in future.
sai says
Hi,
I am using Doadie. Its pretty new. And I love the timeline option. Here is the link http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doaide
Chris Wilson says
From your email address it also appears you work for Doadie, I appreciate you informing our readers about an alternative choice but please state any affiliation in the sake of honesty and integrity.
Keenan Adams says
I’ve been searching high and low for the best task manager that suits my needs.
Working in the online/tech space, much of my workload consists of projects small and large as well as a heaps of weekly odds and sods. A lot of the apps I found lacked in design or functionality.
I needed an app that pretty much ticked all boxes: cross-platform, has a beautiful UI, fully featured and able to integrated with other apps.
Conclusion – Todoist is by far the most suitable for my needs – so far I haven’t encountered anything that it can’t/doesn’t do.
Other recommendations:
Google Keep – I love this app, though it’s not exactly a full blown GTD, though it is very slick, cross-platform, locale, reminders etc.
My Effectiveness (android) – a very interesting fully featured GTD app suitable for Devs or Agile PMs with Actions, Habits, Goals, Roles, Achievements, you name it. The UI is the only thing that lets this one down.
Evernote – we all know this one.
Arnau says
Can’t understand why Todoist is so often called the best to-do app. OK it’s simple, light and nice, but that’s all. The filters, which they claim that are one of the more powerful tools of the app, are horrible, for instance when you filter a task by date you get repeated task if they have subtasks attached. Besides, if you are interested in GTD implementation as I do, Todoist it’s simply a wrong app: there is no tool to review your flow (efficiently), there is no way to have the first task of each project in a general view, and the most important weakness is that is completely focus on dates, while GTD is quite the opposite. I thing Todoist has a great potential to become the best app if they improve (a lot) the filters, but now it certainly isn’t. If you are interested in GTD you might want to check facilethings.com which is a perfect GTD-oriented app.
shahid durrani says
I want to upload this application in my Android phone. Can I upload it now in my phone?
Celia says
Don’t know if it’s already been mentioned by others but I use Informant on iOS. I particularly love it for task management which is super flexible. Not only you can filter on projects, contexts and tags, but you can also set up customisable filters. Its made me more productive than I have ever been and task management has become a real pleasure.
The company are dedicated to continually improving the app through user suggestions so the few features which I am missing I have no doubt will be included in the future.