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Things 3 is it the best todo app?
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The choice for a ToDo app is a personal thing. Everyone has their own preferences: do you want a simple todo list or more complex features. Do you want syncing between iPhone, iPad, iMac. Do you want integration with other apps. Etcetera.
I myself am using Omnifocus which has a lot of functionality but can be too much for other people.
I myself am using Omnifocus which has a lot of functionality but can be too much for other people.
Lexvo is absolutely right: It's such a personal thing that you really just have to try one or two and go from there. If Things appeals to you, I can tell you that it's a great one to try. Things is one of my favorites, and I've tried a LOT of these apps over the years. Unless you have used one of these apps before, it's hard to even know what features will matter to you. For a few years I bounced from app to app until I found one that didn't leave me wishing for more. I liked Things enough that I'd be willing to give Things 3 another go to see if it would work as well for me as my current app. Others I really liked include Swipes, 2Do, and OmniFocus. I probably would have stayed with Omnifocus if they offered a Windows or a Web based application.
The one that I have stuck with the longest is TickTick. I've been using it for a couple years now. It is simple and elegant, but it also has some really powerful features (although you have to pay for the premium version to access some of them). I'm a premium subscriber, which runs 27.99 a year, but if I wasn't so obsessive about my Task list apps the free version would work for me just fine. TickTick is a Web-based solution with iOS and watchOS apps, so I can access it from my Windows PC, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Whatever you use, make sure you use it regularly to get the most out of it. There are many different productivity methodologies out there, and many apps are built around the popular David Allen methodology called Getting Things Done (GTD). I read the book and it certainly helped, but I kind of developed my own habits that work for me. One thing I do try to keep from GTD is the weekly review. I try to plan both one day at a time and one week at a time. The weekly review helps me re-prioritize, and it also helps me clean up and delete the stuff that just no longer seems important enough. One of the problems I used to have was list rot: I'd keep adding and adding until the list because an overwhelming and depressing mess. Weekly reviews along with proper organization help avoid that.
The one that I have stuck with the longest is TickTick. I've been using it for a couple years now. It is simple and elegant, but it also has some really powerful features (although you have to pay for the premium version to access some of them). I'm a premium subscriber, which runs 27.99 a year, but if I wasn't so obsessive about my Task list apps the free version would work for me just fine. TickTick is a Web-based solution with iOS and watchOS apps, so I can access it from my Windows PC, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Whatever you use, make sure you use it regularly to get the most out of it. There are many different productivity methodologies out there, and many apps are built around the popular David Allen methodology called Getting Things Done (GTD). I read the book and it certainly helped, but I kind of developed my own habits that work for me. One thing I do try to keep from GTD is the weekly review. I try to plan both one day at a time and one week at a time. The weekly review helps me re-prioritize, and it also helps me clean up and delete the stuff that just no longer seems important enough. One of the problems I used to have was list rot: I'd keep adding and adding until the list because an overwhelming and depressing mess. Weekly reviews along with proper organization help avoid that.
Choosing a Todo App comes down to personal preferences. There are a lot of good Apps with different pricing models and different feature set that all have a legitimate reason to co-exist.
So i am using 2Do because:
It lets you choose how to synchronise your Data. So I let it access my default Reminders App und my iOS Devices and Mac get synchronised threw that. That gives me some advantages. I can use shared reminders threw the native iPhone app but access them from 2Do. And my Reminder Deadlines get displayed in Fantastical (and I could add or edit a reminder in Fantastical and get it synced to 2Do).
It offers a lot of advanced features but if you are not using them it does not bother you with them.
And no Subscription
So i am using 2Do because:
It lets you choose how to synchronise your Data. So I let it access my default Reminders App und my iOS Devices and Mac get synchronised threw that. That gives me some advantages. I can use shared reminders threw the native iPhone app but access them from 2Do. And my Reminder Deadlines get displayed in Fantastical (and I could add or edit a reminder in Fantastical and get it synced to 2Do).
It offers a lot of advanced features but if you are not using them it does not bother you with them.
And no Subscription
2Do is a fantastic app. I only wish they offered a Windows or Web-based client. That's why I moved on to Swipes and then to TickTick.
Fantastical 2 is also excellent. That's what I currently use for my calendar on iOS and the Apple Watch.
Not exactly, but they still make you pay to upgrade sometimes. I had paid $40 or so for Omnifocus years ago. They wanted another $40 to upgrade to Omnifocus 2 for iOS. I wouldn’t have had a problem paying for it again if they offered a Windows or Web client though. They also charge separately for the macOS client. TickTick is about $30 a year for premium features (basic is free), but of course that includes all updates and all platforms/devices. Omnifocus is a great product though. I wish they would make a Windows or web client.
But compare that to another app that requires a subscription of $3-5/month to unlock all the features and all of a sudden it's a lot more value for money. Not to mention the last version had two major iterations and was constantly supported and updated for close to 5 years without having to pay an extra penny other than the initial app cost.
Things 3 gets my personal vote too. I've tried many, many apps over the years and I always came back to Things. V3 added a few features that I felt were missing from the last version and has now cemented itself as my todo list app of choice.
I really like Things 3. However it’s missing geofence reminders. And there’s no web browser version which means I cannot use it at work.
I’ve had some syncing problems with Apple Reminders and it annoys me that the Reminders widget does not display items if they don’t have a due date. Which makes entering a grocery list very tedious.
I’ve had some syncing problems with Apple Reminders and it annoys me that the Reminders widget does not display items if they don’t have a due date. Which makes entering a grocery list very tedious.
Omnifocus just announced that they will be bringing out a web version: (at the end of this article)
https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/omni-roadmap-2018
That is indeed welcome news that will attract a lot of new (and returning) customers. It sounds like the initial Web-based offering will be limited in features, but that might be okay. I'm sure they will gradually add more to the Web client as well. I'm very happy with TickTick, but I remember liking everything about Omnifocus except for how platform specific it was... so I will be keeping an eye on this.
I used Things 3 since it came out, but the little things grated on me, like how a task can live outside a project and the in box (and there are no search parameters to find those tasks), and how clunky adding new tasks is. The new Remember the Milk was easy to get used to and I find it more powerful every day.
Not really. Some have interactions with reminders, but none do it well in my opinion. What I do is use reminders for simple stuff I need to be reminded about that I don't need in my todo list. Otherwise I went crazy trying to merge the two together.
TickTick offers Siri integration and syncing with reminders. So if you say, "Hey Siri, add mow the lawn to TickTick" a new task will be created in TickTick to "mow the lawn." If you say, "Hey Siri, remind me to take out the trash at 6 pm" Siri will create a reminder scheduled for 6pm. TickTick will import that reminder and remove it from the native Reminders app.
TickTick can also be configured so it displays events from the system calendar or other calendars. I don't have that enabled though. I use Fantastical 2 Calendar, which can import from the native reminders app. I kind of like keeping my calendar, tasks, and reminders in separate apps. If you want them all integrated, TickTick can do it.
Things seems pricey for what it is. I use Wunderlist across all my devices, and it's free. Truthfully, I haven't tried many other apps like that though. I like the syncing capabilities of Wunderlist though. For free, it's quite nice.
I’m a Fantastical user, mostly because I like having to dos and calendars integrated. And, yes, it does pull everything from the native apps (which you could presumably turn off if you wanted).
Something else I should add about Things vs. Wunderlist that may or may not be important to you:
Sharing lists and tasks is easier in Wunderlist. If I share a List or Task, Wunderlist syncs that with whoever I've shared it with (i.e. my wife). We use this to manage mutual tasks. Things has a Share option for Lists and Tasks, but it appears to be a static share that just sends it to that person; they then manage that task or list individually rather than keeping them in-sync together. In other words, if I check a Task as completed, Wunderlist checks it complete on my wife's Wunderlist, too; Things operates independently so my wife would need to check it off separately. There's no mechanism that keeps those shared lists and tasks synced together.
Things is a very beautiful app, but a feature like that would be hard to get used to. If you were one person, it might not matter in the slightest.
Sharing lists and tasks is easier in Wunderlist. If I share a List or Task, Wunderlist syncs that with whoever I've shared it with (i.e. my wife). We use this to manage mutual tasks. Things has a Share option for Lists and Tasks, but it appears to be a static share that just sends it to that person; they then manage that task or list individually rather than keeping them in-sync together. In other words, if I check a Task as completed, Wunderlist checks it complete on my wife's Wunderlist, too; Things operates independently so my wife would need to check it off separately. There's no mechanism that keeps those shared lists and tasks synced together.
Things is a very beautiful app, but a feature like that would be hard to get used to. If you were one person, it might not matter in the slightest.
Me too. Even though I purchased Things 3, I have a difficult time figuring out why it's useful to me over Fantastical 2.
Maybe I'm not maximizing the potential of Fantastical 2, but isn't it basically just a really good calendar app with a reminders list as well? It's not quite a full featured task management app in the way that Things and others are.
Maybe it's just a matter of volume. Some people like to maintain exhaustive task lists. Others only want to log certain types of tasks that they plan to do soon enough that the list will never grow out of control. I fall into the former category. Most of my tasks are not things I schedule to do on a specific day, or even things I want to be reminded of. Most are things I should do, or want to do, sooner or later (or someday). I keep multiple lists and smart lists that I review to decide what my goals are for the week, and what I plan to do Today. Of course some tasks I do schedule because they need to be done at a specific time. I need a task list that has advanced features.
I use Fantastical 2 to view multiple calendars (personal, work, family) so my calendar is already busy enough. I use TickTick rather than Things 3, and TickTick does have a calendar view of its own. I can display my other calendars in TickTick, but I prefer to keep the scheduled tasks on their own calendar because of the clutter factor (also, most of my tasks are not scheduled).
I think it just comes down to your needs. I love Fantastical 2 because of the calendar views, natural language input, overall speed/ease of use, and the widgets for iOS and the Apple Watch. It just doesn't fit my needs for task management.
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