Review of the iPhone Task Managers

Posted by Andrew Mason / GTD General, General Items

Just a quick note to promote a post over at Lifehacker, Battle of the iPhone Task Managers.

There are numerous task managers available now on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Myself, I use Zenbe as a simple Task Manager. The reason I like Zenbe is that it is quick, clean, and has a nice Web Sync so that I can use it on my Mac and on my iPhone.

The Lifehacker post compares the following iPhone Task Managers:

Remember the Milk
Zenbe
reQall
To Do’s
Easy Task Manager

Check out the post from Lifehacker and see what you think.

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Jeroen Sangers said on November 7th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

I was very surprised that they did not include two of the best task managers for the iPhone: OmniFocus and Things. Without these, the comparison surely isn’t complete.
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Andrew Mason said on November 7th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

@Jeroen Sangers:

I think the review is more of the lightweight list/task checking apps. Some of the comments on the LH site mention Things and OmniFocus.

OmniFocus rocks and makes my GTD system complete!

Thanks for the comment!
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David Pierce said on November 7th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Andrew,

Thanks for the heads up about the post, and your own opinion! As a task-list-ophile, I’m always intrigued about what other people are using. I tried Zenbe, and couldn’t get into it for more than a grocery list manager. It struck me as too difficult to manipulate, and not very good at figuring out what you need (i.e. see all tasks due today in one list, etc.) How’d you make it work for you?
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Andrew Mason said on November 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

@David Pierce:

Hi David,

I must admit that I only use Zenbe for nothing more than simple lists. I like the speed I can launch it and the very easy check off interface. I use it for lists when I am going away or when I need to remember a list of groceries etc..

For the more complex planning, I use OmniFocus. One of my gripes with OmniFocus on the iPhone is that it takes more time than it should to load up. This doesn’t distract me from having all my personal and work related projects on OmniFocus and I do think that I have been a lot more productive since being able to carry my whole system with me on my iPhone.

Anybody else got any comments to add to this?

Thanks,
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Mark said on September 3rd, 2009 at 6:20 pm

I know this is an old post, but I thought I’d chime in as it’s still a top hit for the search string “best task app for iphone”. Thought I’d inject some updated info since there are a lot of new apps out there.

I’ve been playing around with a lot of the different task apps for the iPhone. Since we all love lists and task organizers, thought I’d share my comments.

1. Omnifocus is a solid app that just works. It doesn’t have a lot of advanced features though like online syncing. What I like about it is all pre built filters that make it easy for a new user to identify. I think I may use its folder structure in other apps with more features.

2. Things – the appeal of this is its simplicity. It also doesn’t have online sync though and it has less features than Omnifocus. I like how it has a filter for next, scheduled and someday. I don’t like that it doesn’t have filters for contexts though which I find really important.

3. Todo (Appigo) – This includes an online sync feature and is also very easy to use. It does have the ability to filter by context, but I don’t like how it was implemented. It’s not a list on the dashboard, rather you have to set a filter and unset it when you are done. It doesn’t have due-date based filters like Things though which I would have liked to see. One feature that to do has which I do not see in the others is the ability to set the action of the task (i.e. call, email, send text). This allows you to perform the task by one click of the button. I.e. Call Insurance company > Set the contact to call > when the task is due, just click the icon and it will perform the action. This saves you about 5 seconds, lol.

4. Pocket Informant – This is a very promising app. I may even make it my app of choice for task management. It has all the filters of OImnifocus, plus it has the ability to sync with Toodledo. Another bonus feature that it has is its impressive rendering of Google Calendar. I like how it displays much more than the built in calendar app. It also looks better than CalenGoo as well. The only thing I like more about CalenGoo is that you can add appointments by double clicking on a specific time in the calendar.

For other lists, here’s what I like:

1. GroceryIQ – This is a real simple grocery list manager app. I like it because it has a huge db of grocery items which saves you the hassle of typing. I wish it had the ability to sync though so I could use it with my wife. For now, it can do email which will have to do.

2. Joesgoals.com is what I use to track habits and goals. Unfortunately, there is no iPhone app for it yet. Anyone have suggestions on what they use for tracking habits?

3. Aircheck – while geared for aviation professionals, I’ve found that this is the only app that allows me to make reusable checklists. I like to use this for things like a travel checklist where I always need to remember to bring certain things (i.e. belt, socks, etc). I also use this when leaving with the baby to make sure I don’t forget to bring baby wipes. Anyone have suggestions on their reusable checklist? I’m sure notepad will work fine, but it doesn’t give me the satisfaction of checking a box.

Thanks all and hope you enjoyed this.
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