A to Do List App is an electronic version of a paper To Do List. It is often in software form. List apps are a great productivity tool for both phones and computers. To Do list Apps help with organizing tasks, creating grocery lists, making checklists, reminders, and even planning travel. They can be used by students to stay organized and businesses to create event planning lists. The best thing about them is that you can use them as much as you want to. As many as you want.
Quire
If you’re doing some research online for the best to do list apps on Capterra or G2Crowd, you must have come across Quire as one of the top rated planners and to do apps for personal use and business teams.
The intuitive and simple user interface is always a dealbreaker for anyone who comes across a new to-do list app. Quire developer team has spent years of effort to strive for a delicate balance between simplicity and the powerful features. The elegant and intuitive interface is one of the aspects that Quire users appreciate the most.
A good to do list app must have the simplest and most straightforward flow to let users streamline their work. With Quire, you can set up different lists as different projects. For example, a list of daily chores such as “Grocery List” and another list for more complicated tasks, such as “Writing a book”.
A lot of the productivity tools adopt to-do list as one of the key features. However, Quire brought the flat to-do list to another level and introduced an infinite nested task list – unlimited tasks and subtasks that help you break down big ideas into smaller and doable tasks.
Unlike other to do list apps, Quire gives users a hierarchical order to monitor a task. With the tree structure, the parent tasks and the children tasks can be presented within context and relations. Quire nested to do list mirrors exactly how your thoughts are mapped out and creates a better backbone for your whole productivity workflow.
A to do list can be nothing more than a plain text without the tasks’ schedule and priorities. You can set up the start dates, due date, recurring dates, priorities, tags, etc. to a task so that they can provide more detailed information for your task list.
A visual report in the overview page shows how well your project and the executing process is performing. You can adjust the resources based on the progress of your to do list. If you’re working with a team, Quire also keeps everyone on the same page with the real-time collaboration features. Quire comes with both Android and iOS apps to keep you in sync.
To put in a nutshell, Quire is not only an cloud-based to do list, Quire can help you achieve your dreams!
Some more amazing features that make Quire your best investment.
Key Features
- Nested Task list: Breakdown big tasks and organize with structured list.
- Kanban Board: Focus on selected crucial tasks in a short period of time.
- Sublist: For one to-do list, create as many sub-lists as you wish to focus on which matters the most to you.
- Timeline: A beautiful Gantt chart that helps to map out team schedules in the most intuitive way.
- Multiple Assignees: Assign a task to the people who are responsible for it.
- Schedule: Set start date, start time, due date, recurring date for a task to track the process.
- Project Template: Save time – duplicate a project or task to use as a template.
- Reports: A visual overview of how well each of your projects and members is performing.
- Smart Folders: View and organize tasks from different projects in one place.
- External Team: Outsource your tasks and assign to third parties without them seeing everything on your projects.
- Share Links: Send an invitation link to your clients so they can access your project without signing up.
- Integrations: Github, Slack, Google Drive, etc.
- Export and Import data: Pain-free migrating your data or export your projects to save as a local backup.
- Smart Keyboard Shortcuts: Tons of nifty shortcuts that allow you to work on your project without reaching the mouse.
- File Sharing: Easily upload a file or attach a file from Google Drive to your tasks.
Pros
- Interchangeable infinite nested task list and Kanban Board
- Comprehensive collaboration features including multiple assignees and scheduling.
- User-friendly and minimalist interface.
- Cross-platform operations: iOS, Android mobile apps
- Smart search feature to locate every piece of information.
- Integrations with Slack, Google Drive, iCal, Google Calendar, etc.
Cons
- Lack of various theme options
- No built-in chat (can use task-based comments are updated in real-time instead).
OmniFocus
(macOS, iPhone, iPad)
OmniFocus is nothing if not flexible. This Apple-exclusive application is built around the Getting Things Done (GTD) philosophy trademarked by David Allen, but an array of features means it can be used for just about any organizational system you can imagine. There are three different kinds of projects you can set up, for example, depending on whether you need to do tasks in a specific order or not. There are six main views by default, allowing you to organize your tasks by things like due date, projects, and tags. You can even add more views, assuming you have the Pro version.
You get the idea. OmniFocus is a power user’s dream, with more features than anyone can hope to incorporate into a workflow, which is kind of the point: if there’s a feature you want, OmniFocus has it, so you can organize your tasks basically any way you can imagine.
Syncing is offered only between Apple devices. There is a web version, currently in testing, but it’s intended for occasional usage away from your Apple machines more than anything else. Non-Apple users should look elsewhere.
Key Features
- Projects and tasks control.
- Personalized task labels to organize them according to context.
- Perspectives to keep your focus on specific tasks only.
- Custom views to display only the relevant tasks.
- Forecast for future tasks on the basis of the order of your actions.
- Project and action reviews to monitor progress over time.
Pros
- Beautiful user-interface.
- Powerful GTD features.
- Easy syncing across devices.
Cons
- Only for iOS and Mac users.
- Too complicated for starters.
- Is costly compared with other to-do list apps.
Microsoft To-Do
If you are an Outlook diehard fan, you probably come across Microsoft To-Do app at least once. After Microsoft acquired Wunderlist, To-Do was rolled out in order to replace Wunderlist. So basically, Microsoft To-Do is a personal to do list app with all of the basic features. You can easily integrate with Outlook Tasks.
However, there are some drawbacks with this app since it doesn’t have subtasks or collaboration tools. Also, the maximum attached file size is very limited. If you’re working with a dynamic team, chances are you may need to find better alternatives.
Key Features
- Personalized daily planner with suggested tasks
- Cross device operation
- Recurring dates and due dates
- Sync between Outlook and To-Do
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Integration with Office 365
- Completely free
Cons
- Lack of advanced task management capabilities
- Lack of collaboration tools
- Too simple for a powerful to-do list app.
TickTick
If you’re a GTD method hardcore fan, you may have heard of TickTick. It is a well-known collaborative to-do app that can be implemented with the Getting Things Done method. The inbox in TickTick enables you to jot down any ideas. The interface in TickTick is very similar to any other productivity apps, which have three navigation panels. You can add a due date, assignees, tags, and priorities to better manage a task.
The free version of TickTick has quite tight restrictions and they do not offer free trial so you need to be sure about this platform before you commit to it.
Key Features
- Rich features of managing tasks
- Natural language dates
- Priority level and tags for tasks
- Drag and drop functionality
- Collaboration tools
Pros
- Native time tracking, Pomodoro timer
- User-friendly interface with drag and drop features
- GTD Method implementation
Cons
- Advanced functionalities and features are available only with paid version
- Lack of integration with other apps
Habitica
(Android, iPhone and iPad, Web)
Games are fantastic at motivating mundane activity—how else can you explain all that time you’ve spent on mindless fetch quests? Habitica, formerly known as HabitRPG, tries to use principles from game design to motivate you to get things done, and it’s remarkably effective. You can add tasks, daily activities, and habits to a list. You also have a character, who levels up when you get things done and takes damage when you put things off. You can also earn in-game currency for buying offline rewards, such as a snack, or in-game items like weapons or even silly hats.
This is even better when you join a few friends and start a party. You can all fight bosses together, but be careful: fail to finish some tasks on time and your friends will take damage. If that doesn’t motivate you, nothing will.
Key Features
- Division of to-dos according to tags for quick access.
- Rewards for completing tasks.
- Personalized avatars to give.
- Levels for tracking progress and moving forward.
- Filtering of tasks according to tags.
- Task reminders to stay in the loop with updates.
- Inventory for the characters to choose according to your liking.
- Online chat, and customized challenges to compete with other players.
- Task filtering according to due dates for deadline management.
- Positive and negative checking off of tasks for monitoring progress.
Pros
- Task management while having fun at the same time.
- Simple, but interesting user-interface.
- The competition-driven approach gives the motivation to complete the tasks.
- Free for users.
Cons
- Offers fewer features for elaborate task management.
- Some additional features unlock after reaching certain levels.
- No native time tracking available.
To do list apps can range from advanced software with multiple functions for to do list processing, mobile apps designed to pull out the smartphone out of your pocket and start making these tasks happen or even an old fashioned pen and pad that to do list processing. Some are simple applications that just generate your list without many other features, while others include features like project management integrations, time tracking features to monitor productivity, checklist templates for specific use cases, notetaking capabilities for easy task reminders and a lot more.