Things productivity app for Mac, iPad & iPhone tested

I am big on anything which helps me organise my to do tasks and keep focussed on what are the most important tasts.  My only issue is that I do not want to be messing around for ages trying to figure the app out.  I have also been really disappointed by many productivity apps in working across all the platforms I use (for me Mac, iPad and iPhone).

So when a friend recommended Things to me I thought I would give it a go.  I was a little disappointed that I could not try without buying but once I got in to the app it was clear that would not be a problem as I became increasingly impressed.  So here are the features I like;

• It will handle to-dos, notes, due dates and provides ability to have individual project areas.
• You can track what is due today, what is coming up whats next, pretty much any way you like using the Smart task lists.
• I can enter repeating tasks.
• It can sync with my iCal Mac calender program.
• If something pops in to my mind to do and I need to note it quickly, I can make a Quick Entry rather than going through loads of options.
• I particularly like the “Someday” filing feature for those tasks I would like to get round to or projects I am thinking of doing but will wait.  This feature is particularly good as it stops those someday features disappearing from my mind altogether so I never get round to thinking about them.
• Logbook keeps a record of all my completed tasks so I can go back if I am unsure or want to review or pull back in old tasks for whatever reason.
• I like the way I can tag tasks, to-dos etc with my own tags.

But ultimatelty what I really like about the app is how I can sync it across iPad and iPhone as well to keep all my devices up to date as to what I have coming up and when things are due.  And it works great as long as you have all your devices on the same wireless network.

There are a few draw backs;

• You have to pay for the app on each of your devices so I had to pay for my Mac app, iPhone app and iPad app.  Pricing is reasonable but they should really think about a discount for those users who are effectively buying all the cross platform apps at the same time.
• It only syncs across devices on same wireless network.  Its not a great problem but it would have been great to sync over the mobile network especially given that my iPad is 3G enabled.
• It is not really built to send tasks between different users even though you can add colleagues so over a network even, it is not a standard feature albeit they do have a workaround but all seems a little stressing when it could be built in to work the Mac way, seemlessly.

The developers Cultured Code are always proiding updates so no doubt they will start to bring new features (as they do), provide bug fixes (as they do) and hopefully sort something out on my three issues with the app.

Having said all of that I think this is a terrific app and well worth buying especially if you would like simplicity without compromise.  It’s even won awards!

Available on Mac App Store for your Mac and iTunes for iPhone and iPad or see their website using link above.

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