Managing one’s busy schedule can almost become impossible without a necessary to-do or calendar app. Luckily, the App Store is filled with them, but finding the right one, free at that, is the ultimate challenge. Look no further than Wunderlist.
Wunderlist, developed by 6 Wunderkinder, is a “cloud-sync task manager,” although sharing tasks with friends and colleagues is only in addition to an overall solid, feature-rich to-do list app. Of course, Apple has their own Reminders app that is available in the forthcoming iOS 5, but it’s nowhere close to the sophistication Wunderlist provides.
Getting Started
Upon booting Wunderlist for the very first time, you’ll be asked to create an account so you can keep all of your tasks in sync. The process is very short, and after you’ll be taken to the main part of the app where all of the magic happens. The Lists section is the first part of the app you’ll see. This is where you can view the Inbox and Lists (categories) that you created (more on that later) to see what your latest tasks are.
This is a view of the app's main Lists screen
The Inbox is where all of the tasks that you didn’t file into specific Lists are located. These are for quick tasks that don’t have as much significance, or for ones that haven’t been sorted yet. Besides viewing tasks that you created, you can create new tasks, check them off or star them for viewing later.
The whole charm of Wunderlist is the ability to create tasks quickly and easily. In the Inbox, you click the Add a new task area and a keyboard will be brought up to type in a few words. In most instances, it seems easiest to only type a few words and not make it too lengthy. Once a new task is created it will fall inline with your Inbox. That’s the simple part of it, but if you’d like to add more technical aspects you can.
View of Wunderlist's main Inbox
In the Inbox you can click on the task to add a note, due date, reminder and which List (or category) that you’d like it to be in. The task can also be deleted or renamed. Also in the technical aspects page, you can share the task via Facebook, Email and SMS.
Now that you have created the tasks you’d like to complete, they can be filed in Lists. Lists are what I like to think of as categories. For instance, I have a Personal and Internet list so that I can file tasks accordingly. If I need to write a new article for instance, I’d add it to Internet, or if I need to buy groceries I’d add it to the personal list. Note: as I mentioned before, Lists and Inbox are the first things you see when launching the app.
When adding all of your day’s tasks, there are always the ones that you need to get done. Luckily, Wunderlist provides a Starred tab, creating a nice filter in the process. You can mark tasks as starred in the Inbox, or you can create Starred tasks directly within the Starred tab.
Reminders and Notifications
So you have all of the tasks, and now you want to add due dates so you can know when they need to be completed. Wunderlist lets you do this in a very simple way, which in this case, simple is good. The Today section of the app aggregates all of the tasks that are due today. As previously mentioned, you can mark the date of tasks in the Inbox. The Today section is where they’ll be aggregated. So what about the tasks you don’t get to?
View of the More tab options
The Overdue section simply lists the tasks that you didn’t do. Here you can delete them (face it, you were never going to do it anyway) or mark them as finished.
Wunderlist also features push notifications to remind you when a task is instantly due, using the time and date you set earlier in the Inbox. The app can also email you the due date.
Cloud Syncing and Sharing
6Wunderkind has developed Wunderlist for almost every platform imaginable, and all of your tasks are synced to the cloud, making them available from your Mac, PC or iPhone at any time. Also, tasks can be shared with friends and/or colleagues, giving you the ability to collaborate on tasks together.
View of the Today tab screen
Price and Comparison to Other Apps
Surprisingly for such a function packed app, Wunderlist is available for free without any ads whatsoever. It’s pretty clear that this app is a direct competitor to Apple’s Reminders, which is also free with iOS 5.
Wunderlist is also a competitor to apps like Things (which is very featured packed), Voodoo, Score and the thousands more with similar functionality. Even being free, I don’t see much this app is missing compared to others, which also tend to get pretty expensive in comparison.
Conclusion
As a task manager, Wunderlist is almost perfect. The simplicity of the app makes it enjoyable to use, allowing users to jump in and out quickly. Arguably, the best part of Wunderlist is the syncing options. The ability to sync between multiple platforms seems a necessity and a no brainer feature that so many other apps lack. As we mentioned before, this app syncs to every platform you’d ever need: Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web.
If you’re looking for a free, feature packed task manager that will just work, Wunderlist won’t disappoint.
Yes, it works.
