Task management apps are what you’ll find most on the productivity category on the App Store. For some reason, one always needs to handle to dos for one thing or another, and with iOS 5′s Reminders app, offering something sophisticated yet simple and powerful has gotten more difficult, especially regarding location-based reminders.
Toodledo is a service that’s been around for a while, that lets you manage tasks, notes, collaborate with friends and provides a huge set of features. So does their iPhone app, so let’s take a look at what it can do for you.
Getting Started
Tapping on Add Task will take you to a very simple form, where you can enter the task’s details and hit Add Task again to save it. For simple tasks, this is all you’ll probably need, but there are a lot more options if you feel like customizing it. Simply tap on Edit Details and you’ll get a lot more to change. For example, you can set the due date, add an alarm, change the task’s priority or even set a repeating pattern.
Adding a task, and setting a due date.
Tapping on Edit Details kind of automatically saves the task, so if you regret adding it, you’ll have to go to All Tasks and delete it from there.
Viewing Your Tasks
There are many ways to look at what you need to do. In All Tasks you’re literally viewing all your tasks. They’re sorted by importance by default, although you can change that by tapping right below the Add Task button. You can choose to sort alphabetically, by due date, even by distance from a specific location (which is kinda cool). The great thing about these options is that you can sort by, say, importance, then alphabetically and then by distance, for example. You can also choose different filters, where you can show tasks that are already done, hide them or just show the recent ones.
Different task views, and sorted by importance.
There are many other views, like the Folders option, where tasks are sorted by folders you specify when you create a task. One of my favourites is Locations, where you can actually view tasks on a map. If you specify locations for your tasks, you can see which ones are closer so you know where to go to get things done.
View your tasks on a map — take that Reminders app!
Location Based Reminders
This is worth mentioning and has its own section because it’s a great feature, but is a little hard to configure. First, go to the Settings pane and tap on Fields & Defaults. There, scroll to the bottom and under Unused Fields you’ll find one named Location. Drag it to the top so it sits under Fields Used. Go back, and you’ll see two more options under the Tasks category: Location Alarms and Locations. Tap on Location Alarms and turn the Get Alerts switch to ON. Customize the other options to your heart’s desire, but be sure to leave the Auto option selected, since this tells Toodledo to use your device’s location services.
Drag the Location field to the top, then enable Get Alerts.
Now, when adding a task, edit its details, and tap on Location. There, add a new one. Type a recognizable name like Home or Work, and set the location using the map. This way, when you get close to the location you set, Toodledo will remind you.
Customizing Your Experience
Toodledo has got to be one of the most customizable apps out there. The bad part is that it’s kinda hard to discover all of its features. Like the location based reminders I talked about in the previous section, there are many other features and task views you can unlock simply by diving into the settings. For example, go to the Settings pane, hit Fields & Defaults and slide the Tag option to the top. This will allow you to add tags to your tasks, and view them on the start page accordingly. You can do the same with contexts, for example, and even the reverse. Not really using the Starred Tasks feature? Simply slide that field to the bottom and it will disappear. That’s customization, alright.
Set up syncing to back up your tasks and notes.
Apart from the latter, you can set up syncing so all your tasks are backed up with Toodledo’s site. You can create an account right from within the app and sync everything. This is great since you can then use Toodledo from your browser if you’re on your desktop. You can also choose to use app badges and change the app’s start page, so you’re right where you want to when you fire up the app.
Final Thoughts
The app’s design seems a little weird at first, mostly because the icons don’t look like iPhone material. Appigo’s Todo app comes to mind here, where it has beautiful icons that go perfectly with iOS’ UI. Another thing that bothered me is the fact that you have to set a due date (and a due time) to set an alarm for a task. I prefer the way Apple’s Reminders app works, where you simply set an alarm and that’s it.
The thing I really liked is that you can customize the app to fit your needs very precisely. If you don’t need to star your tasks, simply remove that feature. Less clutter means less to worry about and more tasks getting done.
If you need more power than Apple’s Reminders, give Toodledo a shot, you will probably not regret it.