There are many options out there for todo lists.
In fact, there are too many to name here.
Some are free. A few are very expensive.
Many of them are too complex. In fact, some make life more complicated.
My todo list app of choice is Wunderlist.
Here’s why…
Productivity That Gets Work Done
It amazes me when people use todo apps that frustrate them.
Ones that add complexity and extra work to their life. Isn’t that a little ironic of a todo app?
Other people dislike their apps so much that they give them the cold shoulder and stop using them after a short time.
That isn’t very productive, either.
I always advise, “Choose Tools You’ll Use.”
In this case, I use Wunderlist everyday.
Do you use your todo app everyday?
10 Reason Why I Use Wunderlist
Here are the 10 top reasons that I use Wunderlist as my todo app:
- Everywhere – If your todo list is not accessible you won’t use it. No matter where I turn, my Wunderlist is there. I can access it on the Web, on Mac OS X, on all my mobile devices (see below), on Linux, and even Windows.
- Simple – Ever use a todo app that looks like the control panel to the Space Shuttle? So many options, buttons, and fields that it is a burden to use? Wunderlist presents a simple interface. In fact, some may find it too simple. Yet, behind that simple appearance is quite a bit of power. Most of the options stay out-of-the-way until you need them. (BTW, do you really need to set the “context” for each todo and the “color” of each task?)
- Push Reminders – On my iPhone, I can set reminders for tasks that I want to recall at specific times. They can be either email notifications or push notifications. I prefer the push notifications because they appear in my iPhone’s notification center.
- Share – Want to share a list with someone else? Wunderlist can do that in one click. You can share via email and let a family member or friend edit the list too. You can also share lists via email or via the CloudApp.
- Sync – Wunderlist syncs magically via the cloud. There is no effort required to keep your lists in sync across all your platforms and devices. More apps are finally getting sync, but Wunderlist has had this right from the start.
- Priorities – Wunderlist has a simple priority system. You won’t find A, B, C’s or 1, 2, 3’s, but rather a simple Star system. When you “star” an item, it shows up in your Starred list (as well as its original list). I use this “hit list” prioritization to make my Today List of my highest priority tasks that must be done today.
- Multiple Lists – Wunderlist allows you to have as many lists are you would like. For those that like to sub-sort tasks into many different buckets, you can do this. I tend to minimize the number of lists of I have. However, I can quickly create a list if I have need to capture something. Of course, all these lists are tied together by the “Starred Priority.”
- Notes – Need to add more detail or important info to a todo? You can add a note to any todo. I will sometimes “paste” supporting information or even a URL into the notes field.
- Mobile – It doesn’t matter what mobile device you are on, Wunderlist presents a great user experience. Unlike apps that are limited to one mobile device, Wunderlist is available on: iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, and even Windows Phone. Not that you would ever need all of those.
- Quick – I like to be able to capture ideas and tasks quickly. Otherwise, they can be lost. With Wunderlist, I can open the app, type a todo and hit return. Done. There is no setting of 17 fields just to record a todo. (See #2) I don’t even have to go to the app. I can email myself a todo at me@wunderlist.com and the task is added to my inbox.
Wunderful Productivity
If you are not using Wunderlist, I recommend you give it a try. (I didn’t even mention that it is FREE?!)
If your todo list is too complicated or not getting the job done, it might just be the solution you need.
Wunderlist works for me. It gets the job done, period.
It is one of my best friends and always has my back.
Does your todo list have yours?
Question: What is your todo list app of choice? Why do you use it?
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the Action Method
Eric,
I like the philosophy behind the Action Method. Really like the action steps and drive towards action. Also, the delegation aspect between team members.
I tried the app once upon a time, but did not use it enough to adequately comment.
Is that what you are using currently? How is it working for you?
I use Nobze. It does require some knowledge of the GTD ideology. For me, that works.
@Jon Clayton Glad to hear that Nozbe works for you. I definitely encourage people to use the tools that best fit them. 🙂 It is a great tool, as well.
I tend to use tools that are leaner and less complicated. I find that many people tend to add a lot of complexity when they implement GTD.
I tried it based on one of your earlier posts and I am loving it — for me the key is the simplicity and ability to make multiple lists to break up my projects w/their own sub-list of tasks but then prioritizing them by time for a today/this week list,etc. I also use the note section for extra details that might get lost otherwise. I’ve always been a list-maker and this is a really nice functional approach that I’m checking daily. Thanks for the rec!
Joan, glad you like @wunderlist ! It has been my goto app for sometime now.
I prefer it because it gets the work done… instead of getting mired down in too many options, etc. 🙂
As ever, Craig, a good list of reasons to choose Wunderlist. As you know I’m a devotee of Wunderlist, too. The two major USPs for me are (1) ubiquity and (2) simplicity; it’s always with me and it doesn’t get in the way of me using it. Anything over and above that is a bonus in my opinion.
@adycoles Thanks, Ady! I knew you were a big Wunderlist fan! 🙂
Yes, those are the two angles that really make it work for me. I have access to my Wunderlist no matter is I am at my iMac… laptop… iPhone… or iPad.
@TMNinja Any way to upload tasks from previous task manager into @wunderlist?…500 plus sitting in outlook/rtm.
@ajambiel Arnold, great question… @wunderlist can’t import Outlook right now. However, @6wunderkinder is working on this feature.
Wunderlist vs. Asana. close fight.
asana is leaving wunderlist behind. After a second look, I just moved my data from wunderlist to Asana. It seems as if Asana makes excellent updates every day. Amazingly simple piece of software.
Wunderlist is amazing in its simplicity. I started using it thanks to TMN and I am glad I did. It definately follows the K.I.S.S. theory, but that is why it is great.
I was using Wunderlist for a long while and have recently switched to Wunderkit to use multiple workspaces and tagging. I also use it to manage everything I need to do for my blog, my life, my work, everything!
@joomux I migrated from Wunderlist to Wunderkit, and then back again. Won’t go into the details here (blog post at if you’re interested).
Your switch to Wunderkit is a good fit for what you are using it for – for me when I tried it I thought it might replace a number of tools in my GTD arsenal, and that’s not its place. Project management, with the potential to collaborate, though, is where Wunderkit excels.
How do you manage without the features I couldn’t live without, such as the ‘today’. ‘tomorrow’ & ‘next 7 days’ lists?
@joomux
I migrated from Wunderlist to Wunderkit, and then back again. Won’t go into the details here (blog post at http://acol.es/wTRpkQ if you’re interested).
Your switch to Wunderkit is a good fit for what you are using it for – for me when I tried it I thought it might replace a number of tools in my GTD arsenal, and that’s not its place. Project management, with the potential to collaborate, though, is where Wunderkit excels.
How do you manage without the features I couldn’t live without, such as the ‘today’. ‘tomorrow’ & ‘next 7 days’ lists?
@adycoles Yeah that is tough. I’ve raised that with the 6Wunderkinder team and was slyly given a wink that it’s coming 🙂
@TMNinja Going to give it a try, but it may be more than I need. I try to keep it super simple:-)
@jadedlou Sounds good! Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Not bad but will take time to get used to
Great post Craig. I’ve been an avid Wunderlister for months. Love the seamless sync feature. I recently switched to Workflowy and found it more efficient. It’s totally different from Wunderlist and works more like a mind map.
@geeagent Thanks for sharing… I love Workflowy, as well. However, I don’t use Workflowy for tasks… more for notes and outlining.
See my post here:
http://timemanagementninja.com/2012/01/powerful-online-notetaking-with-workflowy/
Craig,
Very interesting!
Is Wunderlist capable of handling recurring tasks? For example, if I have a task that occurs on a daily basis, is it possible to set a task like that in this application?
Cheers,
Timo
@TimoKiander Timo… I think recurring tasks are not in Wunderlist at the moment. Think they will add it.
Recurring tasks ARE in Wunderkit… which is their project management platform. 🙂
Both recurring tasks and subtasks are planned features. It is not clear though as to when they will be released.
You have a nice design and layout of this blogs.
Thanks! Much appreciated. ;)On July 2, at 00:26:51, Disqus sent the following message:
Thanks dude 🙂
It’s amazing app. I fall in love with it 🙂
The best feature is sharing and availability of on almost all device and OS. Just awesome.
I believe this internet site contains some rattling excellent info for everyone. “He is able who thinks he is able.” by Buddha.
I have used Wunderlist, Todoist, RTM, Astrid… you name it…
The only app I have really stuck with is Workflowy, I’ll tell you why:
You listed 10 features that almost every todo-list have these days.
They are all important, but the essential to me is:
1) Ease to maintain (add/edit/find) –That’s the main reason I left all the tools above
2) Speed: it has to be really fast
3) Flow: Work really well along with my thought proccess. In other words, it must organize my messy brain.
The thing to me was to be able to put things into context (or “project”) fast and without getting confused, and still being able to find what I have to do really quickly.
Because Workflowy has endless sub-indentation (sub-sub-sub…-lists), I can organize all my tasks (and lists of anything) by context. I start with “Work” and “Personal” and I go deeper and deeper. That’s how it helps me with item 4 above.
And what makes Workflowy very maintainable is the ability to tag any item. I tag some tasks with “#soon”, others with “#later”, and then I can filter the urgent stuff just by pressing “Esc” and typing “#soon”. If you want to see only the urgent tasks of work (not personal stuff), you just “zoom in” your Work list before filtering by tag.
To prioritize beyond that, I reorder stuff very easily with kb shortcuts. So I put the most important stuff above. I found that I don’t need colors or other cute stuff to prioritize.
The only thing Workflowy doesnt have is reminders, for meetings and stuff like that. But I found that Google Calendar or iCal is already perfect for that. For now I’m fine without a sync between projects and a calendar… perhaps I’ll change my mind in the future.
The awesome thing is that I used to have different list tools for different uses, but now I use Workflowy for almost everything: ideas for making money, ideas for apps, movies to watch, cool gadgets, music to download, shopping list, etc….
Software has never changed my life so much as this simple tool. Just try it and see how it feels.
Good stuff, Juan!
I might disagree however, that most todos lists have those 3 factors. 🙂
Yet, we both agree on Workflowy.
Here is my take on it: http://timemanagementninja.com/2012/01/powerful-online-notetaking-with-workflowy/
I agree. I use workflowy a lot too, but i like keeping my lists on wunderlist (used to be on colornote, but since i can’t access stuff from colornote from my pc – no app readily available for that, it’s not really that helpful.)
I find the following apps really really glorious :
1) dropbox for my documents (i don’t keep pictures there anymore as i often go beyond the limit for that)
2) Flickr for my photos (1TB free photo/video storage, available on mobile devices – enough said)
3) Evernote – for web articles and notes, and more random notes (and some documents too),
4) Workflowy & Freemind – mind mapping, making plans, idea, developing from ideas
5) Wunderlist – tasker and listing and scheduling routines
Very much agree with that – but would like to have it as a outlined list ala workflowy hehe 😉
I find evernote useless. I use Readability for articles. There is really nothing else you may need Evernote for. I was trying to make it useful, but I couldn’t find a way to use it. Sorry for that.
Wow – couldn’t have said it better myself!
I genuinely appreciate your piece of work, Great post. Thanks a lot.
great app if u use multi platform.
if you use apple products and love siri just stick with reminders.
i miss wunderlist
Just started using Wunderlist – so far it is proving to be very good. I’ve tried RTM, Astrid etc etc but this seems to be the best fit for me so far… and it’s free 🙂
Had a lot of connection issues with wunderlist so it doesn’t Sync properly and also noticed bugs when printing. Would be good but still very buggy
DJY, Wunderlist has gone through many growing pains in recent history.
With the release of Wunderlist 2, they seemed to have some sync problems and data issue for some users upgrading.
I still recommend Wunderlist and hope they are able to resolve any issues in the near future.
Another great option (that I use) is Things by Cultured Code. (However, it is not free like WL.)
See here:
http://culturedcode.com/things/
I agree with everything. It has been great! I haven’t experienced any bugs. My coworkers and I use it at work and I use it for my personal life. My brain can finally take a break. It does all the remembering for me!
How do you compare it to Google Keep?
I have been using wunderlist for a while: I like the application, the design and the company.
Unfortunately they tend to lose my data.
The synchronization on the mac doesn’t work half the time, sometimes it shows duplicate lists and if you actually delete the “empty” ones you end up having to request a restore.
While they are very friendly and they have restored my data everytime I am afraid losing data is not a feature…in any app.
I — painfully – have decided to change to another service, before they lose something they can’t restore.
Maybe in a year or two they will have gotten the glitches out 🙂
Thank you very much for the articles, they are very helpful
i went with producteev in the end…its ever so slightly better than wunderlist IMO – its everything listed above and a little more
How do you compare it to Opus Domini?
the only thing missing is a time stamped comments box to keep others up to date on progress.
is it available on firefox as an addon?
I’ve tried Wunderlist, it’s a really clean interface and that is attractive about it’s used. Also using the Stars fits in nicely with the methodology of having a Today list that you decide upon at the start of your day.
Unfortunately I must have been unlucky. The Android app of Wunderlist kept crashing and never ever managed to sync all my tasks and lists. Also my websessions, I had multiple windows open, didn’t even sync across each other. At one point even had to close a window as it never synced (left for more than a day) which resulted in me losing tasks (and no idea what I lost).
Wunderlist did report they were having syncing issues with their cloud those days, so it is just really unlucky that I experience this on my first days of testing – but after three days of issues I quickly reverted to Remember The Milk which in the almost three years I’ve used it never experienced an outage that I could notice….
Also I didn’t like I can’t forward tasks from both my personal email and work email to Wunderlist, with Wunderlist you have to choose a single email address to forward tasks from…
Remember The Milk might have too many features for some people, but I’d recommend to not use what you don’t need. … now if someone out there wants to make a Wunderlist skin interface for RTM, then I would be very happy indeed 😉
Question… if your team doesn’t have wunderlist pro or even wunderlist at all, is it beneficial at all upgrade to the pro-version? Considering upgrading, but not sure what the benefit is without my team being forced to do the same. Thanks.
I was first an Astrid devotee, and the migrated to Wunderlist as it was touted as the best Astrid replacement by many. I’ve had my share of agony with Wunderlist and decided to finally move on to something else – probably ticktick.com or Todoist.com. Here is why:
1. It mobile app (Android) lacks a search function. Are you kidding me? It has been one of the top requests by the users and still nada.
2. Its customer support is pathetic. It’s one of the biggest reasons for my departure. Just compare the customer support page of wunderlist against todoist.com or ticktick.com. So unintuitive and disorganized. You can’t even track your own questions!
3. Its sync function sometimes has hickups.
I’m writing this post for the posterity’s sake. I’m not trying to endorse one product over another, but if the functions that I mention above are critical, people should beware.
Plus 10 to this. I really thought WL would be the Astrid replacement for me and my wife (we used astrid for shared shopping lists for various stores – I use Trello for my work/project life).
Astrid is just unreliable IMHO. Too often a task will duplicate (or appear to) even after refreshing the browser. So you delete one. One is left – okay I guess. But then you open on your mobile and that task is gone. It was NEVER duplicated, just looked that way. SUPER slow sync on mobile, at least part of the time.
I am not thrilled to pay $20 for both my wife and I on ticktick, but it works so great for us (we shared too many things and we need pro subscription). I do not mind paying for quality, but I would like a shared cost or discount
I’d forgotten that I wrote the above post 4 months ago until an automatic notice was in my inbox.
In the mean time, I’ve moved on to Todoist.com and, let me tell you this, I’m a very happy user. They are really keen to their customers – reminiscent of how Astrid treated their customers – and constantly seek ways to improve and do improve. Most importantly, I’ve never experienced data integrity or sync issues – not once – with Todoist, something that was not a hallmark of Wunderlist.
Now I’ve found a satisfactory replacement for Astrid, I just hope Todoist won’t go Astrid.
I just tried Todoist.com and in collaboration it’s better than Wunderlist. Wunderlist only gives you 2 shared users for free and I couldn’t make it work — no notification arrives in the mailbox when shared.
Good I don’t need any customer support.
Wunderlist is cross platform, sharable, and simple. Can’t beat that combo.
For business I use project mgt apps and my corporate Outlook.
For the home, wunderlist.
Wunderlist is a fantastic system but the learning curve is intense indeed. I also found that it lacked in usability and simplicity.
I will suggest you to try proofhub, it definitely will prove to be a good solution for more simple and result focused clients.
I do have to say that, yes, I sure do use Wunderlist everyday. I’ve tried just about every one out there. It’s simple, easy-to-use, and looks sharp too!
Robb, yes… love it’s simplicity.
Looking forward to see the *new* Wunderlist coming soon… 🙂
Yes, Sir!
Not sure if anyone is still paying attention to this, but I thought I’d comment.
I love Wunderlist, but I can’t sync through my company’s proxy server. Wunderkinder says they’re working on fixing the problem, but I have since started using Remember the Milk as a pro user ($25/year) since the free RTM only syncs to Android once a day.
RTM isn’t as pretty as Wunderlist, and it has more than I need, but the proxy server thing kills Wunderlist for me.
I hope they fix it soon.
I think proofhub.com definitely deserves a mention on this list 🙂 It is a multipurpose tool that has proofing, time tracking, to-do’s, inbuilt chat etc. I’d highlight that it has an interactive interface. So, it makes planning projects on the go really quick and handy.
I agree. Wunderlist is awesome. It helps me manage my hectic college life really well. Never faced a problem with sync. And the new update to Wunderlist 3 is phenomenally good. The design is no frills and useful. Though it is a bit simple, but for me, that is all I need.
Except they’re insanely arrogant when it comes to support, had a nightmare of an experience with them that I CBF’d detailing once again, other than to say; it left a VERY sour taste in my mouth, never again.
I found in astonishment that some lists were missing in my workflowy just now.
I loved it so since I tried it.
Feeling dissappointed and helpless now.
Can I retrive them from some history version?
Wunderlist is not reminding me on my android device is there a problem? I need to manually check for my to do