Things for iPhone review

I recently decided to review my to do app for iPhone and I’ve always liked the look of Things which has always had good reviews but I've held of buying it due to price. I should probably cover a bit of my to do history at this point. I started off using Todo which is a simple straight forward app that has an inbox where you can dump ideas for later review when ready. Very much like Things except it doesn't default to inbox and also didn't explain the point of the inbox. As a to do newbie that would have been helpful to me 2 years ago. Todo worked well for me but I wanted something with a more informative calendar after a few months, so it would show days I already had tasks for to avoid putting to much in to each day. This lead me to 2Do. A very pretty app with the extra functionality but the lack of the inbox. I could have created the inbox as a folder but that felt too fiddley to me and back when I started out using to do’s I wasn't using the inbox anyway. In fact I initially thought "why would I have a to do app pull in my email". I continued using 2Do for about a year before finally read up on to do management and discovered the point in the inbox. On this enlightenment I immediately moved to to using Todo. Things were great until Todo started playing up and randomly deleting items out of checklists so back to 2Do I went.
I then discovered Due via the app store featured list. This is a great simple nagging to do app and one I still use today (I also reviewed Due separately) as its great for those things that must be done at a particular time.
I wasn't happy using 2Do however found myself not getting the more complex multi part to do’s done or even added. I then realised it’s due to the unnecessary and more complex to do creation process of 2Do. I don't need location based reminders or the ability I set numerous alarms for something. Due does the alarm thing better and I don't want gps eating my battery life.

So now here we are, finally biting the bullet an buying Things. And wow, I so wis I had just got it 2 years ago. It's easy to use with its simple but balanced to do creation. It's well organised and pleasurable to use. To quote the devs, it is a to do management app that doesn't get in the way of to do management. For me they have struck the right balance of options and simplicity to use with quick event creation to the inbox and more complex project creation for the more complex things to be done.
Things has one alarm option that you set to go off at the best time for you in the day then it sounds the alarm if you have items due today. The iPhone vid on the devs website really sums up the app quite well. The only point the video can't get across is how nice Things is to use.


I still think Things is a bit on the expensive side considering you have to pay separately for the iPad app which is about double the iPhone app price. If it were a universal app I'd give it 5 stars but considering everything else and the cost I'm going to give it 4/5. I still feel it’s my to do app of choice and would recommend it to anyone serious about to do management.


- Veiledbunneh

Images from Culturecode wedsite, developers of Things.