[amix]

If you are looking for an alternative todo app that is in it for the long haul, check out Todoist. We have been at it longer than Wunderlist (12+ years), and we will never sell out. As I like to put it, death is my exit strategy. For more thoughts about this, check out https://doist.com/blog/no-exit-strategy/

[nxc18]

I’ve been a huge Todoist fan and premium subscriber since 2013. At the time it was hard to find anything that got task management right and worked on every platform.

One question: are you still innovating/investing in the core to-do experience, or is all your effort being put into Twist? Todoist is fantastic (I continue to evangelize it and have converted a few friends already) but it is starting to feel like it could use some love. The last big update I’ve noticed is dark mode support, but there are improvements I could see. It’s still by far the best option, I just think I got used to a more regular update cadence and some of the novelty has worn off.

Sorry if this comes off as critical in any way, I sincerely encourage everyone who reads this to give Todoist a try! The ability to add labels, projects and dates with text saves a lot of clicks :)

[amix]

Most of the company are working on Todoist, and we have a big update coming in October. For the past two years, we have worked on an initiative called Todoist Foundations, which is redoing and rethinking some of the design and tech debt we had (e.g., the web app has been rewritten to use React and Redux).

I understand the frustration, but it was critical for us to spend time on improving the core.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Todoist user here, personal use only at this stage.

Just as a counter to the comment you replied to, if an app has matured I personally prefer fewer updates as far as new features go and prefer updates only for bug fixes, especially in enterprise software.

For what it’s worth, we’re currently looking for task management software at work (steel fabrication industry) and I’m looking to potentially evangelise Todoist.

[phs318u]

> ... redoing and rethinking some of the design and tech debt we had ...

> ... it was critical for us to spend time on improving the core.

Bravo! Ensuring the foundations are solid (and in this instance, going back and doing this despite the product's success) is a great sign that you believe in the product's long-term development. Not just milking it while the sun shines. As a customer, that encourages my faith in the vendor.

EDITED: formatting.

[md5wasp]

Hey, thanks for being active in the comments! I really love Todoist, and I used to be a paying subscriber except I had a bug that I couldn't quite get support to even understand, let alone fix!

I like to leave Todoist open in a permanent/pinned tab. Often, when I open that tab, the pre-filled date for "today" in the new-task-entry area is stale, yesterday or a few days ago (right now it's 5th September). I assume because that's populated on page load and never updated?

What will happen is that I enter a task without setting a date, meaning I want it for today. It then saves that task as ONE YEAR IN THE FUTURE minus one day. The task then gets forgotten and not done :(

Also, I cannot get Siri to understand "todoist". I've tried every pronounciation, even "2-doyst"!

I really love Todoist, but that one bug hits me so often!

[amix]

I hope this gets improved in the October release. If not, please feel free to reach out over email (it’s in my HN profile).

[heliostatic]

This is great to hear, actually. I'm also a premium subscriber, and I don't need a ton of new features, but improving the core speaks to another ten years of stable development.

[wikibob]

Can you please copy the Wunderlist UI? Specifically the way tasks have a nice clear outline around them. Todoist’s all white with text design makes it hard for me to get the same feeling of todos on a virtual paper list that I get from Wunderlist. The items blur into each other.

[spondyl]

My only issue with Todoist is that it seems to crash instantly on my LineageOS device when attempting to sign in with email. I'd love to use it otherwise :(

[nxc18]

Thanks for the reply, that’s awesome to hear. Can’t wait to see the update :)

[rollinDyno]

I've been using Todoist for 5 years and even though they're still my favourite solution in the market I don't think they're innovating in any way. I always have half a mind to create my own app implementing features no todo app has yet.

Tbf, I have tried to reach out to Amir but he seems to busy to reply (?).

[Mayzie]

Can somebody please explain the advantages of a todo app, like Todoist, over say a calendar app like Google Calendar? Everyone seems to love them, but cannot give me a good reason _why_, other than "I use it to jot down little tasks which I don't think a Calendar app is suitable for." I'm a current subscriber to Todoist, but just don't see why I should pay when Google Calendar seems to do everything I need (and more)? As an ADHD sufferer, the reminder system in most todo apps only remind you once about 30 minutes prior to the task due and that's it, instead of being able to delay a reminder and remind me again 5 minutes before a task is due, 1 minute, or even 5 minutes after a task is due.

[charles_f]

It's part of a process. I'm following more or less GTD.

When I realize I have something to do and it doesn't need to be done right away, I log it in my task inbox. Everyday I start the day by reviewing the inbox and qualifying it - is there a due date, how long will it take, is it important, etc. Then I plan my day by peaking things based on the triage. Once a week I review the entire list of tasks.

Calendars work for meetings, but for a more advanced system it doesn't.

I used to be on Wunderlist, migrated to ms to-do, the "my day" feature is awesome.

[eduren]

Hey, as a fellow ADHD sufferer, I totally agree that fine-grained reminders and the "remind me again in X minutes" functionality is huge in a productivity app. I find that a reminders-based app needs to have a fairly specific level of forcefulness, or basically the ability to "nag" you. Too often, and it becomes noise. Too forceful, and I find myself hating the experience and it backfires.

That said, I'm actually getting a lot of mileage from a new one I'm trying "Due" (iOS/mac only. unfortunately). Really lightweight reminder system with a great snooze feature at its core. Recommend giving it a shot.

My current system is two-tiered. I have a traditional to-do manager (Omnifocus) for more abstract project tracking, and a lighter weight app (Due) for reminders. Not having it all in one system, or integrated between the two is kind of a plus for me in some ways. When I get a reminder, I don't have to "load" the full context (and emotional baggage) of the overall project/task in order to make a decision. It becomes more reflexive, with the easiest options being to just do it or pick another time for the reminder.

[will_pseudonym]

One thing a calendar app wouldn't handle as well is tasks that don't have due dates, per se.

[umeshunni]

The other reason I use a task list is for tasks that have subtasks. E.g. I have to renew my driver's license but to do that I need to file a foobar form and print out a proof of address etc..

[satvikpendem]

You may be interested in my app that has subtasks as calendar events: https://getartemis.app

[amix]

When I develop, which unfortunately isn’t very often now, I usually try to split a project/task into smaller manageable chunks. This makes it easier for me to estimate and track work and feel like I am doing progress when I check things off. You can see an example here https://twitter.com/amix3k/status/1138363500147937281?s=21

[tricolon]

I keep many lists in Wunderlist and I hardly ever set reminders or due dates.

[satvikpendem]

Not to plug my own product here, but I'm working on a todo list + calendar app (https://getartemis.app) because I think I am the same way as you (even though I don't have diagnosed ADHD specifically) with regards to todo list apps. I want to know exactly what I'm doing at all times, as it's too easy to procrastinate with a todo list ("I can just do it later..."). Google Calendar doesn't have the same advantages of tracking even though it works well for knowing what to do when; it can't for example, track that you're working in a specific project with its own subtasks, as each event/task in GCal is discrete and has no semantic connection to another.

Additonally, why can't I say, for example, that I want to work on a project for 10 hours a week, and my calendar automatically schedules it for me, to work on an hour and a half each day, based on some preferences like morning, afternoon, evening time periods? These are some of the things I want to address with my app.

[acjohnson55]

I use a todo list for prioritization. I'm not good at letting a calendar run my life, because I can't be sure I'll be in the mindframe to do a given task well and happily ahead of time. A todo list lets me track tasks without committing to times.

[steve_adams_86]

Thanks for your work on todoist. I've used it religiously for almost 2 years and I can't imagine using something else now. There are a lot of softwares out there where I use more than one (IDEs, browsers, music players, operating systems), but nothing compares to todoist for me.

[bachmeier]

Todoist is currently the best option out there. I have a Premium subscription and recommend it to everyone, in spite of the free alternatives (which on my campus includes MS To-Do, since Office 365 is provided for free).

Having said that, it's not perfect. You need to be prepared for some frustrating bugs in the web app. That includes having been unable to log in on my laptop for several days. Todoist gets updated too frequently relative to the ability to test for and identify bugs. Finding that a pile of my tasks were marked done was not a moment of joy, and having items scheduled for the wrong day wasn't a great experience either. That Todoist is easily the best option is a function of the low quality and excessive prices of the competition.

[amix]

Hmm, these are some serious issues, and they should not be common at all. I hope you have reported them to our support team ([e-mail]).

[bachmeier]

Yes, I've been reporting most bugs as I encounter them.

(Just realized amix is Amir Salihefendić. I thought it was a Todoist employee, though rereading the OP it should have been obvious.)

[rb666]

Please add a sound option when ticking off items. This is honestly the only reason I am with Wunderlist over the other TODO apps/sites. Such a small feature but gives a lot of joy!

[danoc]

Love the Wunderlist sound! Check out this sound design study about it:

https://medium.com/@lexkon/sound-design-studies-wunderlist-3...

[aylons]

This sounds like a perfect case for a UserJS

[XCSme]

I still use Todoist, but mostly as a note-keeping app. I prefer Trello now as the Kanban board makes organizing and updating tasks much easier than the folder/list structure of Todoist.

[GilbertStanley]

Moved off from Trello to Restya, probably the best looking and working kanban out there. Restya(https://restya.com/board) is an excellent free Trello alternative, especially if you want to have Kanban and Gantt in a single solution. Here is the comparison between Restya and Trello https://restya.com/board/comparison. We are very happy with the services provided by the Restya team and would recommend them to all who want to buy their products or use their development services.

[ztjio]

Hard to accept this as an alternative given the terrible UX. Admittedly been about a year since I last demo'd it but at that time, most platforms still lacked basic drag and drop, even for ordering. This whole "we'll pretend every platform in a web browser from 2005" approach to UI is very debilitating.

My personal recommendations are OmniFocus and Things. Obviously this is going to favor Mac users and people who care a lot about UX.

As a second tier alternative, I'm interested in where MS ToDo is going. They have been iterating fast and making lots of important improvements. It already feels better than Wunderlist anyway. That is its heritage so no surprise there.

[amix]

I am unsure what drag and drop you are referring to, but Todoist should have full support for this. E.g., you can drag a file and add it as a task on both our Mac and Windows apps.

[slightwinder]

Todoist has Drag n' Drop, just not in every view. Yes, it can be a pain, but it also makes sense to limit those abilities in an automatic generated list.

[AdamGibbins]

I used Todoist for years, upon discovering it and following its development on your blog almost a decade ago. Sadly I ditched it a few years back upon discovering the power of start dates, I'd jump back in a heartbeat if you ever added them.

[miek]

What did you end up using?

[AdamGibbins]

Remember The Milk, similar advanced search and filtering syntax as Todoist, but has start dates.

[jrrs1982]

I hope this is the cards/kanban update!!?!! Have been holding out ages for this. Love the app, its my favourite and i have tried them all, my main point of value is that the platform is so stable. Thank you! Missing features 1) task start date (and option to hide those that have not started / in future), 2) sequential task linking, 3) heading sections that are not actually considered as tasks i.e. : just hides the button, should change task 'class', if that makes sense in an OOP manner, better subdivision of projects 4) My day view in to do by microsoft is great - a quick add / starring system to highlight priorities for the day would be great, p1,p2,p3 are not really that useful, but could be converted like to-do, to a 'today' type thing... may just change a filter for displaying p1-3 for top three priorities for the day instead of importance of the task (love the custom filters) 5) Why is there no calendar view 6) google calendar integration - the tasks need to be better synced, i lack confidence in the 2-way sync with google 7) completing a task should remove the task from google calendar... I could keep going, todoist is the best task manager out there. Ps repeat after completion is essential in task management i seriously wonder why so many apps lack that feature. 8) habit tracking... a bubble 'streak' format integration for repeating tasks... would love that... basically i think the app is missing views, it requires more clarity when you have a lot of tasks. My 2 and a few cents. Looking forward to the new version!

[slightwinder]

Wunderlist is a list-app first. Taskmanagment is just an extension. Todoist on the other quite sucks for lists, because task-managment realluy is all it's about.

Which is kinda bad, because I'm searching for a good list-app for a good time now. Todoist is a good daily driver, but not a good app for notes in list-form.

[socksy]

They haven't had a lot of feature development in recent times (as far I can tell), but doesn't workflowy fit that perfectly?

I've only started to move away from it in order to do task management better, but still use it for shopping, inventory, checklists etc and it's a really smooth experience.

[mizzao]

I switched to Todoist after the death of Google Inbox (since I was using my inbox as a to-do list) and surprisingly it was the closest replacement for how I was using Inbox (with browser plugin), even more so than other email clients. I've been really enjoying it.

[larrik]

How well does the Linux version work?

[amix]

There are 2 unofficial and open source Linux clients:

- http://todoistlinux.hakimouake.com/

- https://github.com/KryDos/todoist-linux

There are also various command line clients, e.g.: https://github.com/sachaos/todoist

[input_sh]

Third-party apps are great and all, but if you're using GNOME, add a Todoist account in Settings -> Online Accounts and use gnome-todo for a truly native experience.

[cweagans]

I've tried this a couple times, but Gnome Todo crashes on launch whenever I have my Todoist account set up.

You also miss out on the Todoist search functionality if you use Gnome Todo.

[zwayhowder]

There is no official client, but their API is public and documented. I use Todoist https://github.com/sachaos/todoist as my daily driver. It has offline support and the integration with peco is sublime.

[udkl]

Feature request : Could you add a "Sections" sub headers inside projects. So I could divide a project into it's phases. Helps to mentally categorize the different milestones of a project and the associated tasks. Check Chaos Control for an example.

[m3jia]

I tried todo-ist for a while but kept having sync issues between mac/iphone. So many times I would open my app and not see my data up to date until I killed/re-opened. Gave me a mini heart attack and switched back to wonderlist for now.

[keyle]

"Death is my exit strategy".

That made my day. Also, it's parenthood's only strategy.

[throwaway40324]

Your no exit strategy article just had a huge impact on me in so many ways, thanks!

[intsunny]

Holy cow, your Android widgets "Add task" and "Show tasklist on home screen" are what I've always wanted. Thank you so much!

[circlesguy2]

todoist seems nice. It is an app that does one thing and does it well. If you want to do more than just tasks, check out my app: https://circles.app It creates tasks too, and you can assign tasks to your family members. But you can also create and share notes, lists, links, files, photos, etc.

[buzzerbetrayed]

Any where I can find more info about circles before creating an account? Your website (at least on mobile) has almost no information about what I am signing up for.

[megaremote]

Or the other 10,000 todo apps. It seems to the be the choice for first projects for new developers.

[op00to]

Why todoist and not omnifocus? I have tried over and over to get into omnifocus and failed.

[garmaine]

OmniFocus has too many knobs to tweak. That’s an anti-productivity pattern imho.

Also OmniFocus has platform lock in.

[SilverSlash]

Todoist is great. Cheers!

[Phenomenit]

Love the stuff and also lack of exit strategy. If a owner and ceo truly belived in her/his company they would never sell it. It's like a child.

[ericd]

At some point most parents are ready for their children to move out and do their own thing.

[kfrzcode]

Meh, give me a self-hosted or open core version and maybe I'll consider switching from taskwarrior

[keithwhor]

Bold negotiation tactic. I'm a fan. I've often found myself at Best Buy explaining that I'd gladly buy a new computer if they can ship all of the hardware components to me for free and I'll assemble them myself.

That way, Best Buy doesn't make any money and I spend hours of my day (which, by the way, I bill my employer hundreds of dollars per hour for during the work week) assembling something that I'll have to do all the maintenance and upkeep for myself! Everybody wins!

[buzzerbetrayed]

Self-hosted != free

It’s more like going to Best Buy and just buying a computer. End of analogy. Because that means you now own the computer and Best Buy can’t one day prevent you from using it or stop you from getting your data out of it.

Btw, I use Todoist and don’t need all my software to be self hosted. But I understand why some people do want that.

[erikpukinskis]

I don’t understand your point... there are lots of paid self-hosted apps?

[kfrzcode]

I'm not sure I agree with your analogy. I enjoyed the Todoist client when I tested it, but if there exists a hackable, self-hosted version with even a subpar UX, I'll choose it over the freemium/hosted option du jour. Point being, even if the cool CEO who's in the comments says he won't sell out, he still is YADS (yet another data shepard).

[amix]

Todoist is fully hackable via our API https://developer.todoist.com/sync/v8/, and your data isn’t locked in.

The self-hosted solution isn’t an excellent option for a todo list as integrations, plugins, and apps are critical. E.g., we actively maintain over ten apps and plugins and integrate with 100s of others (e.g., Zapier).