#todo Is Another Way To Look At Your Task List
#todo ($1.99) by Landasia Soft is a “smarter” way to look at task management.
Yes, I’m aware that there are a lot of todo apps out in the store, and they pretty much do the same thing. However, #todo caught me by surprise because it’s a bit different from what you have normally come across.
When you first launch the app, you get some tasks awaiting you that will show you how to use the app. It provides a good basic guideline for new users, and it’s not that hard to remember the actions used.
Since #todo is able to share your tasks with your friends (for comments and that fun stuff), you can log in with your Twitter or Facebook accounts. I’m not one to spam my friends with “achievements” from a task manager, so I would prefer to not share on my social networks. However, I think that the Game Center integration is better, because it will award you with achievement points (so you can brag to others about how many more points you have than them) once you accomplish certain things within the app, such as completing a todo or starring something.
There are four different tabs to view your tasks in: #Today, #Week (within the next seven days), #Open (no due date), and #Weekplus (more than a week until they are due). To create a new task, tap on the center button on the bottom toolbar, represented by a stack of index cards with the ? cutout on them.
When creating a new task, you can type the message, use the @ to add contacts (they will start appearing from your address book as you type), and # to add tags to a task (thus making it searchable). If you separate items with commas and insert the #list tag, this task will turn into a list of items instead (great for shopping lists).
A task can also be assigned no due date, in by a specific number of days, or done by a certain date. Additionally, you can use the hashtags to schedule something, such as #tomorrow, #friday, or #monday. If the new task is something that needs to be repeated, there are plenty of options for that in #todo. You can select the type of recurrence (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or custom), when it ends (no end, after count, after date), and when it should repeat itself (on completion or on due date).
Despite the app claiming that you can add photos to your tasks, for some reason, this feature was not working on my iPhone 4S. I even force quit the app and restarted it, attempted to make a new task and add a photo to no avail. Tapping on the buttons simply does nothing. Until this is fixed, it’s a huge black eye for the app.
When you’re done creating your new task, just tap on the + button and it will be added to your task list.
When viewing tasks, there are several gestures that will make it easy to manage them. You can tap on the checkboxes to complete items, double-tap them to edit (except with lists, double-tapping will bring up a window with the entire list), tap items once to bring up the delay (if on Today), move to today (if on any other view besides Today), or delete options, and tap and hold to move items around. There is also a shake-to-undo (and sort) option, though I am not a huge fan of the shake gesture (you kind of look silly doing that anywhere besides at home). You can also navigate between the various views by simply swiping the screen left and right.
The app features a search function, which is incredibly useful if you have a lot of tasks. However, the search can only search by tag, so it won’t be of much use if you forgot to tag an item or can’t remember what you tagged it with.
The settings for the app can be found in the search screen. From here, users can set a passcode lock, set how long an item should be delayed for (default is three days), toggle the smart app badge and daily reminder (time can be changed). The option to turn on the social sharing is here, and if you turn it on, you can change the prefix and suffix of your message. Photos can be shared to, if you can get it to work that is.
While I liked the concept of #todo, it still needs some work before it can be used daily. The interface isn’t that bad, though some elements look pretty plain (like the photo buttons). The biggest issue I had with the app, though, is the fact that adding photos is simply not working for me. I even restarted my iPhone 4S to see if the problem would be alleviated; nope, it’s still there.
I’d hold off on that $2 and find something else to manage your tasks.
