Things 3 is expensive. You have to pay separately (and quite a bit) for the Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad apps.But they are one-time charges (I suppose until Things 4 is dropped and you want to upgrade). Things 3 includes syncing your Apple devices in iCloud. It appears that this is through a Things (developer) iCloud account, not your personal iCloud account. That’s great but I wonder if the Things business model accounts for “lifetime” syncing for users on the Things iCloud account based on one-time payments for the apps.In the end I think it’s worth the investment. There are a lot of great features. The to-dos can be organized in two tier groupings: 1) Areas, and then within that, 2) Projects. Free-form notes can be attached to each tier and the to-dos. Due dates, reminders, and start dates (if I remember correctly) can be assigned to the to-dos. Items on your Apple calendar can be added to the Things calendar so they show up on Things app today’s to-do (and future date’s) lists. Recurring tasks can be set to recur on successive calendar intervals or a on a set interval after a given task is marked completed. (Great for things like replacing your furnace filters.) Emails (for example from the Spark email client) can be added as Things to-dos, and a link to the actual email is included so you can read the email from the Things app. The emails are dropped into a Things Inbox and then moved into the appropriate Area/Project grouping.So far I haven’t found anything missing thing that I’d like or anything that doesn’t work in a way that I think is not OK.

Instead of boosting my productivity, my previous task management app had so many customization options that it actually ate away at my time. It became a procrastination tool. I could spend an hour entering dates, setting up filters, and customizing views only to realize at the end of that time that I hadn’t actually gotten anything done. In contrast, Things 3 is wonderfully simple and clarifying. It’s as powerful as my previous app, but it strips out all the distractions and the fussiness, leaving pure, easy-to-access essentials: tagging, scheduling & project organizing. The scheduling feature has been the real game changer for me. The app tracks due dates (if you have them) but—more importantly— you can also add a schedule date for each task. The interface makes it very easy to add, move, & view tasks in the schedule (while keeping due dates fixed). So you can plan your time (and easily rearrange that plan as needed). If you’re a GTD person, you can still use that methodology with Things 3 projects & tags. But I find that I do better by adding the accountability of a scheduled list of things that I want to get done on a particular day or in a particular week. Things 3 helps me organize and manage that schedule better than anything else I’ve found. And it gives me the powerhouse organization tool I need without sucking me down a rabbit hole of customization options.

I have tried numerous apps to try to stay on top of what I need to do, reoccurring tasks, upcoming events, and my accomplishments each day. I’ve used free apps, one-time fee apps, and subscription based apps. I end up either deleting them immediately, or I eventually stop using them due to how inefficient they are, or I end up with several apps to cover all my needs. I tried just using a regular physical journal, which I do recommend and I still use; but it doesn’t help me with reoccurring tasks or my incredibly long list of things I need to do for a specific category. An example would be, I have a special needs child who needs specialized schooling and assistance with every day tasks. Getting him the help he needs is covered by various government services but requires numerous steps on my part to get each need of his covered. It would require me to have a large desk planner to have something like this (which is basically a project but a one person, non paid project) planned out on a physical planner; but this app eliminates that necessity. I’m still new to this app, and I’m certain that I’m not using it to its extent, but as of now, it has been the best to-do app I’ve come across; paid or free! I have my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to delete some of my other apps and replace them with Things3!

I purchased this on my MacBook and on my iPhone. I was hesitant to purchase because I have bought countless things to help me get organized — planners, calendars, to-do lists, sticky notes, and utilized countless modalities — paper and pen, GoodNotes5, Google Keep, Google Tasks, YOU NAME IT! Nothing has really helped me, and I have probably wasted hundreds of dollars.Let me start off by saying that I am a very type A person and extremely productive, but I am also obnoxiously busy every day and have ADHD. It is hard for me to focus on what is the most important thing to do to because there’s just so much of it. I am currently a teacher, planning my wedding, I own an apartment building, and have so many other things on my plate. So, when my to-do list gets too long (AKA at about noon everyday), I become completely overwhelmed. I don’t know where to start or how to prioritize.This app is truly life changing for me. There’s no thrills and it only has what’s important. I can focus on what needs to be done without distractions. It helps me prioritize, I can schedule things out in advance, remind myself of things, organize projects, break difficult tasks into smaller steps, etc. I am SO beyond impressed with these apps and there features, and I am thrilled to have found them to start my year off right!

I've never rated/reviewed an app before. However when I saw this week's upgrade, I realized I need to let others know how amazing this app truly is. I’ve been using Things 3 for 4+ years (if not longer) and it’s only gotten better over time. Initially I tried many different types of To Do apps but this one did the best at separating my Personal life from my side Business and all the projects those involve. I loved the initial “training” that walked you through how to use Things 3. This app is my life saver…I use it numerous times a day and am constantly adding new things I need to remember to do. I love that it pulls in my Apple calendar events and works with my iPad & Apple Watch. It can be as simple as you want it or as advanced. I’d say mine is pretty in-depth, I have reminders set as far out as 3 years. I work with Drs in my side business and need to keep all their Credentialing up-to-date or they won’t get paid…this app has worked perfect for that. I love how I can plan each day (personal & business all separate) keeping the most important items at the forefront. I also love that I can look to see when I last took care of something, when I started it, who I spoke with, and when I completed it…assuming you write good notes. I used to use the Tags but I’m consist in how I write my ToDo’s and keeping them with their projects, so I don’t anymore but everyone has different “needs”. Since I’m consistent, I’ve always been able to find what I’m looking for when I search. The recent addition of being able to use my Apple Pencil is exciting and I look forward to trying it out. Thank you Things 3 for creating a great app and the continued improvements!

This is a fantastic simplified app of apple reminders on steroids. I have things on my Mac book pro, iPad , iPhone and Apple Watch. It is great with widgets, works well with Siri AI once you trained it and you can also sync it up with the action button using shortcuts. What I really like and enjoy about this app is how smooth everything works and syncs up with all of my apple devices. Creating tasks in the inbox on the fly and sorting them in folders of all kinds. I have a project folder, resource folder and an archive folder. It helps me organized what’s on the burner now , put stuff on the back burner and put things on the side and come back to it so I can keep all my thoughts and to dos all together. GUI is great and super appreciative that this as full optimization with the new IPhone Duo. If I had to improve the app I would really enjoy it if things could add photos to the todo or project folders. Photos was a great way to illustrate what needed to be done like if I created a “clean this” todo I could take a picture of the dishes or the litter box to remind me visually again how bad it is and needs to be done very soon. If the devs could implement that on all my devices I will never try any other todo list app again!

*UPDATE #1When adding a new to do, start with hitting “today” then add reminder and work your way up to today or this evening and you don’t have to keep going back in to add different settings! Yay! Still playing...So disappointed. I am currently using Alarmed and REALLY like it. Except for 2 things: 1. They do not update it anymore and 2. It really isn't organized. I thought Things 3 looked so very organized so thought I would make the change over. It IS organized but I would like a nag me option when I need to be reminded continually until an item is completed. It is also cumbersome to set a to do and not be able to set reminder, date, time, note, category all on same “screen”. I would really rather not see my to do until the time/alarm I set goes off. For example: If I have 5 things “to do” today but only one due at 9:00 am. I don’t want to see the badge app red number say 5 I want it to say 1 because it is only 9 am still. (I am still playing and learning. Maybe there is a better way of doing what I need?) The other items become due throughout the day at various time of alarm set...For the price I paid I’m disappointed and would liked to have had a free version 7 day trial or something. Maybe an update will include the above complaints? I am going to keep using it in hopes it grows on me. It is just so different and well you know....change isn’t easy ;) Looking forward to updating stars after I use it for a while and decide if it is worth it to buy the iPad version...

I love the flow of the app. It feels really good to use and I like that it isn’t overflowing with complication. One thing that I would love, which may seem a little redundant, would be to have tasks able to be locked until other specific tasks are marked off. Kind of like the checklist feature, except if it could be with other tasks from anywhere. Like having a “Long Term Goals” Area with something like “Get a job in so and so career”, but it couldn’t be marked off until you marked off “Graduate” under the “School” Area. Sure you can do that without a feature like this, and you can pretty much do that with individual Projects, but it would be cool to see that work across all your Areas and Projects, leading up to one big goal. It would be like different paths are unlocking, and I think it would be distinct enough to act different than Projects themselves. Another example would be a Project to finish reading a book, with Tasks being “Finish chapter one”, “Finish chapter two”, etc. Finishing the book would be the goal of the Project, but what if there was a “Start a book club” Project or Task that only unlocked once you marked off finishing chapter one? I think that would be exciting to open and unlock things like that.