Appigo Todo for iPad

Todo for iPad (currently $4.99, but the price is going up soon) is a task management app by Appigo, the makers of Todo for iPhone. This is one beautiful app, but its beauty goes beyond appearances — Appigo has created a sophisticated, feature-rich task manager.

First, a confession:  I am a task manager addict, and I can’t make a commitment to any one application. On my Mac, I had trysts with Things and OmniFocus, but OmniFocus won my heart with its nested folders (Things’ insistence on a tags-only interface just didn’t work for me, so I said, “Adieu”).  On my iPhone I have at least ten task management apps, and, admittedly, I flit between them like a butterfly in a field of bluebonnets. I still haven’t chosen one.  On my iPad, I currently have only three to-do apps (Taska, Things, and Todo), so my affections aren’t stretched as thin.  I’ve already reviewed Taska, and I plan to review Things soon.  Today, however, I have eyes only for Appigo’s Todo.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Todo is its beautiful user interface. Todo replicates a three-ring planner, complete with embossed leather in your choice of colors, a nice selection of paper styles, and even different colors for the binder bracket and rings (see the options in the gallery). Page turns are smoothly animated, and the motif is so carefully polished that it doesn’t seem cartoonish or cheesy.

All View

The main view contains your project lists on the left side (they appear on the plastic paper protector of the binder).  Here you see several permanent categories:  All, where you can have the app list all your tasks or filter them; Focus, which lists tasks that are due soon; Starred, for special tasks; and an Inbox where you can dump all your tasks initially. Underneath the permanent categories you can add your own project categories.

On the right hand side is where your sub-projects, tasks, and checklists appear. Todo allows you to create three major kinds of task items when you press the ‘+’ button on the upper left:  normal, project, or checklist. “Normal” creates a single task; “Project” creates a project with multiple tasks, and “Checklist” creates a list of items.  When you create tasks and projects, you can assign due dates and times, repeat actions, priorites, contexts, and tags. Checklist items do not have these options. In addition to these major task items, Todo allows you to create specific kinds of tasks quickly:  call a contact, email a contact, SMS a contact, visit a location, and visit a website. Each of these specialized tasks has its own dialog for filling in the requisite information. This is a helpful and unique feature in Todo.

Task Category Options

One really nice feature is the quick task button (a plus sign with a lightning bolt). When you tap this button, a one line dialog pops up and you can add several tasks rapidly simply by pressing the return button. This is especially handy when you want to do a brain dump into the inbox without having to categorize tasks.

Quick Task Entry

Settings

Along the bottom screen are four buttons:  the sync button (syncing is discussed below), the context button (for filtering by context), the tags button (for filtering by tags), and the settings button. The settings button takes you to the back inside cover of your binder.  In its pocket are the settings options.  Here you can choose how you want to sort your tasks, decide on your theme, and adjust all the other settings for your tasks.  In addition you can configure alerts (which requires you to provide Appigo with your email address), and set up synchronization.

Sync Options

Appigo offers two methods by which you can synchronize your tasks with your iPhone, Mac, and/or PC: Appigo Sync or Toodledo.  Both methods are easy to set up in the app, but you’ll also have to download a copy of Appigo Sync to your computer and/or create an account at Toodledo if you don’t already have one. Using Appigo Sync has the advantage of allowing you to sync your computer with iCal or Outlook.

What’s Macgasmic: Todo is a terrific task management program with a gorgeous UI and tons of features. It offers some unique touches, such as specific task actions (like call a contact, visit a location); multiple syncing options; and batch task actions. You can set up repeating tasks, receive notifications for tasks with specific due dates and times, and enjoy the benefits of the Focus list which automatically collects your most pressing tasks.

Focus View

What’s Not: As with any application, there are a few things I don’t like about Appigo’s Todo.  First, I like being able to have projects with sub-projects, and sub-projects with sub-sub-projects. Although Todo allows you to have major project categories and projects within those categories, it doesn’t allow you to create projects within projects. So far, I’ve only found one task manager that allows me to make almost unending hierarchies, and that is OmniFocus. Arranging to-dos hierarchically, however, is not important to everyone.  In fact, many people prefer using tags to organize their to-dos.

Second, I discovered that moving tasks from one list to another isn’t very intuitive in Todo.  For one thing, you can’t do this via drag and drop, which seems like an obvious must-have feature on a touch interface.  Instead, you tap a button that looks like a little bookshelf on the upper right of your screen. This opens up several options. You can manually re-order (but not move to another folder) your items; you can select an item or multiple items and schedule a due date (button on lower right); or you can move the items to other projects or checklists or assign contexts or tags to them (button on lower left). While this is terrific for acting on multiple items simultaneously, it took me quite some time to figure out how to move things using this interface.

Move Tasks Options

Third, although Todo syncs with Toodledo, iCal, or Outlook, the fact that it does not have a dedicated desktop counterpart might be a deal breaker for some folks. Personally, I’m beginning to wonder if I need a desktop task manager since I have my iPhone with me all the time and I like the iPad applications even better than the desktop ones.

Last, in portrait view Todo looks strangely elongated and loses the pleasing symmetry of the landscape view.  I normally hold my iPad in landscape position anyway, but those of you who prefer portrait may not like the looks of the app as much.

Todo is definitely one of the best task managers available on the iPad (and iPhone). It offers a gorgeous interface, the flexibility of folders and tags, and two great options for syncing your information. Todo is currently priced at $4.99, but even at its regular price (presumably $9.99), it is still much cheaper than Things ($19.99).

Right now my favorite iPad task manager is Appigo’s Todo. The problem is, sometime this summer OmniFocus for iPad will begin singing its siren song. And, like Odysseus, I will have to be lashed to my office chair; otherwise, I will be off to the App Store, downloading another lover. . . erm . . . task manager.