TaskIt: A new Todo/Project management app

[Chris McKay]

TaskPro: A new Todo/Project management app

Hi. I'm Chris McKay with Lakeridge Software. I've just posted a new todo/project management app called TaskIt.

The reasoning behind it is that I use tasks heavily and the todo managers on Android didn't have the options I needed/wanted. So, I wrote my own. It's inspired by the GTD method and some apps I've seen on the iPhone.

The heart of the app is that you have several views to help you get organized. There's an inbox for unfiled tasks, a Today view for tasks due today (or floating tasks), a Next view that displays everything due today, plus the top three tasks from every project, a future view to show everything scheduled in the future and a projects view to display all of your projects.

Since some projects may require multiple steps, which in turn need multiple steps, I've also added the ability to nest projects. You can even promote a task to a project if it turns out that the task is more complicated.

Eventually I plan on adding the ability to sync with a desktop client. For now, though, the tasks remain on your phone. If you need to, you can back them up into a semi-xml file on your storage card.

I wanted to make it as compatible as possible, so this is designed for Android 1.5 and later (it's been fully tested on a Motorola Cliq, a MyTouch 3G and a Nexus 1 running Froyo).

Here are a few screenshots:

If you're interested in trying it out, you just need to be able to side-load apps on your phone as it's not in the market during the beta test. You can download it from here:
http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/downloads/beta/TaskIt.apk

Thanks!

 

[Sph33r]

Hmm looks pretty nice. I probably need a good task management program, I'll give it a try.

 

[Brett]

this looks pretty interesting. i am currently using astrid but it a little too simplified for certain things. does this have a widget also or can it be used with Pure Calender Widget. if it does then this is a winner for me.

 

[Chris McKay]

It doesn't work with Pure Calendar Widget (I'd have to contact the developer for proper integration). However, it has a widget available as 2x2, 4x1, 4x2 and 4x3 (I should probably add a 4x4). Since Android doesn't let us add a checkbox to a widget, it's primarily informational, but all of the sizes except the 2x2 has a "new task" button.

Also, I forgot to add, it adds "New Task" and "New Project" to the long press of the search button so that you can create a task in any app without switching away (except to view the appropriate "new" dialog).

I'm trying to work out grabbing information from the builtin email client so that you can email yourself a task as well.

 

[azjerry]

Is there going to be charge after the beta? Ability to sync with Toodledo, Remember The Milk or ???? As a longtime Palm OS and DateBk6 user I was really into desktop syncing but since getting my Droid I have to say that being able to access my calendar/contacts/tasks from any PC is really sweet.

 

[Chris McKay]

When the beta period is finished, yes it will be a paid app.

As for syncing, I'm currently working on a desktop client (both Windows and Mac) that you can sync with. I had played with syncing to Toodledo and Remember the Milk, but some of the options I created aren't replicated on those services, making the sync not quite compatible, hence the need for a desktop client.

I'm also considering the idea of writing my own web service for viewing anywhere. I'll have to see how the reception of this app is for now, though.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Looks interesting. I downloaded it, and will try it out over the next couple of weeks. In general, I'm more calendar centric than task centric, but part of that is because most task apps are just too limited. This may have promise.

Thanks.

 

[melwan]

Looks really nice.

ANy chance to maybe activate "simpler" mode in the app to make it work/sync with Google Tasks using the workaround some devs are using (since there is no API yet)?

I'm asking because I'm willing to ditch Gtasks for your app

 

[Chris McKay]

I'll see what I can do. I definitely need to get the syncing solution in place ASAP.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

One of the things I was most glad to see was the implementation of floating tasks. Unfortunately, while the task floats, a reminder for the task doesn't. This doesn't really accomplish much. ANY task will float until marked complete. The benefit of marking something as floating is that you keep getting reminded.

If you can make the reminder alarm float, so it repeats every day until marked complete, I'll seriously consider paying for the app.

 

[todivefor]

Does it support recurring tasks?

 

[Groucho]

I don't mean to beat a dead horse however I really like the potential of this app but without calendar sync it is virtually useless. Sync to Google calendar and the issue is resolved for most users as the sync to Outlook can happen wirelessly.

 

[sojourner753]

Any chance in having exchange active sync support.
that is the missing piece for me.

 

[Minx]

I really like this app. Coming from Blackberry and Rexwireless this app comes the closest.
Just one thing though.
I am not sure what the Future selection is. I have tasks due in a few weeks and next week but nothing shows up in the Future category. I assume this Future is supposed to show tasks for beyond Next. Will it allow you to select how far in the future you want to show?
Other than that so far this app is pretty perfect.
Thanks so much.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Chris seems to have disappeared.

 

[Chris McKay]

Sorry. I didn't mean to disappear. The forum's subscription notice seems to be broken as I haven't received any notices that this topic was still being updated by anyone other than me. Then, it got buried, so I thought everyone had forgotten about it. So, sorry.

Anyway, I've been looking into your suggestions.

1) I'll add the floating reminders with the floating tasks. I really like that idea.
2) Syncing with Google calendar is tricky simply because Google Tasks doesn't have a sync API that I've been able to find. Though, I would really like to implement that as getting automatic Outlook syncing would be awesome.
3) The "Future" view is to show any items that have start dates in the future. It's possible that it was broken, so please download the update on the website listed in my first post.
4) Exchange ActiveSync could be tricky, but I'll see what I can do.

@todivefor:
Yes, it supports recurring tasks, though the recurrence is limited to daily, weekly, monthly and yearly at the moment.

 

[Minx]

Thanks

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Thanks for getting back to us. I'll be looking for your next release.

 

[WarER4X]

I tried gtasks, but thought it was un-elegant and some of its quarks annoyed me too much. Right now, I use Note Everything for task reminders any longer than a week away. It works well enough, but doesn't have much in the way of displaying a snapshot of upcoming tasks that are due. I'll give this a try. Maybe it's just what I need.

-SR-

 

[WarER4X]

I like the app so far. A couple of suggestions... it would be nice to have a menu button item to take the user back to the Taskit home screen. Otherwise, if my last active view of taskit was a specific task, then when I switch back to the app later it defaults to the same task display and I can't get back to the app without relaunching it. I think it would also be nice to see a widget that shows tasks that are due beyond today. Perhaps a scrollable widget is in order?

Keep up the good work! I might be willing to pay for this app when it is out of beta.

-SR-