In my never ending, always evolving, quest to find the most suitable task manager (see how I said suitable not perfect), I think I have finally identified my needs and the way I want to really use these tools without too much mental friction.
This past week or so I have been playing with both Todoist and TickTick. The reason I have picked these two over the most popular choices (Things 3 and OmniFocus is because each one of them have an available web application. Unfortunately at work its windows only, furthermore we don’t even have PC’s, we use Virtual Desktops, aka VDI’s. Thus the reason why having a web application is paramount. There are other cool things like they both have natural language which makes creating tasks so so easy (I love it so much 😍). Again, having a way to access these applications via web is very important — to me that is.
TickTick sort of strikes me as a much matured version of Todoist. They both sort of behave exactly the same except for a few features. This might sound weird to some people but design-wise I prefer Todoist, It’s the most simple and minimalistic of the two, and I like that about it. Not to many bells and whistles. It shows all your tasks and lists on one single page-view, love it! TickTick’s design it’s a little different, I don’t find it as minimalistic, I really don’t like the side bar to access your lists and folders, really not a fan. I do like though, how it shows all your tasks and events in one single list, that I like.
Another thing that Todoist lacks that TickTick does well it’s calendar integration. It is nice to have all your upcoming events and tasks in one place. With Todoist I always have to pair it with a calendar app (whether is the stock calendar app or a third party one) and juggle between them. Not a huge deal but one place to get all your information it’s always nice.
Todoist’s web app, just like the iOS app has a very minimalistic design and navigating it it’s a breeze. Whereas TickTick’s seems a little clunkier. Then again I’m running these websites on a VDI so everything so the experience isn’t great to begin with, however, it’s my live environment. There have been a few instances where I am trying to add a tag to a task and TickTick’s website kind of freeze on me or is not as quick, there’s definitely some lag. With Todoist’s, I haven’t had any issues whatsoever — yet. Sync between the web app and the iOS apps are pretty quick on both applications (thumbs up).
As an Apple Watch owner, I like my complications. The Watchface I have always been a fan of and use all the time on the series 4 is the Modular Infograph. Todoist doesn’t have complication support for the Infograph watchfaces yet, unfortunately. On the other hand,TickTick does have support for Infograph Complications, which they are nice to have. Still not sure how important this is to me if I am being honest. I mean, I kind of like having a number somewhere showing me how many tasks I have for the day, I think. (🤔,🤷🏻♂️)
So far I believe both task managers can very well suit my needs. I think ultimately it’ll come down to which one I feel more comfortable with. Which one would give me a better experience and functionality. My Todoist subscription won’t expire until mid April, TickTick’s by the end of March. I think I’ve got plenty of time to decide I’d say.
The ideal scenario though, would be if Things had a web application. This is an app that I already own, on both Mac and iOS, there’s no subscription for it and I could make it work for me just fine (probably). The idea of another subscription bothers me a little bit, simply because I already have too many (🤫). I know OmniFocus is currently working on a web app but OmniFocus is not what I want or need, right now. Or even a better scenario would be if I had a Mac at work instead (😃). That, would be swell. Wouldn’t it?
IN OTHER NEWS:
Why is winter still a thing? 🌨😝
