Todoist is a full-featured to-do and task management app available for many platforms, including iPhone, iPad, and Mac. As of Thursday, Todoist is also available for the Apple Watch: The watch app lets you view, mark, and manage tasks right on your wrist. The iOS update also includes several improvements and performance enhancements to the Today view widget and share extension.
I've been using Todoist as my primary task and to-do app for several months now, and I appreciate that adding and managing tasks can be as simple or as complicated as I need it to be. More importantly, Todoist makes managing my day less of a task. With Todoist on my Apple Watch, I no longer touch my iPhone to triage tasks; instead, they come to me.
The first thing I do in the morning is to check Todoist and see what I have scheduled for the day. Typically, that means grabbing my iPhone and looking through the app's Inbox and Today views.
With Todoist on my Apple Watch, I no longer touch my iPhone to triage tasks. Instead, they come to me.
In the few weeks I've been testing Todoist on my Apple Watch, however, I haven't needed to pick up my iPhone in the morning. Instead, I swipe up from the clock screen of my Watch to reveal the Todoist Glance, which lets me quickly see how many tasks I have due for the day. Launching the full Todoist app provides an optimized and scaled down version of the iPhone app. The Inbox and Today views are right at the top — undoubtedly two of my most important views.
In a future version, I'd love to see the Next 7 Days view available on the Watch. I know Watch apps need to have limits and not be replicas of their iPhone versions, but personally, I like to preview what's coming up over the next several days.
Todoist for Apple Watch also lets you drill into projects, labels, and filters. For anyone using Todoist for collaboration, the Filters section makes it incredibly easy to see only tasks assigned to you. You can additionally use voice dictation to create tasks in Todoist on the Watch, but I haven't found a reason to use that feature yet. For task creation, the iPhone still seems like the most sensible choice, at least for me.
During the workday, I use Todoist on my Mac or my iPhone to add tasks as they come up. As they come due, I'm now depending on Apple Watch to keep me informed. If I've already completed a task, I can even mark it as complete right from my Watch. If I need to snooze it for later, I can do that too.
I've talked at length about my desire to spend less time with my iPhone. Todoist for Apple Watch is helping me further achieve that goal. It shows me what I need to know and leaves everything else where it belongs — on my iPhone, away from my immediate attention.
Developers have to pick and choose carefully what information is worth presenting on the Watch and what is better left on the iPhone. When it comes to productivity and efficiency, Todoist for Apple Watch succeeds in making all the right choices.
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iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.
