image by gigaom
While there are many task management applications for mobile phones out there, only few manage to make a difference. Any.DO is one of them.
Created for lOS and Android, is one of the most beautiful apps I’ve seen for managing tasks.
Any.Do is not an advanced GTD application. It is a simple implementation of the classic task list and introduces some gestures for marking tasks complete and to clear completed tasks from the list.
While a mobile only application with no desktop counterpart, there is a sync option with Google Tasks which works pretty well.
Any.Do presents the user with a clear list of tasks with big fonts, separated by list names which can be expanded or collapsed by tapping. There are three views for your tasks, easily changeable from the application menu: by folder, due date or priority.
Tapping a task on the list, presents users with the specific task’s options: to set priority, folder, reminder, notes and share the task.
One good innovation of Any.Do is the multiple notes that can be added to a task, making it something like a project, since all of its notes can be marked as completed like any task. And by tapping a parent task you can see the number of its child notes, so you can actually manage small projects with this simple approach.
There are no popup menus anywhere, something that adds to the overall great design of the application, but might confuse some users at the beginning. A good example is editing folders: They can’t be edited in the main view but only in the selection window when assigning them to a task.
Reminders are also supported, as well as a simple form of recurring tasks for daily, weekly and monthly occurrences. There is also a nice feature of tracking missed calls and adding them to the task list as well as directly calling and emailing contacts.
Creation of tasks by voice is supported and there is a smart-fill functionality when typing to add a new task, filling up contact details and words.
Any.Do supports also task sharing with other users and uses the user’s Facebook account for that reason.
A minor complaint I had while testing the Android version, was the stubborn pre-defined and non-editable “personal” folder which was refusing to let go of its tasks I’ve already moved to other lists.
For users who wish there was a Desktop Any.Do there is a Chrome extension which handles tasks in a popup panel which will also ask you to login with your Facebook credentials.
In conclusion, Any.DO is a good and solid mobile app, ideal for people who use simple task lists, or maybe for some advanced users who manage their projects in a different system. For me, it’s the best designed task manager I have seen running on Android.
You can get it for free from the Apple App store and Google play.