Todoist to gain Trello-like board view

Software
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In 2016 Todoist introduced (then shuttered mid-2017) Boards by Todoist, which was Windows-only, but they apparently used the lessons learned there to integrate kanban into Todoist proper. The founder of Todoist shared on Twitter a sneak peek of ‘boards’ for Todoist on an iPhone, coming next year. Here we see a Project in boards-view (with actionable tick-off items, something as yet unavailable on Trello for iOS):

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Same labels, comments, ability to assign tasks to other people, etc as before. Tick-off subtasks and ability to see if there are comments inside subtasks too. Looks good so far, and it’s just about time for these changes too, as a number of apps and services are also offering multiple views, like ZenKit.

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I’m really excited for 2019 with Todoist. There seems to be a lot of work on the redesign and I love the concept of boards.

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I’m looking forward to seeing the changes they’ve got planned. In an August interview they spoke of a “reimagining” of the app/service in an upcoming redesign, and this seems to be the first inkling of the changes they’re making.

The current way to make subtasks is suboptimal - make a task and drag it to the right so it becomes a subtask to the item above it. (Taskade and other apps do the same thing). This needs to be made better. TickTick does subtasks right, for example.

Last minth I signed up for a year’s worth of Premium. So far I’m liking the app a lot, but the UI could be better and prettier (Things is miles above it in the looks department, for example). But it’ a solid service, does what I need it to do, and I love the 2-way calendar sync, so that if I move a Todoist item in my calendar it changes in Todoist itself as well.

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The two-way calander sync is, in the end, the reason I went back to ToDoist from OF3. The ability to view (and manage,at times) tasks in my calendar is indespensable to my workflow. For some reason, viewing my calendar in my task app isn’t my preferred way of contextualising the two components. I also find elements of the UI easier to use than other task managers I’ve tried, such as attaching documents, though the overall design feels a bit dated…especially on the iPad.

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I think you make some good points @Meredith . Todoist needs a refresh, but then again so do most longstanding to-do apps (eg FireTask, 2Do, even OmniFocus, in my opinion). I think the future look of task management apps for individuals is more in the vein of Things and TickTick and Taskade: easier on the eyes, simple to start with but with extensible and expandable power hidden from those with basic needs.

The 2-way calendar sync really is a killer feature, since calendar items are different from actionable tasks, but if you’re setting up a time/date/place for a task it is extremely useful to see it on the calendar - and be able to move it around the calendar if needed.

I periodically use Trello, and would probably use it more except I just don’t want to delve into yet another app for my daily tasks and planning. I use it when I really need a step-by-step view of tasks. (I used to use index cards on a corkboard so it’s a familiar and useful tool for some scheduling and development.)

That’s why ZenKit has been intriguing to me, and why I’ve been keeping an eye on it. It lets you quickly switch between modes: list, calendar, Trello/kanban, mindmap(!), tables. And unlike Todoist it does checklists right, and it offers rich text editing. (And for those who collaborate [not my interest] it also lets you ‘mention’ people like on this site, lets you assign tasks, track activities, and invite people into projects…) And like Todoist it too has 2-way Google Calendar sync ! The free version should be enough for most individuals, but the first pay tier (which enables recurring items) seems overpriced at $108/year.

From years of development Todoist remains the more mature product, though, and I think still leads with its natural language entry, its outstanding recurring items, and multiple timers for individual events. The Mac app is not Mac-like, the iOS app is not iOS-like, but the point was apparently to look the same on all its platforms, which it does. (That said, it still should look better.) I signed up last month for a year of premium to see how well I could integrate it into my life, but also for (a) the promise of the upcoming refresh and (b) to lock in the $29/year pricing (which has now officially gone up to $36/year). So far I’ve found that as long as I stay with it multiple times/day, and put everything in it (actionable tasks only - I put lists elsewhere), it delivers.

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I’m happy to hear you are enjoying Todoist as I have been with them for more than a year now with Premium membership. I even have my subscription until 2020 due to winning their raffle. So far, this is the longest I’ve used a Todo app coming from Things (1-2), OmniFocus and 2do. So far, Todoist stick to my workflow and used it constantly.

Thanks for letting us know the current development. Not a fan of card-based but we’ll see if it helps me get more things done in the future.

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It appears to be an optional view, so it shouldn’t be problematic for you. At least, I can’t imagine Todoist imposing it on on users.

Despite my liking Todoist and not especting to drop it any time soon, I’d hoped to be able to use it to replace an app I’d also been using, but I haven’t. I’m still wedded to all the other apps I’m using - Google_Keep for checklists that aren’t actionable, Apple_Notes (which could to checklists but doesn’t do it as well as Keep), Google Calendar (via Readdle Calendars5 on iOS and a web-app on my Mac), and Due on iOS/Mac, for noisy/persistent alarms that none of the other apps are able to duplicate. My one hope is that Todoist sufficiently improves its checklists so I can at least drop Keep.

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I like Trello for tasks that are sequential but not necessarily time dependant and due on a specific day - things like self-development activities or spare-time study topics. I find it a little too fiddly for managing recurring tasks or daily to-dos. Probably user error, I will say!

I went back to Todoist premium this year even after forking out for OF3 on both ios and macOS.