Subscribe
Sign in
Things 3.0 — Complete revamp of the original, award-winning task manager
Never miss a task you need to do with Things 3. It is always easier if you can follow up smaller steps to achieve your project, this is exactly what Things 3 lets you do! It comes with really valuable features like reminders, quick finders, tags, drag-and-drop to-do lists, multiple windows and so much more!
100
Replies
Best
Baffled by how a team with this level of ux mastery chose to launch 3.0 without true cross-platform functionality and list sharing. Is it art, not app?
Honestly? Things is a huge mixed bag.
Absolutely stunning design, a couple of great tricks and very pleasant to look at.
After a while though, you realise that an app this much ‘premium’, still:
- doesn’t offer sharing beyond poor raw text (insane);
- doesn’t have a universal iOS app (gotta charge that dosh for the iPad clone because, reasons…)
- isn’t really compliant with GDPR and similar laws yet (if for some reason you decide to leave, good luck exporting your data elsewhere)
- and so many other real productivity details that just, aren’t there.
It’s wonderful.. to look at and to touch. After a while, it just sits there, staring you in the face and forcing you to ask yourself:
“Why did I even buy you?” when in a half-page of a cheap and free app like Notion I can do several dozens things better, faster, simpler?
It’s Design, at it’s carefully detailed best. But it’s definitely not function.
It feels like it’s not REALLY trying to help you. It lures your eyes and does only enough to make you keep admiring it.
People say you pay more to get it “forever”, but we all know this isn’t real.
As soon as that break even line is crossed, a new “design” increment is coming to stabilise the whole thing.
The reason why Things isn’t a subscription based app it’s because you can only pay for design once so, you better make it expensive and enjoy it while it lasts.
A good and progressively incremental app has to keep showing up, solving users problems at every release to earn that sub.
Because it really doesn’t have anything else to offer, Things is predicted to either charge you for yet another “nice thing” or simply send you that beautifully crafted sunsetting email.
When you think about it, apart from evolving its visual experience, Things hasn’t really changed much since the early 2000s. It keeps gliding through the times though.
Like a siren, whispering beauty into your eyes.. for a price. And it will try its everything to keep you there.
Things is not for the beginner heart.
Things is complicated.
I always loved Things, but the pricing seems... off. 44 euro's for the desktop version seems a bit much? At first glance it's almost 400% more expensive then other paid task management apps. And that is with the 25% discount. If you want Things on all your devices; that will set you back around 70-80 euro's.
@nielsvr Exactly. At those prices I will bite the bullet and live with Apple Reminders & Calendar like I have been for years.
@nielsvr I've been using Things 1 and 2 for more than 8 years. Happy to pay $80 for all 3 macOS, iPhone, iPad Apps (and watchOS too). $80 is a drop in the bucket for Apps that I use every single day, year in and year out.
@nielsvr Just be glad they don't do subscriptions... 40€ is actually very cheap given you're getting it for life... OmniFocus is about $40, Sketch is $100, Sublime is like $50... But come on, these are the things (see what I did there) you need for your work.
@kaler I definitely agree. I'm actually a little envious that I can't justify the cost of Things because it is a beautiful app. I'm just not busy enough to take advantage of all the features it has to offer. I find that Reminders and Calendar work well for my basic schedule.
49 euros for desktop 9 for iphone and 19 for ipad, are you out of your mind guys? What kind of sale methodology are you guys using? Is it better to sell apps for 80euro to 100 or for 30 euros to thousands of people ... or maybe your infrastructure is just not ready for crowds. I would love to use all of your apps but not for this price, sorry!
@bartosz_bak Cultured Code doesn't typically do annual updates. Say you buy the whole suite...they probably won't have a major revision for 2-3 years.
@bartosz_bak I honestly thought that by "are you out of your mind" you meant how cheap it is.... Please realize how hard it is to have a sustainable business with one-time fees.
@_vojto I'm aware of how business works especially when it comes to that kind of products. With all due respect Vojtech. I think product is overpriced and cutting price a bit would have better impact on sales, basically, you could sell more for a bit less ;)
@_vojto @bartosz_bak But a users concern isn't how the company sustains it's business. They priced this bc it benefits them, not the customer, which in my opinion, isn't how you treat users.
@stephenmarklevi i agree with you. it's not the customer's job to justify the price from the business perspective. $50 for a desktop todo app is expensive. i can easily see that it may be worth it for some, but it's a tough sell nonetheless.
that being said i catch myself complaining about subscriptions and now i also complain about high selling prices. maybe i need to rethink my attitude.
I've used this throughout the last couple of months in beta and it's honestly great. It does JUST enough to be a powerful tool without doing too much, which is apparently a really hard thing to do. My only complaint is the lack of shared tasks, which means I have to keep using either Todoist or Reminders in addition to Things, but it's definitely worth checking out.
What a gorgeous app but no sharing means it's no good for me as I need to tick off tasks with my wife and colleagues. Would have loved to use this and I think the price is okay for what you get.
I love Todoist but this is so clean I may have to try it out. I remember how beautiful Things was when it first came out.
@cmconsing Did you ever try it? I'm kind of in the same boat right now, kind of happy with Todoist but I love how Things looks.
@cmconsing @_chrispop Tried using both for an extended period of time - while Things 3 was definitely more beautiful and the iOS app is definitely better than Todoist's, the amount of time saved by Todoist's quick add was incomparable. I add everything to my to do apps, so i'm constantly in and out of it, and the ease with which i could add tasks was more important than any marginal UI/UX benefits I gained with Things 3.
@francescod_ales Great review - it saved me a ton of time from hunting down info on the Things site - thanks.
@scottwwilliams that's very kind of you Scott. I do these features for specifically productivity apps and love recording them! :-)
Higher once off cost but is the app I keep coming back to for non-time specific tasks. I use Calendars 5 for time specific tasks.
I only tried the macOS version, but I must say it's the most beautiful piece of software I ever tried on my Mac.
Two up front caveats:
1. This is an amazing app. I'm just enumerating the things I wish were different.
2. It's totally possible I have missed features. I wasn't part of beta, so have only been using today.
No web component
No durations
No priorities
LOTS of taps to get things done
(e.g. to move Task in Inbox to a date, tap once, tap calendar, tap date, tap SOMEWHERE to close that Task, Click OK to remove notification of movement. 5 taps. Should be 3 max. Pain really felt when scheduling many Inbox tasks to diff dates).
No batch changing Deadlines
Tags not shown on main screen...have to use Quick Find
Filter by tag is cool though
Visually no difference between Projects within Today, This Evening....text all looks the same...no diff colors for example
Only one line shown of each task....this is good and bad. Makes everything MUCH cleaner and more condensed...but can hide key info about task.
Animations take time, slow down input (e.g. click blue Magic Button, animation/lag before you can begin typing)
It would be convenient if there was an opportunity to share tasks with other users
Pros:Very simple and convenient app. Organizing tasks from any device
Cons:I didn't find any cons for me
I may be an outlier here, but I would honestly prefer a subscription model. $80 for the whole suite feels like a lot to swallow at once these days.
Made a diagram How I Use Things 3 (dropbox link to download) - extremely well done app! Thank`s a lot!
- smart-filters or combined searches can not be saved for quick recall
- sync uses their proprietary cloud (not iCloud)
- interface requires a lot of taps/clicks and tabbing to get things done :(
Looks like I have just found a new replacement for Wunderlist (rip). Regarding the pricing, it is like 10 cups of coffee guys, so I don’t find it that bad...if they keep it updated of course
Too little, too late, for too much.
I appreciate the thought and care that goes in to the design and navigation of Things, but their iterations are SO few and far between. There is no way I can justify spending this much on a suite that won't see another meaningful update for 2-3 years. Additionally, their communication (or lack thereof) about product update timelines (I understand not sharing new features coming, that is fair) is unforgivable when people depend on products like this so much and spend this kind of money. I firmly believe Culture Code means well and they do solid work, but their actions in their communication and update frequency means I can't support them.
Product Hunt
I've been a Things user since 2007. Within the last couple of years Things 2.0 started to feel stale, and I found myself exploring other alternatives. Yet I could never end up replacing it.
Thankfully, Things 3.0 comes out of nowhere with a completely redesigned experience that is fast, beautiful and it allows you to do everything with speed — the perfect recipe for a todo app.
This app feels like it belongs on iOS 11 even though it was launched weeks before the iOS 11 beta was announced. It's that good!
You still can't share tasks with others, but the great experience easily out weights that need.
Pros:Beautiful design. Beautiful UX.
Cons:Can not share tasks with others.