This is how i think a to-do/reminders app should to be like

Productivity
#1

TL:DR Made a to-do/reminders app for iOS. need feedback. download at lifeapp.in (leave email address at bottom of page)

After using to-do/reminders list apps for years from the ios app store, in 2013 after completing a short iOS developer course i took the decision of making one for myself fulfilling all categories where I thought they lacked. After thinking about it for a sometime i came up with the following issues that needed to be addressed among others (iā€™m kinda paraphrasing, did not right them down exactly like this):

  1. All these apps felt kind of dumb. What i mean by that is there was
    no feedback loop associated with getting things done on your lists.
    So how could I incentivise getting things done?
  2. Respecting and embracing the diversity of data. How some tasks are
    menial and could be done by the end of the day and how some stick in
    your list for months. How some need to be done as real life tasks vs
    setting reminder to do something in phone itself (like sending an
    email)
  3. Minimising clutter by recognising what things need to be grouped
    together as sublists vs important tasks that need to standout.
  4. Coming up with solution to archiving/storing completed tasks in a
    managed way.
  5. Data reachability. Getting to your data you want no matter what kind
    of list it is home/work/whatever

So after working on Life app for over 1.5 years on and off, iā€™d like you guys to provide some feedback about it. You can install the app right now on iOS 8, by going to lifeapp.in and dropping your email at the bottom of the page (iā€™m sorry it requires your email, its Appleā€™s requirement. Iā€™d really like if you guys can trust me with it for i take this article (http://benlog.com/2015/05/23/the-responsibility-we-have-as-software-engineers/) to the heart). Final release will work on iOS 7 and up. Check out the features below. Thanks.

Actionable reminders
Since so many tasks we set reminders for on our phones have to do with partially or completely carrying out that task on phone itself like paying the electricity bill on the website on a certain date, calling the gardener at a certain time, this feature was specifically made to deal with these scenarios where an action need to be taken on phone itself in response to a task becoming due. So you can set a reminder to buy tickets at certain time when they become available and just slide to go the link. Works with calls, messages, mail, links.
animation gifs: (no pics allowed for new user :frowning: )
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9787185/gifs/actionableNotification.gif)

Data reachability
I really wanted to have all the tasks of all different types and tagged different colors in one place without the list getting messed up and still having your data in your reach. I think i have succeeded in solving this problem with this slider/scrolling mechanism (give me a good marketing friendly name guys!) that you get by shaking the device. You can slide your finger on the scroll to sort/scroll to your data without lifting the finger. You can slide over and can quickly glance over to see how many tasks are due, how many are in green ā€˜workā€™ tag and take care of them. It disappears as you lift your finger. So no buttons pressed!!
animation gifs:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9787185/gifs/sliderGif.gif)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9787185/gifs/listingOptions.gif)

Sublists vs main list
Some tasks are more important and definitive vs other lists of things that are more trivial and need to be out of your way until you need them, Life has a sublists system that works well integrating with mainlist. A sublist appears just as its title in the mainlist and is sorted along with other tasks having the same tag. So now you dont have to have a packing list for your work trip in a different place from the other more important tasks that you need to take care of before you catch your flight. Just tag it with your work colour and it is sorted along. Always available.
animation gif:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9787185/gifs/listMaking.gif)

Handling completed tasks
From the apps i have used, what i find is they all pretty much suck at handling deleted/completed tasks. I am usually not sure if i want to delete a task that i completed because i might need it again some time later or want to keep it for record keeping. All completed tasks in the app can be archived at once by pulling up and releasing the main list.
animation gif:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9787185/gifs/archive.gif)

Current status quicklook
A quick status of your tasks, Complete, incomplete, archived, due can be seen by pulling down the main list. Or from the today widget in notification center.
animation gif:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9787185/gifs/statusCheck.gif)

Game
The big question of making using the app a rewarding experience or incentivizing getting things done was achieved by this part of the app which alone took a ton of time (majority of it) to make.
So the reward point you gain by completing tasks in app are used in the game where there is the risk of loosing reward points that came with doing hard work. Complete information about the game experience in this post (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=3564697#post3564697)

#2

Jeez, now I understand better how people must feel when they see my long posts - :wink: - e.g. this one on a similar topic: Filtering by multiple tags - #9 by Folke

Anyway, I really appreciate people that give a lot of thought to how an app should be. I agree with some of your thoughts and disagree about some.

What I agree with very strongly is your genuine effort to make all your tasks etc easily visible, graspable, recognizable etc. For example being able to group and tag and color your stuff in ways that are both visible and differentiates between ā€œbiggerā€ things and ā€œlesserā€ thing. It seems your colored tags and sub-lists are intended to serve that kind of purpose. That is something I am after, too.

I am less interested in some of the technicalities, though, for example differentiating phone tasks from other contexts, or exactly how you shake or swipe. I am also not interested in digging too much into the archive of completed items, and I do not need games or anything to motivate me.

I hope that this rudimentary piece of feedback will help you in your efforts.

#3

Hey. Sorry for the late reply. I read your post in my email but totally forgot to reply :frowning: I thank you for that input. Categorizing tasks as phone calls, links, messages etc is part of making these reminders actionable. So you know its not a normal listing but an actionalble one. So when youā€™ll recieve it as a reminder, youā€™d only have to swipe it to make a call etcā€¦ The game part is really hard to explain it was such a crazy idea that i should have first come up with a solid plan to present this experience to people before going ahead with it :stuck_out_tongue: . I think one can only get the experience of it by using it. So id suggest you install it use it and tell me about it.