My list of half-checked task manager lists is long and wide. From Google Tasks to Wunderlist and Any.do to Remember The Milk (remember that?), I’ve tried almost every task app. Yes, even physical newspapers. However, none of them held me back. That is until I came across a YouTube recommendation for TickTick.

It took me a while to commit to it, but six months later, this task manager has completely transformed the way I manage my daily workflow. Here’s why TickTick is a clear winner for me.

I don’t know about you, but a good interface is essential for me to get addicted to any app, even a productivity app. Most task management apps I’ve tried lean toward either minimalism or information overload. As expected, the first gives too little information about the tasks at hand and, more importantly, requires too many steps to be functional. In fact, it was Google Tasks’ minimal interface that turned me off.

The latter, on the other hand, almost turns to Notion territory, which I don’t want. TickTick doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to interface with its single-pane access to tasks and overflow menus for additional functionality. But it’s the carefully thought-out organization and hiding of features that I like most.

At first glance, it’s really just a simple app to make. Add a task, set a date and time for it, and you’re done. Sure, there are a ton of prosumer-oriented features hidden under the hood, but if you don’t care about them, you don’t even need to see them.

If you have read my love for Single noteyou will know my love for Markdown based notes. Well, guess what, TickTick also supports Markdown. Tap a task and add detailed notes about what you want to do, additional context, and even images and attachments. This is an invaluable add-on for me because it allows me to move notes or quick ideas from one app to another. If I’m thinking about an idea, I can jot down the headers and pointers directly in TickTick using Markdown and copy them into Simplenote when I’m ready to write.

Diving into TickTick’s feature set would be a complete article in itself. It has all the features you’d expect, including subtasks, checklists, and the ability to organize tasks under specific labels or lists. But here are a few more additions that I didn’t expect to enjoy as much.

While most of my on-the-go task additions happen on my own choice best android smartphone or an iOS device, I switch to the native desktop app when I’m at my desk. TickTick’s menu bar widget makes it easy for me to keep an eye on all my tasks at hand. This is not unusual. However, as a somewhat forgetful person, I really appreciate TickTick’s ability to turn any task into a sticky note. It’s not uncommon for my desktop screen to be littered with yellow digital sticky notes. Go ahead and judge me all you want, but I’ll take increased productivity all day.

One of my favorite interface tweaks is how easy it is to reschedule tasks. Look, life gets in the way and there are days when you can’t get through your to-do list. I love how TickTick lets me move a task to next day, next week, or even next month with just one click.

The other useful feature is the ability to convert tasks into templates and notes. I use the templates feature to divide grocery lists into sections. This saves me from having to write everything down every time. Meanwhile, the notes feature is useful for quickly accessing persistent information. For example, when I was redoing my home network, I kept a note handy with the relevant passwords and IP address information under the same note. Of course, I could have just gone to Notion to retrieve the same data, but having it in one place reduces friction. It all depends on the quality of life additions.

Now, all of the above may seem like the exact opposite of keeping it simple, but hear me out. Most of the time, my interaction with TickTick is limited to opening the app, typing a sentence, and that’s it. In 2024, I’m surprised that not all task apps have natural language processing to determine time and dates, but here we are. So if I want to set a reminder to complete a task by noon on Friday, I literally type it in, and TickTick fills in the date, time, and sets a reminder. It’s not a revolutionary feature, but it’s very practical.

Meanwhile, I like how TickTick integrates with Google Calendar. Setup takes just seconds and allows you to see all your TickTick tasks in Google Calendar. However, integration goes both ways. If you opt for the premium version of TickTick, you can even see all your Google Calendar events in TickTick. This can be invaluable for planning your day and turning the app into a small-scale productivity app.

I’m a big fan of Pomodoro technique. As someone who spends an embarrassing number of hours staring at a screen, mornings can often turn into evenings. I’ve been using the Pomodoro technique for the past few months to divide my time into 25-minute chunks, after which I take a five-minute break to step away from the computer. After four such timers, I take a longer break. Easy, right? The app stores on all platforms are full of Pomodoro timers, but I don’t like installing apps that only serve one purpose. Luckily, TickTick has a built-in Pomodoro timer that I activate as soon as I get to work. With a simple click on the menu bar, it became an indispensable part of my day.

I admit, habit tracking definitely wasn’t a feature I was looking for when I was looking for a new task management app. At first glance, this seems like unnecessary overhead and feature bloat. However, I decided to give it a try since I was already using a separate app to track my water intake. Yes, I’m one of those guys who needs to gamify drinking water to stay hydrated.

The TickTick implementation works pretty much as you would imagine. You can set a goal and check it off when you achieve it. Simple. There are even built-in sequences if you want to take gamification to another level. Granted, I haven’t used this feature for anything other than tracking my daily water intake, but I’ve seen it put to good use by language learners and those who want to start journaling.

Affordability is good, free is better

Alright, here’s the thing. Nobody wants another one subscriptionand definitely not for a task app. However, most users won’t have to spend anything to take advantage of TickTick’s ability to keep you on top of your schedule. Some features like customizable filters, folders, and even change logs come with fairly reasonable subscription fees. However, my goal here was to keep it simple instead of turning my task app into another project management tool – I already have Notion for that. Of course, the option remains for anyone who wants a little more flexibility. However, overall, the free version of TickTick is more than enough to get you started.

It’s hard to say that a to-do app has changed your life, and I’d be kidding if I said that TickTick was solely responsible for helping me manage my to-do list. It takes commitment to actually use the app. But a great interface, intuitive feature set, and added value certainly make it easy to engage with TickTick. I admit there have been times when I left the TickTick wagon and found myself in the weeds with late deadlines. That said, TickTick has been one of the most useful tools in my arsenal and has helped me be much more productive.