Organizing our time well is of vital importance to be able to achieve everything, whether at work or in our personal projects. There are still nostalgic people who prefer paper calendars and diaries, but we cannot deny that Mobile phones are very complete and versatile work tools. with which to organize and manage our time. There are apps for everything.
Productivity tools are an important category in the Google Play Store and in this case we will focus on a very popular typology that can be very useful on a daily basis: task managers. For the occasion, We are faced with seven of the most comprehensive task management services.
Google Keep: Simplicity for personal use
Google Keep is part of the package of apps that come standard with Android and is an optional extra. very interesting for personal organization. It is a simple application that at the same time offers us a good variety of functions.
It allows you to create different types of content such as text notes, check-list tasks, freehand drawings, voice notes, images… Allows you to create location-based or date-time based reminders, so you don’t forget anything. It also has a very neat design in line with the “Material you” style and is completely free.
Google Keep: Notes and Lists
The ultimate to-do app on Android. Simple and at the same time very complete.
Google Tasks: The Perfect Calendar Companion
We continue with another proposal from Google, this time more focused on the creation of tasks and reminders. Google Tasks is very simple and that’s where a lot of its convenience lies.. We can create to-do lists to keep our projects organized, assign a date and time to each task, specify details or add subtasks.
Its strong point is that syncs with Gmail and Calendarso we can add tasks from an email or see the ones we have pending directly on the calendar. Without a doubt the most recommended option if you use the Google suite to organize yourself and want something perfectly integrated. The downside is that in itself it is too basic.
Google Tasks
Perfect if you’re looking for something that integrates with Gmail and Calendar
Microsoft To Do: a very worthy heir to Wunderlist
We change the subject and opt for Microsoft, a company that bought the famous task application Wunderlist a few years ago and has now transformed it into Microsoft To Do. has a very simple and clean interface which allows us to create different task lists and has other predefined views such as “My Day” or “Planned” to see the scheduled tasks.
It is a simple application, but it offers many options. We can invite other users and assign them tasks, so may be an option for teamwork. In addition, in each task we have many options such as adding reminders, setting a deadline, making them repeat, adding files or subtasks that depend on them. It can also be integrated with Office 365.
Microsoft To Do
Task management for personal use or teamwork.
Workflowy: Don’t let its simplicity fool you
If you like simplicity, Workflowy is probably the app for you. The interface is a blank page where we can create a task list. You can simply stay on the task name or, if you click on it, add subtasks, share with other participants, add files and much more. To complete the tasks, just swipe to the right and they will be crossed out.
Perhaps simplicity is also its weak point. And, as we said, Workflowy is a blank slate from the start. You need to add tasks and subtasks to unlock its full potential, which is no small feat.
Workflow
A blank page with many possibilities.
Concept: you won’t finish it
Notion is much more than a to-do app. In fact, To-do lists are just a small part of what we can do.but it deserves a place on this list because it offers many options to organize our daily lives. You can create simple “to-do” lists or much more complex databases with tags, dates and other associated details.
If with Workflowy simplicity is a double-edged sword, the same thing happens with complexity of Notion and here I can speak personally. Even after years of use, I still feel like I haven’t managed to extract its full potential. Another negative point is that the desktop version is much more powerful than the application. If you want to take full advantage of it, the ideal is to use it on both platforms.
Concept: Notes, Tasks and AI
Much more than a to-do app, maybe too much.
Any.Do: One of the most popular and comprehensive applications
Any.Do is one of the most popular to-do apps, and for good reason. It has a very clear interface that allows us to organize our work by projects and tasks, allowing us to add subtasks and offers. Many team-oriented functions. It also highlights its calendar integration so we can see all our tasks categorized by day.
With Any.Do, it is possible to share projects and make comments between members, but yes, if you want to take full advantage of its team organization capabilities, you will need to subscribe to a Premium subscription. It also has the ability to place reminders, allows you to attach files and add media files to notes.
Any.do – Tasks + Calendar
For personal use or team work, the choice is yours.
Todoist: Everything for productivity
Todoist is one of the most popular task management solutions and it’s the one I chose several years ago. It allows you to organize tasks by tags, create subtasks and, of course, work as a team with the ability to make comments and attach files. But What I like most is its intuitive nature. For example, when creating a task, we can write “Buy milk today at 11:30” or “Take omega 3 every day at 9 am”. The application will automatically detect the day and time we want it to remind us or if we want it to be a recurring task.
Another detail that makes Todoist special is that we allows you to set the priority of each task in four levels, so that we can better prioritize. As a curiosity, it has a “karma” system that rewards us if we are more productive. The downside is that if you want to get the most out of it, you have to check, but it is worth paying if you use it often.
Todoist: Calendar and Agenda
Great if you want to prioritize and be more productive.
Asana: Special for Teams
If you want to manage the tasks of a team of people, Asana is undoubtedly one of the options to consider. It can also be useful as a personal manager, but Its objective is clearly to coordinate the work between the different members.
It has a fairly dynamic interface and offers the usual equipment options, but takes a more social turn with the ability to add Likes, mention other users in comments or highlight messages. Out of curiosity, this is the application used by the Xataka editorial team.
Asana: Centralize your work
Very powerful for teamwork management.
Trello: versatility in a highly visual interface
Trello is a clear example that the interface is a key point in organizing tasks. has a unique structure of the board and cards which makes it easier to organize by showing all tasks in a much more visual way, so we can see at a glance how we are tracking our work.
The tasks, or rather the cards, are grouped in a sort of list that we call tables, but Moving them is as simple as dragging them to another board. In each card we can add lists of subtasks, attach files or add comments. It is also organized by color and allows you to add stickers to highlight the cards. Trello started the trend and many of its competitors they were copied They were inspired by this idea and already have this map view in their apps.
Trello
A unique interface that created a trend.
Task managers, which one to choose?
We could pick a winner, but ultimately the decision to use one task manager or another It depends on the specific needs of each user. We tried to choose a fairly diverse selection of apps in the sense that we find different approaches. If you are looking for a simple to-do list and use Google services, Google Keep or Google Tasks are the best option.
Microsoft To Do, Todoist, and Any.Do are perhaps the three most powerful options. If what you are looking for is an application with a task-oriented approach, but which offers many options. On their side, Workflowy and Notion opt for somewhat different approaches, the first one standing out for its simplicity and the second one for the complete opposite.
We end with Asana and Trello, two very powerful tools that can be useful if you want to manage tasks as a team and with very visual interfaces. And you, What app do you use to organize your daily life?
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