# Things 3 Review: Is This App Really Worth It in 2025? - Canonical: https://33rdsquare.com/things-3-review-is-this-app-really-worth-it-in-2024/ - Published: 2024-02-17 - Author: Jordan Brown - Categories: [Software & APP](https://33rdsquare.com/category/software-app/) --- Things 3 Review: The Best To-Do App for Mac and iOS If you‘re looking for the best to-do list app to boost your productivity, Things 3 should be at the top of your list. This beautifully designed app for Mac, iPhone and iPad has won multiple Apple Design Awards for its thoughtful features and delightful user experience. While not the cheapest option, it offers the best balance of power and ease of use for most people. I‘ve personally relied on Things as my primary task manager for over a decade. Its unique approaches to task and project organization, scheduling, and focusing on what‘s important have helped me stay on top of everything I need to do without feeling overwhelmed. In this in-depth Things 3 review, I‘ll walk through all of the key features and explain how they can help you get more done with less stress. Task Management Made Simple At its core, a to-do list app needs to make it frictionless to get tasks out of your head and into a trusted system. Things excels at this with its clean, minimal design language. Creating a new to-do is as simple as hitting the + button and typing in a title. You can add as many details as you want, such as notes, tags, and subtasks, but the app never feels cluttered or intimidating. Tasks can be reordered by dragging and dropping, and completed items stick around until the end of the day to give you a rewarding sense of progress. Powerful Project Planning Anything that requires more than one step to complete is a project, not just a task. Things makes it easy to break projects down into actionable steps and track your progress. Each project has a pie chart icon showing the percentage complete, which helps motivate you to keep chipping away. You can add section headers to group related tasks, notes to store key details, and due dates for when the project needs to be finished. I love that Things lets me see a project‘s tasks alongside other to-dos in my Today and Upcoming views (more on those later). This keeps project work top of mind without having to go into a separate planning mode. Total Control Over Your Schedule Being able to assign dates to tasks is crucial for staying on track. But not all dates are the same – sometimes you need to be told when to start on a task, not just when it‘s due. Things offers the most complete and intuitive set of date options I‘ve seen in a to-do app: - Start Date: Tasks with a start date won‘t show up in your Today list until their date arrives. This is great for hiding scheduled tasks that you can‘t act on yet. - Deadline: The classic due date that everyone understands. Tasks with deadlines stand out visually and automatically appear in your Today list on the day they‘re due. - Evening: Things can split your Today list into two sections – Today and This Evening. Convenient for planning your day without cluttering it up with after-work to-dos. - Reminders: Any task can have one or more pop-up reminders set for a specific date and time. Useful for jogging your memory about upcoming or critical tasks. - Repeating: You can set tasks to automatically repeat on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. Keeps you on track with routine maintenance and responsibilities. Organize Your Life, Your Way One of Things‘ strengths is the flexibility it gives you to organize your tasks. In addition to projects, tasks can be grouped by Area of Responsibility – high-level life categories like Work, Family, Finance, Health, Home, etc. I use areas to ensure I‘m giving the right amount of attention to each aspect of my life and to quickly focus on one area at a time when planning my day. Things also supports tagging tasks with keywords, which you can use to filter your lists. Some examples of helpful tags include priority levels, time or energy required, locations or contexts (home, office, phone, errands), and collaborators. Used judiciously, tags add a lot of power for minimal effort. Focus on Today and Plan for Tomorrow The Today list is command central in Things. It shows you everything that needs to be done now – overdue tasks, items with a deadline or start date of today, and to-dos you‘ve manually added to Today during your daily planning. You can choose to see one big list sorted however you want, or break it into sublists by area. There‘s also an option to show your calendar events for the day inline with your tasks. However you like to work, Things makes it easy to follow your plan for the day without distractions. For a longer-term perspective, the Upcoming view displays a timeline of your scheduled tasks, while Anytime lists everything you haven‘t assigned a date to yet. With this bird‘s-eye view, you can quickly spot any gaps or conflicts in your plan and adjust as needed. A Place for "Maybe Later" We all have ideas for things we‘d like to do someday but aren‘t ready to commit to yet. Maybe you want to learn a new language, take up woodworking, or write a novel. Having these "someday/maybe" items mixed in with your concrete to-dos would be demotivating and confusing. Luckily, Things has a dedicated place for them. In the Someday view, you can jot down any task or project idea without giving it a date. These items appear at the bottom of their respective lists, where they won‘t get in your way, but you can review them periodically to see if any are ready to be promoted to active status. It‘s a thoughtful touch that reduces mental clutter. A Joy to Use Aside from specific features, what really sets Things apart is how good it feels to use. The entire app is thoughtfully designed and polished to a sheen. Animations are subtle and responsive. Buttons and controls are exactly where you expect them to be. Everything works smoothly and reliably. It‘s clear that the team at Cultured Code, Things‘ developer, are passionate about productivity and care deeply about crafting the best possible user experience. Using Things doesn‘t feel like a chore – it‘s a delight. And when you enjoy interacting with your task manager, you‘re much more likely to stick with it over time. This uncompromising attention to quality does come at a cost, though – a high one. Things is one of the pricier to-do apps, at $49.99 for Mac, $9.99 for iPhone, and $19.99 for iPad. You can save a bit by buying the Mac and iOS apps in a bundle for $79.99, but it‘s still a significant investment. Only you can decide if Things is worth the price based on your needs and budget. But if you‘re serious about taking control of your life and work, I think it‘s an investment that will pay off many times over in increased productivity and reduced stress. Available Anywhere (If You Have Apple Devices) The main downside of Things, aside from the cost, is that it‘s exclusively available on Apple platforms. There are no web, Windows, or Android versions. So if you need to access your tasks on non-Apple devices, you‘ll have to look elsewhere. Within the Apple ecosystem, though, Things has you covered. It syncs quickly and reliably between Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch (and even HomePod if you use Siri). The iOS versions are full-featured, so you can be just as productive on the go as at your desk. Solid Support Options While Things is easy enough to figure out on your own, it‘s backed by great support resources. The app includes a built-in quick start guide and a help manual that covers all of the key concepts and features. Online, there‘s an extensive knowledge base with articles on everything from basic setup to advanced workflows and integrations. And if you ever get stuck, you can reach out to the support team via email. I haven‘t had to use Things‘ direct support myself, but I‘ve heard good things from others about the team‘s helpfulness and responsiveness. It‘s reassuring to know that expert assistance is available if needed. How Things Stacks Up to the Competition The main alternatives to Things are: - OmniFocus: The power user‘s choice. Even more customizable than Things, but has a steeper learning curve. Best if you follow a strict GTD methodology. - Todoist: A popular cross-platform app with a clean design and useful collaboration features. But it lacks true start dates and some other advanced Things features. - TickTick: Up-and-comer with a similar feature set to Things. Not quite as slick but more affordable and works on all platforms. - Microsoft To Do: The spiritual successor to Wunderlist. Includes basic task management and list sharing. Good for simple needs but not as robust as Things. - Apple Reminders: Built-in to macOS/iOS and tightly integrated with Siri. Fine for casual use but very limited compared to the other options here. For most people, I think Things strikes the best balance between capability and ease of use. It has a deep, well-considered feature set that will handle anything you throw at it without overwhelming you. The interface is much friendlier than OmniFocus, and the overall experience is more polished than Todoist or TickTick. The one big caveat is the Apple-only compatibility. If you need wide cross-platform support, Todoist or TickTick would be better options. But if you‘re all-in on Apple gear, Things is the gold standard. The Bottom Line Things 3 is hands-down the best to-do list app I‘ve ever used. It‘s thoughtfully designed, easy to use, and packed with powerful features that help you get more done without stressing you out. The interface is beautiful and responsive, with delightful animations and well-placed controls. The app‘s approach to task management – with start dates, a Today view, and the Someday list – has been transformative for my productivity. It ensures that my daily plan is focused and achievable while still keeping my big-picture goals in sight. And the consistency of experience across Mac, iPhone, and iPad means I can stay on top of things no matter where I am. While Things 3 is certainly not the cheapest to-do app, it‘s worth the investment if you struggle with procrastination, forgetfulness, or feeling overwhelmed. The clarity and calm it brings to your work and life is hard to put a price on. Of course, everybody‘s needs and preferences are different. I encourage you to read through this review carefully, check out the alternatives I mentioned, and take advantage of the free trials to see which app clicks for you. Whichever one helps you get more of the right things done is the right choice. But if you appreciate thoughtful, opinionated design and are willing to invest in premier software, I don‘t think you can go wrong with Things. It‘s a near-perfect blend of simplicity and power – a rare achievement. For me, it‘s the closest thing to a mind-clearing, stress-reducing productivity superpower. Maybe it will be for you too. --- Source: [Things 3 Review: Is This App Really Worth It in 2025?](https://33rdsquare.com/things-3-review-is-this-app-really-worth-it-in-2024/)