I remember the first time I heard about Phocus’ Due - John Gruber linked to it. After buying it, Due has always stayed on my iPhone. I’ve tried many similar apps, but Due has always been my go-to application. Due isn’t trying to compete with the larger, more involved GTD apps, so anyone can use it and learn to love it.
One of the most important features of Due has always been the auto snooze feature, as Calendar events and Reminders will show you something once, then vanish back into the OS. Due will continually remind you about something until you get it done, and that’s what I love about this app. I also love that each alert is customizable - need to delay it an hour, a day, or a few minutes? No problem! The timers are also fun and much better than the iOS Clock functions. I use several timers when I’m cooking or grilling, whether it’s flipping burgers or making homemade eggrolls. Due for iOS is a very popular reminder and timer application for iOS, available as a universal application that looks great (and is retina-ready) on both the iPhone and the iPad. We have covered Due several times before, but now it’s available for the Mac!
I was priviledged to help test this app from its inception and it’s been exciting seeing it evolve into the 1.0 release in the Mac App Store. The UI is very similar to the iOS counterpart, so the learning curve is very fast. It has those wonderful pinstripes and the pop-up windows look very nice. The icon is very slick - one of the best I have seen for a reminder application. Due for Mac (along with the iOS version) uses iCloud or Dropbox syncing so that all of your data is available no matter where you are. Set a timer on the Mac app, launch the iOS version so that changes can sync, then go outside. When the timer is up, your iPhone will alert you that it has expired. I prefer iCloud syncing as it is hard wired into the OS; in all my 1.0 testing, sync was fast and flawless.
Like all other versions, Due has natural time parsing which makes it a breeze to enter reminders. Type, “Make dinner reservations with wife at 10am tomorrow” and your reminder is set for 10 AM tomorrow. “Cancel Spotify and renew Rdio subscription in 1 month” and you get a buzz a month later. There are no awkward date pickers, nor rigid date and time format to follow.
As with the iOS versions, assignable alert sounds are available for the Mac. You can use louder and longer alerts for very important reminders, and softer ones for regular reminders.
Power users will love all of Due for Mac’s shortcuts. Don’t worry about using your trackpad - show or hide Due, create reminders, reschedule them, mark them complete, delete them - it’s all a keyboard shortcut away. Due for Mac also supports Growl notifications. If I had to comment about something that I’d like to see it would be a global hotkey to bring up Due no matter what you are doing, and I’d also like to see an optional menu bar icon.
Due is a very fast reminder and timer application. I’d like to think it’s Reminders on steroids. Due is $9.99 and available via the Mac App Store. The iCloud (Dropbox) sync is worth $10 alone and if you already have the universal iOS app, iCloud and Dropbox sync make Due for Mac a must buy. If you’re looking for a great reminder app to add to your arsenal, you can’t go wrong with any of Due’s weaponry. $15 will cover every one of your devices.
