It seems there’s never a shortage of good GTD apps for the iPhone, and I think that says something about Apple users in general - we’re always looking for ways to become more productive and get a grip on daily life. Taska, fresh off the App Store palette (it still smells like the packaging!), is a very powerful and feature rich GTD app that’s similar to Omnifocus. Plus, it oozes with beautiful pixels.
If you’re looking for an app that provides you with more than just lists and priorities (which is enough for some people), then Taska might be up your alley. Allowing you to manage projects, create checklists, become location aware with contexts, and add as many tags as you can shake a stick at, Taska at times feels like it’s a desktop application. And I mean that in a good way: it’s jam packed with things and features you can use.
I think my favorite thing about Taska is that I can pretty much add a task, project, or checklist from anywhere in a list view. Of course these options will change while you’re in a submenu or something (you can’t create a project in the Inbox), but the concept is the same. You always have access to creating new tasks with just a tap of a finger - there is no navigating menus. And that’s how it should be.
When you create a task or a checklist, it’ll either go into your Inbox, or if it’s due Today, to your Action’s list. Items sitting the Inbox are due eventually, while items in Today require your immediate attention. Having this type of focus allows me to completely block out the crap (okay, it’s not crap) that I don’t need to worry about immediately, but can attend to later once I’ve completed my actions list.
If you’re wondering what the Next list is, I’ll admit it took me a little bit to understand exactly what it does. The Next list contains everything from the Actions list, however, it doesn’t display any numerical notification on the home page. Instead, Next’s is geared towards gathering your checklists and projects, showing you what’s next in those lists. It’s not too confusing, but I still don’t understand why it reiterates everything from actions when they’re not even counted.
Your Projects page and Someday page contain either projects (groups of tasks and checklists) your working on, and things that you’re holding off to a rainy day. You also have access to Lists, which can be anything from a grocery list to checklists. You can even assign custom icons to the lists you create (and they all look great!).
In the Contexts view, you can see all the contexts you have in Taska, and by pressing the finder in the bottom left corner, you can have your location estimated on Google Maps so you can create contexts in your current area. This is a pretty wicked feature.
Lastly, you can search through all of your tasks by name, words contained in their respective notes, or both. I wish you could type in a context or tag, and have search pull up those results as well. But if you’re back in your lists view, you can filter via a pop-up menu.
Taska has some hidden features up its sleeve in the Settings. You can sync with Toodledo, and back up your lists on your Mac with Taska’s desktop tool. You can also lock your current orientation, choose what lists you want to open when the app starts up, password protect your information, and have task alert you with application badges. And if this review hasn’t helped you get familiar with this awesome application, there’s a help section that explains most everything.
If you’re looking for an excellent, feature rich project management application, Taska is definitely worth a look. It’s chalk full of great UI design, beautiful icons, and all sorts of eye candy goodness that notifies you about priorities, repeating tasks, notes, and more. If you’re looking for a great GTD app, Taska is only $4.99 in the App Store, but we’re giving away six copies to those that who’ll follow the rules below. Thanks to Tong Lau for the review license!
Giveaway
Are you serious about GTD? Then look no further. Leave a comment below telling us why Taska could be the perfect GTD app for you.
