Price: Though many to-do list apps offer free tiers with enough features to get by, apps that offer the best experience and functionality come with a price tag.You can keep your résumé handy while you’re applying for jobs, or pull up the memo you definitely need to read before heading to your 9 a.m. File support: Although this isn’t a necessary feature, we did like models that allowed us to attach files to our tasks, making it easier to get started on work when the time came.By accepting tasks in a variety of ways, a great app adapts to you instead of making you adapt to it. We looked at apps that allowed us to input tasks quickly and without too much fiddling or confusing syntax, using features like voice input or natural language parsing to seamlessly toss tasks where they need to go. Input method: If a to-do list app sucks to work with, you’re never going to want to use it.Reminders surface your tasks when you need them, whether based on due date or your location, so nothing ever slips through the cracks. Reminders: Even the best to-do list app can’t bring structure to your life if you never check the dang thing.We considered only apps with interfaces that were nice to look at and easy to navigate. Design: Trying to keep everything in order can quickly become tedious, and an unattractive interface will muck things up even further.If you don’t have a sensible way to categorize your tasks, the overwhelming fear that you’re forgetting to do something important will just be replaced by the anxiety of not knowing how to prioritize your responsibilities. Organization: We favored apps that offered features like subtasks, projects, and task labels to keep all your work tidy and in the right place.

We preferred apps that displayed tasks alongside calendar events, but we also considered any app that plugged into calendars from Google Calendar, iCloud, or other services.

This makes it easier to triage your workload effectively.

Calendar integration: Apps that integrate with your existing calendar, whether by showing the day’s events above the daily tasks or having a separate calendar tab, give a better overview of all the information you need to best determine how to tackle your work.

Calendar + todolist app