Google had a To-List-like way to keep track of simple tasks for a while now. They introduced the function when they were still on the Gmail platform as a nice-to-have feature years ago. Now they have polished the idea and rebooted the same mechanics in an app which they creatively called “Google Tasks: Any Task, Any Goal. Get Things Done”.
If you used the tasks function before as part of your Google mail or calendar solutions, you would still see those lists when you download and connect Google Tasks now. From the handling, nothing much has changed. Everything is kept simple. The UI is designed in a simple way, and you can add tasks by just typing in a task description or goal.
You can go into detail as well if you wish to keep notes to each to-do item or if you’d like to associate a deadline with a task. However, there is, unfortunately, no integration into the rest of the Google experience as of now. You will not receive reminders (even though it is advertised), and asking your Google Assistant (“Ok Google…”) to track tasks will often not lead to items being tracked in your Google Tasks app.
It’s a clean solution with a very straightforward user experience, and it’s admirable for its minimalism, but then I feel that it also lacks features and integration. For instance, I feel bummed out that there is no web-interface except for some ancient Chrome extensions or tiny side-features in the old Gmail interface just like the old Calendar interface. These are no fun to use and really steal the UX that the Google Tasks app tried to provide.
You can have multiple to-do lists and sub-tasks, but that’s really as far as the features of the app go. You cannot share lists with others, you cannot turn it into a kanban-style board, you can’t swipe through various lists or have color labels on the entries. I think that this current version of the Google Tasks app is quite okay, but it’s certainly not the kind of app that I expected from Google. This app could have also been the outcome of a high school coding challenge.
In summary, it looks good but doesn’t go very deep. It’s not bad but it could have been better. If you’d like to try it out yourself, check the links for iOS and Android OS below.
To those who are not looking for a lot of integration and just want a light / simple app to track to-do items, Google Tasks could work out. To everybody who is looking for some more features and integration, I recommend to use Google Keep or check for solutions outside the Google software portfolio. What do you think? What’s your favorite to-do list and task tracker? Share it with us below in the comments if you like. Many thanks!
Photo credit: The feature image “written notes” was done by StockSnap. The app screenshots are owned by Google.
Editorial notice: The author tested the app approximately one week before preparing this review.
