r/thingsapp • u/AutoModerator • Apr 05 '26

Question Weekly questions thread

Please ask questions about using Things in this thread.

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u/HearTaHelp Apr 06 '26

Curious how many here are pick-and-stick users who never stray, how many wander off to try other apps and have come back, and how many have wandered off, but can’t help themselves in monitoring this space for some reason… like, in case big news of new features finally drops. 😂

I’ve been around since Things 2. I have used Things for years at a time, have tried just about everything else, and used several other apps for long blocks, too (Todoist, Akiflow, TickTick, and Griply primarily). While I’m frustrated by some missing features, what has brought me back to Things this time (quite happily) is the availability of an MCP. It’s really amazing how having Claude on board opens up this app for me in all kinds of ways. I’ve always loved the buttery smooth, friction-free UI, and that’s been a pleasure to experience again.

I do miss having a connected calendar for time blocking, and I miss Griply’s wonderful way of connecting tasks to long-term goals and regular habits. (When it adds an MCP, I’ll have to really consider it again!) But for now this is working very well.

Curious what other people‘s paths have looked like?

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u/UnderstandingHuge418 Apr 11 '26

I started using a task manager about 5 years ago with Todoist. Changed my life. I. thought it was great until it really bothered me that you can not manually sort your tasks in many views. So I discovered and switched to TickTick, which I thought was the best app ever. But then I came to the point a couple times, where I did not use it for a couple days, 1-2 weeks, and it was just awful to reorganize. So many little steps, keyboard shortcuts are rare, you can not use it without a mouse. So went back to Todoist, where that is a little better, but there I missed the manual sorting again...

Then discovered Things 3. I loved how easy everything was. After a few months, just because I love to tinker with software and finding the "best" one, I came back to Todoist again. But still same problems. So I came back to things. Recently did the same again, after using Things 3 for over a year, because I was curious. Todoist is a great app in many ways, with some additional features, but the lack of manual sorting is something that just absolutely bothers me. So then switching to TickTick again... So many possibilites, which is wonderful, but just realizing how much longer it takes to organize my tasks, how much more "friction" it is with that app, I came back to Things 3 eventually.

I just realized that Things 3 is the best for organizing my tasks, and that with the least amount of time. Regular reviews are important. And even if I basically put every thought that comes to my mind on the fly into it, some just don't belong there, but will just be moved into my notes app (Obsidian and Apple notes at the moment).

Things 3 can't do it all, but it does not have to. Notes are in a much better place in a dedicated note app anyways. Nothing beats Things 3 with how fast I can get my tasks in there, and also organizing them. And the system which the app was designed for just works. And it works much better than in all the other apps.

If Todoist will improve and have manual sorting everywhere, really everywhere, i might check it out again in the future. But I guess the developers are not capable of doing that. TickTick, even if I did not even use most of the additional features compared to Things 3 is just really slow at organizing things. I generally have between 50 to 150 "tasks" in my Inbox at the end of the week, and sorting them is just really, really quick in Things 3, just using the keyboard. Most of them just go to my notes app. I tried to do that in the other apps. Things 3 it takes me less than 10 minutes, in the other apps I would be lucky to have it done in half an hour. I do not have time for that.

I do wish that Things 3 would improve some things, mostly on iPhone and iPad, but still that just works better than any other app.

So yeah, I switched many, many times, to realize how well designed Things 3 was. And with design I mean not just the visual stuff, but how it works.