Google Tasks: Get Things Done Reviews

by Taygraf

I have been using Google Tasks within Google Calendar for years. It’s ability to layer tasks on my calendar made it my task management tool of choice over all others since I use Google Calendar every day. I needed a way to access, add to & edit my tasks on the go, like on the subway, when I think about things I have to do & process my lists. Because Google didn’t have an app, I used GTasks. When Google finally came out with GoogleTasks I was so excited. I am completely shocked, however, that there is no search feature. This is essential and it seems pretty obviously from an end user work flow standpoint that this would be necessary. When I am thinking about a particular task that I know I have put on one of my lists and want to find it to add to it or adjust the due date; it doesn’t make sense that I have to manually search through hundreds of tasks to find it. That is inefficient. Isn’t the purpose of technology to make things faster & easier.

by Acbimmer

GoogleTasks is very similar and to the point which is perfect for tasks. One thing that could be improved is the UI. The hamburger menu button should be accessible by a gesture swipe from the left side of the screen. Or remove the hamburger menu button completely and replace with a bottom UI bar that everyone is using now. It will be more accessible to all folks versus right hand or left hand dominant users.

The create task button is in a different place from other google apps as well which is a little confusing, but not a huge gripe.

The last issue I find is the inability to view multiple lists at once. I constantly have to click the menu button and switch lists and that drives me absolutely bonkers.

by AlxReview07

Love the interconnectivity with Google Calendar. Easy to use. However, could use several improvements. Definitely needs a widget. Ideally, one in the Notification Center where you can mark tasks as complete. Should be able to adjust in Google calendar the length of tasks (change to 15 min duration). Also, needs more customization such as different colors for different lists. Honestly I think making it more similar to the reminder app would be a positive. More ability to edits and create tasks in Google calendar would be great. Also, If possible there should be a way for notifications to say on Lock Screen even after you open your phone (the way reminders app notifications do). Finally, better connectivity to the fantastical app. In the fantastical app, times of tasks are not shown and they show up as all day.

by Bland Nickname

I use GoogleTasks to list urgent tasks (whereas I use Google Keep to log tasks that aren’t necessarily timely). I like that it is simple and straightforward for this purpose; I can quickly add and cross off new tasks. It is a bit cumbersome at times. I liked the idea that I could add sub-tasks, but you can’t check then off if you are clicked on the master task in edit mode; you can only delete the sub-task entirely or complete the master task, but makes the sub-task capability kind of pointless. Thus, I stopped using sub-tasks. My feed is now very full and unorganized, which is a bummer. One other complaint is that you can’t add a voice memo like you can on Keep. I do think GoogleTasks has a lot of potential, though, and Google does a good job of making reasonable updates without too much time passing by, in my opinion. I assume it will be adjusted to fit these criteria in the bear future.

by Glad_e

I downloaded GoogleTasks thinking, finally, a simple and clean UI that lets me create subtasks with due dates and room for notes. The bad part is when switching to view your list via Due Date. Say you have a sub task with its own due date. It will get separated from the main task and when clicking on it, have no ties to the main task. An example would be having a main task with a client’s name. And the sub task that says “send invoice”. When clicking on the sub task, there’s no indication to who the client is because it doesn’t link to the primary task. So if you have multiple subtasks that say “send invoice”, you wouldn’t know who it’s referring to.

I’m back on Trello and it’s much easier. It’s a bummer because I love Google products but this one isn’t there yet.

by Iansewell22

Love the simplicity, lacking in a few departments especially for a google level app though. Sub tasks can only be seen in edit mode but appear as individual tasks on my unscheduled task section. Has been a bit finicky with recurring events. Needs a bit more focus payed to the functionality aspects. I also feel like it’s odd I can’t move tasks easily to other days or quickly make a task for a certain day by clicking on the day, instead you have to go in to the task maker and select each date, feel like this would be an easy add. Big fan of it’s easiness tho love that it’s not overcrowded and function saturated just needs a bit more polishing.

by JohnathonSullinger

GoogleTasks is really simple and clutter free. I’m not bogged down by a ton of different options that make things confusing and difficult. No need to “build a system”, since it’s just Lists and tasks. If you like Apple Reminders, Microsoft Todo or Clear, GoogleTasks will be great for you. If you’re looking for the flexibility of Omnifocus or the structure/filtering of Todoist then probably not. It’s free though, and integrates with my Google Calendar and GMail so desktop support is available on all platforms essentially. Not so much for OmniFocus and some of the other iOS task apps (Apple only). I can work on my tasks while on my work computer (Windows) while adding on my iPhone when in a meeting.

I would love to see Google search in GoogleTasks . Search by the context of what I’m doing and have their AI recommend tasks to work on based on my availability or context. Any kind of search would be better than no search. Otherwise, it’s a good app. I’ll be using this instead of renewing my Todoist.

by Jenifer K

When wunderlist disappeared, I moved to Microsoft To Do. After a year or so, I moved to Google Tasks a couple months ago. From the desktop, it’s great! Everything we do is through Gmail and the google calendar, so the desktop interface is very accessible. However, it’s really lacking a daily view.

I have multiple lists or “projects” with numerous item within each list. I use this for home, personal use and multiple small businesses. I’ve overlooked several things because I didn’t open that particular list that day. I really need a daily and/or weekly snapshot of everything that is due regardless of what list it is on.

Also, there’s no assignment.... meaning it’s not great for collaboration. If you want to assign something as simple as “take out the recycling” or something more complex like working on a project with multiple tasks that need to be completed by different people, forget it.

Also if you don’t set a due date and you don’t take the time to read through every list every day, those items that are just free floating will probably never get done. Reading through all the lists takes too much time and leads to human error which seems counterproductive to GoogleTasks . Please update GoogleTasks interface with a daily view and assignment/collaborator capability. Until then... on to another to do app.

by EsmesGramma

I work from home post Covid. I work for mental health agency and we use telehealth services. Also I have an iPhone therefore everything that’s google from my job I have to download an app to track. I came across this wonderful app that is very helpful and separating all of the emails I get throughout the day and how I need to complete those tasks my only issue is.... why isn’t there a way to print the task list? Without doing a screenshot or copy and paste? Is there a way and I don’t know? Also, I downloaded the drive and I created an area where we all can get our documents in our office. I would like to be able to share the task list with my supervisor so she can look at every time, do I have to give her my login and password in order for that to happen? Everything else I love about it!

by AC Slatter

I love GoogleTasks and have been telling everyone about since I discovered it! The only thing I would find REALLY helpful is to be able to make a list that I can re-use over and over. For example I would love to have a master grocery list that I could check off and then when I leave the store, uncheck or reuse the same list for the next visit. I’ve also used this for bills, and would like to do the same thing with that list instead of creating it over again each month. Maybe there’s a way to do this that I haven’t figured out yet, but if there’s not this would be an AMAZING feature to add on the next update! Otherwise I highly recommended GoogleTasks 😊

by Happygoluckylaura

GoogleTasks is a great addition to my life. Previously, I would carry around a daily planner for all my to do lists, reminders, and appointments. It was really inconvenient if I didn’t have it with me or even if it was on a different floor of my house. Tasks, paired with Google Calendar, has managed to replace that and I can utilize this organization system on both the computer and my phone. It’s easy to add additional details, like location and set reminders before appointments. It’s different than other to do list apps that I’ve used because it allows you to easily categorize lists. For example, I have one for work, one for my personal life, one for household handyman tasks I’d like to have done, one for wedding planning, etc. GoogleTasks gets 4 stars because there is currently a glitch that I can’t delete lists.

by Art🎨Music🎸Me📱

To be honest, i love using GoogleTasks. Not only does it function as a to-do lists for tasks that i have to get done at a certain time, but it also works to remind me of things that i need to do.

There’s a problem though: there’s no iOS widget for it. For other Google apps that i use, the widgets are phenomenal and incredibly useful. It’s nice waking up and seeing exactly what i need to do for the day, but it is a bit of an inconvenience opening up GoogleTasks every single time i just want to glance at what i need to do.

Other than that, i can’t organize task priorities unless i number them or assign a time i need to complete it by. If there were a way to tag certain tasks as more important than others, then it would function a lot better in my day-to-day life.

by Cay-o

Love Google Tasks. My husband and I use the Google Suite of products for all of our personal and professional resources, to-do’s, and projects. We run a small business and we’re having a difficult time trying to find a tool that would help us keep track of day-to-day items. We tried Trello, Wunderlist, Asana, and more. All were beautiful but more than what we needed. Along came Google Tasks and it was the simplicity and design that fit our needs. Now we use it for everything! The only wishlist item I have for the developers would be to have a search bar so I could easily go to the task I was looking for (similar to the functionality in Google Keep.) Other than that, bravo!

by Mfed55

I've looked for an easy way to manage short-term tasks for years. Google tasks just might be that app. It's simple to create single tasks and small multi-step projects with sub-tasks. Like Google calendar, you can create flexible recurring tasks too. One feature I love is the re-display (notification) of tasks scheduled for a previous day but not marked "complete". This helps me not lose track of lower priority tasks that I couldn't get to on the targeted due date. Note that I don't use GoogleTasks for complex, larger scale projects but I don't think that's the intended use.

by Guendavienny

Do you want daily achievements, set daily goals 🔥💯👌🏻
You want to be more efficiently? Want to achieve and complete that goals you thought about?
GoogleTasks would definitely make your life better, would reduce your worries, if your worried & stress about problems that you need to fix. Dividing big problems into small tasks will make things much more easy. If you want to achieve that goals that your always dreaming about, thinking on. Now is the time, write down a plan, set up steps do, and guess what make daily “tasks”. Big changes start with small changes. By making simple things as clean up the mess, making your bed, would encourage you to make bigger changes. And this is GoogleTasks to make those changes.
#ChangeYourLife
#Success

by Skippy0401

I think Tasks, when used on both the PC and the iPhone, is a very useful tool. The ability to maintain a simple “to do” list across these devices is simple functionality, but I haven’t seen anything else like this from Apple or Microsoft that works as documented. My only dissatisfaction is within the PC GUI (in chrome and Gmail). It seems like this could be much more user-friendly, especially in regard to enlarging the frame in which the tasks are displayed.
I was very pleased that alerts and notifications work properly on the two synchronized platforms. This is another thing that the other software companies can’t get correct for some reason.
One other trivial comment: I don’t understand why the functionality of Reminders and Tasks both exist. The function of having reminders and tasks appear separately on the Google calendar seems redundant to me, but maybe I’m missing something.

by FilterJoe

For many years I much preferred GoTasks to google tasks. But I was forced to start using google tasks when I got a new iPhone because something broke with google integration to goTasks.

What I most missed was date displayed by past incomplete tasks. That is now available in 1.46 in Date Order mode. While it is for my tastes a huge improvement, it would be even better if tasks on the same past date were grouped together under the date rather than repeating the date over and over.

But it’s good enough as is. 5 stars!

by Stop Switching My Video

GoogleTasks is great, it does it's job and does it well. It's very convinient and it's cross platform availability like most Google products is always a plus. Google always has great and simple visual style on all of its products but I believe this one is too simplistic. I would like the ability to view a page with all of my lists rather than the menu from the bottom that allows you to switch between lists. Also maybe add some preference features to that like colors and small symbols to distinguish between lists, much like Apple's Reminders app has. Beside the personal visual preferences GoogleTasks great and would recommend to anyone who likes to make anTo Do list and hang out tasks

by Vicky.txt

I was very excited to learn that Google Tasks was finally available as an app yesterday, so I downloaded it right away and was pleased by the simplicity and functionality. I wonder what took so long.

It is super satisfying to watch the to-do list item "pop" away when you check off the bubble. I can switch between my personal and work accounts. It remembers the specific list I selected to view last and loads that one vs. requiring me to change it each time.

Previously, I had been using a mix of my Google calendar, another calendar app only for its tasks feature, the iPhone reminders app, and an old-school index card to combine all the specific features I like from each. I am glad GoogleTasks helps sync some of that up in one central place now ☺️

by Magpie💕

I like their new features that they added. It is one of the few online task management tools that I found that lets you make a task recurring. When I have tried other task management tools, and I was sometimes afraid to check it off if I need to do more than once because the task would become hidden. Some other things I like about google tasks is that you can create sub tasks for things that needed to broken down into more than one step and it can also sync it to your google calendar. If you decide to make a task on certain date, you can see it on your google calendar.

by MrKernicus

As an personal iOS and Windows user at work, I use Google for literally "all the things." Being cross platform is absolutely critical, which is why I don't/can't rely soly on things like Apple Reminders, Notes, etc. Google tasks is clearly the way forward, but I need a few more things for it to be a full Reminders or Todoist replacement. First off, simple badges for overdue tasks would be super helpful. At a glance from the homescreen, I need something to stand out. Either there, or permenantly affixed to the iOS lock screen. Would also love task labels and filters if possible. I'm confident this product/service will eventually get there, just today it's not on the same plane as Google's other apps. Fingers crossed!

by Haneuloh

I was waiting for google tasks to get updates which would allow dates/times so I can replace Apple reminders with it. Now that is has all that, I absolutely love it, being able to have it connected to my email account regardless of which device I’m using. However, few little fixes would be great. I like to have my tasks listed in order of date, but when I choose this setting, the order of time is not reflected. I feel like the point of this setting is to have everything in chronological order. Once that is fixed, it should feel even more organized. Also, I feel like the time should show on the side of each task without me having to click on them.

by Absolutextasi

I used to use Wunderlist and since Microsoft biught them out and not released anything with significance, I’ve been look for another app. Well, i just upgraded to the new google and I saw this really simple app.

It’s a great start, but it would be helpful to put things on repeat in the same way the calendar app is used where you can repeat tasks every week or every 1st Monday of the month etc.

Also, it would help if we could share GoogleTasks with other people we may be working with.

Other things; To have a comment section would be nice. To be able to have printable lists would be really great as well.

Wunderlist even had a place where people could vote on features and create ideas where people could vote which allowed developers to know where to focus as they followed what their dedicated users wanted. That would be an amazing feature as we could know that our voice counts.

There are some more things, but maybe you can start with these. I will move my rating to 5 stars when I start seeing these things integrated.

Thanks for what you have so far

by TankBoy7373

App works just as you would expect it to, including all the GSuite integrations!

However, PLEASE add a widget for my home screen so I can check off tasks quickly and easily. Allow me to set a default list to display and have the option to quickly switch between my lists, as well as show tasks for the day amoungst all lists so I can check them off easily as I go.

Tasks Dev team, I believe in you. Add this feature and I couldn't ask for anything more. I see GoogleTasks doesn't get many updates, please prioritize this for the next release!

by Seanbhappy

Ok, so it’s not great...yet. It is a very simple list concept for tasks they includes sub task, scheduling by date, very reminiscent of iOS reminders just more elegant and usable.

I am giving four stars because it’s a far cry of what it could be and should be, no Google assistant yet, no connecting to Google calendar and Google Reminders and Google Keep...yet. Read a good article that had this quote to sum it up...

According to David Pierce of The Wall Street Journal, Google is apparently working on this: "At some point, Google says it’ll combine Tasks and Reminders, through all the many Google apps, into one killer task manager," Pierce said on Twitter. "Today is not that day."

by Cjsanchez94

Great app. Already deleted all the other planner apps. Please take this feedback into consideration:

- Make switching between lists easier, such as a force press right or left swipe, or a tab menu (where the current "list title" is) that will display recently used 2-3 lists.

- Allow the lists the communicate with one another. For example, users might want to move a task from one list to another (or simply add a task to multiple lists) and not have to manually insert it multiple times.

- Add a widget (this is a big one) so IOS users can access from home screen shortcut.

- Under the Add Details, provide an option for users to predict how long each task will take (this would help tremendously for people trying to use a list as a daily planner and task list).

If you take any or all of these suggestions into consideration it would be greatly appreciated.

by Flora Fairfield

I love GoogleTasks. Clean user interface, ability to make multiple lists of tasks, rearrange order, add sub tasks to a task, and schedule tasks. You can also move a task from one list to another easily (I do this by starting the week putting all my tasks in a “this week” list, and then on a daily basis moving some to the “today” list.) I also love that I can see the tasks in my gmail browser on the computer! Would highly recommend. A feature request - ability to collapse/expand the subtasks of a task would be awesome!

by CEO- G

I love Google Tasks and I am happy that they now have an app. The best feature is that when I’ve created a task from my work g-mail on my computer, I can now click on the email link within the Task app and it automatically opens up that email in my Gmail app on my phone. This way I get the same user experience on my phone as I do on my computer.

I just wished I had the option to create a task with an e-mail from within the gmail app. This would definitely make it a mobile experience with the Task and Gmail apps.

Thanks!

by Stschnatz

Searched for an easy to-do list app all my life with utter disappointment until Google Tasks. Basic, yet functional and able to meet all of my needs; although, I would appreciate 2 minor glitch fixes: 1) the ability to edit my tasks/subtasks (rather than having to delete the task entirely and re-type tasks & subtasks from scratch), as well as 2) filing subtasks under the corresponding task with the correct date (currently, subtasks appear at the very bottom under “no date,” although stored under a task with a set date).

by Sorry4ever

5 Stars because it’s very easy to use, fun to use, very useful and quick as lightning to add tasks and to do lists; and you can create separate lists with categories; so helpful and handy. One wish I have is to be able to print out my lists. But that might make the size of GoogleTasks larger, so maybe not. One other thing that I love about GoogleTasks is the fact that it doesn’t take up a lot of space on any of my devices. So there, that’s how I feel about it. Thanks.