Productivity App Todoist Next Looks to Save You From Disorganization

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a pretty disorganized person. Each year in school, my teachers would have to make arrangements with my mom to sit me down and make up all the homework I hadn’t bothered to do. Even now, my desk looks more like a garbage dump than an engine of productivity. Still, I manage to get my work done each day, though maybe a little closer to deadline time than I’d like. It seems like Todoist Next—a task manager smartphone app—was made for people like me.

The app is a new iteration of the Todoist task manager; Todoist Next has added features like cross-mobile collaboration tools to allow those with Android and iOS devices to access the same projects, as well as a new, streamlined design. Even though I’m just coming to this app today, I can definitely say that the minimalistic and clean design is nice to look at both on the web and on my phone.

The app itself is free, but comes with some limitations when compared to the features offered in the premium version. The freemium version allows users to gather up to six users on a particular project, while the paid version lets you share a project with a total of 26 users. That’s a pretty significant disparity in functionality, but it makes sense considering what the team behind Todoist is looking to do—make money.

Just fiddling with the app for a few minutes already makes it seem like a great addition to my routine of keeping myself on-task. I plan on trying it out for at least another week or two to see if it helps me get more work done. And if I like it enough, I may shell out the cash for a yearly subscription to the premium edition, which is only $29. That’s under $3 a week, and I can definitely see the benefit of having full access to this app. For instance, I’m in a band with four other guys, all of whom have jobs other than musician. As such, it can be tough to keep everyone on the same page in terms of what has to get done. It’s possible that investing in a premium license for Todoist Next could be exactly what we need to make sure we’re all getting our individual tasks done—or at least showing up to practice on time.

That said, we’ve been able to hold our own using Google Calendar, which is free from top to bottom. It’s possible that Todoist Next has the right stuff to get me to open my wallet…but it’ll have to do a damn good job to beat my favorite free option.