2Do : Time to organise your life

The Basics

Category: Productivity

Release Date: 8 April 2010

Seller: Guided Ways Technology

Price: £3.99

Size: 9.6mb

Version: 1.2.5.2

Requires: Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later)

Recommended: Works best when paired with the free sync helper- available for download here.

The Review

There are a number of productivity applications on the AppStore, so in this crowded genre, how does 2Do, a calendar and to do list hybrid, stand out from the rest?

The first thing you are greeted with upon opening the app is a slick interface, with an addition sign in the top right hand corner- to add a task, simply type the icon. From here you can then select from what kind of task this is- a to do, project or list, you then can additional details- the level of detail is up to you, the only required field is the name. Now that you’ve setup an impossible number of tasks for yourself, it’s now time to make sure that you remember to do them. Luckily, 2Do is on hand to make sure you don’t forget to pick up ‘little Timmy’ from football practise, with both local and email notifications. Local notifications consists of the app pushing notifications in the form of alerts-which can be configured to feature a sound, and for those of you with an email address that you’re attached to- 2Do will send your tasks over there too.

The app helps breakdown tasks through a number of ways, the first is called focus view, in which tasks are sorted into categories- you may have ‘work’, ‘home’ and ‘birthdays.’ As well as this, todo’s can be assigned a priority level from one to three. In term of searching, the app also has a number of options for the user. At the top of  todo list, is a search bar, from which the user can search for tasks using keywords, tags, people, soundex, and you can ever search within a date range. All of this, allows the user to effectively search through and sort tasks, regardless of how many they set.

At the heart of 2Do is the notion of integration and this comes increasingly apparent as you start to use the app. When you create a task, you can add a number of ‘actions’, such as ‘Call’, ‘SMS’, ‘Email’, ‘Browse’, ‘Visit’ and ‘Google’. When you select one of the actions, you are given the choice of adding additional information, and it’s here that the app starts to integrate with information and other apps on the iPhone. The first four actions- Call, SMS, Email and Browse, all give you the option of adding in a contact from the address book. Visit, allows the user to ‘use their current location’, using the built in GPS, or add an address. While, ‘Google’, allows you to enter in a web address to visit later. The ‘action’ tasks, helps differentiate these tasks from others, however I would like to see other actions, specifically based around social networking- so you may have under ‘Browse’- Facebook/Twitter profile.

Integration doesn’t stop there, as the app will import your different calendars groups into the app, so you can group tasks under the appropriate calender.  And when you’re done with the app for the day, sit back and wirelessly sync all the changes and new tasks with your computer, using the free 2Do sync software. The software will sync the data to a number of services, including, iCal, Toodle and Outlook.

As you may have gathered so far, the application offers a number of ways to set, search and organise your tasks, however the level of user control is only really realised once you open the settings page. From here, you can access page, after page, after page of setting that help customise the experience to your taste. You can change themes, what invokes the app badge, the type of content that the app displays- there is far too much to cover in just this review.

One nice feature is the ability for users of the app is to vote on up coming features. The developers have also includes a features roadmap, which details the features in both future and past updates. This is a welcome touch, that keeps the user aware of where the developers are heading with the app and gives you a voice too in how this app will further develop.

Conclusion : It a crowded genre, 2Do shines out from the rest, with some well thought out features and unprecedented user control. The application is built around the user with numerous ways to create different types of tasks, integrate them into your contact ecosystem, and then remind yourself to do them. This is an app that should be residing on your iPhone for a long time to come.

Rating :

+ Functions based around managing, searching and sorting tasks

+ Excellent integration

+ Fully customisable user experience

– No landscape mode for text input

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