The to-do app Things 3 by Culture Code has been a niche hit among Mac productivity enthusiasts for a few years.
It found its way onto iOS devices early on, with an iPhone version arriving soon after the App Store's debut and a dedicated iPad app appearing the same year the tablet launched.
Things rightfully earned accolades for its clean design and usability.
Beautiful as it is, Things 3 misses some important features that one would expect to find in the best to-do apps, such as collaboration tools, location-based reminders, and a web app.
If those drawbacks don't seem like dealbreakers and you use only Apple products, then Things 3 may still be a wonderful choice for a task-management app.
There's much to love, particularly in its design.
Our Editors' Choice and therefore top recommendations among to-do apps, however, are Todoist and Asana.
Asana is a favorite for teams while Todoist remains our top pick for busy individuals.
Pricing and Compatibility
To get Things 3, you have to buy the apps.
Each app sells separately.
There's an app for macOS ($49.99), iPhone and Apple Watch ($9.99), and iPad ($19.99).
If you buy the whole set, that's about $80.
When you buy the apps, you own them for life, though there's always the likelihood that you'll have to buy a new version or pay to upgrade for the next major release.
Things does not have any kind of premium tier of service or pro plan.
You can get a free 15-day trial only by downloading a version of the Mac app from Things' website.
Most task-management apps rely on a paid subscription business model.
You get a version of the app for free, but you don't get all the best features unless you pay for a premium or pro membership.
Generally, apps that are suitable for personal use charge around $3 per person per month, while business-oriented apps tend to charge about $10 per person per month.
Setup and Interface
Things 3 for Mac has a tidy interface.
The apps for iPhone and iPad are largely the same, with the iOS version tucking away extraneous information into screens that you access by swiping left or right, whereas, in the larger format, the same information appears in menus that you can collapse and reveal at will.
With a Magic Mouse or Trackpad, that menu can disappear in a flick.
In the spacious Mac app, which resizes to any dimension you like, you have a large window for writing your tasks, organizing them, and adding detail.
The collapsible menu on the left shows how you've organized your tasks into Areas (think Home, Personal, Household) and Projects (more like tasks that can have subtasks).
Details in the design show a sense of purpose.
For example, every project has a circle next to it in the menu bar and at the top of the task list when you view it.
As you check off tasks, the circle fills in to show the project's completion percentage.
I wish I could add a custom color to each one.
Keyboard shortcuts help you use the app quickly and easily, although I often found myself trying to hit the enter key to get something to stick when the correct way to do it is to click outside the active field.
Features
As mentioned, Things 3's main selling point is its design.
This refers to not only its looks, but also the tools the app gives you to organize and tackle your tasks.
You get the essential features, such as tags, reminders, and due dates, without extraneous clutter.
Reminders and due dates are sometimes treated as one and the same in other to-do apps, but in Things, you can plan when you want to do a task while also being reminded of when it's truly due.
While tags can have whatever function you want, followers of the Getting Things Done or GTD method (created and trademarked by David Allen, who has a book and company of the same name) will find them useful for adding a task's context.
Does this task need to be done on the computer? Is it one for the office? Tags come in handy for logging that kind of detail.
Headers help, too, in giving you ad-hoc ways to organize the tasks before you.
You can drag and drop tasks under it to group them and arrange them in whatever way makes sense to you.
When you move the header itself, all the tasks collected under it move with it.
GTD fans will likewise appreciate Things 3's Inbox, where you can collect stray thoughts to sort through later, as well as a Today view showings tasks to tackle in the coming hours.
A similar view for Someday tasks lets you keep track of all those projects and chores that are never urgent and that you'd like to get to eventually.
A Logbook collects all the tasks you've marked done.
Drawbacks
Having Things 3 available only on the Mac and on mobile devices doesn't quite cut the mustard for me.
The lack of a web app is crippling.
The more I work in cloud-based apps, the more I expect to be able to log into any machine and get my hands on my stuff anytime.
With Things 3, you have to have your device with the app installed to see your tasks.
What if your employer or school owns your device and doesn't let you install apps? What if you're traveling and your device is lost or stolen and you have to rely on a loaner? A web app solves all these problems and more.
I mentioned, too, that Things 3 doesn't have any collaboration features.
In other words, you can't invite someone to join your list and then assign tasks to them.
In other apps that offer collaboration, including Asana and Todoist, you can create, say, a grocery shopping list that you share with everyone in your household.
Then, as people check off items on the list, you know about it.
It's the same with work-related tasks.
If you share projects and tasks with your co-workers, you don't have to wait for them to tell you that they set up a meeting or called the accountant.
You'll know they did it when they check off the task.
Alternatively, they can add detail to a task that's pending, assign it back to you if they can't handle it, and so forth.
A less severe drawback, but still one worth pointing out for those who need the feature, is the lack of location-based reminders in the mobile app.
Any.do offers them and so does Toodledo.
Location-based reminders simply trigger a notification when your device is in a particular location.
You can create a reminder to pick up the dry cleaning that triggers when you walk past the shop rather than at a particular date and time.
Clean and Simple But Limited
What Things 3 does well, it does very well.
If you're in the market for a Mac and iOS to-do app that's well-designed and gives you plenty of tools for organizing your tasks, it's a great option so long as you're not hindered by what it's missing.
If you need a to-do app that covers all the bases, try Todoist Premium or Asana, Editors' Choice award-winning apps.
Cons
No collaboration features, location-based reminders, or web app.
Only compatible with Apple products.
No free version.
The Bottom Line
Can a superbly designed interface for task management make up for the lack of key features? With to-do list app Things 3, it's a legitimate possibility.
The to-do app Things 3 by Culture Code has been a niche hit among Mac productivity enthusiasts for a few years.
It found its way onto iOS devices early on, with an iPhone version arriving soon after the App Store's debut and a dedicated iPad app appearing the same year the tablet launched.
Things rightfully earned accolades for its clean design and usability.
Beautiful as it is, Things 3 misses some important features that one would expect to find in the best to-do apps, such as collaboration tools, location-based reminders, and a web app.
If those drawbacks don't seem like dealbreakers and you use only Apple products, then Things 3 may still be a wonderful choice for a task-management app.
There's much to love, particularly in its design.
Our Editors' Choice and therefore top recommendations among to-do apps, however, are Todoist and Asana.
Asana is a favorite for teams while Todoist remains our top pick for busy individuals.
Pricing and Compatibility
To get Things 3, you have to buy the apps.
Each app sells separately.
There's an app for macOS ($49.99), iPhone and Apple Watch ($9.99), and iPad ($19.99).
If you buy the whole set, that's about $80.
When you buy the apps, you own them for life, though there's always the likelihood that you'll have to buy a new version or pay to upgrade for the next major release.
Things does not have any kind of premium tier of service or pro plan.
You can get a free 15-day trial only by downloading a version of the Mac app from Things' website.
Most task-management apps rely on a paid subscription business model.
You get a version of the app for free, but you don't get all the best features unless you pay for a premium or pro membership.
Generally, apps that are suitable for personal use charge around $3 per person per month, while business-oriented apps tend to charge about $10 per person per month.
Setup and Interface
Things 3 for Mac has a tidy interface.
The apps for iPhone and iPad are largely the same, with the iOS version tucking away extraneous information into screens that you access by swiping left or right, whereas, in the larger format, the same information appears in menus that you can collapse and reveal at will.
With a Magic Mouse or Trackpad, that menu can disappear in a flick.
In the spacious Mac app, which resizes to any dimension you like, you have a large window for writing your tasks, organizing them, and adding detail.
The collapsible menu on the left shows how you've organized your tasks into Areas (think Home, Personal, Household) and Projects (more like tasks that can have subtasks).
Details in the design show a sense of purpose.
For example, every project has a circle next to it in the menu bar and at the top of the task list when you view it.
As you check off tasks, the circle fills in to show the project's completion percentage.
I wish I could add a custom color to each one.
Keyboard shortcuts help you use the app quickly and easily, although I often found myself trying to hit the enter key to get something to stick when the correct way to do it is to click outside the active field.
Features
As mentioned, Things 3's main selling point is its design.
This refers to not only its looks, but also the tools the app gives you to organize and tackle your tasks.
You get the essential features, such as tags, reminders, and due dates, without extraneous clutter.
Reminders and due dates are sometimes treated as one and the same in other to-do apps, but in Things, you can plan when you want to do a task while also being reminded of when it's truly due.
While tags can have whatever function you want, followers of the Getting Things Done or GTD method (created and trademarked by David Allen, who has a book and company of the same name) will find them useful for adding a task's context.
Does this task need to be done on the computer? Is it one for the office? Tags come in handy for logging that kind of detail.
Headers help, too, in giving you ad-hoc ways to organize the tasks before you.
You can drag and drop tasks under it to group them and arrange them in whatever way makes sense to you.
When you move the header itself, all the tasks collected under it move with it.
GTD fans will likewise appreciate Things 3's Inbox, where you can collect stray thoughts to sort through later, as well as a Today view showings tasks to tackle in the coming hours.
A similar view for Someday tasks lets you keep track of all those projects and chores that are never urgent and that you'd like to get to eventually.
A Logbook collects all the tasks you've marked done.
Drawbacks
Having Things 3 available only on the Mac and on mobile devices doesn't quite cut the mustard for me.
The lack of a web app is crippling.
The more I work in cloud-based apps, the more I expect to be able to log into any machine and get my hands on my stuff anytime.
With Things 3, you have to have your device with the app installed to see your tasks.
What if your employer or school owns your device and doesn't let you install apps? What if you're traveling and your device is lost or stolen and you have to rely on a loaner? A web app solves all these problems and more.
I mentioned, too, that Things 3 doesn't have any collaboration features.
In other words, you can't invite someone to join your list and then assign tasks to them.
In other apps that offer collaboration, including Asana and Todoist, you can create, say, a grocery shopping list that you share with everyone in your household.
Then, as people check off items on the list, you know about it.
It's the same with work-related tasks.
If you share projects and tasks with your co-workers, you don't have to wait for them to tell you that they set up a meeting or called the accountant.
You'll know they did it when they check off the task.
Alternatively, they can add detail to a task that's pending, assign it back to you if they can't handle it, and so forth.
A less severe drawback, but still one worth pointing out for those who need the feature, is the lack of location-based reminders in the mobile app.
Any.do offers them and so does Toodledo.
Location-based reminders simply trigger a notification when your device is in a particular location.
You can create a reminder to pick up the dry cleaning that triggers when you walk past the shop rather than at a particular date and time.
Clean and Simple But Limited
What Things 3 does well, it does very well.
If you're in the market for a Mac and iOS to-do app that's well-designed and gives you plenty of tools for organizing your tasks, it's a great option so long as you're not hindered by what it's missing.
If you need a to-do app that covers all the bases, try Todoist Premium or Asana, Editors' Choice award-winning apps.
Cons
No collaboration features, location-based reminders, or web app.
Only compatible with Apple products.
No free version.
The Bottom Line
Can a superbly designed interface for task management make up for the lack of key features? With to-do list app Things 3, it's a legitimate possibility.
