The productivity category is highly popular on the App Store. There are several productivity apps to choose from that range from simple to-do list apps to full-fledged workspaces like Notion. However, when it comes to task management, it is difficult to compete with TickTick, our favorite task management app for macOS.
This is because it allows you to intelligently manage and label your tasks, includes helpful widgets, and even features a calendar so that you can plan ahead. We'll be going over all that and more, so you can understand why we highly recommend this powerful task manager.
1. Purpose-Built
Like other productivity apps, TickTick is purpose-built to help you get more done throughout the day. However, the implementation of advanced features is what separates it from the pack. You can use it as a simple to-do list app or take advantage of the task management features.
Use it as a reminder for meetings, homework, medication, paying bills, or for planning a weekly schedule with the help of the calendar. It barely takes a few minutes to add tasks or daily reminders and sort them according to your priority.
On top of that, you can even share your projects with your colleagues by creating a shared list. You can assign tasks to different people from this list. That feature turns it into a sort of project management interface as well.
2. Simple Interface
TickTick's uncluttered layout helps make it infinitely approachable and easy to use. It can be as simple or as intricate as you want it to be. Most of the common features are right where they need to be, but you can always dig deeper for the more advanced task management features.
The list section allows you to categorize and manage your tasks and notes. Furthermore, you can categorize your tasks with tags and also filter them out based on priority, labels, and more. Additionally, you can drag the tasks and place them into a folder to keep things organized and uncluttered.
TickTick is also one of those apps that take advantage of the macOS menu bar. You can keep track of almost everything from the menu bar panel, meaning you don't have to launch the full app. This is an exclusive feature for macOS and one that you won't find on Windows.
3. Task Rescheduling and Repeat
Task Rescheduling allows you to sort tasks that have been skipped or canceled for a certain date. You can adjust the time duration of a task and increase the overall limit. Furthermore, you can do the exact opposite and decrease the time limit for a task if it's more manageable.
This allows you to stay on top of all of your pending tasks so that you never lose track of your to-do list. On top of that, you can allow recurring tasks to repeat based on your preferences. For example, if you have a scrum meeting every Tuesday, you can set a reminder or create a task related to that meeting for each week.
Other than that, you can also set a limit to how many times that task is going to repeat. Set a date for that, and TickTick will delete the task once that limit expires.
4. Built-In Pomodoro Timer
The Pomodoro technique gained significant popularity with productivity apps in recent years. If you aren't aware, you basically set a timer to break work into intervals. For example, you can have a work-focused session for 45 minutes, take a break for 10 minutes, then start the 45-minute session again. It goes a long way in increasing productivity.
TickTick has that feature built-in by default. You can start a Pomodoro timer for any specific task from the list view. You can customize the work and break intervals to your liking. This improves overall efficiency and also gives you a good idea of how long it usually takes to complete a certain task.
There is an Auto Start option as well. This saves you from the hassle of setting a Pomodoro timer for each task. You can choose a date and time for the timer to begin, and it will notify you and start counting down automatically. Once the timer starts, you'll see the clock counting down in the menu bar.
5. Useful Phone Widgets
Apart from the excellent integration with the menu bar in macOS, TickTick also supports widgets on Android, iOS, and macOS. There are a lot of these widgets to pick and choose from, and all of them help you stay focused on various tasks.
The Today Focus widget will allow you to keep track of your daily tasks at a glance. Similarly, the Today Habit widget gives you quick access to your habits lists, so you can see what habits to track daily. There's a Habit Heat Map widget as well that allows you to see how well you're keeping up with a certain habit over the course of a month.
Other widgets like Task Completion, which gives you a view of your completed tasks for the day, and Quick Add, which allows you to quickly add any task to a list straight from the home screen, make it hard to switch to other apps once you've used them.
6. Prioritization and Eisenhower Matrix
You can sort all your tasks and mark them according to four different priority standards: High Priority, Medium Priority, Low Priority, and No Priority. This allows you to work on tasks in order of importance, and you can quickly change the priority of any task from the list view.
You can also prioritize tasks by using the Eisenhower Matrix. This technique uses the four quadrants of time management, namely:
- Urgent and important
- Not urgent but important
- Urgent but not important
- Not urgent and not important
TickTick features full support for the Eisenhower Matrix. You can quickly add tasks to these different quadrants and view them from the Eisenhower View. On top of that, you can use filters to sort tasks based on date, time, tags, and lists. The Eisenhower Matrix is one of the best ways to manage your time, and TickTick's implementation here is great.
7. Habit Development Tools
TickTick's habit development tools help you keep track of your habits. It also helps you analyze how well you're sticking to a particular habit. It reminds you to practice your daily, weekly, and monthly habits so that you can keep track of your performance.
You can select the frequency of the habit reminder and add intervals in between if you feel like it. Decide the goal you want to achieve, and set reminders for it based on your schedule. Habits also appear in your calendar view, so you can track them along with your daily tasks.
There are a lot of dedicated habit-tracking apps out there, but considering how well TickTick works in this department, you might not need to download one of those at all.
5. Cheap Subscription
You can use the app for free and take advantage of the basic features, or pay for the subscription to access TickTick's more advanced features. The premium version unlocks features such as Calendar View, customizable swipe gestures, and white noise for the Pomodoro timer. It also allows you to create more lists, tasks, and subtasks.
You might be sick of subscribing to app services at this point, but TickTick is actually pretty cheap at $2.99 for the monthly plan and just $27.99 for the annual plan. The free version is on-par with other apps, but considering the cost, the premium version outclasses some of the best productivity apps, such as Todoist.
That's cheaper than daily Starbucks trips for most people. For comparison, Todoist is an app similar to TickTick in functionality, but it costs $5/month or $48/year. Taking that into consideration, the value here is hard to beat.
TickTick Is a Must-Have for Those Serious About Productivity
Not only is TickTick an excellent task manager, but it's also an outstanding app for introverts, serious professionals, and students who are constantly overwhelmed by pending tasks. TickTick holds you accountable and gives you the tools you need to manage your tasks and get things done efficiently.
The excellent integration with the macOS menu bar is one of the many reasons it's the best task management app for Macs. If you pair this app with other productivity apps such as Notion or Freedom, you'll achieve your goals in no time.