Apple Reminders vs Todoist: Which To-Do App Should You Use?

While there are few to-do list apps, I think there is one for everyone and everything. There are subtle differences that allow users to modify different aspects of the app and make it their own. Two such apps are Apple Reminders and Todoist, which we’re going to compare.

Which one is for you? That’s the question most people can’t answer. Apple Reminders offers a simple, fast and easy to use to-do app, following Apple’s design and operation policy. Todoist wants to offer granular control over different aspects of lists and individual tasks.

Download Reminders

Download Todoist

Let’s start.

user interface

Apple neglected Reminders until the release of iOS 13. That’s when it got a major overhaul for the better. The UI has been improved with four smart lists ready to add tasks. You can easily create a new list with a custom icon and color.

Smart lists are self-explanatory. It includes four options – Today for all tasks for a given day, Scheduled for Future tasks, Marked with importance, and All for Pending tasks.

Todoist comes with its own smart lists. I really liked Next 7 Days, which allows you to see your entire week at a glance, out of the ordinary. It has a list view as opposed to the grid view of reminders. On the other hand, it can be folded.

Todoist comes with many themes and icons to choose from.

Creating Tasks, Lists, Projects

Reminders support natural language; this means you can also add tasks using Siri. You can create lists on the main page, but to create tasks, you must first select a list. It turns blue when you type a date or time.

Tap the ‘i’ info icon at any time to add more details like notes, links, pictures and set priority levels. You can set time- or location-based reminders in both Reminders and Todoist.

You can also split a single task into multiple subtasks here. Easy and simple. A great feature is the ‘Remind me when messaging’ feature where you can select a contact if enabled. Next time you text him, you will see this reminder in iMessage.

Todoist does all of this and a little more. Todoist has Projects instead of lists where you can create tasks and subtasks by tapping the big red ‘+’ icon from any screen. No need to drill. Todoist also supports natural language with Siri or type. No info icon registers a tap.

Here you can choose a date, time, project, priority or even a custom tag. Tap the task in Project to add or make changes to subtasks.

You can then easily add files, notes, and people from your team or group to that task or project. People from your team can add, edit, and comment on tasks. Collaboration is at the heart of Todoiost. It is built to scale with teams in mind.

You can also share lists with Reminders, but this only works with iCloud users. And it’s not built to scale like Todoist, which comes with admin rights and controls on enterprise plans (more on that later).

Managing Tasks, Projects, and Departments

Reminders supports drag and drop functionality. You can move one task under another to make it a subtask. To move it back, you must drag the subtask onto the primary task. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure it out.

It’s easier to move tasks in Todoist. You can group tasks by priority and tags. Tags make it easy to link two tasks that are part of different lists or projects. Add team or family members to the mix and it’s much easier to manage tasks. Reminders only have 4 priority levels and you cannot create new ones.

Open a list and tap the three-dot icon to share it with someone else in Reminders. You may not share individual tasks or subtasks or invite others in this way.

Not only does Todoist let you share projects with others, you can also assign individual tasks to team members. They can then comment on the task in question and share their feedback or mark it as complete.

Then there are the sections. Sections allow you to divide a single list into multiple sections so you can divide tasks between them. Better task management.

Platform and Pricing

Apple Reminders is completely free to use as long as you have space in your iCloud account. On the flip side, it’s only available on Apple products, like all Apple apps. There is a web version that you can access via iCloud. If you have iCloud on Windows, it will sync.

Todoist offers apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux. Then there are add-ons and extensions for popular browsers and even email add-ons for Gmail and Outlook. The free plan does not support reminders and limits the number of projects, team members, and tags. The Professional plan will cost $3 per user per month, and team plans with admin roles will cost $5 per person per month.

Just do it

Apple Reminders is perfect for those deep within the Apple ecosystem who mostly work alone or with friends and family members. Todoist is more suitable for professional individuals and teams. With additional features like creating to-dos from emails, admin and member roles, granular control over how projects and tasks are shared, or who can comment, Todoist has you covered.

Next: Click the links below to find out how Reminders and Todoist compare to the Microsoft To-Do app.