Task managers are the app category with the highest ratio of enthusiasm-to-usefulness. Every year has a new “productivity system” wrapped in a shiny app, and every year most of them get abandoned within a month. Todoist is not one of those. It has been around since 2007, has kept its core simple, and has resisted the temptation to become a project-management platform. On Android in 2026 it remains the recommendation for cross-platform task tracking.
What Todoist does well
Natural-language input. Type “Call the electrician tomorrow at 4pm #home @call” and Todoist parses out the due date, the project (Home), and the label (Call). This is the single most under-appreciated feature: it means adding a task takes as long as typing the task, which is the difference between a task manager you use and one you abandon.
Projects, sections, and labels. Projects are folders (Work, Personal, Errands). Sections divide a project into columns (To do, In progress, Done). Labels cut across projects (@call, @errand, @waiting). The system is expressive enough for real workflows and simple enough that you can use it wrong for years and still get value from it.
Recurring tasks that actually work. “Every Monday”, “every 2 weeks starting next Friday”, “every last day of the month” — Todoist parses recurrence rules from natural language and repeats tasks correctly. Recurring tasks that survive year after year are rare in task apps.
Cross-platform sync. Todoist runs on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, web, Apple Watch, and Wear OS. Everything you add on one device is on every other within seconds. If you switch between phone and laptop through the day, this is the whole game.
Sharing. Share individual projects with others (family shopping list, roommate chore rota, small team todo list). Comments per task, assignment, and reminders all work.
Karma — the built-in gamification of task completion — is silly and, for many users, quietly effective. Turn it off in Settings if the numbers annoy you.
Free tier vs Pro
The free tier is unusually generous:
- Up to 5 personal projects.
- Up to 5 collaborators per shared project.
- 1-week activity history.
- Full natural-language input, recurrence, and cross-platform sync.
Pro adds:
- Up to 300 personal projects.
- Reminders (specific time reminders separate from the due date).
- Full activity history.
- Themes.
- Labels beyond a small free-tier cap.
- Task duration and calendar layout.
- Templates.
The single most valuable Pro feature is reminders. If you rely on the phone to remind you to leave for an appointment, or to check on something at a specific time, this alone can justify the price.
Priced modestly. Yearly billing is cheaper. There is also a Business tier for teams; solo users do not need it.
What it does less well
The design is deliberately conservative. If you want a task manager that looks like a beautifully-designed 2026 app, you may prefer Things (iOS/Mac only), TickTick, or Amazing Marvin. Todoist looks like Todoist has always looked.
Widgets on Android are competent but limited compared with third-party task managers built around Android’s newer widget capabilities. If your home screen is a widget dashboard, TickTick may fit better.
Integrations with other tools are numerous but shallow. If your workflow is deeply tied to Notion, Obsidian, or a specific email client, expect to build the bridges yourself using automation tools.
Who should install it
Install Todoist if you want a task manager that will still be maintained in 2030, that syncs to every device you own, and that you can add tasks to as fast as you can type them. The free tier is enough to try it seriously for a month.
Consider TickTick if calendar view and habit tracking are important; consider Google Tasks if you want a bare-minimum tool that lives inside Gmail and Google Calendar.
Verdict
4.5 / 5. One of the most trustworthy apps in a category full of noise. Not the flashiest, and better for it. If you have been trying and abandoning task apps, this is the one to stick with.