Doo – A Fun and Delightful Reminder and To Do App for Mac and iOS

While the normal person is good at remembering good or bad events from their past, they seem to be bad at remembering things they need to do. Try to go to the market to buy a handful of random groceries without a shopping list, and you’ll know what I mean. Or try to recite a list of fifty ordinary items that you’ve just read, and you’ll probably fail miserably. The way our brains work requires us to use a written list to have a more organized life.

That’s why we have tons of to-do list applications, both on desktop computers and mobile platforms. But only a handful of to-do list apps succeed in enticing their users to use them regularly. There are still many of us who prefer to stick to traditional pen and paper or not use a to-do list application at all.

That is the goal of Doo: To be a fun and delightful reminder and to-do list app so that people will love to use it. It is available for iOS devices (US$ 2.99) and Mac (US$ 2.99). Doo syncs the two versions seamlessly via iCloud so that the tasks that you add in your iPhone will be automatically available on your Mac and iPad and vice versa.

The Card Stack and Swipes

One distinctive difference between Doo and other similar apps is the interface. Doo doesn’t look and feel like just another to-do app with checklists and folders; it uses a card stack analogy to represent your tasks. You can discard the cards with tasks that you have completed, snooze the ones that you want to do later, or skip one task and go to the next.

Both the iOS and Mac versions have a similar interface, but the Mac version resides in the menu bar and uses the trackpad to accomplish actions that use the touchscreen on iOS devices. Swiping a card on the touchscreen is equal to two-finger swiping on the trackpad.

You can swipe the card up to mark the task as complete and down to snooze the task. Swiping left and right will shuffle the card in the front to the back. You can also use the buttons to do that, but there is no skip button on the iOS version.

Adding and Modifying Tasks

To add a new task click or tap the “Plus (+)” button at the bottom of the window. Other than adding the name of the task, you can also add a reminder to nudge you before the time of the task and also set it as a recurring task if you want to repeat it in specified time intervals. If you need to add a short explanation to the task, such as a web link for resources, you can do so in the note field below.

Doo will automatically add beautiful images to accompany the task, so your task cards will always look good, and you won’t get bored using Doo to organize your to-do list. There are currently eighteen accompanying images available. Hopefully, the developer will add more and also let users use their own images.

And if Doo thinks your task is too complicated, it will suggest you break it down into multiple shorter tasks.

The card stacks and the accompanying images are nice, but the one feature that I think Doo excels in is the ability to add tasks from any other application that supports sharing. Almost all apps in iOS support the feature, but there are not many of them in OS X.

For example, if you find an article on the Web that you can use as an idea for your project, you can just click or tap the “Share” button in Safari and choose Add to Doo. If Doo is not available from the Share menu, select “More” at the bottom and add it. In the Mac you will add the app from “System Preferences.”

Doo will automatically add the website link for you in the note area. All you have to do is add a title and click Save.

It’s Simple, and That’s the Point

Doo is beautiful, fun, and far from complicated. Maybe that’s the point of the app – to make it simple and appealing to use so you want to use it. The app is not free, but if it can make your life more productive and you enjoy doing it, it would worth the price.

Have you tried Doo? Or do you have a different favorite reminder and to-do list app? Share your opinion using the comments below.