Taskmator for Android

Well thought out.

I was slow to accept TaskMator because of its visual paradigm. When I make a task list on paper, each item has a check box and I check that when it’s done. If I strike through the task, it means I decided against it - decided the task wasn’t a priority. TaskMator, like other TaskPaper apps, strikes through completed tasks, which makes less sense to me and makes my record of completed work harder to read. TaskMator just works so well that it won me over anyway. It’s simple, easy, reliable, synchronized across all my devices, and the tagging mechanism makes it easy to filter my lists to see what I want - quicker and easier in most cases than a “real database” app. I use TaskMator not just for task tracking, but for other lists like groceries, packing lists, and items I am collecting. It’s one of my most-used apps.

I have been using task paper for 8 years with my job. It’s critical to what I do, and there is nothing that replaces it. Taskmator is an excellent app, although last year it took a while for it to be properly updated. Although Amit doesn’t get a lot of money from this app, he still supports it. I would pay much more for it, it’s that important to me.

First, the good: this is a much-needed app, filling a gap created when the developer of the original Taskpaper app abandoned iOS to concentrate on the Android version. The text editor Editorial, which seemed like the best alternative to the original Taskpaper, appears to be abandonware now: the developer hasn’t upgraded it to work with Google’s Files, which is pretty much a dealbreaker these days. Enter Taskmator, which can read and write Taskpaper files, and is fully up-to-date with the current set of iOS technologies, including Files. It presents the files attractively and clearly, and provides all the basic tools you need for working with them. If you happen to like the Taskpaper format — a simple plaintext format for to-do lists — then this is the app you want. Now the bad news. First, it’s not entirely stable. I’ve managed to hang it a few times, most often when using the ‘Move …’ menu. Second, the UI could be better. On a desktop app, I’d say that it was “mousey”: lots of mouse-clicks are needed to get anything done. I’m not sure what the equivalent is for a mobile app: “fingery?” “touchy?” So, for example, adding a new project heading requires you to press the ‘+’, which creates a new task item, then click on the new item, then click the ‘…’ icon to bring up the menu, then choose ‘Item Type …’ and finally choose ‘Project’. That’s a lot of clicks just to make one new item. And you haven’t even put it where you want it, which requires a whole new set of clicks. This could definitely be handled better. Items can be moved, re-ordered and re-parented using drag and drop, which is a reasonable way to do it. However, on my phone, I sometimes found that the drag system either didn’t respond at all or responded suddenly and unexpectedly, resulting in the item being dragged to the wrong location. Maybe Up/Down and Indent/Outdent buttons, as seen in some other outliners, would work better. You can, of course, also use the ‘…’ pop-up menu to move items, but that’s not ideal. Given the absence of competition, these aren’t exactly dealbreakers, but it does mean that working with Taskmator is a lot less efficient and enjoyable than it could be. The results are nice, but everything takes longer than it needs to.

I’m trying to get into using TaskPaper after using every other todo list over the years. I was looking for an iOS client and this seems like the best bet. Good lord this thing crashes every 5 minutes and is so finicky, I accidentally mark things as done constantly due to the poorly implemented gestures. Gonna try Drafts 5 instead. Buyer beware