Show HN: NowDo – MacOS todo app for procrastinators
nowdo.org
nowdo.org
1. The default message "nothing to do" shouldn't be automatically added to the tasks every time. 2. It would be great if, after snoozing, we could see the top "n" tasks in the main app itself. 3. Please add a feature to select multiple tasks at once. 4. Instead of a subscription, it would be better to have a one-time payment for the premium pricing.
Thank you!
> The default message "nothing to do" shouldn't be automatically added to the tasks every time.
This is only shown if there are no unsnoozed not-done tasks, would you prefer if it was left blank in this scenario? We wanted to provide a hint to user's about what they can do in this scenario.
> It would be great if, after snoozing, we could see the top "n" tasks in the main app itself.
There is an option to see all tasks in the menu, the decision to only show one task at a time was deliberate as the hope is to encourage the user either to focus on this task or snooze it. May I ask why it would be useful to see the top "n" tasks on the main UI?
> Please add a feature to select multiple tasks at once
Should be able to do this, is there something in particular you want to do to multiple tasks at once - like snoozing or marking them "done"?
> Instead of a subscription, it would be better to have a one-time payment for the premium pricing.
This is helpful. Our idea was that people would pay for cloud backup and synchronization - since the cost to operate the servers is ongoing I think this would need to be a recurring charge or we could end up spending more than we're making.
But if we identified other premium features that didn't require a cloud service then we could have a premium version with a one-time purchase. Are there any features in particular that you'd be willing to pay for?
Many thanks!
1. totally encrypted/syncing etc (iOS in the roadmap ;)
2. Infinite nesting (indenting/outdenting)
3. Swipe to indent/de-indent
4. Drag and drop rearranging
5. KeePass type standard that is "portable" in the sense your data is always soverign and extensible or whatevr
6. Purchaseable/One-Time Large payment like $50-100 with abillity to tip or however one wants to supplement if they wish to support dev
7. Customizable font/ui text and display size. This is important, a lot of apps that offer these features in various mixed bags are usually annoyingly ant-sized and non-customizable
I would love to see a Strongbox equivalent of Todo/Tasks. The world needs this. Enough of Todoist's monopoly on outliney/todos
> 1. totally encrypted/syncing etc (iOS in the roadmap ;)
We're considering offering an encrypted cloud service, or alternatively, integrating with Dropbox/Google Drive. Details are still being worked out but data sovereignty is very important to me so that will be an important design consideration whichever approach we choose.
> 2. Infinite nesting (indenting/outdenting)
While I understand the utility, this feature might detract from NowDo's core philosophy of simplicity. Our aim is to avoid complexity that might distract from task execution, though I'm always open to re-evaluating features that could enhance user experience without compromising simplicity.
> KeePass type standard that is "portable" in the sense your data is always soverign and extensible or whatevr
We're currently using a universal CSV format for easy import/export of tasks. Does this align with your expectations, or were you thinking of something different?
> Purchaseable/One-Time Large payment like $50-100 with abillity to tip or however one wants to supplement if they wish to support dev
Your suggestion for a one-time fee in the $50-$100 range, with optional tipping, is intriguing. Our initial thought was a lower price point ($10-$15), but we're open to exploring different models. The balance between accessibility and sustainability is key for us.
> Customizable font/ui text and display size. This is important, a lot of apps that offer these features in various mixed bags are usually annoyingly ant-sized and non-customizable
Excessive customization can sometimes detract from usability and design coherence. However, your point about text/display size is well taken, especially for accessibility reasons. We’ll consider this feedback carefully. Could you share if you find the current UI size too big, too small, or are you highlighting a general need for adaptability?
Again, really appreciate your feedback.
Can I ask you to clarify something? Do you honestly believe that or is this sort of an oblique suggestion that it would be non-trivial/"unsimple" to implement?
FWIT, I have heard commentary over the years that engineering that kind of UI (where things can be dragged and dropped and moved around arbitrarily) in the way Todoist uses as its competitive advantage is diffcult to do and to get right
This is such a mission-critical thing otherwise you're like every other Todoist non-competes scrambling for Todoists crumbs. Its like literally just that to me with the infinite nesting and i can't remember if they allow swipe indenting but thats the most natural/intuitive in combination with drag and drop which can be used together and interchangably.
The issue with Todoist is they want to retain full control and deny your data portabillity and soverignty. They demand you sync thru their unencrypted (to them) cloud because they demand control or at least access to user content which they seem unwilling or unable to concede they won't leverage should buy-out talks begin.
No deal for them because of that but they still have the best UI (Sorted really is the closest thing and what I use alternatively) but theres no reason you can't swoop in and implement particularly 2 but probably all the things I've mentioned because that will be your path to folks like me showering you with money and actually out of desire for a superior self-funded project that respects and affirms our autonomy and allows for you to distinguish yourself in a non-trivial way.
Thanks
Edit: if you can cross-breed Todoist + Strongbox (KeePass) I will buy whatever you come up with provided the UI is closer to Todoist and the functionality captures both aha
Edit: infinite nesting ≈ subtasks but it can't be arbitraily limited to like 2-3 or whatever levels. If you find it philosophically problematic you could offer the user an advanced settings option that lets them toggle how many levels of abstraction/nesting levels they want to enforce and they can experiment and modify that as they settle in to your app and their own workflow
Not oblique, it's a common feature although I agree with you that few get it right.
But the issue isn't difficulty of implementation, it's with NowDo's philosophy, which is obsessive about simplicity. Our goal with it is to create the simplest useful todo app. The lack of features is its most important feature.
> This is such a mission-critical thing otherwise you're like every other Todoist non-competes scrambling for Todoists crumbs. Its like literally just that to me with the infinite nesting and i can't remember if they allow swipe indenting but thats the most natural/intuitive in combination with drag and drop which can be used together and interchangeably.
Todoist users aren't our target market, we're aiming for the people that want something much simpler and more opinionated than Todoist. We think they are an underserved market, but we're only in the very early stages of testing that thesis.
Thank you again for your feedback.
Download Strongbox and learn from the master. That is such an amazing model from the user side and he seems to be making it work economically so thats all I got for now.
What do you like about Strongbox's model? Is it the availability of a lifetime plan?
- philiosophy of pick your own cloud service and it implements the syncing and management or just locally if people prefer
- doesn't lock you in + easy export
- implements MarkDown for notes but thats another good feature to fully implement for task notes, like Sorted3
- thing is, if you have anything non-Lifetime, it means it can be taken away at any point or at least eventually. That is unacceptable for anything (much moreso for content as important as people's notes and passwords etc)
- anything where your servers are involved means it requires a middleman which all of this emphatically does not require. That would be a YOU thing and not an US thing (not that youmre saying that but its super important to emphasize how basically done I am with Devs who pull that crap. I dont care if a Dev sells out or quits or whatever [insert dev situation], if I've done my homework I will likely be unaffected or should be unaffected and I just don't update or allow Apple to screw around with offloading apps
- I am free to top up with tips in the sense I can stochastically throw a little scratch Strongbox Mark's way when I'm able to rarely so I can express my appreciation for it
- He's very reponsive and even has his own subreddit! He hasn't become so big you never hear back from him, really just a mattr of time
- KeePass is an amazing format and he has done a mindblowingly amazing job of implementing all of it without the user habing to get dirty with rando plugin and junk
Ah, interesting - may I ask what window manager you use? Is it the combination of CTRL+OPT that causes the conflict? We can make the shortcuts configurable, I've added an issue to our tracker.
> Also for the UI, if there is a mode that when the app is unfocus then the UI will hide all other text buttons, which I think will make it looks less distract.
This is something I've considered, perhaps a configuration option to hide the buttons when the app isn't focused. They serve the purpose of acting as a reminder about the keyboard shortcuts but experienced users shouldn't need that. I'll add it to our issue tracker.
> Really nice and clean app btw!
Thank you, and thank you also for the suggestions :)
If I wasn't at my computer grinding through a list of computer work, checking a list would not help me focus on stuff I can't act on. If I needed a general list, I'd choose a product that aimed to be something like you describe.
When you snooze it for >=1 day, does it reappear at the time that it was snoozed or do the tasks somehow group into buckets where if you snooze all tasks that appear today for 1 day, they'll all appear tomorrow at the same time?
That's exactly what I was hoping people would say, thank you.
> The only issue is that I'm not totally comfortable installing a Mac app to try it out. I'd be happy to try it out as a web app first.
That's helpful feedback, thank you. I'll give a web app version some thought.
> When you snooze it for >=1 day, does it reappear at the time that it was snoozed or do the tasks somehow group into buckets where if you snooze all tasks that appear today for 1 day, they'll all appear tomorrow at the same time?
NowDo only shows one task at a time - the "current task". This will be the oldest unsnoozed not-done task. So tasks won't necessarily be seen by the user the moment their snooze expires if there are older unsnoozed not-done tasks. Does that answer your question?
Hi, same concern here, would be happy to try the web version but not willing to install an app.
Zero installs, all web apps, where users don't control their data. The average users computer ability has no doubt dropped over time as software is catering for the lowest common denominator.
As this catering becomes more popular, this is the expectation people have, only original hardware vendors will be installing native apps. Sucks, but its the graveyard that we've built.
Also, installing anything anywhere is potentially a huge security risk, so I see why people use browsers as convenient sandboxes for trying out software.
Google does similar things. Why do some apps install bloat in ~ or ~/Documents without letting me chose where ?
If you want to sand box applications you need to use VM. Because some crap permeates the whole system.
I’d like the OS to run a separare environment for each user or application with little to no access to my main installation.
Just on this, if it makes you feel any better the app is signed through the Apple process (which was a PITA).
edit: would also help not having it show in the task switcher, now it sort of annoying to have it show up when Cmd-Tab'bing... while doing the task of course ;)
Thank you!
> Would it be possible to have the current task show in the menu bar instead?
This is something I thought people might want, so thank you for confirming. The reason I didn't do it because Apple's UI guidelines discourage using excessive menu-bar space, but I'm certainly open to it if there is demand.
May I ask, is the issue that the UI takes up too much screen real-estate? I've been wondering whether we should make it more compact, so I'd appreciate feedback on that.
Main concern with the window it not so much that it takes too much space, but that it "exists" in the task switcher, which can be distracting when Cmd-Tab'ing. Without going full menu bar way, perhaps a way to make it "transparent" to task switcher could help this - in fact maybe a mix between window (for showing current task) and menubar (for actions)
I've added this to our bugtracker, will get it fixed ASAP. Appreciate the feedback.
Good luck with it though - the basic idea seems great even if it's not for me.
Unfortunately its creators fell into the trap of adding a bunch of features which ruined it IMHO. It's not clear whether this is related to that, it doesn't look like it is.
IP Address 185.199.108.153
Reverse DNS Name cdn-185-199-108-153.github.com
Established by /Applications/NowDo.app/Contents/MacOS/NowDo
Process ID 86223
Code Signature Signed by [redacted]
User [me]
I'm guessing for update reasons, though how many updates are you planning? :D
Also, it'd be nice to be able to put it on my second monitor
We don't want to expand the feature set much beyond what it already is - since the lack of features is a feature - but we'll probably create a "premium" version to help us pay the bills. We needed a way to inform users about such updates, but we plan to use it very sparingly (perhaps a few times per year once NowDo is out of beta).
> Also, it'd be nice to be able to put it on my second monitor
Thanks for the suggestion - can you just drag it over, or is the issue that a second monitor isn't always connected?
Actually I'm not aware of the Always Sunny reference for NowDo - what is it?
It's a great opportunity to change the name though!
Maybe you'd be better served by something like Toggl? You can create projects and really finely track time in it. Also the web ui gives you option to export a nice report on any given period for your tracked time.
Shameless plug https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn...
We plan to expose an API later, this would allow easy integration with apps like yours if that interested you.
My project is a library first with two applications built against the API ... A command line one that is also used for the PS1 variable and a gui app for when a visual exploration of the tree is needed.
For one-time tasks, you can make a reminder with an alarm. For habits/recurring tasks, set up a recurring reminder. I assume you can have Focus-oriented lists, but I haven’t looked into it. It’s well integrated into iCloud of course.
Only thing it doesn’t do is give you a mail-to-task pipeline from Mail.app to Reminders.app. That’s a gap that I think needs to be filled.
Edit: nevermind, for mail-to-task just select some text from an email and do the Share… function to Reminders.app, it’ll provide a link back to the email in the reminder.
I think NowDo has quite a different philosophy to Reminders.app. I haven't tried Remoders but I've tried many others over the years. Every time the todo app itself became the distraction. Instead of doing what I'm supposed to be doing I'd be thinking about what task taxonomy I should be using or some other nonsense.
IMHO the lack of features is NowDo's most important and unique feature. I spent about 2 years prototyping and worked hard to remove every feature that wasn't absolutely essential, the less features the fewer distractions.
This won't be right for everyone, I have friends who couldn't live without labels and categories and other such features - but for me they just got in the way of getting stuff done.
That's helpful, thank you.
If there were a generic way to unfuck your life on the other side of it, I could see it being wildly popular. Like a linear progression in weights, or a fasting diet, or a spaced repetition scheme, but for unwinding the effects of avoidant behaviours, with progress and results, that would be valuable.
You're also right about todo apps assisting in their procrastination. That's why I kept NowDo so simple, there are no superfluous features to tinker with like labels, due dates, or categories.
To pay the bills we plan to offer a paid service that will provide cloud backup and cross-device synchronization, but that's a few months away. I'd appreciate any feedback on this as a revenue stream.
I know that software is not free to build, so I don’t expect it’s free to use. If you want to keep the product free, you can always add a Donate me button, to let people show their appreciation.
Kudos to you for letting us know what is the way you expect to make money. I try to never use software or services where the “making money” part is not clear.
I wouldn’t probably pay for a service, but I might be happy to pay a one time fee for a function that dumps the todo file (I understand it’s a csv) every time there is an update so I can integrate that on some other workflow (like committing to git, or importing into obsidian).
Another thing I might pay for is a iPhone app so I can mark todos completed on the go, but it’s probably very difficult to to a always on window there.
Yes, it seems there is a strong preference for a one-time purchase over a subscription, so I'll definitely give that serious consideration as we figure out our business model. My prototype for NowDo (which ran on i3/linux) uses Notion as a back-end.
> Another thing I might pay for is a iPhone app so I can mark todos completed on the go, but it’s probably very difficult to to a always on window there.
I think iphones now support widgets, similar to Android - so I think we can do something similar to NowDo's always-on-top. Iphone and Android versions are on our roadmap.