Cultured Code Announces 'Things 3' Task Manager for Mac, iOS, and Apple Watch

I'm really shocked by some of these responses regarding the price etc... thought I'd offer a different viewpoint.

I agree that Cultured Code took too long to get Things going - especially syncing. But as I remember as a purchaser of both version 1 and 2 they have given a lot. 1.5 was a free upgrade I think and was a solid update. Version 2 had various update discounts . Anyway I've given CC a fair chunk of my money and have never felt it wasn't worth the money. I don't like Omni-products in general (even I think they are over-priced) are I find the options a confused mess. CC are VERY careful with the changes they make and generally make intelligent stream-lining choices. So £80 for a todo app suite that I think is the best out there and helps me a lot - yes, I'm in. Dev's have to find a way to make money. Free apps are never really free (Think WHY Wunderlist is going to get trashed by Microsoft, in the same way Google trashed Sparrow - Money - Wunderlist was fairly special but obviously wasn't paying the bills). Do you think your Google apps are really free? - have you any idea how much Google makes from you indirectly through these apps? Subscription models are (IMO) a modern, occasionally necessary, evil - exactly how many companies are you prepared to let eat your earnings *every* month. No thanks - I like one-time price models. If I think a tool is valuable to me, and I recognise that the company cares about the product I'm far happier with a one time price.

And btw, I'm a volunteer worker who gets a small monthly stipend of £200, single room board, and community meals to be able to continue offering 'free' graphic design work to an organisation who's work and ethos I deeply value. I have no savings, and I buy second hand Apple products occasionally. My Macbook is 6 years old and still great. I will have to save for these version 3s. But I will. I like CCs dedication to a focused product and I want them to continue to make enough money from said product.

Regarding prices per platform. It is clearly easier to make more money from many sales of low priced iOS apps than Mac apps (less people buy Mac equivalents) hence higher prices are the norm for desktop class apps (which are also generally more complex and flexible in design). Not rocket science. As for the higher/separate iPad price. *Maybe* there is a point here *however* bare in mind the number of apps that can't be arsed making a proper iPad equivalent and just resize the iPhone app. I don't want that - I want an iPad version thank you. And *maybe* this is the only way the company can earn the amount they feel covers there efforts and gives them a good quality of life.

Overall it boggles me that these paid-product independent developers get this kind of response for trying to make, say, 80 bucks every few years per user. CC I believe, will offer lots of updates up to something like v3.6 and not likely be hassling me for more money for the next 2-3 years or so - *just like they did with version 2*. And people will likely complain they have gone too quite and are not offering updates enough - don't they want my money!.

So, sure I not saying I'm right, but I sure don't agree with some of the views here - and I see these view a lot when a similar product dares to try to make money on their new labour of love.

So here it is - I am a long term CC user and I have no significant complaints with their business model, product, or the value for money. I'm a happy customer and value a top end 'mere' to-do list. If anyone seriously thinks this is just like reminders (which is not free - as Apple's quality built in apps are all part of their final value placed on product) then this is clearly not for you/them.

And no - I'm nothing to do with CC. Just guy who gets a bit sick of some unchecked assumptions placed on independent developers pricing decisions. Best of luck to them and their product (not just CC).

As someone who was lucky enough to get into the beta and has been using the new versions for a while now, I have to say that there are actually a lot of new features, but the interface is so clean that it tends to hide that at first. There's so much that makes using it faster, easier and more flexible that there's no way I could go back to Things 2. A few I can think of now:

* Making projects repeating
* Checklists in tasks for extra granularity (and perfect for when a task is literally a checklist, like shopping), and how these can be dragged around to rearrange them
* Headings in projects to allow sub-grouping tasks within projects (and how these can be dragged around to rearrange them as a group) - sort of like having a level of sub-projects but without the hassle that's usually associated with nested projects!
* The ability to drag-create tasks or projects exactly where you want them in a project or area in the main list by dragging the + button into the list
* Similarly the ability to add an item to Inbox from anywhere in the app via dragging the + to the special target
* The way multi-select is implemented on iOS, swiping on the list to enter multi-select mode, then swiping or tapping other items, or dragging down the selection circles to select a heap of tasks in one swipe, then being able to drag the whole group - which collapses into a bundle - to move it, or bulk move/delete/etc
* Gestures to do things like assign starting dates to tasks by swiping them from left to right
* Natural language input for dates and times on macOS (and it seems obvious this will eventually make its way to iOS or at least the iPad), and having all of those options in one place
* Time-based reminders on tasks (finally!)
* The ability to "filter down" when assigning something to a project, area, etc by searching, and the whole universal search throughout the apps on macOS and iOS
* On macOS this also means you just start typing anywhere, without having to do anything first, to move between different places (you can hide the sidebar completely on macOS if you want, and on iPad, and you can now have multiple lists open at once on macOS because it's full multi-window)
* This Evening granularity for Today, which I find super useful
* Ability to convert tasks into a projects (on all platforms)
* Ability to convert tasks or projects into repeating tasks or repeating projects (again on all platforms!)
* Ability to duplicate tasks (and again!)
* The obvious stuff like having the calendar events show in Today and Upcoming so you can see your tasks with your calendar items

Those are just some functional things, but I'm probably missing a lot of stuff, especially since it's the way they've implemented the finer points of everything - like the gestures, how tasks can be moved and edited, etc - that really makes it a totally new app. Lots of subtle behaviours on both iOS and macOS make it sooo much faster to use.

The amount of money they're charging might seem crazy to some people, but there's no subscription cost (unlike so many other apps now) and it's hardly anything in the scheme of other work expenses; even just thinking about software, Creative Suite's monthly charge for example. I've been using Things for 10 years, so the price of the Mac, iPhone and iPad versions has averaged out to be more than reasonable considering the years of updates and the ridiculously good sync service. It's not much money for such an extremely useful task management tool.

But the great thing about this app category is that there are so many options at so many price points (including free) that there'll be something for everyone.

Edit: typo.

The one thing, the one and only thing, that gives me pause... lack of collaboration or sharing. Can a guy share a darn grocery list with the wife in real time? It's 2017, I'll pay the $50+$20+10 but come on, at least put in core features that belong in to-do lists at those prices.

Looking through my email receipts, I bought Things 2 in early 2011. It cost $49.

Got free updates to the app during 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

To me, that's not bad for $49.

Six years later, they haven't upped their price, and they haven't switched to the monthly subscription model that everyone seems to lose their head over...

If you can't afford it. 1. Make more money 2. Find something cheaper 3. Go to windows. But for god sake stop complaining. Turns out developers need to eat too. Who knew.

No. Not just 50 bucks....Cultured Code will take 80 of your hard earned bucks to give you a designer experience of the same things that Wunderlist and even the included Reminder apps do.

They've probably seen a little too much Futurama



Madness

I think it is just you honestly. The reason task managers cost $50 such as with Omnifocus is that to those who use them religiously, we want to ensure that they receive continued development. To do that, they have to charge to continue to fund development, pay their employees, etc. When you like something — you'll pay to ensure it stays around, look how many bought Tweetbot. While it's not for everyone, and I don't fault those who don't see the value, it's perfectly valid to charge that much to ensure it's not just a hobby project but that it gets the support it deserves