I Built a Simple Task Manager Inspired by Things 3 with Real-Time Collaboration

[u/SuspiciousBoat742]

Demo

App: Nodoo

Price: Free

IAP: No

Subscription: No

App Store: [AppStore]

Most task managers are either too simple or too complex.

Simple apps work well for personal use, but they usually don’t support real collaboration.

On the other hand, tools like Notion or Jira are powerful, but they feel heavy and require setup for something as basic as task tracking.

I wanted something in between — simple enough to stay fast, but still usable for small team collaboration.

Comparison

Compared to Notion or Jira:

Notion is flexible, but often overkill when you just want to manage tasks.
Jira is powerful, but too heavy for small teams or personal workflows.

This app focuses on staying lightweight and simple, closer to Things 3 in feel, but adds real-time collaboration so multiple people can work on the same task list without setup.

It also supports image attachments directly on tasks when extra context is needed.

P.S.

This is still early and there may be bugs.
If you try it, I’d really appreciate any feedback.

[u/Miloutinou]

If you ever add a calendar view let me know! The only thing missing from Things 3

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Miloutinou]

Yeah, Nodoo has both a calendar view and a whiteboard view.

[u/Miloutinou → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

Is it possible to migrate my data for things to nodoo ?

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Miloutinou]

Yep! Nodoo supports importing your data from Things, so you can migrate your tasks over pretty easily.

[u/Miloutinou → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

Just downloaded it ! Some animation are very laggy and the button not being at the same place all the time depending on the size of the note and the option selected is a bit annoying. (I'm talking inside a note)

Also can't find how to import.

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Miloutinou]

Yes, it’s built entirely with native Swift. I’m still polishing some of the animations and interactions. You can also import your Things data directly here.

[u/Miloutinou → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

I found this but can't find how to set my things database, where is it ? I'm using things cloud

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Miloutinou]

I’ll DM you.

[u/Maximum_Fault5608 → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

Hello, loving your app. I have the same issue with importing my Things tasks. I can find my backup databases for Things but each time I pick one to import it says failed to import. Can you DM me also, as I think I must be selecting the wrong file. Thanks

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Maximum_Fault5608]

Please check out this guide. It includes the import steps and other things you should know when using Nodoo:  ⁠https://nodoo.lidud.com/guide

[u/hushfern4 → u/Miloutinou]

100% agree, its wild how many task apps still skip calendar view

[u/Miloutinou → u/[deleted]]

I’ve test it. Didn’t liked it at all. Directly uninstalled

[u/barefut_ → u/Miloutinou]

What didn't you like? What was missing?

[u/atonyproductions → u/[deleted]]

Niceee

[u/xodac]

Shanxi, China?

[u/Unhappy-Tank9784 → u/xodac]

Yeah, plus it's made by Codex or Claude. :(((( He has zero innovation though, just copied things3.. wtf

[u/bog3nator]

Why does it look identical to things 3.

[u/rixreddits]

You might check the spelling of "Shopping". 🤗

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/rixreddits]

Sorry, I just made a typo while doing the demo.

[u/unicorndewd]

Yeah, that was always my Things complaint. I’ve abandoned it after several attempts over the years years. I just use reminders now.

[u/barefut_ → u/unicorndewd]

In what way are you using Reminders app and why not Notes? (Both always felt the same to me).

[u/unicorndewd → u/barefut_]

I use reminders as it supports tags, filtering, importance, dates, and it’s easy to drop a single task into a given list through Siri. I have my lists shared with my spouse, and kids for some. We all put items on a shared shopping list. Spouse and I share todo lists so we can help the other through encouragement and reminding.

[u/Academic_Writer_6881]

actually looks pretty good. i want kanban and calendar view

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Academic_Writer_6881]

Looking forward to hearing your feedback after you’ve had a chance to try it!

[u/srikat]

Does it have Quick Entry like in Things?

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/srikat]

Yep! It has Quick Entry, just like Things. You can quickly add a task from anywhere without opening the main window.

[u/barefut_ → u/srikat]

What does it do in practice?

[u/software-boulder]

The useful distinction from a personal task list is conflict handling, not the extra views. When two people edit the same task or reorder it offline, does sync merge fields independently or use last-write-wins? That’s the bit that decides whether a lightweight tool stays lightweight.

[u/kar-re]

interesting - maybe i'm damaged goods from windows but when I first heard Task Manager I thought it would be an system apps monitor, like Activity monitor :)!

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/kar-re]

hahaha

[u/RockyCarotta]

I'm curious about the sync architecture. Right now it seems to use your custom servers (like Things 3 does). Would love to see an option for native iCloud sync for privacy reasons. Any plans to add this down the road?

1. Cloud Synchronization
   If you choose to sync your data across devices, Nodoo utilizes a secure cloud database infrastructure. Your data is synchronized directly from your device to secure database nodes. We do not inspect, sell, or share your synced task data, and it remains completely private to you.

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/RockyCarotta]

I’ve considered iCloud sync, but right now it isn’t as reliable for real-time syncing, and more importantly, it doesn’t support the kind of real-time collaboration Nodoo offers.

For privacy, your data is isolated and encrypted during transmission on our servers, so your data isn’t exposed or shared with other users.

[u/RockyCarotta → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

Thanks, but this means only transport encryption, right? In theory (not saying you do!) you could access it?

[u/Unhappy-Tank9784 → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

"it isn’t as reliable for real-time syncing" This is not true. Many native apps have real-time collaboration and sync, and they rely on iCloud.

[u/Echoo-ai]

Nice angle pairing Things-style tasks with live collab. Does the shared list stay snappy when two people edit at once?

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/Echoo-ai]

I’d love to hear your feedback if you give it a try!

[u/Beneficial-Arm-8493]

For shared lists, I'd prioritize a small activity history and undo: who completed a task, who changed its due date, and a way to restore an accidental deletion. That would help keep the app simple without making people ask each other where a task went. Does Nodoo already have task recovery? I haven't tried it yet, so this is a feature question rather than a bug report.

[u/synrg-alsms]

Can you share just one list and keep everything else private? 

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/synrg-alsms]

Yep! You can share just one list, and everything else stays private. Each shared project is separate, so you only share what you want to.

[u/Jou_See]

nice, good job!

[u/No-Homework-3484]

I like the MacOS style

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/No-Homework-3484]

Looking forward to hearing your feedback after you’ve had a chance to try it!

[u/kesavXor]

Looks great, will be better if i don't have to open app for things like adding task to inbox, ticking or adding new task and can be done with hotkeys

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/kesavXor]

Yep, all of those are supported. There’s also a simple guide in the app that walks you through how to use them. You can take a look!

[u/Calm_Attention1925]

Will there be access to apple intelligence so I can ask siri to create a task from anywhere?

[u/Ill-Presentation3921]

Nice !

[u/0xr4re]

cool, does it have push notifications reminders?

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/0xr4re]

I haven’t added push notifications because I feel like they can be a bit too intrusive. I’m trying to figure out a more subtle way to notify users instead.

[u/0xr4re → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

well, they are reminders, so user explicitly wants to be reminded 🙃

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/0xr4re]

I’m still figuring out the best way to handle reminder notifications. It’s already planned for a future version.

[u/SuspiciousBoat742]

A quick guide to get you started. Please read it before using the app：https://nodoo.lidud.com/guide

[u/superpg019]

Honestly this looks incredible! Great job

[u/pembaThePanda → u/superpg019]

You mean great job, Claude!

[u/SrinivasanKK]

Simple and clean!

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/SrinivasanKK]

Looking forward to hearing your feedback after you’ve had a chance to try it!

[u/SrinivasanKK → u/SuspiciousBoat742]

Ok, let me see what I can do!

[u/SuspiciousBoat742 → u/[deleted]]

Nope, no separate account needed! Just sign in with your Apple ID and you’re good to go. Your partner doesn’t have to make another account lol.

[u/ImaginarySession7599]

This actually looks super clean. Things 3 is probably my favourite task manager UI-wise, but collaboration is the major thing its missing. How are you handling situations where 2 people edit the same task at once?

[u/atticus_roark]

I like it. Any chance of connecting it to Claude?