All family organiser apps are terrible - can you suggest something better?

[andrewducker]

I have been using a nice simple to-do list to keep track of the things I need to do around the house, and make sure they all get done (feed the cat, brush my teeth*, get the laundry on, make sure I have biscuits in my pocket before I pick Sophia up from nursery). It works really well, and importantly it allows me to snooze reminders until later, so that if I get reminded to feed the cat while I'm out I can say "Remind me in an hour" so that it gets done when I get home**.

I thought it would be useful to have a somewhat more featureful to-do app, that would allow me and Jane to share to-do lists. If nothing else, we could share things like "feed the cat" and whoever got to it first could tick it off the list.

And there were a bunch of family-oriented organiser applications. So I checked them all out. And they were terrible.

Ourhome - shared password for the family (?!?!?!?) and no way of snoozing reminders
Cozi - shared password for the family (?!?!?!?) and no reminders at all!
FamilyWall - notifications are a mess, can't snooze - can change the reminder time, but that changes the reminder time for all future instances of that task! Fed the cat at 7pm once? Feed them again at that time forever!
Picniic Family Organiser - looks to work well on iPhone, but on Android has 2.3 stars, and is apparently a bug-ridden mess.

I tried Todoist - but it's UI for postponing tasks (and seeing when they were now scheduled for is a mess.
Now trying out TickTick, which seems to do most of what I want, to the point where I'm going to ask Jane to give it a go and see what she thinks.

But I'm wondering if anyone else uses this kind of thing - does anyone have any suggestions for a decent to-do list app that works on Android and iOS, allows for recurring items that can be snoozed, and lets multiple users collaborate?

*By the time I get Sophia delivered to nursery and then back home again I have *no* idea if I managed to brush my teeth before I left.
**Jim's complaining is not reliable enough to tell me if he's complaining because he hasn't been fed, or because he was fed and already ate it.

Comments

[alithea]

Have you tried Trello? I don't know what the phone app is like but you can have individual accounts sharing a team board of digital post-its (cards) and the deadline function on the cards allows you to update them - I think it has all the functionality you're looking for, you'd just need to set up your cards and assign them to columns

[andrewducker]

Trello doesn't seem to make repeating tasks work very easily. They talk about a "Power-up" but it doesn't even appear on my phone.

[alithea]

Ah. Yeah, I suppose you'd need to make multiple copies of a weekly board or something.

[rhythmaning]

Have you explored EverNote?

I use it for writing stuff and saving links, but it has list management, notifications and notes/lists can be shareable.

I have no idea what the notifications are like since I've not used them.

Alternatively, might shared calendars/task lists on Google Calendar work? Just a thought!

[andrewducker]

Google Tasks don't allow you to postpone notifications, that I can see.

I'll take a look at Evernote!

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

We use Google Keep notes with checkboxes for todo lists, and we also use Google Calendar for appointments etc. The todo lists can be shared and allow either user to tick them off, but they don't have a reminder or snooze function. But I believe Google Calendar tasks do that, although I haven't used them myself.

[andrewducker]

I can't see a way of snoozing Tasks.

We do use Calendar for appointments, and it's great for that!

[jack]

Nope. I might try one of the ones you mentioned...

[andrewducker]

I can so far recommend TickTick

[anna_wing]

Calendar, putting in the things to do as appointments.

[andrewducker]

Google calendar doesn't do notification postponing at all that I can see. What am I missing?

[snippy]

If you set the notifications to be emails, you can sleep the email.

[hellofriendsiminthedark]

To be honest, I just use a personal slack workspace to keep track of everything, like how people keep single person-use discord servers. You can set slackbot up for single event reminders or for recurring notifications (snoozing doesn't affect the preset time that they occur). I think snoozing is only available if it's a DM reminder, as opposed to a reminder posted to a channel, though. But if you share channels that reminders get posted to, you can just leave replies or use emoji reactions to indicate whether it's been taken care of.

I like being able to access all my things from either my laptop or my phone. Slack also comes with the benefit of allowing each family member being able to have their own login, as well as their own private DM space for keeping their own notes. And there are plenty of other productivity, fun, or organizational apps that you can add on, like if you want to sync your calendar or tweet or something.

[andrewducker]

I've never used Slack, but that sounds useful.

[anna_wing]

There's also the tried and true large-paper-calendar-in-the-kitchen method, with small-paper-notebook-in-pocket backup. A Japanese brand that I like even supplies a little pencil on a ribbon with your notebook. Especially in an environment with very limited internet access...

[andrewducker]

How well does that work with "this task gets done alternate Tuesdays at 6pm, but that has now been postponed multiple times." - how would I keep track of when that task now occurs, and be reminded to do it?

[anna_wing]

I put in a note on the days to which it has been moved. Everything is in pencil, so it can be rubbed out and changed easily.

[andrewducker]

Makes sense.

I can't see it working for me (I will not remember to look at things, and need them to alert me that I need to do the thing NOW), but it sounds like it works well for you.

[anna_wing]

Calendar will beep an alert for an appointment/thing to do.

I have everything in an open desk diary in the office, so I can take a look every night before I go home to know what the next day's programme is. I don't have the small notebook with pencil this year, but Samsung Notes works well enough when I'm out of the office and something new comes up. I just have to remember to tell my PA to update everything when I get back to the office, so she can update Calendar and the desk diary.

[andrewducker]

Yes, but Google Calendar won't let me say "Not now, remind me again in an hour!" I do use it for appontments, for which it works really well.

[channelpenguin]

Superglad that I don't have kids. Can't imagine needing reminders to brush my teeth or feed the cat. No hints on apps but maybe one on remembering - emotion is the weight behind the stylus making the marks in the clay of memory. So be mindful and present in the moment when brushing your teeth / feeding the cat. Live fully IN the task, pay attention to how it feels, sounds, smells, rather than daydreaming/problem solving/ doing it on automatic. What's special about THIS instance of this task - morning light, the song playing on the radio, the ache in your knee.... whatever. Then you'll be more likely to recall it.

[emceeaich]

Not a solution, but you may find this YouTube video on journaling some commiseration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=semHAO-AEn0