Things 3 vs TaskPocket

Things 3 is the better-designed application and it runs only on Apple devices. TaskPocket runs in any browser, has a free plan, and repeats can stop after a set number of times. Buying Things for a Mac and an iPhone costs $59.98 once; TaskPocket’s lifetime plan is $59.99. If all your devices are Apple devices, buy Things.

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Feature by feature

Things 3 compared with TaskPocket, feature by feature
FeatureThings 3TaskPocket
Runs in a web browserNo1Yes
Mac appYesNo2
Windows or LinuxNoYes3
iPhone appYesYes
iPad appYes4No5
Android appNoNo6
Apple Watch appYes7No
Apple Vision appYes4No
Works offline on mobileYesYes
Reminders and notificationsYes8Yes9
Siri capture and widgetsYesNo
Public APINo10Yes11
A separate scheduling date and deadlineYes12Partial13
Repeat anchored to completionYes14Yes
Nth-weekday repeatsYes15Yes
Complete a repeat earlyYes16Yes
Move one occurrence without changing the ruleYes17Yes
Stop a repeat after N times, or on a dateNo18Yes
A deadline on a repeating taskUnknownYes
TagsYes19Partial20
File attachmentsNo21Yes22
A loose task filed directly in an areaYes23No24
Cancel an item, distinct from completing itYes25Partial26
Sharing and collaborationNo27No28
AI features in the productNoNo
A free planNo29Yes
One-time purchase availableYes30Yes
One-click account exportPartial31Yes32
  1. Cultured Code list "the Internet (through a web browser)" among the platforms Things will not work on.
  2. The web app, in any browser.
  3. Through the browser.
  4. Sold separately.
  5. The iPhone app and the web app.
  6. In development, not shipped. The web app works today.
  7. Included with the iPhone app.
  8. On the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Watch.
  9. On both platforms TaskPocket ships: browser and iPhone. One per task, free on every plan.
  10. Cultured Code: "no public API at this time". Shortcuts and AppleScript work on-device.
  11. REST with self-issued scoped tokens, plus an MCP server.
  12. Things calls them "When" and "Deadline".
  13. The deadline field and the Deadlines view are Premium.
  14. "After Completion" — a labelled option, and commonly under-credited.
  15. For example every 3rd Tuesday.
  16. Since 3.23, August 2026.
  17. Since 3.23: "Make Exception".
  18. Not among the options Cultured Code document. A repeat can be paused or stopped by hand.
  19. On to-dos, projects and areas, and filterable from a list header.
  20. On tasks only, free on every plan. No page that lists one tag: search for #tag, or use a smart project (Premium).
  21. Cultured Code: "It’s not possible to add photos or any type of file to a to-do at this time." A file shared from Finder becomes a link to its place on that Mac.
  22. 20 per task. 10 MB per file and 100 MB in total on Free; 100 MB per file and 5 GB on Premium. No video or audio.
  23. Cultured Code: an area groups "all of your projects and to-dos".
  24. Areas group projects only.
  25. ⌥⌘K, or Option-clicking the checkbox. Projects and to-dos both.
  26. Tasks can be cancelled. Projects can only be completed.
  27. Cultured Code: "Things does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists."
  28. Deliberately single-user.
  29. A 15-day free trial — on Mac only; Cultured Code cannot offer one on iPhone, iPad or Vision.
  30. The only option, and priced per platform.
  31. No JSON or CSV, but the SQLite database itself is yours to copy, and lists print to PDF.
  32. JSON, free on every plan.

Two honest readings of that table. Things wins every row about hardware and polish, and it is not close. TaskPocket wins the rows about where you can open it, files on a task, and what happens at the edges of a repeat rule. Almost nothing in the middle separates them any more.

The thing to say first

Things 3 is a better piece of software than TaskPocket in the way most people mean when they say a task app is good. Its interaction design, typography and animation are the benchmark for this entire category, it has been stable for nine years, and it does not change under you. TaskPocket does not match it and pretending otherwise would waste your time.

So this page is not an argument that Things is worse. It is a narrow question: what do you do if you love Things and cannot run it? That is the situation almost everyone comparing these two is actually in — a Windows machine at work, or a household drifting off Apple hardware — and it is a hardware problem rather than a software one.

Where the two genuinely differ

Where you can open it. The whole comparison, really. Things runs on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and Vision — and nothing else, with no browser access of any kind, not even a read-only sign-in to Things Cloud. TaskPocket is a web app first, so a Windows laptop, a Linux desktop and an Android phone are all fine, and there is an iPhone app for the pocket.

Recurrence, honestly. This used to be the headline difference and it mostly is not any more. Things 3.23, on 19 August 2026, added completing a repeat early, rescheduling a single copy, and Make Exception. After-completion repeats have been a labelled option there for years. What is still missing is an end condition — Cultured Code document no way to stop after six occurrences or on a date. That is the whole of it: a repeating to-do there can carry a deadline, through an “Add deadlines” checkbox on the template. If your repeats are open-ended, the two engines are equivalent. See recurring tasks.

Structure. Things is the more flexible of the two, and this is not a close call. Its areas hold loose to-dos as well as projects, its tags go on projects and areas as well as to-dos, and it can cancel a project or a to-do as a distinct outcome from completing it. TaskPocket’s areas group projects only, its tags go on tasks only, and only tasks can be cancelled — a project can be completed and nothing else. See projects and areas.

Siri, the Watch, widgets. TaskPocket has none of the three, and that is the largest functional gap on the page. Both apps do remind you: Things alerts you on the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Watch, while TaskPocket sends one reminder per task to a browser and to the iPhone. The gap is where the alert reaches you, not whether one arrives.

Only one of them has an API

Worth noting because people assume the older product must. Cultured Code state that Things “does not provide a public API at this time”; what exists is on-device automation — Shortcuts, and AppleScript on a Mac. TaskPocket has none of the four on-device hooks, but it has a REST API with tokens you issue yourself and an MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT. If automation from a server or an assistant is how you work, that is a real difference; if Shortcuts on the device is what you need, Things wins it. See does Things 3 have an API.

What each one costs

Things 3

Free plan
None — a 15-day trial, Mac only
Mac
$49.99, once
iPhone (Apple Watch app included)
$9.99, once
iPad
$19.99, once
Vision
$29.99, once
Subscription
Not offered. Things Cloud sync is included.

the Things 3 listing on the US App Store, checked 2026-09-01

TaskPocket

Free
$0 — forever, no card
Premium, monthly
$3.99/month
Premium, yearly
$34.99/year
Premium, lifetime
$59.99 once

One price covers the web app and the iPhone app — there is no per-platform purchase — though there is no Android, Mac or Watch app to cover. Nothing is deleted on downgrade: you keep every project and area, you can't add more while you're over the free limit, and export stays free.

The arithmetic people want, and it is closer than anyone expects. Things on a Mac and an iPhone is $49.99 plus $9.99 — $59.98 paid once. TaskPocket’s lifetime plan is $59.99, also paid once. A penny apart.

What the penny buys is different on each side, and this is the part worth reading slowly. Things gives you two native apps of exceptional quality on two Apple devices, and stops there — a third device means paying again ($19.99 for iPad, $29.99 for Vision). TaskPocket gives you any browser on any operating system, plus an iPhone app, and no further purchases — but no Mac app, no Watch app, no iPad app and no Android app, and the browser is not a native application however well it behaves.

Two things that are not about the money. Things has no free plan, so evaluating it beyond the 15-day trial means buying it; TaskPocket’s free plan is unlimited in time, with 5 projects and 2 areas. And Cultured Code publish no price at all on their own site — the figures above come from Apple’s listings, and a 30% Mac sale is running as this page is written, so check the store before you decide the numbers are wrong.

Where Things 3 is the better choice

  • Interaction design, typography and animation that nothing else in this category matches. This is not a courtesy — it is the reason people love it, and TaskPocket does not match it.
  • A one-time purchase with no subscription at all, on a product that has been stable for nine years and does not change under you.
  • Deep Apple integration: Apple Watch, Siri capture, the share sheet, Vision Pro. TaskPocket has none of it.
  • Recurrence that is genuinely good and got materially better on 19 August 2026. After Completion is a first-class option, 3.23 added completing a repeat early and Make Exception, and a repeating to-do can carry a deadline. On this topic they are ahead of us on everything except an end condition — do not write pages that assume otherwise.

Stay with Things 3 if…

  • You only ever use Apple devices and expect to keep it that way.
  • You want an Apple Watch app or Siri capture — neither has any equivalent here.
  • You have already paid for it on every platform you use, and being locked to Apple hardware does not bother you.

Questions people ask

Does Things 3 work on Windows?

No. Cultured Code list the platforms Things will not work on as "Windows / Android / Linux / the Internet (through a web browser) / any non-Apple device". There is no browser version and no way to sign in to Things Cloud from the web, so a Windows machine has no supported route to your tasks at all.

Is TaskPocket a Things 3 replacement?

If you are leaving Apple hardware, it covers the same shape of workflow — two dates, projects inside areas, a real repeat engine, a reminder on a task — in a browser. If you are staying on Apple hardware, no. Things is better made, has Siri capture and an Apple Watch app, and reminds you on more devices than TaskPocket reaches.

Which has better recurring tasks?

They are close, and much closer than they were before Things 3.23 shipped in August 2026. Both do after-completion repeats, nth-weekday rules, completing early and moving a single occurrence. TaskPocket adds an end condition — stop after six times, or on a date — which Cultured Code do not document, and lets a repeating task carry a deadline.

Is Things 3 a subscription?

No. It is a one-time purchase for each platform, with no subscription, and Things Cloud sync is included at no extra charge. The cost adds up across devices rather than across years, which is the opposite trade from most of this category.

Can I move my Things data into TaskPocket?

Not automatically — TaskPocket has no importer from any app yet. Getting your data out of Things is possible: Cultured Code document copying the SQLite database out of your own Library folder, and printing your lists to PDF, alongside Shortcuts and AppleScript. What there is not is a JSON or CSV export anyone could hand to an importer. Moving a large Things database today is a manual job.

Sources

  1. Cultured Code — Getting Things (platforms, pricing model, no collaboration)checked 2026-09-01
  2. Cultured Code — Repeating to-dos (the full option list, and no end condition)checked 2026-08-26
  3. Cultured Code — Repeating To-Dos, Refined (3.23, 19 August 2026)checked 2026-08-26
  4. Cultured Code — Getting Productive with Things (what an area holds)checked 2026-09-01
  5. Apple App Store — Things 3 for Macchecked 2026-09-01
  6. Cultured Code — Frequently Asked Questions (attaching photos or files to to-dos)checked 2026-10-09
  7. Cultured Code — Adding To-Dos From Other Apps (a file shared from Finder)checked 2026-10-09

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