Things 3
Original image found at Beautiful Pixels

As I lament the pending end later this year of Wunderlist, there are the future options of a to-do app that I am researching at this time. One of the first choices I am considering is Things, an app by a company called Cultured Code.

Version 2

I have version 2 of both the iPhone and iPad apps that I somehow got without paying for them. The apps are normally $9.99 and $19.99, respectfully. I think they were free one time during the iTunes Free App weekly promotions. I’ve used them for a bit before eventually switching over to Wunderlist because I liked the expanded platform options outside of the Apple ecosystem, along with custom lists and folders and subtasks that Things 2 lacked. Also, I wasn’t interested in paying $50 for the Things 2 Mac app.

Version 3

A few weeks ago, Things 3 was announced. It was a newly designed app with some great features and flexibility. Looked great. I checked out the “upgrade” pricing and had a huge pause moment. $39.99 for the Mac app, $7.99 for the iPhone app and $15.99 for the iPad app. That’s $64 to upgrade all 3 platforms. Now this was the first paid upgrade Things in the history of their product. Those who purchased Things version 1 got Things 2 for free. And I’m not against paying for an app that provides a great level of features that I use often. I paid $20 for Tweetbot for the Mac to complete my trifecta of platforms I use that Twitter client on. And the promo pricing of $64 for all 3 Things 3 apps is a good saving over the full price $80 it would be for all 3 apps. But believe it or not, that wasn’t the deal breaker for me.

All Version 3 Or Nothing

I got to thinking with that pricing, I didn’t want to pony up $64 right away if the new version wasn’t something I would like. So I thought, why don’t I buy the iPhone app of Things 3 at $7.99, then continue to use the Things 2 iPad app and then if I liked it, over time, I would add the other platforms. I knew the promo pricing ended on June 2nd, so that meant I would be paying full price for the other two apps.

I did a bit of research on their website and read this support page on Moving from Things 2 to Things 3 and the part about syncing using Things Cloud garnered a “seriously?” response:

Will Things 3 sync with Things 2?
No. Things 3 has new features that don’t exist in Things 2, and to support those new features your Things Cloud account will be automatically upgraded to a new sync schema that doesn’t work with the older versions.

Ok. I can see their reasoning given support for new features with Things 3 and supporting the older Things 2. But that means it’s all or nothing. Once you switch to Things 3, you can’t use Things 2 on the Things Cloud to sync. Yes, Things Cloud is a free service for customers, which is nice. But that would orphan my Things 2 apps and leave me in a fragmented sync state.

Current Situation

As much as I think Things is a great system for managing your GTD lists, it’s just not going to work for me in the long run, given their pricing and the lack of being able to use both version 2 and version 3 together.

For now, I am using a combination of Wunderlist [until it shuts down] and Trello for some of the more advanced to-do needs. It’s working for me at this time with some adjustments. Once I get more into Trello, I will write up a blog post on how I am using it. In the meantime, feel free to check it out at their official website.