Best To-Do List Apps for iPhone

Microsoft To Do is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a free, polished task manager from a major vendor and don't need deep project structure. The 4.75 average across 5,342 U.S. ratings reflects a product that absorbed the Wunderlist team in 2017 and rebuilt the experience on Microsoft's infrastructure — My Day, Important, Planned, and Assigned to Me lists handle 80 percent of personal task management without setup. Microsoft To Do differs from Todoist by being simpler and free rather than configurable and paid, and from Apple Reminders by working cross-platform (Windows, Android, web) as well as on iPhone. A real scenario: you start your day on Windows, add tasks throughout the morning, and your iPhone widget shows the same My Day list when you leave for lunch. The tradeoff is reviewer-flagged: long-time Wunderlist users still describe Microsoft To Do as a 'degraded version' of Wunderlist (multiple Japanese-language reviews specifically cite missing widget options, missing email notification, and the absence of free sort ordering). Microsoft has shipped slow improvements over the years but still has not closed every Wunderlist gap. Best for users in the Microsoft ecosystem who want a clean free task app.

Todoist is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want the cleanest natural-language task entry and the most reliable cross-platform sync in the category. The 4.8 average across 1,737 U.S. ratings on the current major version reflects 17 years of iteration — Doist (the company behind Todoist) is a remote-only team that ships steady improvements without major regressions most years. Natural-language input is the killer feature: type 'submit expense report every Monday at 10am p1' and Todoist understands the date, recurrence, and priority without you touching another field. Todoist differs from TickTick by leaning pure-task-manager rather than productivity-suite, and from Apple Reminders by offering deeper filters, labels, projects, and integrations. A real scenario: you have a complex GTD setup with Inbox, Next Actions, Projects, and Someday lists — Todoist handles that structure cleanly across iPhone, iPad, Mac, web, and your Apple Watch. The tradeoff is the 2024 redesign drew sustained complaint from long-time users (recent reviews specifically describe productivity going backward), and the migration friction from competitors is real per a recent reviewer who 'tried three times to switch.'

Google Tasks is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who live in Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs and want tasks that surface inside those products. The 4.78 average across 1,009 U.S. ratings reflects a focused product that does one thing well — a flat list with subtasks, due dates, and tight integration with Google Workspace. Google Tasks differs from every other pick by being scoped to Google's ecosystem and treating the task as a single piece of metadata that follows you across Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. A real scenario: you star an email in Gmail to follow up later — it appears in Google Tasks on iPhone with a one-tap link back to the original message. The tradeoff is the product is minimal by design (no projects, no labels, no filters, no real prioritization beyond starred-or-not), and recent reviews flag stability issues — multiple Portuguese-language reviews describe the app closing immediately on open after a recent update. Localization gaps for some non-English UI strings have also drawn complaint. Best for committed Google Workspace users who want simple tasks tied to email and calendar.

TickTick is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a calendar view, Pomodoro focus timer, and habit tracker bundled with a real task manager. The 4.84 average across 520 U.S. ratings is the highest combined score on this list, reflecting a product that has built a loyal user base by absorbing features one-by-one from the productivity-app neighborhood. The calendar view is the standout feature — see tasks and events on the same daily and weekly canvas without switching apps. TickTick differs from Todoist by leading bundled-productivity-suite over pure-task-manager, and from Microsoft To Do by being significantly more featureful at the paid tier. A real scenario: you plan your week on iPad in the TickTick calendar view, time-box tasks into specific hours, then run Pomodoro focus sessions on the tasks as you work them. The tradeoff is the feature breadth means more configuration on first launch, and reviewers consistently flag specific gaps — one called out a 'massive flaw' deal-breaker on a feature unique to their workflow, and a German-language review described the subscription model as off-putting. Best for users who want everything in one app.

MinimaList is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a deliberately minimal interface and a focus-timer-first workflow. The 4.82 average across 247 U.S. ratings reflects a product that has built a small but devoted user base around the proposition that fewer features is the feature. The signature flow is the focus timer — pick a task, hit start, and a fullscreen countdown discourages context switching. MinimaList differs from every other pick by leading minimalism-and-focus over feature-breadth, and from Apple Reminders by offering a more opinionated single-screen interface. A real scenario: you have one task you've been avoiding all morning — open MinimaList, pick it, start the focus timer, and the interface gives you nothing else to look at for 25 minutes. The tradeoff is reviewer-flagged: 'false advertising — where are the widgets' shows up as the highest-recent critical review, suggesting the widget marketing oversells the current product. The minimalism is real and is the point — but it cuts in both directions for users who want more out of an app once they commit. Best for solo-focus workflows.

Any.do is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a clean calendar-and-tasks combo with a long history of cross-platform support. The 4.64 average across 2,691 U.S. ratings reflects a product that pioneered some of the swipe-to-complete and shake-to-clear gestures that competitors adopted later. Any.do differs from Todoist by leading with a daily-planner-and-calendar view rather than a project hierarchy, and from TickTick by being simpler with fewer power-user features but a cleaner default experience. A real scenario: you want a clean view of today and tomorrow that combines tasks and calendar events without configuring filters — Any.do shows that view on first launch. The tradeoff is the rating sits below the 4.7 threshold many competitors clear, and the product has shipped fewer headline features over the last two years than Todoist or TickTick. Pricing has migrated more aggressively to subscription. Best as a clean calendar-and-tasks option for users who don't want to configure their setup.

Do! is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a single-list, single-screen, almost-physical-notepad experience. The 4.75 average across 27,493 U.S. ratings (the second-highest review count on this list after Microsoft To Do) reflects an audience that came for one feature: the ability to write a list and check items off, with no projects, labels, or sub-tasks complicating the screen. Do! differs from every other pick by being radically simple — closer to a checklist app than a task manager. A real scenario: you're packing for a trip, you write a 20-item packing list in Do!, and you check each item off as you put it in the bag. The tradeoff is the simplicity caps the app's usefulness for ongoing personal task management — you cannot prioritize, cannot recur, cannot defer, cannot project. The 27K-rating count tells you the audience exists and is loyal. Best as a secondary app for specific-list use cases (packing, groceries, party prep) rather than a primary task manager.

To Do List Widget is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want the home-screen widget to be the primary interface and the app itself to fade into the background. The 4.77 average across 13,163 U.S. ratings reflects the popularity of the widget-first proposition. The app is designed around the lock-screen and home-screen widgets — small, medium, and large variants show your tasks at a glance and let you check items off without opening the app. To Do List Widget differs from every other pick by treating the widget as the product rather than a secondary surface. A real scenario: you glance at your home screen between meetings and check off the call you just finished — three taps, no app launch, no context switch. The tradeoff is the app inside the widget is less featureful than Todoist or TickTick — fewer view options, less project structure, lighter natural-language parsing. Best for users whose main interaction with tasks happens through a glance at the lock screen rather than inside a full-screen app.

Daily Planner is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a structured day-planning template with time-blocking rather than a free-form task list. The 4.65 average across 62 U.S. ratings reflects a newer entrant in the planner-first category — the app's main interface is a time-blocked daily view where each task occupies a specific hour or block. Daily Planner differs from Todoist by leading time-blocking over project-management, and from Apple Calendar by treating tasks (not events) as the primary citizen. A real scenario: you start each morning by writing tomorrow's plan into hour-by-hour time blocks, and Daily Planner gives you the structured template to do that without building it in a generic calendar. The tradeoff is the product is young (the rating count is small compared to Todoist or TickTick), the long-term roadmap is less proven, and the time-blocking approach is more rigid than a free-form task list. Best for users who already practice time-blocking or want a template to start.

Errands is the best to-do list app for iPhone users who want a long-running classic from the early App Store era — Errands has been on iPhone since the App Store launched in 2008 and remains in active development. The product has not pivoted to subscription or rebuilt around AI, which is itself unusual in 2026. Errands differs from Todoist by being older, simpler, and free-or-pay-once rather than subscription-and-features, and from minimalist newcomers by carrying a stable feature set users have relied on for over a decade. A real scenario: you have used Errands since 2010, your task structure works, and you don't want a vendor to redesign your workflow every two years. The tradeoff is the modern feature surface is narrower than the category leaders — no natural-language parsing as deep as Todoist, no calendar view as polished as TickTick, no AI features. The current rating signal is also thin compared to active leaders. Best for long-time users and minimalists who specifically don't want the modern feature creep.