Put Things Off is an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that helps organize your day to day tasks. Yes, it's another to-do app, but done in a unique way that, in my opinion, really makes it stand out from the others.
The app loads very quickly, which is important in a to-do app. It's so frustrating when you really need to get a task on the list fast but have to wait for an app to load. Put Things Off doesn't waste any time. The app initially loads the Inbox. This is the screen where you can just dump your tasks or thoughts into right away. From this screen you can hit the plus sign to add a task, tap the settings menu, or navigate to "today", "put off", and "done" which all appear to be wooden trays with paper in them. When you hit the plus sign to add a task, the keyboard comes up and you can begin typing. You can also add a due date. The due date option is actually a faint grey. Assigning a due date is an option, but not a major part of the app, which aims to get thoughts out of your head quickly. I really like that this is its primary focus.
After you type your task and hit save, it shows up in the inbox as a post-it type white square. Each task in the inbox has two options. You can tap the star to put the task in the Today tray or the arrow to put it in the Put Off tray. A nice slide animation brings you from tray to tray. When you navigate to the Today tray, you are presented with a scrollable list of all your tasks for the day. Each task has two options here. You can tap the arrow to put the task off for a user defined amount of days. After the set amount of days is up, the app automatically puts the task back into the Today tray. You can also tap the check mark to complete the task and send it to the Done tray. The Done tray will show you all your completed tasks, with the option of sending it back to the Today tray or deleting it entirely. You must double tap the trash icon for the task to be deleted. This is handy so you don't accidentally delete a task.
That's about it for this app. It's fairly simple, which is what I really like about it. Being a teacher, I have downloaded so many To-Do applications for my iPhone and this one might be the best so far. I've experienced apps that are too simple, too ugly, too complicated, and too flashy. This one seems just right. The animations and sound effects are nicely incorporated and the load time is minimal. As stated before, there is an option to set a due date, but nothing else. There are no categories or extra features that get in the way. Put Things Off is a clean, solid, useful application that will stay on my iPhone for a while. But, I just can't give it a perfect score. An app like this that will be used daily really needs some customization. I would like to see options to choose your own background, task colors, and an option to set what tray you'd like to see on startup. I would rather see the Today tray on startup instead of the Inbox. This is my only criticism. With these options added, I would give it a five. Regardless, Put Things Off is a wonderful app and I strongly recommend checking it out.
