A TickTick alternative for people who just want a list

A TickTick alternative is usually wanted by one of two people. One wants a different set of features. The other opened TickTick, saw the habit tracker, the focus timer and five calendar views, and quietly realised they just wanted a list. This guide is for the second person.

What TickTick is built for

TickTick is a full productivity toolkit, and it says so: "a perfect balance between powerful features and ease of use". Its own feature list includes a lot:

• Reminders, including several alert times, repeated alerts until a task is done, and location alerts on iOS.
• Due dates and flexible recurring tasks.
• Calendar views: monthly, weekly, yearly, agenda and multi-day.
• Lists, folders and tags for organising.
• A Pomodoro focus timer and a habit tracker with statistics.
• An Eisenhower Matrix view, plus kanban and timeline views.
• Sharing lists and assigning tasks to others.
• Apps on web, iOS, Android and desktop.

If you use several of those together, TickTick replaces a handful of separate apps, and that is a real advantage. Planning a day on a calendar, then timing focused work on the same tasks, is a coherent way to work.

When all that becomes the problem

Features are only free if you ignore them. Most people cannot. A habit tracker invites you to track habits. A matrix invites you to sort. A calendar view invites you to schedule. Each is useful, and each is another thing to look after.

Some honest signs you might want a plain list instead:

• You only ever use one list, in one view.
• The reminders mostly get swiped away.
• You have tried the focus timer and the habits, and they did not stick.
• Opening the app feels like opening a dashboard.
• What you actually do is add a thing and tick it off later.

What a quiet list gives up

Moving to a simple to do list app means dropping things TickTick does well. Check which ones you will miss.

• Reminders and alerts. Nothing interrupts you.
• Dates and recurring tasks. A simple list has no calendar logic.
• Calendar, kanban and matrix views. One list is the view.
• Focus timer and habit tracking. Those belong to other tools.
• Shared lists. A personal list is personal.
• Android, web and desktop apps, if the simple app does not have them.

What it gives you back

The right TickTick alternative for a plain list is not a smaller toolkit. It is a different kind of tool: one screen, one list, and nothing waiting for you to set it up. Here is what that gives you back.

• A list you read in a glance. Open todos only. Done ones leave.
• Capture without choices. No list, tag, date or priority to pick before saving.
• Silence. You decide when to look.
• Nothing to keep up. No streaks to break, no statistics to feel bad about.

If you want to make that kind of list work over time, read the guide on a minimalist to do list.

When to stay with TickTick

TickTick is the better choice if:

• You depend on reminders and recurring tasks to remember things.
• You plan your day on a calendar and like seeing tasks there.
• The focus timer or habit tracker is part of how you work.
• You share lists with family or colleagues.
• You switch between phone, computer and Android devices.

You can also try trimming TickTick first. Turn off the tabs you do not use, keep one list, and switch off most notifications. If that feels calm enough, you have saved yourself a move. Moving apps has its own cost: a week of habits to rebuild and a few things that fall through the gap. It is only worth paying if the quieter list is clearly what you want.

A simple way to switch

1. Keep TickTick for anything with a hard date for now, or move those to a calendar.
2. Copy over only what you plan to do soon. Leave the backlog where it is.
3. Use the new list for two weeks before deleting anything.
4. If you keep reaching for a reminder, that is useful information. Go back without guilt.

Where Very Simple Todo fits

Very Simple Todo is deliberately the plain list. One row at the top to type a todo and tap plus. A big checkbox, and a checked todo leaves the open list; a filter shows the done ones if you want them. A star for what is urgent, which sorts first. A note under any row, search, and a home-screen widget. No reminders, notifications, dates, calendars, habits, timers or sharing.

It does let your AI agent in, if you want one. Add it to Claude as a connector and Claude can read the list, add todos and check them off when you say they are done.

If a list is all you wanted, Very Simple Todo is a simple to do list app that stays out of your way. It is on iPhone today, costs $0.99 a month, and the first month is free.