Updates: Things Task Management Gets Wireless Sync

For anyone who uses the Getting Things Done approach to task management Things from Cultured Code is an excellent option. The Mac application has a neat, clean interface and makes creative use of tagging for much of the detail for each specific task. The iPhone app has an equally nice interface and is uncluttered as compared to some of the other excellent choices such as OmniFocus.

The biggest problem with Things was that integration between the Mac applicaiton and the iPhone app did not exist. As a result, for the last month the two applications had no way to communicated with one another. All that changed tonight with the release of Things Version 1.1

As you can see from the image to the left, the main feature of the new version is the ability to sync with the desktop version.

How does it work? Quite well, actually.

I downloaded the new version of the app and loaded it on my iPhone. When I opened the trial version of Things currently running on my MacBook Pro I was notified that an update was ready to be downloaded that includes the new functionality. A few seconds later the new version was up and running. The preferences tab now includes an icon marked "Sync". Once clicked it quickly located the version of Things running on my iPhone, gave me a security code and indicated that the same code should be input on my iPhone. (It is the same as the setup for 1Password.) Once that was done the data on the two was quickly synced. I tried changing information on each device a number of times and it worked perfectly every time.

A few things are worth noting about… Things and sync.

First, the application must be running on both a desktop or notebook and the iPhone/Touch at the same time.

Second, according to the screen that popped up, the two devices must be on the same local network for the sync to take place.

Third, it appears that you can only sync the desktop version of Things with one handheld at a time. When I tried to set up sync with both my iPhone and my Touch I was forced to choose one or the other. (This, as opposed to the ability to sync multiple devices with both ToDo and OmniFocus.)

Finally, the actual sync process occurs automatically "every time you open Things on the device (iPhone/Touch). There is, apparently, no way to manually initiate the process other than by closing the app and restarting it.

A lot of people have apparently been waiting for the new version of Things. Personally, I have been waiting to make a decision about whether I would be using OmniFocus, ToDo/Toodledo or Things until Things was updated. Now that it is, my decision is clear. But that’s for another post…

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