It has been a fun week with Realmac Software’s Clear todo manager on my iPhone. Swiping through my list of things to do each day. That said, even if the UI is the direction of the future, I still need the polar opposite at times. Lately, that ‘enhanced’ Task manager being used is PocketLists. This is a iPhone only app that is all about building lists with a ton of information and being able to share the work with others. This weekend, PocketLists is showing up on iTunes for FREE!!!

To jump in, you create a ‘List’ of tasks or todo items. Each task in the list is individually entered with it’s own unique settings (covered below). Prior to starting to type the first task on the list, PocketList offers to let you take a photo of a list that it will run OCR on and enter as your tasks. This works fine on a printed list like a recipe, but I did not have it work a single time on a handwritten list. That is fine, the rest of the app’s power makes me soon forget about one feature.

The Project, or as PocketList calls it, your Lists, can be customized in many ways. Each list customization does not effect other lists so each can be unique in look and feel depending on the type of work list it is.

Each task List can have a icon to make it easier to understand the list contents later without having to open it. PocketList provides a nice group of icon to choose for all the usual list types. Imaging a list of things for home, an idea list, a list of calls to make, etc… of, you can put all your ideas/calls/projects into one List and ID each task differently within the list.

When setting up or later editing a task, PocketList allows a note to be added, item color coding, Due date to be set, if you wish it to be Repeating as well you can tie the task to a location. The last ‘List’ is handy if you have a task in one list but need to move it to another.

Using colors per item in a list makes it easy to notice high priority items vs things that can be pushed off to later. PocketList lets each item be checked off or opened for more information. The full list can also be checked off all at once if needed.

Applying the background color to a full list makes it easier to sort and quickly recognize Lists when the overview gets long.