Mobile app improvement suggestions

[void]

Are there any plans to improve the mobile apps to have a more “native” feel to them? For example, the only thing really keeping me from going “all-in” on Dynalist across all platforms for both outlining and todos is features found in apps as Todoist and TickTick:

• Quick add task to inbox
• Swipe right to complete
• Swipe left to schedule
• Reminders

Todoist and TickTick are better at this, but are terrible at managing subtasks or as outliners. Hopefully there is a way to combine this into one solution somehow!

[Alan]

Quick add task to inbox

A separate app called dynaWrite does this

Swipe right to complete
Swipe left to schedule

Better swiping UI would be nice. I’m not certain schedule and complete are the key functions as tasks is just a small part of the uses. In the case of tasks, turn on checkboxes to make completing easy.

For scheduling you need to tap the task, deal with the keyboard coming up, click the calendar icon, then pick a date. That could be annoying if you have a lot of dates to set, though I have a tough time imagining this situation.

Reminders

As far as I know there’s no such thing. I think the general idea round here is to sync with Google calendar for these kinds of things. This issue is not mobile-specific.

[void]

Reminders

As far as I know there’s no such thing. I think the general idea round here is to sync with Google calendar for these kinds of things. This issue is not mobile-specific.

I know. Just thought I’d mention it in the context of what I’m missing to be able to replace those apps I mentioned. Of course, all this depends on if Dynalist is even trying to compete with these types of apps in the first place.

[void]

@Alan: Replace ‘Reminders’ with iOS badge icons for overdue /today items (and whatever equivalent is for Android). Then it’s mobile specific

This would be more important that actual reminders, in my opinion.

[Alan]

Makes sense for sure. Not something I’m looking for as I use dates but don’t check things off.

[void]

Swipe right to complete
Swipe left to schedule

Better swiping UI would be nice. I’m not certain schedule and complete are the key functions as tasks is just a small part of the uses. In the case of tasks, turn on checkboxes to make completing easy.

This makes it a bit easier but still pretty awkward to use. More often than not I’m hitting a pixel wrong and the on-screen keyboard pops up instead, this even with the largest font size and item Comfortable list density set.

Many apps provides configurable swiping gestures, so if completing or scheduling is not the common functions for everyone I guess this should be configurable just like keymaps on desktop is.

For scheduling you need to tap the task, deal with the keyboard coming up, click the calendar icon, then pick a date. That could be annoying if you have a lot of dates to set, though I have a tough time imagining this situation.

Have you tried the apps I mentioned? When swiping left it pops up a dialog where you can choose common dates like ‘Tomorrow’ , ’ Next week’ , etc. The date picker for exact dates is pretty rarely used except when first creating the item. More often I need to postpone a task for next day and similar, and the date picker would indeed be annoying to use in that case.

[void]

I was hoping @Erica could maybe shed some light on if any of these areas are things Dynalist are trying to compete with. Unfortunately I don’t see myself paying premium for two different (but not too dissimilar) services in the long run. Dynalist being perfectly usable as an outliner in it’s free version means I would likely have to choose an another app for these other tasks.

[Chris_Kunicki]

@void support the developers This team is very proactive, new functionality every week. Use for free but remember they need to put food on the table.
I know you know this, but this is a new product and needs support for it to grow. Imagine where it can be in a year.

[void]

@Chris_Kunicki I really want to, believe me. What this team accomplished in the last year alone is nothing short of amazing. I just wish the mobile app was better. But at least with the upcoming API there’s hope for a new app or improved app.

[pasteley]

Absolutely gorgeous idea, if doc list would be full-width and action menu on each doc opened with swipe to the right and doc be deleted by swipe to the other side, it would be far more useable, minimalistic and less overloaded. There will be no necessity in multiple “arrow-down in the circle icons”, just plain names.

Also “new doc”, “new folder” and search button would come in hand being placed on the bottom of this window.

[Erica]

I know. Just thought I’d mention it in the context of what I’m missing to be able to replace those apps I mentioned. Of course, all this depends on if Dynalist is even trying to compete with these types of apps in the first place.

Unfortunately we’re not directly competing with them… Dynalist is more like a general purpose solution to organization rather than readymade solutions like Todoist and TickTick. There are pros and cons to each, which is better just depends on your personal style.

From what you described I think a todo app with support for more sublevels might suit you more. I mean, what you said are much easier achieved with native apps like Things, but it’s not realistic for a small team like us. Sorry about that.

@Chris_Kunicki I really want to, believe me. What this team accomplished in the last year alone is nothing short of amazing. I just wish the mobile app was better. But at least with the upcoming API there’s hope for a new app or improved app.

For a 3rd party app you could try DynaWrite and see if if suits your needs at all?

[void]

Dynalist is more like a general purpose solution to organization rather than readymade solutions like Todoist and TickTick. There are pros and cons to each, which is better just depends on your personal style.

From what you described I think a todo app with support for more sublevels might suit you more. I mean, what you said are much easier achieved with native apps like Things, but it’s not realistic for a small team like us. Sorry about that.

I appreciate your suggestion. I’ve already tried Things and also OmniFocus. Neither of which fit my style directly. I always find myself needing Dynalist as well. But I fully understand that you need to stick with a direction and not try to be a one-size-fits-all kind of solution.

For now I’ve found Moo.Do to be more fitting of my style combining some features from both camps. Their mobile app is pretty simple compared to those other apps but still has some native features, so maybe you could draw from theirs for some inspiration. Their outliner is pretty good but I still think Dynalist does things better. I’ll likely come back to Dynalist again soon if this doesn’t pan out. I feel bad about not supporting Dynalist in the mean time, but I’m sure you understand the jungle this is for the consumer having to try like 15 different apps before settling.

[void]

I renamed the subject of this to be less misleading for new readers.

[Erica]

For now I’ve found Moo.Do to be more fitting of my style combining some features from both camps. Their mobile app is pretty simple compared to those other apps but still has some native features, so maybe you could draw from theirs for some inspiration. Their outliner is pretty good but I still think Dynalist does things better. I’ll likely come back to Dynalist again soon if this doesn’t pan out. I feel bad about not supporting Dynalist in the mean time, but I’m sure you understand the jungle this is for the consumer having to try like 15 different apps before settling.

Yeah, we totally understand. Best of luck in finding what works best for you!

I also appreciate you understanding that we as developers always need to make decisions between whether to include and pursue a feature or not. Those are hard decisions every time.