There's a moment when the to-do app becomes another chore. The weekly cleanup has its own checklist, the tags have rules, and the projects have projects inside them. And somewhere in all those folders, the thing you were supposed to do Thursday quietly went missing.
We built 42 Todo! on the idea that most of that structure is dead weight. A plain list just gets more done.
All those settings cost you
Every option is a question the app makes you answer: which project this goes in, what priority it gets, which of your fourteen tags fit. And you have to answer them for every single task, forever.
The worst part is that the questions hit right when you're trying to jot something down. Every extra question makes you a little less likely to write the task down at all1. And sorting feels like progress, which is the sneaky part. Deep down it's just procrastination with settings.
Folders are where tasks go to hide
Folders promise order, but mostly they give tasks a place to hide. Bury a task four folders deep and you won't see it on Thursday, which is when it mattered.
42 Todo! keeps every task out in the open, in a few lists you name yourself: Personal, Work, whatever fits your life. A short list you can read in one glance beats a filing system you have to dig through. And if something really needs a big plan, put the plan in a document. Then put one task on your list that says to work on the plan.
Say the date like a person
Date pickers are a little tax on every task, and they ask for something nobody's head produces anyway. You don't think "August 15, 2026, 3:30 PM," you think "thursday afternoon."
So that's what you type or say: today, tomorrow, thursday at 3:30. Adding a time is up to you. The app shows you what's up now and keeps quiet about the rest. After all, the whole point of a due date is to bring a task back right when you need it.
The good kind of powerful
Fans of complicated apps talk about power. But the power that helps you on a Tuesday looks different. It's your list answering when you ask ChatGPT what's due, nudging you in Slack, and taking a task you say out loud in the car.
And a simple list is what makes all of that possible. Because there's so little to it (tasks, dates, a few lists), it works anywhere from a chat to a voice reply to your watch. Every feature has to work in the smallest of those places, and that keeps us honest2.
Done is the whole point
A to-do list is there to help you get things done, and sorting things is not the same as doing them.
So that's the test we hold every feature up to. Folders mostly move tasks out of sight, which is the opposite of getting them done. Due dates you say in plain English earn their spot, because they bring the task back when you need it. So does working in the car, because a task you saved beats one you forgot. Simple wins because it keeps working even when your week falls apart.
Frequently asked questions
What if I really need projects and subtasks?
- You get a few separate lists, like Personal and Work, and that covers most people. For a big project with lots of moving parts, keep the details in the tool made for that, like a document or a project board, and put the next step on your 42 Todo! list. The list is for doing, not planning.
How do natural due dates work?
- Type or say the date the way you'd say it to a person: "thursday", "tomorrow at 3:30", "august 15". 42 Todo! figures it out from how you wrote the task. Adding a time is optional, and there are no required boxes to fill in.
Is a simple list enough for work, not just groceries?
- Yes, because your work tasks live where you work. 42 Todo! connects to Slack, Notion, and AI assistants like ChatGPT, so your list sits inside those tools instead of being one more tab. The paid plan adds extras for power users, like automations and an API (a way for other software to connect).
Footnotes
- Most tasks die before they reach your list the ten seconds you get before a thought disappears. ↩
- Stop opening your to-do list why one list that follows you around is the whole idea. ↩