Review Summary
Todoist is the best to-do list app on mobile, with natural language input, priority system, recurring tasks, and real-time sync across all devices.
About This Product
2007
Copenhagen, Denmark → Barcelona, Spain
Amir Salihefendic (CEO, from Bosnia)
Detailed Review
Todoist was created in 2007 by Amir Salihefendic — a Bosnian doing his PhD in Denmark — as a side project to manage his own tasks. Salihefendic was frustrated with complex GTD apps and wanted something "simple, beautiful, and always available." The first version was a simple web app, and organic traffic from productivity blogs began driving visitors.
Natural language input is Todoist's magic trick: type "client meeting next Monday at 2pm every 2 weeks" and Todoist parses this into a task with the correct due date and recurrence. No calendar picker, no complex form — just type as if you were speaking. This comes from years of training a proprietary NLP model on millions of task inputs from users.
Doist — Salihefendic's company — is renowned for its remote work culture since 2007, long before "remote work" became a trend. All 100+ employees work remotely from 30+ countries. This influences how Todoist was built: offline-first, async collaboration, and cross-platform consistency were requirements from day one. The Karma productivity tracking system adds light gamification without being overwhelming.
Current Developments (2025–2026)
The Todoist AI assistant can automatically break large projects into smaller tasks, suggest sensible due dates, and summarize an upcoming workload. Todoist for Teams with shared projects and workload views is expanding into the collaboration market. Calendar integration has improved — tasks appear in Google Calendar and Outlook alongside their allocated time blocks. 50 million downloads and 3 million daily active users — steady, profitable growth without needing further VC funding.
Strengths
- Magic natural language input: "Zoom meeting every Friday at 3pm" creates a recurring task instantly
- Real-time sync across all devices — iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Web — tasks always consistent everywhere
- Karma system gamifies productivity — points increase when tasks are completed on time, creating natural motivation
- Labels, filters, and priority system strong enough for serious GTD while still simple enough for beginners
Areas for Improvement
- Todoist Pro at $4/month is required to use reminders, labels, and file attachments fully
- No built-in time blocking or calendar view — requires pairing with a separate Google Calendar
- Task comments and collaboration are too basic — not suitable as a project management tool for large teams
Verdict
Todoist is an excellent choice for anyone needing a powerful tool in the Mobile App category. Founded in 2007 by Amir Salihefendic (CEO, from Bosnia), this product has undergone years of development and continuous improvement. With a rating of 9.2/10, it ranks among the best in its segment. We encourage you to try the free version before deciding to upgrade.
