The sky is blue, water is wet, and people with ADHD struggle to manage their lives. While the common wisdom is to simply use a to-do list or a calendar, most task management apps are not very well-suited for neurodivergent individuals. They are either too simplistic, making it harder to adapt to our way of thinking, or they are so complex that we feel overwhelmed and distracted.
To make matters worse, most articles about “to-do list apps for ADHD” are lengthy and quite generic in their reviews. So, I took it upon myself to go through all these long lists of apps and test their recommendations so that you don’t have to.
The result? Three apps and an explanation of how each can help you manage your ADHD – from one neurodivergent brain to another.
What makes the best to-do list app for ADHD?
It’s so easy to be drawn to new to-do list apps and then become so overwhelmed by them that you never end up using them. With that in mind, I reviewed nearly twenty apps based on four criteria to find the best task management apps for ADHD. Here are the criteria:
- Is it easy to use? I need an app that directs my attention to what matters, helps me filter out distractions, and keeps me on track.
- Is it adaptable to my way of working? We are called neurodivergent for a reason – my to-do list needs to offer enough flexibility for me to work naturally.
- Does it help me manage both time and tasks? Having just a to-do list is not enough – I need an app that helps me plan the time to do those tasks (think time blocking).
- Does it celebrate accomplishments? Given the ADHD brain’s relationship with dopamine, I need an app that helps me feel a sense of progress and achievement, or else I won’t stick with it.
The Best To-Do List Apps for ADHD
Without further ado, here are my choices:
- Amazing Marvin for customizing productivity workflows
- TickTick for focused task management
- Sunsama for time management
Amazing Marvin
Amazing Marvin isn’t an app you’ll find in the usual lists, and that’s a shame – because it’s the best to-do list app for ADHD that I’ve ever used. Intuitive structure and powerful features come together to create an app that allows you to organize your life the way you want.
Amazing Marvin is simple on the surface, making it easy to use. Its standout feature, however, is Strategies, a set of optional features that enable you to fully customize your experience. You can add dozens of functions, many of which are specifically designed for ADHD, such as:
- Habit tracking
- Reward tasks
- Procrastination warnings
- …not to mention “beat the clock” challenges, a “task jar” for when you don’t know where to start on your daily list, “eat the frog” labels, and many more.
(If all this sounds overwhelming, you can always start with one of its Workflows, which will automatically activate certain strategies based on a template.)
For time management, Amazing Marvin includes a calendar feature that syncs with multiple calendars to import all your work, family, and personal events. You can also add tasks directly to your calendar in Amazing Marvin, although unfortunately, you can’t drag existing tasks onto your calendar. And you can integrate Amazing Marvin with Zapier to automate your task management.
Unlike many other to-do list apps, Amazing Marvin allows you to see completed tasks for the day from the daily view. This, coupled with the little dance of the marshmallow mascot every time you finish a task, truly creates a sense of accomplishment and progress that I haven’t felt with other apps.
In summary: Amazing Marvin strikes the right balance between simplicity and adaptability. While it falls a bit short on time management, the ability to customize the app based on different productivity methodologies is worth its weight in gold.
Price of Amazing Marvin: $8/month
Available platforms: Web, desktop (Windows, Linux, Mac), mobile (Android, iOS)
TickTick
On paper, TickTick looks a lot like Remember The Milk or Todoist, two popular apps that I also tested for this article. It offers a good, organized to-do list app based on lists, tasks, and tags, but some additional features make it much more suitable for people with ADHD than others in its category.
TickTick is designed to help you focus on your tasks, not just track them. Its Eisenhower matrix allows you to visualize and assign tasks based on their importance and urgency – something that has proven very helpful in combating executive dysfunction.
Once you’ve planned your day and/or week, the built-in Pomodoro feature allows you to estimate the time needed for a task and then track that time using Pomodoro sprints. (As someone who tracks their Pomodoros in a spreadsheet, I was very happy to find this feature.)
TickTick not only helps you focus – it also rewards your focus with a gamified achievement system. The statistics dashboard also provides you with plenty of data about your task habits that you can use to optimize your work style. My favorite progress-tracking feature, however, is the summary that TickTick generates at the end of each day. This plain text file is perfect for copying and pasting into a report for your boss or simply for your own reflection.
And all these features – plus habit tracking, Kanban views, and app integrations via Zapier – are available in the free version. The main reason to upgrade to the Premium version is the calendar feature, which allows you to sync calendars and organize your tasks over time.
In summary: TickTick is a remarkably comprehensive to-do list app that avoids distracting features while offering a feature set ideal for focusing on your work.
Price of TickTick: Free; $27.99/year for Premium version
Available platforms: Web, desktop (Windows, Linux, Mac), mobile (Android, iOS), Apple Watch
Sunsama
If you’re someone who lives by your calendar, Sunsama is made for you. This minimalist to-do list app is entirely focused on time management – from daily planning to automated time blocking and integrations that turn Sunsama into a hub for all your tasks and events.
When it comes to managing ADHD, Sunsama’s standout feature is its daily planning flow. Each day, you’ll go through a brief process that reflects yesterday’s progress and sets today’s tasks. As part of this process, you’ll sort through overdue tasks, today’s planned tasks, and pending tasks to build your schedule.
Sunsama encourages you to add time estimates to each task and then uses that information to help you build a realistic plan for your day. Once you’ve finalized your list, Sunsama assists you in scheduling each task – you can either drag tasks or let Sunsama automatically assign time slots based on availability and priority.
This thoughtful process is a game-changer for someone like me, who usually dives into an overwhelming long to-do list without taking the time to set reasonable intentions and expectations.
In summary: Sunsama is very easy to use – sometimes a bit too simple because your only ability to organize tasks comes in the form of “chains” rather than the folder structure many of us are accustomed to. But if you’re okay with slightly less granular organization, Sunsama’s reflective aspect is truly helpful for managing ADHD.
Price of Sunsama: $16/month (billed annually)
Available platforms: Web, desktop (Windows, Linux, Mac), mobile (Android, iOS)
Which to-do list app for ADHD should you choose?
Honestly, only you can answer that question, so trust your gut! It never hurts to experiment, but make sure to set limits for yourself to avoid getting stuck in analysis paralysis. Commit to one of these to-do list apps for ADHD for two weeks and then observe what happens – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results.
For more tips and resources on productivity and organization, visit Crawlan.com.
