Done Not Done: A task app you'll actually want to use

To-do lists and task managers are commonplace on the App Store, and it's sometimes hard for unique apps to stand out. But a recently launched app from Betaworks called Done Not Donesurprisingly manages to do so. Don't let the name fool you, this app doesn't focus on the boring things you need to do, like picking up more milk or sending out 15 résumés. The goal of Done Not done is to get you to log the fun things you want to do, like films you'd like to see, albums you'd like to listen to, or books you want to read, and then see whether any of those interests overlap with those of your friends. That way, you can buddy up and share the experience.

Normally I try not to use too many different apps for one general experience—I make use of Apple's Reminders app for checklist-style task tracking, so getting me to use a different app for another kind of task-tracking requires a bit of effort. But I went hands-on with Done Not Done to see how usable it was, and I ended up liking it much more than I expected.

In order to make use of the iOS app (there isn't one yet for Android), you must first register an account—this is so your items can sync to the Web or other iOS devices. Once you get past that step, the app asks you to find friends on Twitter and Facebook—this is the only way to find friends, so if you want to use this app's social capabilities, you'll have to be willing to give access to either (or both) of your accounts. When I did this the first time, the app hung on an attempt to connect to Twitter and never did finish. But when I tried it a second time later, it was able to find a few friends.

Then it's time to begin adding things to do. The "Find + Add" tab at the bottom of the screen allows you to search for keywords and then sort by "All," "Watch," "Listen," or "Read." I added the movieLincoln to my "Not done" list, which prompted me to add a note (presumably so I can remember why I added it):

Once I saved, that was it—it was time to add a few more items. And once you add a handful of movies, books, and albums,  the social elements of the app come into play. When you go over to the "Ideas" tab on the bottom, and then the "Buddy up" tab on the top, you can see which of your "Not done" items are also on your friends' lists.

One of my friends apparently wants to see the movie Lincoln as well! That's great, because previously, I had no idea any of my contacts were interested in seeing that film. If we lived closer, we could possibly see it together—in this case, this friend lives a state away. But there could be other shared interests, like wanting to read the same book. And if that was the case, we could read it at the same time and discuss it later—or even better, if there are multiple friends, we could organize an online (or real life) reading group.

Essentially, the app allows you to add all the random media you've been meaning to consume but haven't yet, and accidentally find out which friends want to do the same things.

If you don't have any good ideas and you need a few, Done Not Done can also offer you suggestions based on what your friends have been adding. The "Popular" section under the ideas tab lists out the movies, books, and albums that your friends have added to their "Done" lists, as well as their ratings for each of those items.

Overall, I ended up enjoying my time with this app. It's fun to browse around to see what your friends are reading and watching, and it's even more fun when you end up finding overlapping interests with your friends that you didn't know about. It can certainly be a cure for boredom, too—if you ever find yourself looking for something to do, you can pop into Done Not Done to see what you've already logged as not done so you can catch up on your media consumption.

Wish list

So the app is fun to use, but that doesn't make it perfect. Something I actually tried to do several times within the app—and only later realized it wasn't working because you can't do that—was send messages to my friends attached to certain items. For example, if I see a friend wanting to see the same movie as me, I'd like to be able to tap on his or her name (or the movie name) to either send a message about it, or leave a comment on that entry. This would be helpful for planning purposes, and the same applies to books or albums that you might have in common with others.

From my view, the ability to converse through the app would facilitate more frequent use, and thus attract more users because of the active friend "community." Plus, it just makes sense: as I said, I expected this feature so much that I actually thought I was doing something wrong until I figured out that it's just not there. I'd like to think at least some kind of commenting feature would be added in a future release, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Another feature that would be nice to have is some way to find friends without depending on Twitter or Facebook. This doesn't affect me so much because I use both, but there are a number of users who might not want to connect the app to their social media accounts. They can already use Done Not Done today without doing so, but they wouldn't be able to connect to any friends, which dampens the experience.

Otherwise, I liked using Done Not Done enough that I'll very likely keep it on my iPhone for a few more months to see if the habit sticks. (Hear that, friends? Please download this app so I can use you for entertainment.) It certainly takes a fresh angle when it comes to task-based apps—this one's not so much about getting things done, but rather logging some of the more relaxing activities in our lives that we've done or would like to do. Not to mention, the download is free, so it's worth checking out if you have some time to tap around.