Google is growing its app portfolio by adding a standalone Tasks app for both Android and iOS. The Google Tasks app has now gone live on Play Store though it is yet to release to Apple’s App Store. This is part of the company’s push into the business world, where it already boasts a number of office productivity apps. Before this, a myriad of Google apps including Google Keep, Google Assistant, and Google Calendar all either accepted or showed you tasks, but having a simple, single list of tasks in one place was not possible. Google hopes to solve this problem with the standalone app wherein users can create subtasks and even associate them with certain emails and as well assign the same with a due date for each task for easy tracking.
With standalone Google Tasks app, users will no longer have to run pillar to post in order to compose a simple to-do list. The Tasks app has a simple UI that will help users manage their various tasks efficiently. There are options including the ability to nest tasks, label them, assign due dates and email integration as seen in the screenshot of the app.
No word yet on whether advanced features such as setting priorities, categories, tags will be added. The missing features could, however, come with future updates. However, Google has also announced a Tasks web app feature with the new Gmail. But do make a note that the feature is email service and is not a standalone one.
The addition of standalone Tasks app is further signals Google’s plans to move towards a more coherent and directed office app strategy. Every other new feature introduced in today’s Gmail redesign goes in that same direction too.
The Google’s Tasks app is now on the par with that of rival Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft acquired Wunderlist and Apple offers a classy To-Do app of its own. Google GSuite of apps are trying to match the pace of its competitors with a functional Tasks app. The integration of Tasks with G suite of applications is the biggest upside of this development. Still, it is bit premature to comment on how useful the Tasks app will actually prove to be.
