A Google Tasks alternative without a Google account
Want a Google Tasks alternative? Google Tasks is free and tightly woven into Gmail and Google Calendar, but it lives inside Google and needs a Google account. NanoDo is a free iPhone app that stands on its own: three things a day, checked off from your lock screen, with no account and no data collection. Pro is a one-time €4.99.
| NanoDo | Google Tasks | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free · €4.99 Pro | Free (Google account) |
| One-time, no subscription | Yes | Yes |
| Works without an account | Yes | No |
| Daily three-things ritual | Yes | No |
| Lock-screen focus task (Live Activity) | Yes | No |
| Beyond Apple (Android, Windows) | No | Yes |
| Projects, labels & power features | No | No |
Where Google Tasks is the better choice
Google Tasks is the better choice if you live in Gmail and Google Calendar. A task with a due date shows up on your calendar, you can capture one straight from an email, and it all syncs across Google for free. As a lightweight companion to Google, it is hard to beat.
Where NanoDo fits
NanoDo fits if you are on iPhone and don't want your to-do list to depend on a Google login. It is a standalone daily ritual: three things, on your lock screen. The app is free, and Pro is a one-time €4.99.
Google Tasks is really a feature of Gmail
Google Tasks is deliberately small: lists, due dates with times, one level of subtasks, recurring tasks, and a tight link to Calendar and Gmail. That is its strength and its ceiling. It has no priorities, no labels, no rich notes, and there is no real desktop app; it lives in the Gmail sidebar, the Calendar side panel, a web page and a mobile app. It is a capture box for people who already run their day out of Google, and for them it works quietly and well.
Why leave a free tool
Two reasons push people to look. First, where your life actually is: if that is iPhone rather than Gmail, opening a Google surface to see your tasks is a small daily friction, and the list sits behind a Google account you may not want in the loop. Second, the same lightness that makes Google Tasks pleasant also makes it passive. It is a list that stores due dates, not a ritual that asks you to choose a day. It will remember everything and decide nothing, and for some people deciding is the part they wanted help with.
What NanoDo does instead
NanoDo is woven into nothing, on purpose. No Google account, no calendar sync, no email capture. In return it gives you the two things Google Tasks leaves out: a firm daily limit of three, chosen each morning, and a lock-screen focus task you check off without opening the app. If you want a task box inside Google, keep Google Tasks; it is free and it fits that job. NanoDo is for when you want the day itself, on your iPhone, and nothing wrapped around it.