A Microsoft To Do alternative without the account
Looking for a Microsoft To Do alternative? Microsoft To Do is free, cross-platform, and has a daily-planning view called My Day, but it needs a Microsoft account and keeps your tasks in Microsoft's cloud. NanoDo is a free iPhone app with no account at all: three things a day, checked off from your lock screen. Pro is a one-time €4.99.
| NanoDo | Microsoft To Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free · €4.99 Pro | Free (Microsoft 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 Microsoft To Do is the better choice
Microsoft To Do is the better choice if you want something free, work across Windows, Android and iPhone, or already live in Outlook and Microsoft 365. Its My Day planner and shared lists are genuinely good, and it costs nothing.
Where NanoDo fits
NanoDo fits if you don't want a Microsoft account or another app tied to a cloud login. It does one thing on your iPhone: three things a day on your lock screen. The app is free, and Pro is a one-time €4.99.
Microsoft To Do is free, so what would you swap it for?
Microsoft To Do is free, capable and cross-platform: lists, steps, due dates, reminders, sharing, and My Day, a daily view that suggests what to focus on. On the features alone there is little to complain about. The reason people look past it is narrow and specific. It is a Microsoft product, so it wants a Microsoft account and stores your tasks in Microsoft's cloud, and it is built to plug into Outlook and Microsoft 365 rather than to stand on its own. If you do not live in that ecosystem, it can feel like signing in to someone else's system just to write down three things.
My Day and three-a-day are cousins, not the same
It is worth being honest: Microsoft To Do already has a daily-focus idea in My Day, so NanoDo did not invent it. The difference is where it lives and how firm it is. My Day is a view inside a bigger app that also holds every list and every someday task; you open the app, you see everything, and you curate a day out of it each morning. NanoDo is only the day. Three things, chosen once, shown on your lock screen without opening anything. One is a focus mode inside a task manager. The other is a task manager that is nothing but the focus mode, which is a smaller promise, and an easier one to keep.
What you give up
Swapping Microsoft To Do for NanoDo means giving up free cross-platform sync across Windows and Android, the Outlook and Microsoft 365 links, shared lists, and unlimited lists you can keep forever. If any of those carries weight in your week, keep Microsoft To Do; it is free and it is good. NanoDo is free too, and it is only the right switch if the account, the cloud and the everything-view were the friction, and a short daily list on your iPhone was all you were really after.