Things 3 vs Apple Reminders
Things 3 and Apple Reminders are both strong Apple to-do apps aimed at different people. Reminders is free, built in and tied to Siri; Things 3 is a paid, beautifully designed task manager with projects and areas. Choose Reminders for simple lists and ecosystem integration, and Things for a complete system you are happy to buy once.
| Things 3 | Apple Reminders | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | One-time, per device ($10-50) | Free (built in) |
| Subscription | No | No |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch (built in) |
| Structure | Projects, areas, headings | Lists, sections, subtasks |
| Design | Best in class | Clean, native |
| Siri & ecosystem | Good | Deep (built in) |
Where Things 3 earns its price
Things 3 is a paid app in a category with strong free options, so it has to justify the cost, and for the right person it does. You are paying for structure and craft: projects and areas that hold a real system, headings that break big work into steps, and a design so calm and consistent that planning in it feels good rather than like a chore. If you keep more than a handful of ongoing projects and you live inside Apple, that polish pays back daily. The catch is the price shape: it is a separate purchase per device, so covering iPhone, iPad and Mac runs to around 80 dollars.
Where Apple Reminders quietly wins
Reminders is easy to underestimate because it is free and already there, but that is also its strength. It is woven into the system: 'Hey Siri, remind me to call the dentist tomorrow at nine' just works, reminders can trigger by location or when you message someone, and shared family lists sync to everyone without anyone installing anything. Over the last few years it has quietly grown up too, with tags, smart lists and subtasks. For a lot of people, the best to-do app is the one already on the phone, and Reminders is genuinely hard to beat for simple lists and quick capture.
The honest catch with each
Neither is perfect. Things is beautiful but closed: it is Apple-only, so an Android phone or a Windows PC rules it out, and its structure can be more than a light user needs. Reminders can do a lot but stays plain: it happily holds four hundred items with no pressure to ever finish them, so it can become a place tasks go to be forgotten rather than done. Which flaw you can live with says more about the right choice than any feature list.
Which should you pick?
Neither wins outright. Pick Apple Reminders if you want something free, built in and deeply tied to Siri and shared family lists, and your needs are mostly simple lists. Pick Things 3 if you want a complete, elegant system with projects and areas and you are happy to buy it once per Apple device. Both are genuinely good at what they do.
A third option
There is a third way of looking at this. If neither fits because you want less, not more, NanoDo takes a different tack: three things a day, checked off from your lock screen. It is not a full manager like Things, and not as woven into the system as Reminders. It is deliberately smaller, for the days when a shorter list is the whole point.