Productivity · US iPhone listing
My take: Whoever did this knows their stuff.
Things 3 looks calm, deliberate and easy to read. The opening still explains where everything lives; the next one explains why someone might want it. A Today view brings events, tasks and evening plans together. I would test that useful daily picture first, then show how it connects to projects and upcoming work. The opportunity is a clearer opening, not adding more features to an already tidy presentation.
Actual listing creative · App Store source ↗
One storefront, one language and a dated capture. This is an independent editorial audit, not a client case study.
Open the source listing ↗. Public text cannot reveal the private keyword field, search volumes, rankings or conversion rates. The recommendations below are proposals to validate.
What I saw. The first still shows Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday and Logbook alongside Family and Work areas.
My read. A newcomer gets the filing structure before seeing an actual day.
What I’d do. Compare the current opening with the existing Today creative in first position.
What I saw. Calendar events sit above a checklist, with a separate This Evening group.
My read. This makes the relationship between appointments and tasks tangible without a long feature list.
What I’d do. Keep that relationship visible and verify the supported calendar setup before expanding the claim.
What I saw. The third still shows Upcoming and a task lifted in a drag-and-drop illustration.
My read. Moving a planned task is understandable, but a still cannot prove which date fields change.
What I’d do. Demonstrate the difference between a planned day, deadline and reminder in a current product walkthrough.
The original creative is preserved. Numbered notes sit beside each frame so observations and recommendations stay separate.
The structure looks organised, but the first useful action is not demonstrated.
Test idea: Test a concrete Today view first while keeping project organisation in the next frame.
Original image source ↗
The image explains daily planning more directly than the opening navigation view.
Test idea: Retain the existing readable layout and verify which event sources can populate it.
Original image source ↗
The gesture suggests flexibility without showing the completed change or deadline behaviour.
Test idea: Use a verified before-and-after task example when explaining rescheduling in a new concept.
Original image source ↗Observed competitor metadata
Task manager & Reminders
Todoist explicitly names a to-do list and calendar, with task-manager and reminder terms.
The lesson: Things has a less descriptive title. Clear category language could help a newcomer understand it without imitating Todoist’s feature breadth.
Observed competitor metadata
Task remind, planner,countdown
TickTick names a to-do list and calendar with reminder, planner and countdown language.
The lesson: Its metadata covers many jobs. Things can differentiate through a specific, calm planning workflow rather than another feature inventory.
Observed competitor metadata
Capture Tasks & Set Reminders
Microsoft To Do leads with capturing tasks and setting reminders.
The lesson: Capture is a concrete competing job. Explain how a captured task becomes part of today’s plan, without making unverified collaboration or ecosystem comparisons.
Intent candidates grounded in the listing—not fabricated search-volume or difficulty scores.
Visitor’s job: Organise personal tasks and finish the next useful action.
Evidence: The first screenshot calls Things a to-do app and displays task containers.
Decision: Consider explicit category language in the subtitle; verify relevant search queries and competing intents first.
Visitor’s job: Choose work for today around calendar events.
Evidence: The Today and Upcoming stills show the planning use case.
Decision: Use planning language that does not imply a complete calendar replacement or automatic time blocking.
Visitor’s job: Break a larger responsibility into manageable tasks.
Evidence: Family and Work areas contain named projects in the opening.
Decision: Show a supported project-to-task example; avoid assuming team assignment or dependency automation.
The unseen keyword field may already cover some of these terms. Build an evidence-backed keyword shortlist before making a metadata change.
Proposed copy for discussion. These are not current listing fields or tested winners.
Observed listing
Organize your life
Proposed alternative
To-do lists & daily planning
Name 8/30 · Subtitle 28/30 charactersKeep the familiar short brand and replace the broad life-organisation subtitle with the task and planning jobs visibly supported by the creative.
The tradeoff: This removes the wider life-organisation promise and leaves reminders and projects implicit. It should be tested against actual query relevance, not treated as a guaranteed discoverability improvement.
Show: The verified Today view with events, tasks and This Evening, using example entries.
Start with a useful daily outcome expressed as an interface.
Show: A real project containing a small actionable task, with its area context.
Show how the larger structure supports today rather than showing every container at once.
Show: A supported rescheduling example with planned date and deadline correctly distinguished.
Explain flexibility without implying that moving a task silently changes its deadline.
Three 2019–2024 accounts were selected for scheduling clarity, simplicity and task-entry learning. One includes an explicit improvement in the reviewer’s understanding, which is preserved. These are historical experiences, not a current usability benchmark. The separate account speculating about cloud infrastructure was not used to establish the sync architecture.
Sample: 3 selected accounts from 8 displayed reviews. Dates: 29 March 2019–11 December 2024. No sentiment percentage is calculated.
31 December 2019 · 5/5 stars
“schedule date”
A December 2019 reviewer valued scheduling tasks separately from due dates and preferred fewer customisation distractions.
What I’d investigate: Test whether newcomers understand those separate concepts. This historical preference is not proof of a productivity improvement.
Listing review source · Review ID 534119449411 December 2024 · 4/5 stars
“flow of the app”
A December 2024 reviewer liked the simple flow and requested dependencies across tasks and areas.
What I’d investigate: Keep the distinction between existing project organisation and a requested dependency system; a request does not establish current feature availability.
Listing review source · Review ID 1205190643429 March 2019 · 2/5 stars
“work your way up”
A March 2019 reviewer initially found task entry cumbersome, then added an update describing a more workable order for setting task details.
What I’d investigate: Retain the update instead of presenting only the complaint. Investigate current entry comprehension without adopting the old trial, badge or reminder expectations as today’s specification.
Listing review source · Review ID 3942656921A displayed review can be old, unusually positive or internally inconsistent with its star rating. These accounts suggest questions; they do not establish current defects or typical customer experience. Use the Review Research Desk to keep evidence and interpretation separate.
Frame two makes the combined task-and-event job concrete.
Deliverable: A controlled opening-order variant using existing stills.
Small creative changeScheduling, deadlines and reminders are easy to conflate.
Deliverable: A current date-behaviour walkthrough and annotated creative brief.
Product verificationThe current subtitle is broad despite clear task intent.
Deliverable: A query-informed subtitle proposal with a separate release plan.
ASO researchDoes showing Today before navigation improve paid-app purchase conversion and daily-planning comprehension?
Check Apple’s current product page optimization guidance and custom product page guidance before configuring a test. Write your experiment brief.
Very good. The creative shows real task structures with consistent typography and a clear Today-to-Upcoming progression. Its first frame spends the strongest position on navigation and an award claim. A daily-planning opening could communicate the practical value faster, but only a test can establish whether it helps this paid app convert.
The basics need a serious rethink.
Too many obvious things have been left unfinished.
There is a useful product here. The listing needs to show it.
The essentials are there, but there is little to get excited about.
Good ideas, with a few important gaps still to close.
A strong foundation. Look for specific improvements, not a complete restart.
Clear positioning, thoughtful choices and very few loose ends.
An unusually clear, convincing storefront worth learning from.
An editorial verdict on the captured storefront, not a measured ASO score or an assessment of an agency’s private work.
No private analytics, search-rank dataset or internal keyword field was supplied. Review quotations are short excerpts; explanations are our summaries. App names and screenshots belong to their respective owners. We are not affiliated with Things 3. Read our editorial methodology.
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