Nearly everyone in the world has to manage tasks on some level. Wether it’s a simple to-do list, project management, the “honey do” list, or nearly anything in between, task management is a way of life. There are a ton of to-do list applications for the iPhone, but are any of them any good? I’ve narrowed down this article to three services that offer both an iPhone App and website. All three iPhone Apps provide offline access which is a must these days.

Zenbe Lists

Zenbe Lists is a free service offered by Zenbe. The website is free to use, but the iPhone App (iTunes link) will set you back $3. I’ve been using the iPhone App since it first came out and was free. The iPhone App and website are pretty basic, but do provide a usable product.

One nice feature of Zenbe Lists is that it allows you to share a list with someone else. This can come in handy for certain lists, especially something like a grocery list. You can rearrange lists and items within a list with ease. The Due Date functionality is pretty basic however. When an item is overdue, it does not show an icon badge or move that item to the top of the list. Once items have been checked off, they move to the bottom of that list instead of removing them from view. I’ve had issues of items duplicating and I can’t seem to figure out why. Items can’t contain notes or really any other information. The Zenbe Lists website is also pretty barebones.

Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk (RTM) uses a freemium model. The basic service is free, and a Pro account costs $25 a year. Though the iPhone App (iTunes link) is free, you need a Pro account to use it. The combination of iPhone App and website make for a great experience.

I really can’t think of anything that Remember The Milk doesn’t do well. You can assign due dates with ease, which then rise to the top of your lists and also show up via a icon badge. You can create multiple notes per item and give tags, URLs, time estimates, location, and more. The iPhone App is organized well and the UI is great. It’s easy to see upcoming task and to browse your lists. The website offers the ability to share and publish your tasks, RSS, iCal support, and much more.

Google Tasks and GeeTasks
Google Tasks are accessed inside of your Gmail account and is absolutely free. For the iPhone App, GeeTasks (iTunes link) by Memengo costs just $3. If you want to use Google Tasks with your Google Apps domain, you’ll need the $6 GeeTasksPro (iTunes link).

As with many Google products, the UI in Google Tasks is minimal. You can access Google Tasks as a little pop up while in Gmail or expand it into its own browser tab. While the UI is minimal, you do have functionality that goes beyond the basics. You can print your task lists, email the lists, create sub tasks (indented tasks really), purge your completed tasks, and see your completed tasks separately. You also have various sorting options when viewing your tasks. You can also assign notes to your tasks. You can also turn any Gmail message into a task and view your tasks on Google Calendar and iGoogle.

You can do a lot with GeeTasks that you can do inside Google Tasks. GeeTasks shows a icon badge with your number of tasks. I’d like the icon badge more if it showed the number of overdue or tasks due today, instead of the total number of tasks. You can create and edit tasks, add and remove notes, and change due dates. I didn’t find a way to add lists, but that may be a Google Tasks API limitation. The 4 different view options inside GeeTasks is a nice touch. The developer mentions on the iTunes page that sub-tasks and task rearrangement is coming in the new year. If those two additions and list creation are added, it will really round out the GeeTasks App. When I spoke with the developer over email, he was really responsive; that’s always a nice touch.

So where does this leave us? If task management is really important and you have the money to spare, I’d go with Remember The Milk. The features of the website along with the iPhone App make for a high quality task management solution. I’ve had a RTM Pro subscription for the last year (it actually ran out today), but I don’t think I’m going to renew it. If you need task management but aren’t a super task management ninja, I’m recommending the combination of Google Tasks and GeeTasks. The combination of Google Tasks and GeeTasks provides above basic task management with superior Google integration and offline support at a good price. I’m going to switch my task management to Google Tasks and GeeTasks and see how it goes.

Update (12/27/2009): Just as I was finishing this post, I ran across another website and iPhone App combination, Toodledo. The iPhone App (iTunes link) costs $2 and the website uses the freemium model. I didn’t have time to test Toodledo, but it does look promising.

Update (1/1/2010): Denis, the GeeTasks developer, emailed me to let me know that the update containing the sub-tasks and task rearrangement is now live in the App Store. In addition to that, you can go into the Settings App and change the behavior of the GeeTasks icon badge to show the tasks due today/overdue just like I commented about in the original article. Thanks Denis!