Today we released an update to Things for the iPhone and iPod touch that introduces global search and enables landscape support. The latter can be turned off in the settings.
Due to the space constraints on the iPhone, not all of our screens fit into landscape so we had to be creative. One example is the due date picker. In portrait, it looks like this:
In landscape, however, the date picker is too tall and doesn’t fit on the screen together with the two information lines. We solved this problem by moving the picker down one level in the hierarchy – but only in landscape mode:
There are also many bug fixes and improvements in this release, a list of which can be found here. Among them is a significantly faster sync process that compresses the tasks before sending them between the devices. An update for Things Mac that enables this feature is currently getting the finishing touches and will be available shortly. In preparation for the iPad launch, the new Mac version will also gain the ability to sync multiple mobile devices at the same time.
Originally, we planned for the 1.4 release to also include repeating tasks. By now, we have them fully implemented in TT and already sent out a few beta versions to our testers. The main remaining work is ensuring that repeating tasks sync reliably with the Mac. This is quite involved and requires updating and migrating Things Mac to use our new recurrence rule engine. Work on this is still ongoing and we didn’t want to hold back all the other improvements of 1.4 until they are completed. This is why we released TT 1.4 without repeating tasks for now. Once they are completed, we will add them in the next major update.
Finally, if you’ve seen our new “About” page or our most recent blog post, you will have noticed that our team has grown quite a bit over the last year. In addition to the people you see in the caricatures, we also had the pleasure of having two very talented young programmers as interns: Devin Lane and Kent Sutherland. Kent (whom you may know from his iChat add-on Chax) has written large parts of the code from this release and I want to thank him for his excellent work.
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Great news, thank you! :)
Sounds great; I’d love to use it. What’s the roadmap for adding actual crypto to the synch mechanism?
Fanstastic. Good work!
I’ve been waiting for AGES for this! Thanks :)
Great Update! But I can’t wait for 1.6 (push notifications) :)
Like Mladen, I’m looking forward to push notification as well :)
Finally an update that’s just not a “bug fix!!!” and I’m happy to see it and can’t wait for better updates, fast I hope! And I don’t understand why people want the push notification it’s not
that big of a deal, I just want the over the air sync I think it’s over due!!!
Still useless without proper synching options.
Congrats guys, it is really great what you’ve done.
Good work guys, really great app. Look forward to the Mac update too, multiple syncing is much needed!
Still no cloud sync ! :(
disappointing update to me.
Good work guys. The global search layout is very nicely done.
Great work guys!
Great news! I look forward to trying the new features!
After sampling cloud sync on another app I now have to agree that adding cloud sync would be really helpful. I thought it was at the top of your list? Any reason why it wasn’t included?
Wow! This really put the mobile app on a new level. Keep up the great work. You guys rock! Love & support from Belgium.
If you like this awesome update, remember to update your rating in the app store. Even if you are keeping the stars the same (already 5?), adding a quick updated comment wil apply your rating to the current version.
The two biggest issues for me have always been repeating task and needing to be able to sync multiple computers & iphones together. I have a work machine, two laptops and an iMac along with a touch and an iPhone… It is a nightmare to deal with currently.
Werner and company -
Congratulations on another successful release, it looks and works great!
Please continue to take the time you need in order to roll out quality software. While there are always improvements to be made, I trust that updates and new versions will “just work”.
I use Things daily. It’s become a key piece of how I organize my life. And I love it. Keep doing what you’re doing.
- A loyal customer
http://culturedcode.com/status/
They work on Cloud sync and repeating tasks. All I can say after a long period without updates: They learned, they improve stuff, they add features and they communicate.
We will surely see repeating tasks and cloud sync within some weeks.
I have been using Things for Mac since (before?) the Official release, and I bought Things Touch the first day it was available. Recently, the addition of mixed projects was the single most important update of all for me, followed closely by AppleScript support. These features finally makes Things a complete solution for me and my GTD-like approach. The Global Search in Things Touch is a nice round out of that mobile product (although I am looking forward to Delegates, which must be a challenge with limited screen real estate). OTA syncing will be nice but is not urgent for me in my setup.
Overall, I think CC has developed a great product! Kudos!
Over. The. Air. Sync. That is all.
Thanks so much! I was voting for landscape support from day one and am very excited it’s there now!
Some other needs you may like to consider for future updates:-
- repeating task: repeat a task twice or three times a day (i.e. take your medicine)
- For iPhone version: add picture, current location, audio memo to a task
an awesome app! It helps me a lot of all my daily work and projects! It’s beside the MotionX GPS on my iPhone a “must-have” app, really!
“Wow! Great! 1.4 out, finally!” – these were my first thoughts this morning. Second thought was: “Uuh? Still no repeating tasks? Still no cloud synching? I don’t believe it. Wasn’t that what CC promised to deliver since more than a year?! Search – hmm, never missed that. Landscape mode – who cares?”
More than a year ago – on Feb. 20, 2009 – CC’s Oliver sent me a reply, saying: “… But the very next update 1.5 will then indeed bring recurring tasks to the iPhone …” That was thirteen (13!) months ago! Who knows how many months or years we’ll have to wait for recurring tasks again?
I am very dissapointed.
I am using Things as well on the Mac as on the Iphone for some time now and it’s great – congratulations!
Could you please give us an optional “Waiting for” focus, allowing to list tasks delegated to various people which are not necessarily team members?
From my point of view, that would make Things nearly perfect!
Great job! Two very helpful features. Looking forward to repeat tasks and font editing.
@iCoco: We’re sorry for your disappointment. As mentioned in the blog post, we didn’t want to hold up the iPhone version any longer because of the Mac version needing additional code to make it work. We have made many changes in the past months to operate more efficiently and increase our release frequency. We are working very hard to wrap-up the update for Things Mac to enable repeating tasks on the iPhone.
Great work guys, please keep working on cloud syncing, it is an essential (would-be) feature
Keep up the excellent work, you guys. I’m thrilled with the recent, nearly flawless improvements. Things has become THE component I use for daily task management.
Thanks!
Another vote for recurring tasks. I am not a hardcore GTD-er, and don’t have the desktop version. But, I do have a long-running commitment to improve my task management. Is it possible to get in on the beta for the recurring task update? Adding that feature would make Things Touch about the best thing on my iPhone.
Fantastic. Landscape works perfectly and makes entry on the iPod far easier.
Nice to see new releases but still patiently waiting for over-the-air sync.
Cloud syncing is most important for me…