I’m a staunch supporter of Things on Mac and iPhone. It’s less involved than Omnifocus, and has more options and features than the standard to-do apps you come across in droves on iPhone. I love being able to manage projects, tags, and areas of responsibility; fully embracing the GTD way of doing things. But I know this isn’t for everyone. I’ve tried to get my mom to use a Things-style way of organizing her work stuff for nearly a year now, to no avail. As far as electronic task management goes, she’s still way behind a lot of us.

I’ve been seeing a lot of an app called Put Things Off in the app store lately. I didn’t put it together right away, but I realized that the guy who does the blog, Put Things Off, had made an iPhone app. I knew just by looking at screenshots that this wasn’t going to be for me. But if you think Things and Omnifocus are too much for you (price and complexity-wise), Put Things Off might be for you. The goal of PTO isn’t to manage your whole life. You’re not getting an overarching system here. You’re getting a simple, yet functional to-do tracker, with basic management abilities.

So what does PTO have? You get four panes: Inbox, Today, Put Off, and Done. That’s it. No projects, tags, or areas of responsibility. Any time you hit the plus button in the top right-hand corner, your to-do gets dumped into the inbox. From there you can file it as a “Today” action, or put it off. That’s it. “Today” actions can be put off or completed. “Put Off” actions can be moved to “Today” or completed. “Done” actions can be moved back to “Today” or deleted. And by this point, you’ve pretty much reached the end of PTO’s capabilities. If you’re staring at your browser window in disgust already, move along. This app ain’t for you. If you’re thinking, “Wow, that’s pretty simple!” You might be in PTO’s target audience.

The next version of PTO will add a badge to the Home screen and fix some minor bugs, and later versions will include email export, auto-delete of old completed items, push notifications, and a possible web or desktop client. The developer told me he intends to keep any future “advanced” options turned off by default, leaving the app defaults as simple and basic as possible. And even though I won’t be using PTO to manage my tasks, I admire his vision. It’s a well-made app that does the basics well, and doesn’t ever feel awkward or difficult to use.

This isn’t to say it’s perfect, however. I’m not the only one on the net that isn’t thrilled with the “70’s station wagon” aesthetics. I’m pretty sure Clark W. Griswold was the art director on the app, and couldn’t stop staring at the family truckster while he was designing all the app’s art assets. I would love to have a different theme for the app; one with just a solid color for the task trays and background. It would be cleaner and less distracting. Aside from that, I don’t have any complaints about Put Things Off. There’s no sense in wishing for more features; because that’s not its purpose. And like we learned from The Matrix trilogy, everything has a purpose. So no, I’m not recommending it to everyone because I use Put Things Off—I don’t. I still love Things, and will continue to use. But should you just need a simple to-do system, and aren’t managing a bazillion tasks like I am, Put Things Off could very well suit your needs. You can download it from the App Store for $2.99.

Giveaway!

Smoking Apples has three promo codes to give away to readers for Put Things Off. Leave your comments explaining why you need Put Things Off on your iPhone or iPod touch, or retweet this article for a chance to win!