Highlight an App: 30/30 for Productivty

By Brenda Bethman

As I think I’ve previously mentioned, I’m both a bit of an app addict and a stickler for being organized. The combination of those two things means that I have tried just about every to-do list app that exists for iOS. Today I want to write about one of my favorites, 30/30. Made for iOS devices (sorry Android and Windows peeps!) by Binary Hammer, 30/30 is both a task manager that combines a to-do list with a timer. Using it is simple: just enter your tasks, set an amount of time, color code and set icon if you like, and you are ready to start:

Screenshot of entering a task

Tasks can be grouped in lists or you can just use one list for everything. Personally, I like lists as I can then look back and see when I did what:

Screenshot of task lists

Once tasks are entered, you can then use the app as a timer. Simply press the timer button and it starts counting down the time for the task. You also have options to increase or decrease the time, mark complete, move to the end of the list or delete. Tasks that are not active can be rearranged — and hidden in settings is a feature that adds the time to the task. For example, 30/30 tells me right now that I will finish writing this blog post at 1:49 p.m. In settings, you can also sync with other devices via iCloud (and I should note that this is vastly improved with the latest update — previously syncing tended to erase data. Not good). Here is what my list looked like earlier today:

Screenshot of active task list

You’ll note that I don’t put meetings, breaks, etc. on my list (I just pause the app when I take a break), but one could. I also don’t use it every day — I tend to use it on the days when I have a lot to do and really want to focus as I find the timers to be incredibly helpful in that respect.

30/30 is a free app, although you can make in-app purchases of extra icons if you wish. They are not necessary, though and there are no ads, which is nice. The only thing I wish it could do is sync with Clear, my other favorite to-do app. Do you use 30/30 or other task managers? Share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments!