New Microsoft To Do Looks Like Old Wunderlist

Microsoft is announcing a redesigned To Do app today. The company first launched Microsoft To Do back in 2017 after acquiring Wunderlist in 2015. The new app is supposed to replace Wunderlist, but it has taken Microsoft a lot of time to get feature-parity with Wunderlist.

Today, it’s launching a new look for Microsoft To Do shortly after the original creator of Wunderlist wanted to buy back the app from Microsoft. Here’s the twist, though: Microsoft’s new To Do app design looks very much like Wunderlist, and the whole promotion for the launch of the new design seems oriented towards Wunderlist customers.

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To start off, the new app features the iconic Berlin TV tower that was on Wunderlist to give users a familiar feel. The app now supports background images, and you can choose different backgrounds for every list, too.

“We polished the design of To Do by reducing the header size and adding in more color to give the app warmth and personalization. It’s still the simple and elegant app you love, but now with more options to customize, so you can tailor it to suit yourself and your lists,” Microsoft says.

The idea of the rebrand here is to give Wunderlist users a familiar experience. Microsoft eventually wants to replace Wunderlist with Microsoft To Do, and so it’s taking steps to make sure the new app looks familair to Wunderlist users. “We’ve taken the best of what you love from Wunderlist and brought it into Microsoft’s intelligent, inter-connected, and security-centric ecosystem, to create a new app – Microsoft To Do,” the company said. It’s not exactly clear when Microsoft will actually replace Wunderlist with Microsoft To-Do, but the new design should be rolling out today.

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Conversation 9 comments

  • MixedFarmer75

    Premium Member
    09 September, 2019 - 9:36 am

    <p>What was the reasoning behind dumping Wunderlist? Let's make an app that looks the same and does the exact same thing. Not logical.</p>

    • will

      Premium Member
      09 September, 2019 - 9:58 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#462689">In reply to MixedFarmer75:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Microsoft has been working to make “ToDo” the Office 365 task system across all products. Outside of the UI, they have been spending a lot of time on the backend services. I believe at first they thought they could just do their own thing with the skills and tech they got from Wunderlist, but along the way they realized this was not working on the front end as people, including myself, liked Wunderlist.</p>

  • Rob_Wade

    09 September, 2019 - 9:57 am

    <p>I guess I just don't understand the appeal. I keep everything in my regular Mail Calendar, which easily shows me my daily agenda, etc. This just seems redundant and wasteful. </p>

    • dontbeevil

      09 September, 2019 - 10:15 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#462699">In reply to Rob_Wade:</a></em></blockquote><p>you use it also for todo lists? for example:</p><ul><li>grocery store list</li><li>travel checklist</li><li>movies to watch</li><li>places to visit</li></ul>

      • harmjr

        Premium Member
        09 September, 2019 - 1:07 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#462716">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>Then share that grocery list with your spouse or room mate.</p>

  • dontbeevil

    09 September, 2019 - 1:19 pm

    <p>I love this UWP… you know what's funny guys? for some apps like gears 5, thurrot really care to specify that the technology is win32 and not UWP</p>

  • aidanw

    09 September, 2019 - 8:23 pm

    <p>This is a great step.</p><p><br></p><p>However I've since found a really great niche for _both_ the apps:</p><ul><li>To-Do has become my work app. It's reasonably quick (aside from the annoying animations), simple, and I have lists for work things like "Talk to person X". I really like the My Day feature. </li><li>Wunderlist has become my personal app. I use it for supermarket shopping lists, travel packing lists, books to read and so forth. </li></ul><p>I don't want to give this up. I like having both. I never accidentally bring up personal tasks at work or vice versa, because I forgot to switch accounts. The apps are different and so I can keep my usage separate.</p><p><br></p><p>I can't use my "work" account for To-Do, because we are using Exchange on-premises, even though we have Azure AD. To-Do currently requires an Exchange Online account. This is a huge showstopper and daft. I sign into To-Do with my personal account.</p><p><br></p><p>If To-Do was to replace Wunderlist here's what I'd need:</p><ul><li>To-Do to not require Exchange Online.</li><li>Folders to nest lists in. E.g. I have a folder for "Packing lists" which then has "Camping", "International", "Cycling weekend" and so forth.</li><li>A way to have two separate app instances installed at once, which each are assigned a label, e.g. "To-Do (work)" and "To-Do (personal)". </li></ul><p>That's not much :)</p><p><br></p><p>What I wish for:</p><ul><li>Better use of screen space. To-Do takes up a lot of room. </li><li>Faster. To-Do is slow because of all the animations. I still prefer the Windows 7 version of the Wunderlist app for the speed.</li><li>Even more nice backgrounds. I like the repeating textures in Wunderlist.</li></ul>

    • JaviAl

      Premium Member
      10 September, 2019 - 6:01 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#462962">In reply to aidanw:</a></em></blockquote><p>For Exchange On-Premises i recommend you Nine app. from 9folders Inc. Syncs email, calendar, contacts, tasks and notes from your Exchange server. It also allow to manage more than one accounts (i manage with Nine my 4 exchange work accounts). For me is the best app for Exchange sync. </p><p><br></p><p>Also Nine develops some features i suggested via email support. </p><p><br></p><p>It will be interesting and expected a Nine review from Paul Thurrott. </p>

  • sjabaker

    10 September, 2019 - 8:39 am

    <p>Still no start date for tasks means it's still a no-go for me, despite some other attractive features.</p><p><br></p><p>I find the inability to distinguish what's "on my plate right now" from what can't/shouldn't be worked on yet (even if it may have an earlier deadline in some cases) makes a task management app horribly inefficient and clumsy to work with over time – and yet such a tiny proportion of to-do apps get this right :-(</p>

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