Cultured Code Releases Things 3 for Apple Vision Pro

[macduke]

I refuse to buy their iPad and macOS apps. This looks like yet another money grab. Their app is really basic and yet they charge a ton for it on each platform, when it should just be a shared binary. There is nothing unique or different about it on these platforms. So I just grab my phone anytime I need to add something to my list and I can check it off from widgets elsewhere.

 

[Joseph C]

This is a really odd assessment. I've seen no evidence that they have a fixation on, or are proud of, avoiding user requests. Just because they didn't include your pet features doesn't mean they aren't listening to their users.

A recent example of responding to user feedback and adding a "basic feature" is that when they implemented support for Interactive Widgets (on day one!), some users requested the ability to disable the interactivity so that you couldn't accidentally check off a to-do, and... they promptly added that! Another recent example that's specific to iPad is that people wanted to be able to toggle the visibility of later tasks in Areas and Projects, and they added that too (via Cmd+Shift+E).

A more major and longer term example would be that lots of users had for years wanted Markdown support in task notes, and Cultured Code added that! (with a very nice implementation) Another very frequently requested major feature was support for adjusting the app's text size, and they added that too (with the ability to follow the system's Dynamic Type size setting or to override it in the app).

Maybe they just have a clear idea of how they want their apps to work instead of adding every little thing people want? Maybe there are downsides to your requests that you haven't thought about but which they've already prototyped and think need more work?

Cultured Code are also one of the most consistent developers in adopting Apple's new platforms and platform features every year, despite the apps having so far been one-off purchases without a subscription (even though their superior syncing service totally justifies a subscription all by itself, in my opinion, and I would happily pay for one if they ever introduce it).

In fact they're usually among the first developers to add support for new OS features to their apps. This year, I think all on release day, they: had a totally rewritten Watch app ready for watchOS 10 using SwiftUI to match the new look and behaviours (among other features like now having direct-to-cloud syncing on the Watch app), supported the watchOS Smart Stack, updated all the Widgets on iOS, iPadOS and macOS to make them Interactive Widgets so items can be checked off without having to open the app (including Desktop Widgets on macOS), implemented support for Lock Screen Widgets on iPadOS, added support for the new StandBy interface on iPhone (including support for Night Mode), and now they're launching - again on day one - a native visionOS app.

And users didn't even have to ask for all of these new features, they were just ready to go... on day one!

It's very sneaky of you to selectively quote me like that. You omitted the part where I clearly praised the app and how well supported/maintained it is. I literally said:

"The app is very, very well made and the devs always update religiously to support new OS features like Widgets and others. I wouldn't use anything else.

But where it comes to simple, and perfectly valid user requests and feedback, it's almost as though if it's requested they will double down on not doing it."


I have paid for every version of Things on every platform since 1.0 (that is a very, very long time ago) so I don't need to take any lectures about them.

They're quite like Apple in a way - do extraordinary work but occasionally leave out some really big things for a very long time, if they ever implement them, to the point where it does start to come across like they're slightly trolling their users by making them want for just a bit more.

I just wish they would actually do some of the small things like bringing the iPad client closer to Mac parity with Tags (as I said before), letting us tick repeated reminders off early (promised for years) and stopped being so arrogant about other things like not changing the macOS icon shape.

You can love a company and its product and be critical of them at the same time.

Cultured Code are good at adopting new Apple features each year, as I said in my original post, but that's no excuse for the way they sit on simple feature requests - and yes, they are simple the ones I've mentioned.

I'd point to Pixelmator devs as what Cultured Code should aspire to. They're close, but not as good or responsive to their loyal paid users as them. There's an arrogance and a coldness which they give off which is a shame.

I still love the app and will continue to use it, and would pay for Things 4 again or subscribe. Stockholm Syndrome maybe. Just would be nice for them to actually listen to reasonable things from people who have supported them the whole way.

 

[deepspacecowboy]

Things is a great app but with some of the most stubborn developers of all time.

I've gone back as far as SIX years ago on Twitter to find the first time a user requested the extremely simple but useful feature of showing Tags in-line on iPad (the new Vision app is also lacking this). They constantly say they'll add a +1 to any feature request but these +1s clearly go into a bin along with a "Thanks for letting us know you'd like this" response.

They appear to have a form of pathological demand avoidance where it comes to implementing basic features and seem to wear this as a badge of pride. Other minor annoyances include their refusal to adopt the post Big Sur macOS icon shape like EVERY other app out there. Like why?


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The app is very, very well made and the devs always update religiously to support new OS features like Widgets and others. I wouldn't use anything else.

But where it comes to simple, and perfectly valid user requests and feedback, it's almost as though if it's requested they will double down on not doing it.

I think Things is quite overrated. I totally agree about the developers. They are incredibly stubborn and, I think, full of themselves. In my opinion, version 3 is quit long in the tooth too. It’s overpriced and they’re just milking it.

 

[chfilm]

Apple isn't pursuing that. visionOS apps can place multiple objects all over your place, and remember their positions as well.

I’m aware- but I wasn’t so much talking apps all over the place but more like elements of certain apps, like dedicated icons and elements maybe sort of.

 

[collide007]

Cultured Code has officially released an all-new spatial computing version of Things 3.

These ported ‘flat-plane’ apps are all well and good for the ‘sitting big workstation’ use-case for Vision Pro but I want to see more apps that utilise the unique nature of spatial computing.

Technically, you could duplicate this with 10x iPad 9s and a grid scaffold for the same price. I want apps that make me think, “That adds something I didn’t have before”. Like a reminders app that looked like a spherical brain map with lines connecting related tasks in 3D space or tasks hovering over items in my home that related to the reminder (I could assign a location using other devices, either while I was standing there or assign an AirTag.) e.g. when I look at my fridge, I see the reminder to change the water filter and when it’s due.