You No Longer Need a Separate Google Tasks App on Android
Google is constantly releasing new features in Google Workspace, which is great, but it can be difficult to keep track and understand all the changes. In particular, there have been a lot of changes to Google Tasks lately, including the recent addition of more useful task lists , which I love since I live in ToDoist most of the time. However, this week Google really helped Android users by eliminating the need for the Google Tasks app . Now you can simply manage tasks from the Google Calendar app, which is a nice attempt at optimization if you know where to find the feature (and how to use it).
To be clear, you used to be able to see some tasks in Google Calendar, but they were scattered and tied to dates—there was no dedicated view for them. This is a big change: you now have a dedicated place to view all your tasks (even those that don’t have a due date), just like in any other project management system.
Google implemented this in the web interface this year, and while it lacks the polish of other project management tools like Asana and Trello, it’s a step in the right direction. Now you have the same benefits and features on your Android mobile device. If you’re like me, you’ve probably been tricking the Calendar app for a while, simply entering tasks as calendar events so you can access them more easily. Now you can legally create tasks and to-do lists and simply assign a date to each.
How to access tasks in Google Calendar
To access tasks, open Calendar, go to the tasks icon in the top right corner (it looks like a checkmark), and you’ll be taken to upcoming tasks and then to previously completed tasks. You can add new lists (and even subtasks) and assign dates to them, so the calendar connection is bi-directional.
I still don’t like the look of the lists – I’d prefer the accordion-based user interface to the horizontal scrolling that’s currently used – but I have to assume there will be iterations to make it more competitive with premium project management tools. For now, this is just one less app I need on my phone, although you can continue to use the dedicated Tasks app if you want, especially if you like a shortcut or widget on your phone.
If this feature is not already active on your mobile device, it will be available over the next few weeks as the rollout continues. While I’m not ready to give up ToDoist or any of my other project management tools, I like where this is going.