Smartphones have taken up a huge chunk of our lives, so much living without them would be very difficult for us. They have replaced the newspaper, the big chunky television on the table and also the traditional to-do diaries.Taking down notes notepad and a real ink pen seems too hectic, old and outdated now. There are beautifully designed mobile and desktop apps now that help in making the lives more convenient.
Google recently launched its standalone tasks app ‘Google Tasks’ in May 2018 while it already had Google Keep. Hence, this does bring loads of questions in people’s minds, like “Is Google Task smarter and more feature-rich than Keep?” The two apps are placed together on a comparison scale to see which one actually turns out to be better.
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Google Keep Vs Google Tasks
Google Keep is a productivity app developed from the house of Google for Android and iOS operating systems. It service provides users with an array of tools like making lists, taking notes, scheduling work, etc.
Google Tasks, on the other, is designed to take a simple productivity app to the very next level. The addition of tasks, sub-tasks and due dates make it a very important app for people for a more productive day-to-day life. It also helps to log, monitor and edit tasks from anywhere around the clock and is claimed to be one of the simplest to-do list apps.
Wondering which one has more potentiality to be the popular choice? You will get to the conclusion soon.
Platform Availability
Both Google Tasks and Google Keep are available on Android & iOS, have Chrome extensions and feature web versions as well. However, they do not have a dedicated app for both Windows and MacOS.
Design
Google Keep, being the older of the two, has a more classical appeal and looks complete. To the start comparison, Google Tasks is built with a completely minimalist design with white backgrounds and a slight introduction of blue. So if you consider the appearance, the former looks more professional while the latter is built on a very simple interface a bit too much.
User Interface
Google Keep is surely more detailed and all of it is displayed right on the screen. The task lists and notes appear in a card format right on the main screen. On the contrary, Tasks brings a list format to the things saved on it.
There is no systematic way for sorting list and notes in a proper way and the users are required to manually drag the cards to set their orders. This again gives more customisability so that the most important ones can be dragged right at the top of the screen. Google Tasks has settings and navigation icons at the bottom of the screen.
Way To Mark A Completed Task
The users can either swipe on the task from left to right or give a tap on the round icon to mark the task as completed in Google Tasks. However, in Keep, tapping is the sole option available.
Subtasks support
Google Tasks support hierarchy, allowing users to produce subtasks preceded by tasks, which is a very nice and practical touch. The users can also add notes to subtasks. However, adding sub-tasks isn’t a part of the feature-list for Google Keep.
Organizing The Tasks
Google Keep supports colour-coding and labelling to simplify the task organization and prioritizing process, while Google Tasks does not include the feature.
Reminders
Google Keep supports location and time-based reminders, recurring alerts, etc. However, it does not allow the setting reminders for an individual reminder. On the other hand, Tasks does not feature location-based alert but has the individual task reminder option.
Sharing
Google Tasks currently does not allow sharing, though Keep does. Hence, since sharing has become an integral part of everyone, the lack of the feature might hurt a bit.
Verdict
Thus, we can see the functionalities of Google Keep and Google Tasks overlap in most cases, but some are elusive from either of them. Keep is a very innovative way of bringing notes and lists on the smartphone and has a very modern interface.
However, Tasks is slightly a notch ahead when it comes to the features. The simple layout might be a little subjective, but nevertheless, it manages to get the job done at the end of the day.
Similar alternatives
It is to be noted that just like in any other genre, Google also faces competition in the genre. The most popular ones are:-
1. Evernote
Evernote is a multi-platform, freemium digital notebook app that is built for note taking, archiving and organizing tasks. Users can sync and log their typed notes, voice recordings and similar files at a centralised location. It supports seamless sharing too.
2. Microsoft OneNote
OneNote can be used on multiple platforms. This digital notebook that features diverse notation methods. The search functionalities support hassle-free sorting of the multiple multiple topics that are already saved. It is a part of the Microsoft Office 365 that includes popular apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
3. Notezilla
Notezilla is a slightly different tool among its peers as it is a browser-based digital sticky notes app that can also be installed in Windows, iOS, and Android. The users can create checklist sticky notes and attach these to web pages, folders, window tabs, etc. It supports sharing, allows easy retrieval and synchronization across multiple devices.
Conclusion
These three mentioned alternatives are quite suitable to the kind of usages the user might indulge in. It takes care of most of the aspects that are offered by Google Keep or Tasks. However, it is to be seen that the list of alternatives is quite long and many other options can be preferred. These tasks together help loads in making sure that the Earth is a greener place to live in.
