David Jack Wange Olrik

When I started writing this blog post, it was called My top 5 favorite iPhone apps. But as I sorted through my installed¹ apps, I had a really hard time limiting my self to just 5 apps – so I changed the scope to “top 8″.

If I could only install 8 3rd party apps these are the ones I would choose. These 8 apps are the ones I use most frequently, and I couldn’t imagine living without them.

More

1. I have 107 apps on my iPhone and a total of 144 apps in my iTunes library. [↩]

By now I am sure you all have heard of OmniFocus, and if not let me start by stating that “This is the most powerful GTD® app on the marked today”.

I have used OmniFocus on and off ever since the first public pre release, and when Omni later introduced “Perspectives” I was sold – I have been a die-hard OmniFocus user ever since.

OmniFocus is very powerful, and can seem a little daunting¹ at first, but after a while it’ll grow on you and make you more productive than you have ever been before.

While OmniFocus could seem overly complex² to the casual observer, “Perspectives” are what keeps it all simple. Perspectives are effectively user definable filters that let you “drill down” through all of your tasks and only show you what is relevant right now. E.g. I don’t want to be bothered by work related tasks when I’m not at work – it lets you keep your focus.

If you haven’t read “the book”³ yet, I highly recommend that you do, it has the potential to transform your life.

For a system like Getting Things Done to work you have to do it all the time, you have to make it a habit.⁴ When you are away from your computer you still need to be able to capture new tasks and ideas, and having two systems for the same thing doesn’t work well for me. Fortunately Omni has created an iPhone version of OmniFocus that completes the system for me.

The only thing I miss now is for my perspectives to sync to my iPhone. But it looks like this might happen not too far into the furure.⁵

1. Give your self time to get acquainted with OmniFocus it’ll pay off in the long run [↩]
2. It really isn’t – it’s just very configurable [↩]
3. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity [↩]
4. and that takes time [↩]
5. and you can help make it happen by emailing the Omni support ninjas and requesting this feature [↩]

Yet another version of OmniFocus for the iPhone has hit the App Store with lots of nice new features and fixes.

If there is something you miss in OmniFocus you should definitely chime in on The OmniGroup Forums. The Omni support ninjas are very friendly, and will listen to reasonable requests.¹ If you want to be really sure your request gets heard you should sent it to omnifocus@omnigroup.com, as this is the preferred way.

Did I mention that I really dig OmniFocus ?

1. A lot of the new features in 1.0.2 comes from user requests in the forums. [↩]

<p><a href="/images/IMG_0002.html"> <img src="/assets_c/2008/07/IMG_0002-thumb-autoxauto.png" width="150" height="225" alt="IMG_0002.PNG" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right;margin: 0 0 20px 20px" /> </a>I have had my iPhone 3G for just about a week now, and I already have a favorite app. As you might have guessed from the screen shot it&#8217;s OmniFocus for iPhone. Having your todo list where ever you go is such a huge benefit that I almost can&#8217;t describe how super nice it is.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/iphone/">OmniFocus on the iPhone</a> completes the circle for me, as it puts &#8220;the system&#8221; in my pocket, allowing me to capture new tasks when ever I want, where ever I go.</p>

<p>For &#8220;the system&#8221; to work you have to use and trust it 100%, and if it exists solely on your computer, any tasks you create while away from it has to be remembered, written down or otherwise captured outside of the system. This will leave you with the uncertainty of where your tasks exist and a half used system.</p>

<blockquote>
    <p>&#8220;Did I transfer this item?&#8221;<br />

“Didn’t I finish this task yesterday?”

<p>Having &#8220;the system&#8221; in your pocket rocks!</p>

<p>There is still a lot of room for improvement in both the desktop and the iPhone app, but I still think that OmniFocus is the best Getting Things Done app out there, across all platforms and systems.</p>