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OmniFocus iPhone
July 16, 2008
Finally, a truly ubiquitous capture tool that feeds directly into my existing project and task management system. I’m either in front of my computer or I’m not. When I’m not, I almost always have my phone. Now, with OmniFocus iPhone (henceforth written as OF iPhone) I can access and record tasks and projects anywhere. It syncs up your OF database so your phone and computer always contain the same projects and tasks, no matter which device you use to enter them. As a person who is constantly jotting down ideas, projects, todos and other information, it’s a welcome addition to my iPhone.
Just like the OS X version of OmniFocus, OF iPhone isn’t free. In fact, I’d say it costs a premium. For a lot of people, $20 US for an iPhone application is a lot (especially if you bought the OS X version for $80 US) and I’m sympathetic to that. But for people, like me, who rely on OmniFocus daily—who open it first thing every day to see what needs to be done—$20 is just a small price to pay for a complete, end-to-end personal organization system.
Requirements for Syncing
In order to use syncing with OF iPhone, you have to download and install the alpha builds, which are freely available on the “Sneaky Peak” page of the OmniGroup website. Without the alpha, you won’t have access to the syncing features.
Configuration
After installing OmniFocus on your iPhone, you have to configure it to sync with the OS X application’s database. This can be done using iDisk (part of MobileMe) or WebDAV (there’s also the option of syncing to your local disk, but that’s not really going to help you sync your phone). I tried WebDAV (using the free Box.net service) but it was flakey and unreliable. I decided to try iDisk and it just worked. You then do an initial sync so the entire OF database is on your iDisk or WebDAV server.
OF iPhone has to know where to look for the database it will sync to and there are two easy ways to do this:
- You can share your settings if your computer and iPhone are on the same wireless network
- or you can send yourself an email with an application link that passes the WebDAV or iDisk URL to OF iPhone.
I tried both and they worked fine, but the wireless “Share Settings” option was much cooler and worked without incident. After getting your settings, OF iPhone will sync up your database and you should see your data appear: projects, actions and contexts. The only thing that doesn’t sync over—for obvious UI reasons—are Perspectives. It’s a shame, too, because I live in Perspectives when using the OS X version of the application.
Capture
I capture information with OF iPhone in two ways:
- Using the Inbox icon to create a new inbox item
- or if I’m inside of a project, using the + button to add a new action.
I find myself using the Inbox icon method the most because it’s convenient and doesn’t tie me to a particular project. I usually add information stream of consciousness style and don’t organize it until later on.
You can take a photo when creating an action (e.g. of nice cookware from Williams Sonoma you would like to purchase) or record some audio (e.g. more details to explain the action you’re adding). The unfortunate thing about the audio is that it is not currently playable inside of OF OS X. The images show up as a tiny thumbnail and also only open in an external application, like Preview. The OS X software is still alpha, so these may be planned features not yet implemented.
If you tap the blue arrow icon to the right of your action title, you slide to a new screen to add notes to the action. These notes will appear in OF OS X when you click the paperclip icon, along with the image thumbnail and audio file icon, if you recorded audio or added a photo.
I have one major annoyance with task capture. I routinely assign tasks due dates using shortcut names (e.g. tomorrow, next monday) and do so easily using OF OS X, but in the iPhone version I’m not only not able to use shortcut names, I’m also required to add a time due. I’d like to see the time dial removed, as it’s beginning to step on the toes of what you should be recording in a calendar. If I have a task that I need to do at 9 AM on Tuesday, I put it in iCal, not OmniFocus.
View and Action
Viewing my projects and tasks on-the-go is simple. The main screen of the application gives you an overview of what is active and what is due. I normally go right to Projects to drill down to the tasks that are due. To complete a task, tap the empty box and a check appears. Tap the Edit button to remove tasks or reorder them.
I’ve found OF iPhone to be great for grocery shopping lists. I have one action called “Grocery Shopping” and add items under it. For meals that require multiple items, I just create an action and then the ingredients inside of it as sub-actions. I used to use web-based lists (like TadaList) for groceries, but they were just too slow to use over EDGE. This is much, much better and fits within my existing system.
Location, Location
OF iPhone also lets you “geo tag” or assign coordinates to a Context. It’s a little tricky to get to this screen for existing Contexts. To access the edit screen for your Contexts, choose them from the main screen and then tap the Edit button. It will look as if your only choices are to delete a context or reorder them, when, in fact, you can click on any of them to reach the edit screen.
There are four options for adding a location:
- Use the triangulation (or GPS in the 3G iPhone, I assume) to get your coordinates,
- input an address,
- use a contact from your address book or
- search for a business.
The idea is that you click the Location icon at the bottom of the screen and OmniFocus will give you a list of actions you can do that are nearby. Let’s say I need to get new Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (because I haven’t bought any in 5 years), if I click the Location icon while I’m near the home store, it should alert me that I can complete that action at a place nearby.
It’s a fun feature, but for me near useless because the vast majority of my tasks are done at home or in front of the computer and if I do go out, I go out with a purpose and my tasks already at hand. I could see this being useful if I had some time to kill before an appointment and wanted to see if I could check off a few actions while I waited. Your experience may be different but for me, at this time, the Location feature is nice and fun, but not very useful.
You can view all of the screenshots in my OmniFocus iPhone Flickr Set.
The OmniFocus for iPhone application is what prompted me to get an iPod touch. I picked up the desktop version a few weeks ago in anticipation ($49 with the education discount). I have been an on again/off again GTD’er, but I think the two OmniFocus apps will help keep me focused.
It’s very tempting, but $20 for the app, $80 for the dekstop and then MobileMe service too seems like a lot: $200.
Very tempting still…
You can sync with WebDAV, but MobileMe is easier. I agree the start up cost is considerable, but if you really use the software, it’s totally worth it, IMO.
I’ve been using the iPhone version of SMEStorage.com (http://www.thesmespace.com/smeutils/msmestorge) - costs me nothing as I got 250 MB free and I can access all my files and to do’s for free !
oops wrong url, sorry - http://www.thesmespace.com/smeutils/msmestorage
Have you seen the Samsung Tocco yet? I have been told that this phone could rival the iphone, but I really dont know too much about it yet. I was trying to compare phones and came across this site.
Anyway, thank you for the article.
Wow, great write up. It is stuff like this that is slowly but surely making my next phone purchase be a iPhone. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up all Mac.