What is Things?
Things is a Mac-native personal task manager from Cultured Code, and the decision that matters most is that it is bought once per platform rather than subscribed to. The Mac app is $49.99 in US pricing, with separate one-time purchases for iPhone and Watch ($9.99), iPad ($19.99) and Vision Pro ($29.99); there is no subscription and no account beyond the free Things Cloud sync service. A 15-day Mac trial runs with every feature unlocked and no limitations, and to-dos entered during the trial are kept if you buy. Work is organised around Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday lists plus projects, areas, headings and checklists. The Mac app requires macOS 13.3 or later. It suits people who want a fast, deliberately restrained task manager and would rather pay once than rent.
Verified product facts
- Type
- task managerEditorially reviewed
- Platform
- macOS
- Pricing
- One-time purchaseDeveloper-stated
- Developer
- Cultured CodeDeveloper-stated
- Relationship to Nuanyue
- Third-party product — not published by NuanyueEditorially reviewed
- Current version
- 3.24Developer-stated
- Official website
- culturedcode.com/things/
Last updated . Facts marked developer-stated come from the developer and are not independently confirmed; editorially reviewed marks a Nuanyue judgement.
Key features
What Things does at a glance.
Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday lists
Projects, areas, headings and checklists
Quick Find
With app-wide tag search
Natural-language date entry (Jump Start)
Things Cloud sync
Across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch and Vision Pro
Siri, Shortcuts, widgets and a URL scheme
What you can use Things for
- Planning the day from the Today list
- Capturing a to-do quickly with natural-language date entry
- Organising work into projects, areas and headings
- Finding items across the app with Quick Find
- Syncing to-dos across a Mac, iPhone, iPad and Watch
Who is Things for?
- People who want a personal task manager bought once rather than subscribed to
- Apple-only users who keep their devices in the same ecosystem
- Anyone who prefers a fixed set of lists over a configurable tag system
Who is Things not for?
- Windows or Android users — there is no client for those platforms
- People who need a web app — Things has none
- Users who want a highly configurable task system — Things organises work around four fixed lists
Limitations
- The Mac app requires macOS 13.3 or later
- Each platform is a separate purchase — a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad cost $79.97 in US prices
- Apple Silicon support is not stated in the sources Nuanyue tracks
Strengths and trade-offs
What Things does well, and what to weigh before choosing it. Points marked developer-stated come from the developer’s own material and have not been independently confirmed.
Strengths
- Sold as a one-time purchase per platform rather than a subscription, so there is no recurring fee.
- The Mac trial runs for 15 days with every feature unlocked and no limitations, and to-dos entered during the trial are kept when you buy.
- Sync runs through Things Cloud, a free account that connects Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch and Vision Pro.Developer-stated
Trade-offs
- Each platform is a separate purchase, so covering a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad costs $79.97 in US prices before any Vision Pro copy.
- There is no web app and no Windows or Android client, so the app is only as portable as Apple's devices.Editorially reviewed
First-use experience
What the app asks of you when you set it up. Only established facts appear here; anything we could not confirm is left out rather than guessed at.
- Installation
- Download the Mac trial from culturedcode.com/things/download and, as Cultured Code advises, move it from ~/Downloads to /Applications; buying from inside the trial unlocks the full version.
- First launch
- The trial runs for 15 days from first launch with all features available, and anything entered during the trial carries over when you purchase.
- System integration Developer-stated
- Shows calendar events beside to-dos, and supports Siri, Shortcuts, widgets and a URL scheme for automation.
What it does
Things is a personal task manager built for Apple’s platforms. It is deliberately narrower than most competitors: work is organised around four fixed lists — Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday — with projects, areas, headings and checklists layered on top, rather than a user-configured system of tags and filters.
One-time purchase, not a subscription
Things is bought once per platform. Cultured Code sets a US dollar price and lets the App Store convert it to local currency, so the dollar figures are the reference rather than a universal price.
| Platform | Requirement | US price |
|---|---|---|
| Mac | macOS 13.3 or later | $49.99 |
| iPhone & Watch | iOS 16.4 or later | $9.99 |
| iPad | iPadOS 16.4 or later | $19.99 |
| Vision Pro | visionOS 27 or later | $29.99 |
There is no subscription tier, and the only account involved is the free Things Cloud sync service.
The trial
A 15-day trial of the Mac app is available before buying. Cultured Code’s wording is that it runs for “15 days from your first launch” with “access all features without limitations”. Purchasing from inside the trial keeps the to-dos you already entered; if the trial expires without a purchase, the app drops into read-only mode and changes made after that point are not saved.
Lists and structure
The four default lists are the product’s main opinion: Today is what you have committed to, Upcoming is scheduled and repeating work, Anytime is everything available with no date, and Someday is a holding area for work you are not ready to commit to. Projects, areas, headings and checklists provide the structure, and Quick Find moves between them by typing.
Apple Silicon
Recorded as unknown. Neither the product page nor the trial instructions state the build’s architecture, and Nuanyue leaves that field unestablished rather than inferring it.
Release history
Dated releases recorded for Things, newest first, each with the source it was read from.
3.24
Full compatibility with Apple's OS 27, with integration into the new Siri AI, Spotlight search, improved notification snooze options and an extra-tall widget.
Source: Official website
3.23
Refined repeating to-dos: they can now be completed early and rescheduled when plans change.
Source: Official website
Questions about Things
Is Things free?
No. Things is a one-time purchase per platform — $49.99 for Mac, $9.99 for iPhone and Watch, $19.99 for iPad and $29.99 for Vision Pro in US prices. A 15-day Mac trial with every feature unlocked is available before you buy.
Is Things a subscription?
No. Cultured Code sells each platform as a one-time App Store purchase, and its trial article states there are no auto-renewals or hidden fees.
Does Things sync across devices?
Yes. Sync runs through Things Cloud, a free account that connects your Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro.Developer-stated
What macOS version does Things require?
macOS 13.3 or later. Cultured Code states this requirement on the Things product page and in its trial instructions.
Does Things have an Apple Silicon build?
Cultured Code's site does not state the build's architecture, so Nuanyue leaves that field unestablished rather than inferring it.Editorially reviewed
Alternatives to Things
Apps that could replace this one — the same job, a different trade-off.
Notion
Hosted workspace for notes, docs, databases and wikis.
Some people run task lists inside Notion databases, but Things is a dedicated task manager rather than part of a document workspace.
Competitors
Direct competitors: overlapping features aimed at the same users.
Todoist
Cross-platform task manager with projects, filters and team workspaces.
Both are task managers, but Todoist is cross-platform and subscription-based while Things is Mac-first and bought once per platform.
Compared with
Head-to-head comparisons Nuanyue has published.
OmniFocus
The Omni Group's GTD task manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Both are Apple-only, one-time-purchase task managers; Things favours a simple, fixed structure while OmniFocus is built for deeper, configurable workflows.
Works well with
Not a replacement — apps commonly used alongside this one.
Fantastical
The calendar app you won't be able to live without.
Fantastical handles the calendar and Things handles the to-dos, and each can show the other's data, so they are commonly used side by side.
Links
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the sources below. Last updated .
- Things — official websiteGrade B
- Cultured Code — developer websiteGrade B
- Things — documentationGrade C
