Report updated May 19, 2026

Microsoft To Do is an established productivity app that is completely free. With a 4.7/5 rating from 733.2K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate cross-platform synchronization between mobile and desktop environments provides a reliable task management experience, though home screen widget instability and flickering post-update renders the primary task view unusable remains a common concern.

What is Microsoft To Do?

Microsoft To Do is a task management app for individuals and professionals, structured around list-making and cross-device sync on iOS, Android, and Windows.

Users hire the app to centralize tasks from the Microsoft 365 suite into a single daily planner, reducing the friction of switching between email and project management tools.

Current Momentum

v2.169 · 1mo ago

Maintenance
  • Ships frequent stability and security updates.
  • Maintains cross-platform sync infrastructure.

Active Nemesis

Google Tasks: Get Things Done

Google Tasks: Get Things Done

By Google

Other Rivals

Any.do - To do list & Calendar
Google Keep - Notes and lists
TickTick:To-Do List & Calendar
Notion: Notes, Tasks, AI
Reminders
Trello
Structured: Daily Planner Todo

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Productivity

No ranking data

ProductivityGrossing

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

Recent User Mood

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

What Are The Key Features?

My DayDifferentiator

Personalized daily planner that suggests relevant tasks from existing lists

Outlook Tasks IntegrationDifferentiator

Syncs flagged emails and tasks between Outlook and To Do

Shared ListsStandard

Collaborative task management with real-time sync

How much does it cost?

Free
  • Free for all users

The app functions as a free utility to drive adoption and retention within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

What do users think recently?

High confidence · Latest 60 of 99 total reviews analyzed · Based on 99 reviews. Signal may be noisy.

How did the latest release land?

Overall
4.7/ 5
(733.2K)
Current version
4.7/ 5
+0.1 vs overall
(260.5K)
Main signal post-update: cross-platform synchronization between mobile and desktop environments provides a reliable task management experience.

What is the recent mood?

Mixed

Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate cross-platform synchronization between mobile and desktop environments provides a reliable task management experience, but report home screen widget instability and flickering post-update renders the primary task view unusable.

What Users Love

Cross-platform synchronization between mobile and desktop environments provides a reliable task management experience

What Frustrates Users

Home screen widget instability and flickering post-update renders the primary task view unusable

What Users Want

Enhanced calendar integration allowing users to drag tasks directly into time-blocked slots

How have ratings & review volume moved?

Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.

Rating over time

Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.

View the full user-sentiment analysis

Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.

Go deeper

What is the competitive landscape for Microsoft To Do?

How's The Productivity Market?

How does it evolve in the Productivity market?

Microsoft To Do holds a #154 Free rank in the IE Productivity category, but its reliance on the Microsoft 365 suite limits its reach compared to standalone competitors.

Rank progression

45 active rankings tracked — 30-day window

The rivals identified

Nemeses(1)

Deep integration within the Google Workspace ecosystem and high-frequency release cadence make this the primary threat for daily task management.

Differentiators

  • Native integration with Google Calendar and Gmail allows seamless task creation from email threads.
  • High-velocity development cycle with 23 releases in six months ensures rapid feature iteration and stability.
  • Minimalist interface design prioritizes quick capture over complex project management workflows.

Head to head

To defend against Google Tasks, Microsoft must leverage its unique 'My Day' focus and deeper integration with Outlook to maintain its edge with power users.

Contenders(3)

Dominates the quick-capture note-taking space, overlapping significantly with the target's list-making functionality.

Differentiators

  • Visual card-based interface allows for faster scanning and organization of disparate notes and lists.
  • Advanced OCR capabilities allow users to extract text from images and handwritten notes instantly.

Strong focus on the 'daily planner' experience with a massive user base that competes for the same casual productivity audience.

Differentiators

  • Smart 'Any.do Moment' feature forces a daily review of tasks to improve user planning habits.
  • Aggressive cross-platform availability including native desktop and browser extensions for seamless task capture.
TickTick:To-Do List & Calendar icon

Appest Limited

4.9(42.5K)

Offers a comprehensive feature set including Pomodoro timers and habit tracking that directly challenges the target's productivity scope.

Differentiators

  • Built-in Pomodoro timer and white noise generator provide an all-in-one focus environment for users.
  • Advanced habit tracking and statistics dashboard offer deeper insights into user productivity patterns.

Same space(3)

Trello icon
Trellomoat: medium

Trello, Inc.

3.9(122.1K)

Provides a visual Kanban-based approach to task management that appeals to team-oriented workflows.

Differentiators

  • Kanban board visualization provides a clear overview of project stages and team-based task distribution.
  • Extensive power-up ecosystem allows for integration with hundreds of third-party business tools.
Reminders icon
Remindersmoat: high

Apple

4.8(878.4K)

The default system-level competitor that benefits from deep OS integration and zero-friction installation.

Differentiators

  • System-level integration allows for Siri-based voice capture and location-based reminders without third-party permissions.
  • Native widget support and lock-screen integration provide superior accessibility compared to third-party apps.
Notion: Notes, Tasks, AI icon

Notion Labs, Incorporated

4.6(355K)

Serves as a high-end alternative for users requiring complex database management and AI-assisted workflows.

Differentiators

  • Flexible block-based architecture allows for infinite customization of project management and knowledge base structures.
  • Integrated AI assistant automates content generation and task summarization directly within the workspace.

New entrants(1)

Structured: Daily Planner Todo icon

unorderly GmbH

4.8(157.5K)

Rapidly gaining traction by focusing on a visual timeline-based approach to daily planning.

Differentiators

  • Visual timeline interface maps tasks to specific hours, helping users visualize their day's capacity.
  • Focuses on the 'time-blocking' productivity methodology rather than simple list-based task management.

Compare Microsoft To Do against every rival

All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.

Go deeper

The outtake for Microsoft To Do

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • Deep integration with Microsoft 365 suite drives enterprise switching costs
  • Cross-platform sync maintains consistent user state across devices

Critical Frictions

  • Widget instability post-update disrupts daily habit loops
  • Keyboard overlay issues degrade note-taking accessibility

Growth Levers

  • Implement time-blocking calendar integration to counter Structured
  • Introduce recycle bin for accidental task deletions

Market Threats

  • Google Tasks rapid 23-release cadence
  • Structured's visual timeline methodology siphoning power users
  • Apple Reminders system-level OS integration

What are the next best moves?

highInvest

Rebuild widget rendering logic because instability is the top complaint → restore daily habit loop

Widget flickering is the #1 reported issue post-update, directly impacting daily active usage.

Trade-off: Pause the calendar integration sprint — widget stability is a higher-priority churn risk.

mediumMaintain

Audit keyboard overlay behavior because note-taking is currently unusable → improve text-editing accessibility

User reviews explicitly flag the keyboard covering text areas as a primary usability blocker.

Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.

A counter-intuitive read

The app's reliance on the Microsoft 365 ecosystem is its greatest weakness, as it creates a ceiling on innovation that allows visual-first competitors to capture the casual productivity market.

Feature Gaps vs Competitors

  • Time-blocking calendar integration (available in Structured but absent here)
  • Recycle bin for deleted tasks (available in various competitors but absent here)

Key Takeaways

Microsoft To Do retains users through its Microsoft 365 integration, but the latest update's UI regressions threaten its core daily-planner utility, so the PM must prioritize widget and keyboard stability to prevent churn to more agile competitors.

Where Is It Heading?

Declining

The productivity market is consolidating around visual, time-blocked workflows, leaving Microsoft To Do's list-based approach exposed. Unless the team pivots from maintenance-mode to feature expansion, the app will continue to lose casual users to modern entrants.

UI regressions in the latest update (widget flickering, keyboard overlay) erode the daily active habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.

Recent updates focused on stability, no feature expansion, leaving the app vulnerable to competitors like Structured that iterate on time-blocking methodologies.

Disclosure: Independent intel to help mobile builders succeed.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft To Do, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

What's new

The app has transitioned into a maintenance phase, with recent updates introducing technical regressions that degrade the user experience and threaten core daily-habit loops.

declined

Emergence of critical widget complaints

added

Introduction of technical weaknesses

shifted

Development velocity reduction

improved

Feature repositioning

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “Microsoft To Do Intelligence Report.” Updated May 19, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/apps/microsoft-to-do

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