When I first used Due a few years ago, it was the greatest reminders and todo app ever for me. The app was easy to use and the auto snooze functionality that nagged you with notifications till you marked them as done was great. iOS 6 didn’t have background sync, so when iOS 7 hit, everyone including myself was curious about an update to Due that would hopefully add a new look and background sync. Due 1.10 did bring a new look, but no background sync. I’ve always used multiple apps together for getting things done. OmniFocus is the best project management app, but it isn’t great for immediate menial tasks or lists. Clear is the best list management app out there. Similarly, Due 2 is a near perfect update to Due and saying I’ve enjoyed using it for the past few months will be a huge understatement.
Due 2 is a major update to Due. It is also an update to the existing app you probably own by now and not an all new app that needs to be bought again. More on the pricing model a bit later. Due 2 adds full support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screen sizes. The app has been completely rewritten and the new look is beautiful. Due 2 supports two themes out of the box and I hope more themes are added soon. I’m a big fan of the Ash theme. My only real complaint with the look is the shadow separator on the iPad app. It looks out of place.
Due 2 uses great typography and supports dynamic text size. The main reminders interface now has headers indicating time frames for when reminders in the future are due. Each time frame section also has a nice colour highlight indicator. The Timer view is similar to the Reminders view, with the addition of a play button next to each timer. Pulling down in the Reminders or Timers view reveals the search bar and there are some nifty gestures within the app. Swiping reminders to the left lets you mark them as completed and swiping further lets you delete them. Timers can be swiped to the left for deletion.
Due 2 has an all new compose window and editor for reminders and timers. Tapping the + on the top right slides in the new composer that gets pushed up by the keyboard. The rest of the app is blurred behind this composer and the keyboard, and it looks remarkable. The composer has a customizable set of quick access times. There are 5 buttons above the compose window that let you quickly cancel, change auto snooze, set repetition, change alarm tone and confirm the reminder. You can also flick the compose window to either side to set the reminder. Tapping any reminder brings up the same composer with buttons below as well that let you share the reminder to another app or delete it. For timers, the composer has the same buttons, but features a time picker instead and has an optional title field.
Due 2 is a thorough iOS 8 app. It makes great use of actionable notifications, allowing you to snooze or mark a reminder as completed right from the notification or lock screen. Having 5—10—15—30 minute auto snooze options is awesome. Background sync with Dropbox works perfectly and is almost instant. Due 2’s progress bar now resembles that of the official iPhone Twitter app while uploading media. There’s no refresh button in Due 2 and it uses a status bar overlay to display the sync status. Everything is handled quite elegantly, but I did have some sync issues in poor network areas and having a refresh button would be nicer than having to relaunch the app to initiate a forced sync. The settings section lets you change sounds, quick access times, default snooze and adjust Dropbox sync settings. You can also change the app theme from here and import iOS reminders from the Reminders.app. Due 2 does almost everything right. It has an amazing new look, excellent alert sounds from Cleartones, and supercharged functionality. I really wish it had more themes though.
Pricing
The pricing for Due 2 is interesting. Existing owners of Due v1 get a lot of the new features in the app for free with this update. The features like background sync, pausing and resuming timers, auto snooze times and new alert sounds can be unlocked for $2.99 (40% Off) for existing owners. On the other hand, if you’ve never purchased the app before, Due 2 is available on the App Store for just $4.99. It is an absolute steal at that price.