Help
Everything zooDo does, in the order you are likely to meet it. If what you need is not here, write to us — a person answers.
Getting started
zooDo opens on the Lists tab. A list is a named collection — Groceries, Home Reno, Work — and it can carry an emoji and one of six colours so you can tell them apart at a glance.
- Add a list: the + button on the Lists tab. Give it a name, pick an emoji and a colour.
- Add a task: the + on a list, or type into the box on the Focus tab, which is faster when you are adding several.
- Edit anything: long-press a row, or use its … menu.
- Delete: swipe a row, or use the … menu. If “Confirm before deleting” is on, zooDo asks first.
Everything saves as you go. There is no save button and nothing to sync — see Your data.
The four tabs
Lists
The whole tree. Every list, expandable into its tasks, and every task expandable into its sub-tasks.
Focus
One list or one task, zoomed in, with everything inside it and nothing else.
Today
Everything due today or already overdue, from every list at once, soonest first — and beneath it, the open tasks with no date at all.
Done
What you have finished, grouped by the day you finished it.
The hamburger menu at the top left holds Profile and Settings.
Building a tree
A task in zooDo can hold sub-tasks, and those sub-tasks can hold their own — as deep as the job really goes. Use the … menu on any task and choose Add sub-task.
- Expand and collapse with the chevron beside a row. Long-pressing a list header does the same thing.
- Expand all / collapse all from the Lists toolbar, for when a tree has got away from you.
- zooDo remembers which branches you left open. Quit the app and come back and the tree is exactly as you left it.
Tapping a row focuses it rather than editing it. That is deliberate: focusing is the thing you do many times a day and editing is the thing you do occasionally. Long-press — or the … menu — opens the editor.
Finishing things
Tap the circle to the left of a task. It fills in, the title rules through, and the list’s progress ring moves.
- By default, completing a parent completes everything under it. Turn off Complete sub-tasks together in Settings if you would rather tick each one yourself.
- Finished tasks stay visible until you hide them — see Showing less.
- Clear completed on a list’s … menu removes the finished ones for good. It does not put them in Recently deleted, and it does not touch the Done before tally.
Due dates and Today
Any task can carry a due date. In the editor, Today and Tomorrow are one tap; anything else opens a date picker.
- A dated task shows a small chip — Today, Tomorrow, in 3 days. Once it is late, the chip turns the app’s one warning colour.
- The Today tab gathers everything due or overdue across every list, soonest first, each row badged with the list it came from.
- Under that sits the someday pile: open tasks with no date on them at all.
- To clear a date, open the task and remove it — the task stays, it just stops appearing on Today.
zooDo does not send notifications or reminders in this version. Nothing will buzz at you; the Today tab is where a due date shows up.
Focus
Tap any list, or any task, and the Focus tab shows that level and everything inside it. It is the tab for actually doing the thing rather than surveying everything you have to do.
- Tapping a task inside Focus drills one level further in.
- The breadcrumb above the input box shows the path you took. It scrolls sideways when the path gets long and stays anchored to where you are; tap any step to jump back to it.
- The title card at the top steps you back out one level when tapped.
- The add box is attached to the top of the Done before bar. Whatever you type goes straight into whatever is in focus, and the box stays open for the next one.
- Focus survives a restart — the app comes back where you were.
Done before
Every list keeps a private tally of task titles it has finished before, with a count of how many times each one has come round. It lives in the bar along the bottom of the Focus tab; the arrow lifts it to half the screen.
- Tap an entry to add it straight back into whatever is currently in focus.
- Sort by Most used or A–Z. Your choice sticks.
- Titles match without regard to capitals or extra spaces, so “Coffee Beans” and “coffee beans” count as the same recurring item.
- Long-press an entry to forget it.
- The tally is stored separately from the tasks, so clearing completed tasks does not empty it. Deleting the list discards its history with it.
Recently deleted
Each list keeps a footer showing the last thing deleted from it; “··· n more” reveals the rest, up to the last 25.
- Tap an entry (or Undo) to put it back where it came from — under its original parent, if that task still exists.
- Restoring a parent brings its whole sub-tree back with it.
- Long-press an entry to drop it for good.
- Only deletions land here. Clearing completed tasks does not fill it.
- Turn the footer off entirely with Show recently deleted in Settings.
Showing less
The eye button in the top bar switches between two views of the same lists.
- A plain eye means you are seeing only what is unfinished.
- A slashed eye means completed tasks and the recently deleted footer are showing too.
It drives the Show completed tasks and Show recently deleted settings together, and your choice sticks between launches. Both switches remain in Settings if you want them set differently from one another. The Done tab is unaffected — it always lists what you have finished.
Separately, Show details strips every row back to its title alone: no dates, notes, sub-task tallies or list badges. Rows, indentation and cards all tighten at the same time, so it is not only text disappearing — noticeably more of the list fits on screen. With details hidden a list header is reduced to its name, and the emoji, tally and progress ring step aside too.
Light and dark
Settings offers Light, Dark and Auto (follow the system). The moon/sun button in the top bar flips to the opposite of whatever is currently on screen — even while the theme is set to Auto, which is what you want at half past ten at night.
Every setting
Theme
Light, Dark, or Auto to follow the system.
Show completed tasks
Whether finished tasks stay in the tree. The Done tab always shows them regardless.
Show recently deleted
Whether the recently-deleted footer appears under each list.
Show details
Due dates, notes, sub-task tallies and list badges beneath task titles — and, when off, a tighter layout throughout.
Complete sub-tasks together
Whether ticking a parent ticks everything under it.
Confirm before deleting
Whether destructive actions ask first.
Clear all data
Erases every list, task, history entry and setting on this device. There is no undo and no copy anywhere else — see Your data.
Profile
A display name and an emoji avatar, plus a count of your lists and tasks. It is decoration and a running total — there is no account behind it, nothing is checked, and none of it leaves the device.
Your data
Your lists live in a database inside the app’s own private storage on your phone. zooDo has no account, no server and no network code: there is nowhere else for your data to be.
- Backups. Because it is ordinary app storage, it is included in your device’s backup if you have one turned on (iCloud or a computer backup on iOS, Google’s backup on Android). Restoring a device restores your lists with it.
- Moving to a new phone. Restoring from a device backup is the way. zooDo cannot copy your lists from one phone to another on its own in this version.
- Removing everything. Clear all data in Settings, or delete the app — which takes its storage with it. Either is immediate and permanent.
See the privacy policy for the full account.
Common questions
Does zooDo sync between my phone and my tablet?
Not in this version. Each device keeps its own lists. Restoring a device backup onto a new phone brings your lists across; there is no live sync between two devices you use at the same time.
Can I share a list with someone else?
Not yet. Sharing is being built and will arrive in a future update; when it does, it will be something you switch on for a list rather than something that happens to all of them.
Where did my task go?
Three likely answers, in order. It was completed and completed tasks are hidden — tap the eye button. It is inside a collapsed branch — try Expand all from the Lists toolbar. Or it was deleted, in which case it is in that list’s recently deleted footer for the next 25 deletions.
Why is my Today tab empty?
Today only shows tasks that carry a due date and are due today or earlier. Tasks with no date appear beneath, under the someday heading.
Does zooDo send reminders?
No. It asks for no notification permission and sends no alerts. Due dates surface on the Today tab.
How do I delete a whole list?
The … menu on the list header. Deleting a list takes its tasks and its Done before tally with it, and a list is not recoverable from the recently-deleted footer — that holds tasks.
Is there an account to sign in to?
No. There is nothing to sign in to, nothing to subscribe to, and no way to lose access to your own lists.
Does zooDo cost anything, or show ads?
It is free, and there is no advertising, no analytics and no in-app purchase.
Contact us
Questions, bug reports and requests are all welcome, and a person reads them.
It helps to say which device and which version of zooDo you are on. The version is at the bottom of the Settings screen.