Frequently asked questions

Tack is on the App Store for iPhone. You pay once, with no subscription and no in-app purchases. On your iPhone, you can also search the App Store for “Tack”.

Tack is deliberately small. There are projects, tasks and four smart lists (Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Flagged). There are no contexts, tags, perspectives or review cycles to set up. If you want to get a task out of your head and see what’s due, that’s all it does.

Tasks live inside projects, and that’s the only level. When a task turns out to need several steps, turn it into a project: long-press it in the Inbox (or open it) and choose Turn Into Project. Its title and notes carry over, and you can paste in the steps.

Anything you add without a project goes to the Inbox. Sort it later by opening a task and picking a project, or leave it there. Inbox tasks can also become projects of their own.

In any list, tap Select (or swipe down the list with two fingers). Tap the tasks you want, then use the bar at the bottom to Move them to a project, set a Due Date, Flag, Complete or Delete them. To start a project from them, choose Move → New Project…. It’s a quick way to sort out a full Inbox.

Tap Undo in the bar that appears at the bottom for a few seconds. After that, open the list’s ••• menu, turn on Show Completed, and tap the task’s circle again.

No. Completed tasks are kept until you delete them. To see them, open the list’s ••• menu and turn on Show Completed. To delete one, swipe left on it. To delete them all, choose Clear Completed from the same menu. The next update adds a Completed list at the bottom of the home screen, with every task you’ve finished, grouped by day.

Proper checklists are coming in an update: items you tick in place, grouped into sections, that you can reuse for the next trip with everything unticked, plus templates like Camping and Business Trip. For now, a project works well as a packing list, and Duplicate gives you a fresh copy with every task unticked.

Yes. Long-press the project (or open it and tap •••) and choose Duplicate. Give the copy a name, and every task comes back not done, without due dates, ready to use again. The original stays as it was.

iPhone widgets can’t show a keyboard, so the Quick Add widget does the next best thing: one tap opens Tack with the keyboard already up. To add a task without opening the app at all, use Siri or the Action Button (below).

1. Touch and hold an empty part of your Home Screen until the icons jiggle.
2. Tap Edit → Add Widget, then search for Tack.
3. Pick Quick Add (small or medium) or Tasks.

To choose which list the Tasks widget shows, touch and hold it and tap Edit Widget. Quick Add also comes in Lock Screen sizes.

Nothing to set up for Siri: say “Add a task in Tack”. For the Action Button on iPhone 15 Pro and later, open Settings → Action Button, swipe to Shortcut, and choose Tack → Add Task. Press the button, type or say the task, and it’s saved.

You can also add the New Task control to Control Center on iOS 18.

They let you set details as you type. #house files the task in your House project, @tomorrow or @fri sets the day, and ! flags it. See the full list. If a #word doesn’t match a project, it just stays in the title.

Two ways. In any list, type in the “Add a task” row and press Return after each one: the keyboard stays up. Or, when you create a project, paste a list into Tasks and each line becomes a task.

Only tasks with a time get a notification (open the task, turn on Due Date, then Remind Me). Also check Settings → Notifications → Tack is on. Tasks due on a day without a time show in Today but don’t notify.

Yes. The widget saves the change straight away, and Tack picks it up the next time you open it.

Tap the gear at the top left, then Export Backup. Save the file to Files, email it to yourself or AirDrop it to the other iPhone. On that iPhone, open the file (or use Settings → Import Backup…) and choose:

• Merge to add anything that isn’t there yet, or
• Replace Everything to make it an exact copy of the backup.

Yes: Settings → Export Spreadsheet (CSV). It has one row per task, with its project, notes, due date, flag and whether it’s done, and opens in Numbers, Excel or Google Sheets.

Not yet, but it’s coming in an update: you’ll be able to share a project through iCloud so you and your partner, family or friends see and tick off the same tasks, and assign tasks to each other. For now, you can send someone a copy with Settings → Export Backup.

Not yet. iCloud sync is coming soon. In the meantime, Tack is included in your iPhone’s normal iCloud or computer backup.

No. There’s no sign-up, and we have no servers that could see your tasks. See the privacy policy.