Overview
Symple Tasks (called "Daily ToDo" on the home screen) is an exercise in restraint. It tracks what needs doing today and takes care of the housekeeping so the list stays focused on the present day.
There is no account, no backend, and no network access. Every task lives in a local store on the device.
It was one of my earliest native iOS projects, first built in 2014 and maintained across iOS versions since, with updates for newer releases in 2020 and 2025. The current version, 1.5, runs on iOS 13 and later.
What it does
Quick entry
- 75-character limit with a live counter
- Press Return to save
Working the list
- Tap a task to edit it
- Mark tasks done
- Swipe to delete
Today, not someday
- Unfinished tasks from earlier days turn red
- Completed tasks from past days clear themselves
Sorting
- Open tasks first
- Newest first
Reminders
- Hourly local notifications from 9am to 9pm
- Each one says how many tasks are still open today
How it's built
Native and small
The app is written in Objective-C with UIKit, storyboards and XIBs, and Masonry for Auto Layout. Sticking to standard Apple frameworks has kept it maintainable across more than a decade of iOS releases.
Everything on the device
Tasks are stored with Core Data in a local SQLite store and never leave the phone. With no server, there is nothing to sign in to.
Reminders without a backend
The hourly nudges are local notifications through the UserNotifications framework, so they work without any network access.