Reminder and to-do apps can be a little daunting to manage. Most of them overflow with so many options that you may find it easier not to use them. But that's not what Three.do, a new reminder app aims to, uhm, do.  The app's concept is different. When you want to set up a reminder, it's usually about doing something for someone (or yourself) at a certain time, i.e. the who, what, and when. And that's what the app uses: three screens with different colored tiles for each of these variables. The interface looks like Windows Phone and Material Design had a baby.

The layout is clear and minimalistic, though it'll take some getting used to. If you want to be efficient with this app, you will need to remember where each option is, to avoid reading the text in every box each time you want to add a reminder. Only then will it be faster and more convenient than other apps. Plus, Three.do doesn't bother with specifics. There are limited actions and no names, but you can at least specify an exact date and time.

To circumvent the learning curve and non-specificity, you can type the text for the exact reminder manually, but it will take more time, thus taking away part of the app's charm.

The app's simplicity extends beyond this. The main screen is for adding a new reminder, not viewing existing ones — you'll need to tap the overflow menu on the top right to access those. It certainly removes some stress out of opening a task app only to be greeted with a huge list of all the things you haven't done yet. When the due time for a reminder hits, a notification shows up and you can simply mark it as done or reschedule it.

After using Three.do a few times for a couple of days, I like the approach though I think I'll need more time to get used to the different boxes. Maybe some icons would help with the visual differentiation? The interface is definitely gorgeous though, and the onboarding is one of the best I have seen from any app. It uses a Google Assistant chat-like approach to guide you through the different features.

Three.do isn't for everyone. This isn't a replacement for super powerful task apps like Todoist — it's just an app for reminders. I think of it as Google Assistant, but offline and with boxes to choose from.

According to the developer, this is the first release, but more features will be coming later. Sharing from other apps to Three.do as well as a launcher app shortcut will be added later. An upcoming Pro version will also allow users to create custom tiles and re-order them, as well as add location-based reminders, recurring reminders, and sync with Google Calendar. Wear OS support is on the cards, but there's no timeline for that yet, nor any indication whether it'll be free or paid.

Three.do is free to download and use with the current set of features. The first Pro features are scheduled to come by the end of 2018, and they will cost $10/year or $27 for a lifetime (currently discounted to $18). There will also be a separate cloud subscription which should cost $3/month or $30/year. If you sign up now, you can get a 33% discount off that.

Update: This post was edited to clarify the different pricing tiers for Pro and Cloud.