GoodTask vs Highlights
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GoodTask
Organize your day and manage tasks with this powerful project manager. It syncs with your existing Reminders and Calendars, offering customizable views and smart lists to help you get things done.
- Syncs with iOS Reminders & Calendars
- Customizable recurring tasks
- List, Day, Week, Month, and Board views
- Smart Lists with filters
- Quick Actions for editing tasks
- App Icon Badge & Notifications
- Apple Watch and Today Widget support
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Plan your day with the reminders and calendars you already use. GoodTask builds on Apple Reminders and Calendar, bringing your to-do lists, schedule and projects together. "a masterful blend of power-user task management features and the inherent simplicity of Reminders." - Federico Viticci, MacStories, on GoodTask for iOS (2018) Start with a simple checklist. Add Smart Lists, flexible views and Quick Actions as your needs grow. Use iCloud to keep your reminders and calendar events in sync across devices. PLAN A DAY THAT WORKS Choose what to work on in Today Page without changing your tasks' due dates. See your calendar events alongside your plan, then use Next Page to focus on one task or subtask at a time. Set a focus timer and look back on completed work and daily notes in Reports. FIND WHAT NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION Create Smart Lists that bring together tasks from different lists. Filter by dates, priorities, tags and more to see what matters now: overdue work, errands or the next steps in a project. Update a task wherever you find it, and the change stays with the original reminder. SEE YOUR WORK YOUR WAY Switch between list, day, week and month views. Organize tasks in kanban-style boards by date, priority, list or tag. Use Matrix View to compare priorities in four customizable quadrants, or Project View to follow tasks and events across dates. SPEND LESS TIME ORGANIZING Capture tasks with presets and text snippets. Customize Quick Actions to reschedule work, change priorities, move tasks between lists or add tags. Make changes to several tasks at once with bulk actions. SIMPLIFY RECURRING WORK Break tasks into subtasks, set flexible repeating schedules and save reusable Templates for routines such as a weekly review or packing for a trip. KEEP YOUR PLAN CLOSE Personalize colors, fonts and task displays. On iPhone and iPad, use widgets to keep your lists in sight. On supported iPhones, follow a focus session with Live Activities on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. The Apple Watch companion lets you check tasks and add new ones from your wrist when used with an iPhone. RECOGNITION GoodTask for iOS was named Federico Viticci's App of the Year in MacStories Selects 2018 and featured in the App Store's Apps We Love. FULL ACCESS Try GoodTask for 14 days without starting a subscription. To continue afterward, choose the one-time Unlock Everything in-app purchase or the optional GoodTask Supporter subscription. The Mac app is sold separately. ABOUT SUBSCRIPTIONS - GoodTask Supporter is an optional auto-renewing subscription with a one-year term. It provides full access while active and supports continued development. - The subscription price is shown before purchase. Payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. - Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period, at the applicable annual subscription price. - You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal in your App Store account settings after purchase. Learn more: https://goodtaskapp.com Support: contact@hahaint.com Terms of Use: https://hahaint.com/tos.html Privacy Policy: https://hahaint.com/privacy.html
Highlights
This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.
- Read and browse PDF documents
- Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text
- Add comments and sticky notes
- Extract annotations into organized notes
- Convert table data and recognize text
- Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex)
- Lookup citation metadata and DOI links
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"... an app that students, academics, and anyone who does substantial amounts of PDF-based research should try" - Macstories.net "It’s the novel approach to PDF annotation that makes this app a cut above the rest"- TapSmart.com *** "App of the Day" - App Store, US *** USE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE Highlights is a fast and lightweight PDF reader (under 10MB) packed with features to help you do your best research. Free users have access to standard PDF reader features including document browsing, reading and annotating. There are NO ADS, time limits or tracking. READ PDF DOCUMENTS • Open PDF documents from anywhere • Browse files using the familiar document browser • Open PDFs in Single Page or Two Page scroll mode • Double tap to Smart Zoom in on a paragraph or figure • Scrub smoothly to the desired page • Search the entire document in an instant • Navigate using any connected keyboard or mouse STORE YOUR FILES WHERE YOU WANT • Full support for "Open In Place" lets you make edits to the file where it is • Access your files from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box using the document browser • Or keep them privately on device only HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE FASTER • Select text with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse pointer • Highlight, underline, strikethrough text and make image selections • Add comments to annotations or as individual sticky notes • Annotate with fewer taps using context aware popovers • Default annotation colors prevents you from having to repeatedly setting the color for the same type of annotation every time TURN ANNOTATIONS INTO NOTES • As you markup text and images the contents are extracted and sorted into notes • Customize the formatting and contents of your notes • Sort the annotations chronologically or create your own color coding EXTRACT TABLE DATA AND RECOGNIZE TEXT • Convert images containing text or tables to actual text and tables using machine learning - letting you get to the underlying data with a single tap SMART COPY Copy annotations to the desired format with one tap: • Text markup as text • Image selections as images • Tables as CSV • Citations as BibTex LOOKUP CITATIONS • Highlights will fetch DOI-links and metadata • Markup any reference and tap the link icon to look it up • If you have read the work already or have it in your reference manager library, Highlights will link you to it EXPORT ANYWHERE • Save or share your notes as portable files: Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF • Share them to your favorite notes app: Apple Notes, Bear, Craft, Evernote, DEVONThink, Keep It, MindNode, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or Ulysses • Or send them to a colleague via mail. It's your notes, you decide where they go MUCH MORE • Dark mode • Multi-window support on iPadOS • Keyboard shortcuts and navigation • Support for system Copy and Undo gestures • Alternative app icons • Custom accent colors • Apple Pencil double-tap gestures • Power annotation tools For a full list of features see: highlightsapp.net/features HIGHLIGHTS PRO The Highlights Pro subscription unlocks advanced features on your iPhone, iPad and Mac: • Export options for other apps and easily editable formats • Extract information using table and text recognition • Customize accent colors and alternative app icons • Power annotation tools • Citation lookups • Smart Copy Highlights Pro includes a 14-day free trial. You can cancel your subscription at any time. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within 24-hour prior to the end of of the current period. Payments will be charged to your iTunes account and your account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. For more information about Highlights Pro: highlightsapp.net/pro Privacy Policy: highlightsapp.net/privacy Terms of Use: highlightsapp.net/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
GoodTask and Highlights both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 73% of GoodTask's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's. GoodTask also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). Highlights's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. GoodTask sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year and Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for GoodTask against 4.5 for Highlights. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2K and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of GoodTask's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.
GoodTask ships an update every 4 days, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GoodTask | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (2K ratings) — better | 4.5 (1.6K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.9% of reviews — better | 53.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2K — better | 1.6K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 298 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | haha Interactive | Jonas Myren Ribe |
Customer experience
GoodTask
Highlights
User reviews
GoodTask
From 2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Essential app
- 👍 Integrates well with Apple ecosystem
- 👍 Customizable and flexible
- 👍 Comprehensive feature set
- 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
Room to improve
- 🐛 Stability issues (crashes, freezes, sync problems)
- 🤔 Steep learning curve and complex UI
- 💰 Expensive for some users
- 🤔 Paywall blocks access to key features
- 🤔 Confusing upgrade/purchase model
Highlights
From 1.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage
Room to improve
- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers
Bugs and requests
GoodTask
Reported bugs
4 issues- Reminders disappearing or not syncing properly
- Widgets not working as expected
- Notifications not working reliably
- Inconsistent behavior when completing tasks
Requested features
5 requests- Automatic date and time parsing
- Ability to add calendar events
- Folders or hierarchical organization
- Improved Apple Watch integration
- Browser/desktop access
Highlights
Reported bugs
5 issues- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation
In-app purchases
GoodTask
- GoodTask Supporter$19.991 Year
- Support Once$9.99
- Unlock Everything$19.99
- Extra Support$24.99
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- Premium Support$49.99
Highlights
- Highlights Pro: Monthly$4.991 Month
- Highlights Pro14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade1 Year trial$29.991 Year









