Cairn vs OneThing

Cairn is a fast, native task and note companion that lives on top of the Markdown files you already own. Point it at your Obsidian vault — or any folder of Markdown notes — and your tasks and notes appear in clean, focused views. Everything you do in Cairn is written straight back to your files as plain text, in the Obsidian Tasks format. YOUR NOTES STAY YOURS • No account, no sign-up, no Cairn cloud database — your tasks live in your own files • Cairn does not send your notes or tasks to the developer • Careful, patch-based edits change only the content you touched, preserving the rest of your note • Works alongside Obsidian, iCloud Drive, Git, or any sync you already use CAPTURE, BROWSE, AND PLAN • Browse and edit Markdown notes directly in your vault • Quick capture into your daily note, with date, tag, and priority tokens parsed as you type • Choose where longer captures are saved • Today, Upcoming, Inbox, and Pool views, plus a global filter for folders, tags, dates, priority, and status • Full support for sub-tasks and task hierarchies • Recurring tasks in Obsidian Tasks format, with safe completion handling • Convert upcoming calendar events into tasks, or mirror your dated tasks into a calendar you choose (optional) STAY ON TRACK • Local reminders for due tasks — including sunrise-relative reminders computed entirely on your device • A Live Activity keeps today's progress on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island • Home Screen widgets and a Control Center quick-capture control • Search across every task in your vault MADE FOR OBSIDIAN — NOT ONLY OBSIDIAN Cairn reads and writes the Obsidian Tasks plugin format (due, scheduled, start, and done dates, priorities, recurrence, tags), so your vault stays fully compatible with your desktop setup. Don't use Obsidian? Create a plain task folder in the Files app and Cairn works as a stand-alone Markdown to-do app. Cairn asks for access only to the folder you pick. Calendar access and location (used to compute local sunrise times) are optional and processed on your device. If you choose iCloud Drive or another Files or calendar provider, that provider's own sync and privacy terms apply.

One Thing is the anti-to-do app. Instead of a list that only grows, One Thing asks a single question each morning: what's the one thing that would make today feel meaningful? You choose it. You focus. Everything else can wait. No endless lists. No priority juggling. No guilt from yesterday. Just one thing at a time. WHY ONE THING Long to-do lists don't make you productive — they make you anxious. Focusing on a single, intentional task each day is calmer, kinder, and it's how real progress actually happens. One Thing is built for anyone who needs to focus — especially people navigating ADHD or burnout recovery. FOCUS, GENTLY • Set one task a day — that's the whole app • A built-in focus timer that keeps perfect time even in the background • Calming ambient sounds — brown noise, pink noise, rain and waves • A Live Activity keeps your timer on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island STREAKS THAT FORGIVE • Build momentum one focused day at a time • Streak Freeze quietly protects your streak when life happens — one off day won't erase weeks of progress • A beautiful consistency calendar of every day you showed up DAILY MOTIVATION • 690 hand-crafted lines of encouragement • A fresh one every morning — in the app and your notification • It never repeats MADE TO FEEL GOOD • Reflect on how it went and capture a mood • Plan tomorrow's one thing tonight • Eight calm themes to match your mood • Home & Lock Screen widgets, an Apple Watch app, and Siri Shortcuts • Full Dynamic Type support for comfortable reading PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No accounts. No ads. No tracking. • Your tasks and reflections stay on your device and sync through your own iCloud • We don't run servers and we can't see your data One Thing is free. If it helps you, a small tip unlocks all premium themes and supports development.