Comparison

Things 3 for iPad vs PTO Minder

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Things 3 for iPad

This app helps you organize your life by planning your day, managing projects, and tracking progress toward your goals. It offers a user-friendly interface to get tasks organized quickly, from daily routines to long-term aspirations.

Highlights
  • To-Do management
  • Project planning with headings
  • Area organization
  • Today and Upcoming task views
  • Reminders and repeaters
  • Calendar integration
  • Tagging and filtering
Features
Read full description

Get things done! The award-winning Things app helps you plan your day, manage your projects, and make real progress toward your goals. Best of all, it’s easy to use. Within the hour, you’ll have everything off your mind and neatly organized—from routine tasks to your biggest life goals—and you can start focusing on what matters today. “Things offers the best combination of design and functionality of any app we tested, with nearly all the features of other power user applications and a delightful interface that never gets in the way of your work.” —Wirecutter, The New York Times KEY FEATURES • Your To-Dos Your basic building block is the almighty To-Do—each a small step toward a great accomplishment. You can add notes, tag it, schedule it, and break it down into smaller steps. • Your Projects Create a Project for any big goal, then add the to-dos to reach it. Use headings to structure your list as you outline your plan. There’s also a place to jot down your notes, and a deadline to keep you on schedule. • Your Areas Create an Area for each sphere of your life, such as Work, Family, Finance, and so on. This keeps everything neatly organized, and helps you see the big picture as you set your plans in motion. • Your Plan Everything on your schedule is neatly laid out in the Today and Upcoming lists, which show your to-dos and calendar events. Each morning, see what you planned for Today and decide what you want to do. The rest is down to you :) MORE THINGS TO LOVE As you dive deeper, you’ll find Things packed with helpful features. Here are just a few: • Reminders — set a time and Things will remind you. • Repeaters — automatically repeat to-dos on a schedule you set. • This Evening — a special place for your evening plans. • Calendar integration — see your events and to-dos together. • Tags — categorize your to-dos and quickly filter lists. • Quick Find — instantly locate to-dos, headings, or tags. • Type Travel — jump from list to list with your keyboard; just start typing! • Magic Plus — drag the + button to insert to-dos anywhere in a list. • Share extension — create to-dos with content from other apps. • Widgets — see lists on your home/lock screens. • Mail to Things — forward an email to Things; now it’s a to-do. • Markdown — structure & style your notes. • And much more! MADE FOR IPAD Things is tailored to the iPad, with excellent pro features as well. Chief among them is the outstanding support for your keyboard & trackpad. You can edit your to-dos without touching the screen, utilize plenty of shortcuts, and navigate your lists at blistering speed—just start typing! “Things has the best implementation of external keyboard support I’ve ever seen in an iPad app.” —Federico Viticci, MacStories You can also enjoy a beautiful dark mode at sunset, connect your calendars, open multiple windows, add a variety of widgets, scribble with Apple Pencil, create to-dos via Siri, import from Reminders—Things can do it all! There’s even Shortcuts integration if you want to automate your workflows. AWARD-WINNING DESIGN Made in Stuttgart, with two Apple Design Awards to its name, Things is a fine example of German engineering: designed not only to look fantastic, but to be perfectly functional as well. Every detail is thoughtfully considered, then polished to perfection. “It’s like the unicorn of productivity tools: deep enough for serious work, surprisingly easy to use, and gorgeous enough to enjoy staring at.” —Apple GET THINGS TODAY Whatever it is you want to accomplish in life, Things can help you get there. Install the app today and see what you can do! • Things is also available for Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro (sold separately). • Sync is provided for free via our Things Cloud service. • A free trial is available for Mac: www.things.app If you have any questions, please get in touch. We provide professional support and will be glad to help you!

About

PTO Minder

Features
Read full description

Stop guessing how much PTO is actually safe to use. PTO Minder helps you forecast your future paid time off balance based on your accrual schedule, booked time off, holidays, and upcoming pay periods. Instead of only showing what you have today, it helps answer two practical questions: “Will I have enough PTO for this trip?” and “How much can I safely use now without jeopardizing plans I already booked?” Use PTO Minder to plan vacations, long weekends, sick days, personal days, and holidays with a clearer view of what your future balance will look like. Plan trips with clear readiness labels: • On Track: your projected balance covers the time off • At Risk: the plan is tight and worth watching • Short: you are projected to come up short Know your Safe to Use amount: • See how much PTO is available after protecting upcoming planned time off • Decide whether a random 3-day weekend fits your plan • Avoid accidentally spending PTO you were counting on later • Model new time off before requesting it through work PTO Minder is built for real-world time off planning: • Add, move, and model trips before making an official request • Track PTO balances by employer and bank • Forecast balances across future pay periods • Add vacations, sick days, personal days, holidays, and unpaid leave • View trips and holidays together on a calendar • Review a pay-period ledger with accrual, usage, and running balances • Reconcile against the numbers from your employer or HR portal • Export and import your data with JSON backup PTO Minder is a planning tool, not an HR system. It does not log in to payroll, HR, calendar, or employer systems. You enter your own PTO rules and plans, then officially request time off through your employer’s normal process. The free version is fully useful for simple PTO planning, including one employer, one balance-bearing PTO bank, forecasting, calendar planning, holidays, reconciliation, and backup. PTO Minder Plus adds more power when you need it: • Unlimited additional PTO banks • Multiple active employers • iCloud sync across iPhone and iPad • Accrual caps and proactive alerts • Carryover and use-by expiration tracking • Scheduled future accrual changes • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets • Apple Watch app and complication No account required. No ads. No third-party tracking. PTO Minder is for anyone who wants to use time off confidently without accidentally undermining future plans.

Screenshots

PTO Minder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PTO Minder at Free against Things 3 for iPad's $19.99. PTO Minder also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Things 3 for iPad's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PTO Minder is free to download; Things 3 for iPad costs $19.99 up front. PTO Minder sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Things 3 for iPad asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Things 3 for iPad ships an update every 8 days, PTO Minder fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Things 3 for iPad versus PTO Minder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThings 3 for iPadPTO Minder
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (12K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings12K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCultured Code GmbH & Co. KGBrown's Tech Co. LLC

Bugs and requests

Things 3 for iPad

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Sync issues and data loss reported
  • Siri integration not working well in some languages

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add location-based reminders
  • Improve task prioritization and urgency indicators
  • Implement mass editing and batch actions
  • Introduce web app and Windows support

PTO Minder

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Things 3 for iPad

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

PTO Minder

One-time1
  • PTO Minder Plus$24.99

Questions

Is Things 3 for iPad free?
Things 3 for iPad costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PTO Minder free?
PTO Minder is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Things 3 for iPad or PTO Minder have ads?
Neither Things 3 for iPad nor PTO Minder shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Things 3 for iPad or PTO Minder?
Things 3 for iPad ships an update every 8 days, and PTO Minder fortnightly. Most recently, Things 3 for iPad was updated on October 24, 2026 and PTO Minder on October 16, 2026.

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