Getting Things Done Has Never Been More Fun
On the App Store, for Free
Two Minnesota Cousins
Technology has the power to do good or to cause harm. It can make people more productive or less productive. It can make people feel more connected or more isolated. It can boost self-esteem and confidence or drain them. The idea behind social apps was great: connect the world. But the big social networks have gone too far. They've designed their apps to maximize ad revenues by causing addiction and reducing people's lives to checking for updates and scrolling through feeds in search of catchy new information. They're sucking the productivity and well-being out of their millions of users one notification at a time. There is a better way to engage users through a social app, and we've done it.
Co-founders & Cousins: Justin Buhl (left) and Joe Sweeney
“The big social media companies are turning people into zombies who feed on tidbits of information. They’re reducing people’s lives to scrolling through feeds, sharing articles and videos that they don’t fully read or watch, and trying to take photos with the right angle and filter so they get more “likes.” A social to-do list app that only lets you add a handful of friends sounds like a terrible idea, but that’s exactly why it’s going to work.” Joe Sweeney, CEO
“It feels good to build a social app that makes people more productive and more connected at the same time. Instead of designing Azha to maximize the amount of time users spend in the app, the number of ads they click on, or the number of friends they add, we’re going to maximize the number of tasks they get done.” Justin Buhl, CTO
Need to learn how to talk Minnesotan? Try this 26-minute video:
How To Talk Minnesotan (PBS Special, 1993)
Features & Design
Azha is the simplest and most intuitive to-do list app in the store. Plus calendar, reminders, recurring, grocery lists, goals, and productivity charts & graphs to track your good and bad habits.
Task solo, or add friends for more fun, support, accountability & boost. Productivity has never been done like this before, and it's never been so much fun.
Millions of people use multiple productivity apps because there isn't a single one that has everything. Apple Calendar + Notes + Reminders? Google Calendar + Wunderlist? Please, use Azha and save yourself some homescreen space.
Adding friends can make you much more productive due to the "eyeballs are on you" effect. But we're maxing you out at 14. You've already got plenty of "friends" and "followers" on your other other social apps. We're the anti-social network. A fun, productive space for only you and your closest family and friends to get things done. Choose wisely if you surround yourself with others.
Azha uses a simple red-to-green checklist with a totally unique layout: Task Feed, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and a Calendar. It’s the first app to effortlessly combine a task list with a calendar and to allow tasks to be added with or without a time scheduled. Tasks can also have a start time with no end time for when it's not known how long a meeting or event will last.
Users can tap on friends in the top scroller to see what’s on their lists for the day, unless tasks are made private, in which case only a lock icon appears since people might not want to share everything! Friends can also send tasks to each other, including, um, private tasks.
Azha has a feed, but it’s not your typical feed: it’s a Task Feed filled with friends’ completed tasks. Your BFF already worked out this morning? You better get your lazy butt out of bed! Friends can like and comment on each others’ tasks to provide encouragement and reinforce productive behaviors, or toggle into instant messaging mode. And because users are limited to just 14 friends, there will be fewer notifications, which increases the meaning of each “like.” Fourteen friends might seem too few, but most people are only willing to share their task lists with a limited group. Azha is not meant to connect everyone to the world, just the handful of people they’re closest to. Want to add a 15th friend? You've gotta decide who gets the axe?
A camera icon appears when a task is checked off so users can snap a Task Photo of what they’ve just completed, which posts to the Task Feed for all to see. Got a big project done? Now posting a selfie of self-accomplishment is well-deserved. Azha has a few filters, text, and drawing to add a bit of custom flair to your photos, but accomplishment is best left unadorned. Azha rewards achievement, not vanity or sharing things people didn’t make or do.
Oh, and did we mention you get a Task Tower? Yup.