Clear – Tasks, Reminders & To-Do Lists App Reviews

I first loved the concept of this app until it had iCloud syncing issues… A few months later, I’m back and really love this app. Very simple concept: it is a capture list for ideas, and specifically to-dos… I love how you can transfer between lists (on Mac or iPad) and export/email the lists. If the syncing continues to work properly, this is well worth the money.

A note was posted to the developer’s site in November 2015 stating they’re working on fixing sync issues. It’s not at all useful without this functionality.

This app is no longer being supported. And it’s broken so there’s no hope of it being fixed. It won’t let me set an alarm time. The link to the Realmac support on the App Store is dead. The Realmac website doesn’t even mention Clear anywhere. Save your money.

I’ve tried so many to-do list apps over the years that I’ve lost count. I have never been able to find one that just does what I want simply and clearly… until Clear. Clear is, simply put, the best. It is simple, it is intuitive, it is beautifully designed, and IT WORKS!

It still works okay for me, but I was hoping that RealMac Software would update it to integrate with Siri now that Apple has opened up the Siri API for third party developers. Unfortunately, it is no longer listed as a current product on the developers website, so I don’t expect to ever see anything new come of it. I will continue to use it for now, but if a similar app, that has Siri support, comes to my attention, I will delete Clear from my Mac, iPad, and iPhone. So, if you are considering paying $10 for this app, plus whatever the mobile versions cost now, save your money. You’re just going to get ripped off.

At first it worked perfectly find. Overtime - It stopped updating my iphone’s clear with my computers - I already did the troubleshooting necessary and the emails I’ve sent for support have gone unresponded. Even the link here with this review to recieve support goes to a blank page. The application was working great otherwise - until this issue happened. Feels like a waste of money to me now.

I am baffled by the amazing reviews given to this app. I have tried so many to do apps, and still looking for a good one that syncs with iCloud. I like the Reminders app that comes free with Mac/iOS, but its most significant flaw is the lack of higher level of organization. While you can have unlimited nesting folders in Apple’s Nots and have lists within the notes, Apple for some strange reason decided not to add this important function to Reminders. When I read information on Clear, they mention three lvels of organization, including a top level. After I purchased and downloaded the app, I found out that the top level contain only “my lists” as anactual organizational category and the other items in the top level list are non-modyfiable categories that control the function of the app. You cannot add or modify any categories in the top level view. I find this to be misleading. So essentially Clear has the exact same functionality and limitations as the free Apple Reminders app except that it gives you more controls over the colors, sounds, and how to view the lists.

I’m updating my review to reflect a recent issue with iCloud sync. both iOS and mac apps stopped syncing with iCloud and gave me an error. I followed the instructions (given by clear app) to rectify the issue but it still willl not sync with iCloud The RealMac Software website just links back to the app store. When I manually go to their website, they no longer list Clear as an app. It looks like they have stopped supporting Clear. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY! use a different list app.

It a way cool app and it syncs across multiple devices, which is great. But it also tend to clear lists at will and there is apparently no undo or backup capability. Then it clears that list on the other sync devices. Please fix that.

Appears to have become abandonware. DO NOT BUY OR RELY ON THIS SOFTWARE.

I still use the iPhone app, even though it no longer syncs with the desktop app. which was pretty much the whole point of buying the desktop app. do not give your money to a developer who has clearly abandoned this app and is no longer providing any sort of customer support.

Link to support no longer works and I can find no other support contact information. Conceptually, Clear immediately spoke to me and I was a long-time user on both iOS and macOS. I have bought over $150 in scheduling/GTD/To-Do apps and Clear had the best concept — and execution for a while. But sync for Clear has broken for months now. I have tried all possible remedies including complete uninstall/install, connect/disconnect from iCloud, etc. No success. Absolutely no way to contact developer for support now. This is very sad because this was the app that worked for me. If only they had not abandoned it….

I was using Wunderlist, which was fine but a bit too cumbersome for me. I just want a fast, simple list manager that seemlessly integrates with my iOS device and desktop/laptops. Clear is that. Very fast/simple so you actually use it. I’m very happy with this; looked around this is the best simple yet effective list manager I’ve found by a mile.

I dearly love Clear for iPhone and Mac. What’s there is solid and elegant and FAST. But features are missing that I realize I can’t live without (see below for full list of pros & cons). NOTE: This is a joint review of Clear 1.1.7 for Mac AND Clear 1.7.4 for iPhone. They were designed to be used together. This cross-device capability was a requirement for me, and I have used them together. Thus, they warrant a review together. WHY CARE ABOUT THIS REVIEW? I’m a professional software usability expert. I worship sources like Consumer Reports for trying to say how easy something is going to be to use, in addition to other factors like reliability, etc. I have a lot of projects, and lead a busy life. I’ve used Clear exclusively for 2+ years, and have tried out many Mac + iPhone To Do List apps before settling on Clear: Apple iCal (later Calendar, now Calendar + Reminders) OmniFocus 1, ToodleDo, ToDo, Google Wunderlist, Fantastical 2, Google gTasks, Timeful, Workflowy, Carrot and a few others. I have read reviews of countless other apps. Before Clear I used Omnifocus v1 (OF1) for 3+ years. I liked OF1’s support for GTD but task input took a long time, and OF2 costs $80 JUST TO TRY on Mac+iPhone. (!) Before OF1 I used iCal and its children — until discovering that pre-iCloud MobileMe could only sync ~100 tasks btwn devices. After that, iCal sync just broke. Before iPhone, I used (and loved) Palm PDAs and their task management apps — and their ability to sync with my Mac. CLEAR FOR MAC + IPHONE PRO’S + Basic features are very easy to use + Really fast to use for most purposes (adding, editing, deleting & completing a task, moving a task up or down in a list, managing lists) + Ability to create, edit, manage & delete multiple lists of tasks + Sync between Mac & iPhone Clear (this has gotten MUCH more robust in recent releases. It used to be a lot more flaky.) + Ability to batch-create a number of items in sequencefast and easily eliminates concept of the “Inbox” of other, more complex ToDo list apps + A task can be short or really, really long, retain imported bullets and other basic formatting, and even new paragraphs (OPTION + Enter) + Effortless and fast to add due date / time to any task + Brief, 1-line tasks aren’t dwarfed by much longer items on Clear for iPhone, which only shows the 1st 5 lines when task is not selected + Ability to show multiple lists at the same time on Clear for Mac (COMMAND + T to "tear off" the current list into a new window) + Ability to add multiple items to a list (copy items from another source, separated by paragraph; select the desired list in Clear, but don’t start a new item; paste) + Effortless to drag and drop items on the Mac from one list to another—as long as you know that you can show multiple lists (COMMAND + T) CLEAR CONS – No way to find anything via Search in Clear for Mac or iPhone. My lists can grow long, and sometimes items can be misfiled or not fit clearly in one category. – The way to create a new item on Clear differs between platforms, leading to frustration when I try to use a strategy on the wrong device. For iPhone you drag down on the top of a list, or "reverse pinch" to open up a space between items. For Mac, neither two-fingered scrolling at the top of a list nor reverse pinching with the cursor between items works. You either press Enter or dwell your cursor at the border between items, then wait for a few seconds, to open up a space between them. To me, Clear is about speed, and NOT about waiting a few seconds. Also, trying to use strategy A on device B is called an “AB-AC mapping error" in Usability parlance. – On Clear for iPhone, pinching to collapse a list into the "list of lists" can sometimes unintentionally delete a task instead. Liability here IMHO. – No support for keeping a record of completed tasks. When an item was created, when it was completed — thats all I want. Clear doesnt make it possible to keep this info, and makes it a bit too easy to DELETE all completed tasks — esp. on Clear for iPhone. – No way to move a bunch of items from one list to another at once. – No way to create a backup of all your Clear data. – No way to export all data without a lot of hassle. You CAN email each list to yourself, then copy the list and paste it into another document. But no due dates make the journey. – No way to export any completed items. The makers of Clear assume that you don’t care about the tasks you’ve done once you’ve done them, and that you can’t wait to delete all completed tasks. I’m happy to get them out of my face, but I REALLY like keeping a record of what I’ve done, and when I did what I did. – While the character count for each task is large in Clear, there IS a limit. Clear does NOT make this limit clear (npi) however, and it’s left as an unpleasant surprise to the user. For eg a giant copy/paste job will show up fine in a task item on Clear for Mac, but then the item will show up truncated on Clear for iPhone — and vice-versa. THE TAKE-HOME: As wonderful and simple as Clear is, its limitations are too limiting for me. It may be PERFECT for others though, esp. those who dont care as much about its limitations. For such folk, I heartily recommend Clear. And who knows, I may come crawling back to it myself — after my current attempt to leave it (for either Habitica or Todoist, FWIW; I’ll try them in that order). At the very least, I will keep Clear on my iPhone, for a quick & dirty (temporary) text entry place on my iPhone. And if Clear can address these limitations, I will quite likely come back.

Love Clear. The look, how simple it is. Would love to see a sync option. I run both mobile and desktop app. So much easier if task would sync to both devices.

Nothing more to add.

I really love this app ! i use it every day for my job, my shopping, my movies/Series to show later ! The sync with iCloud between Mac(s) and iPhone(s) is now essential for me (shopping for exemple). Just need a system to put a date (and a place, why not?) for a task and it will be perfect !

Great application. It really helps you to organise your task and in addition it has a nice minimal design. Totally recommended.

I have it on my 2 mac and my Iphone they sync and It is very useful!! the app works perfectly and has a great design, i really recommend it.

This app is close to perfection. Simple and very effective. It just lacks the possibility to divide Tasks in a list into sub-tasks (or I did not found how to do it). I bought the two apps, Mac & iOS, and it’s awesome!