A To-Do List App That Syncs Across Devices

You plan the week on your laptop on Sunday, and on Tuesday, standing in a shop, the list is on a screen at home. Plans made at a desk only help if they reach your pocket.

That is the whole job of a to-do list app that syncs across devices. The plan you made sitting down is the plan in your hand when you are out, and whatever you add on the go is waiting when you sit down again. Ranya does it with one account in your browser, on your phone and on your computer. Here is how to put it on your phone, turn on reminders, and what changes once it is there.

Why is my to-do list never where I am?

Most planning happens sitting down: a laptop, a quiet hour, room to think. Most doing happens somewhere else. The shop, the bus, the ten minutes before a meeting. A list that stays on the device where you wrote it cannot help in the places you need it.

So you patch the gap. A screenshot of the list, a note on your phone, a text to yourself, a sticky note in your wallet. Each one is a second list, and by Wednesday they disagree. You add milk to the phone note and tick off the dentist on the laptop, and now neither list is true. The day goes by, and the thing you meant to do was on the other screen.

The fix is not a better list. It is one list that is the same wherever you open it, on the one screen that is almost always with you, and a way for that screen to tell you when something is due.

What should a to-do list app that syncs across devices do?

It should keep one list rather than copies, reach you on your phone when something is due, even with the app closed, and feel at home on a small screen.

Will my phone and computer stay in sync? In Ranya, yes, because there is only one of everything. It is one account in your browser, on your phone from the Home Screen, and in the desktop app for Mac and Windows. Your tasks, habits, goals and notes are the same on each, so there is nothing to export, copy or merge.

Here is how Ranya does each:

• Keep one list, not copies. Tick off a task on your laptop and it is ticked on your phone. Add one on your phone and it is on your laptop.
• Reach you when you are away. Once Ranya is on your phone's Home Screen and notifications are on, task reminders arrive even when Ranya is closed.
• Feel at home on a phone. Its own icon, a tab bar, sheets and swipes, and it opens straight to Today, so the next thing is the first thing you see.

Today Ranya goes on your phone from the browser. It is the same Ranya as on your laptop, shaped for a smaller screen, and one link, ranya.app/install, puts it there. See everywhere Ranya runs, and if you work at a computer all day, the desktop app for Mac and Windows uses the same account.

How do I add Ranya to my iPhone Home Screen?

On an iPhone you add a website to your Home Screen from Safari. Apple calls the switch Open as Web App: with it on, the site opens from its own icon, like any other app. Open ranya.app/install in Safari and it shows you these three steps, in these words:

No Share in the menu? The install page has a hint for that: "No Share button? Press and hold the address bar." If you opened the link inside another app, such as Instagram, the page tells you to open it in Safari first, with a button that copies the link. Opened it from an email? The page reminds you to tap the compass and open it in Safari.

Can a web app send notifications on an iPhone?

Yes, since iOS 16.4, when WebKit added Web Push for Home Screen web apps. The catch is in the name: it works for a site you have added to your Home Screen, not for a tab in Safari. Apple's guide to Open as Web App puts it this way:

Ranya works within that rule. Once it is on your Home Screen and you have allowed notifications, a task reminder reaches your phone even when Ranya is closed. A task can carry several reminders, an hour before and the day before, say. If you are building routines, how to remember to do things covers repeating tasks and reminders in full; this is the part that makes a reminder land in your pocket instead of on a laptop at home.

In a Safari tab

Notifications

Add Ranya to your Home Screen to get notifications. Show me how

ranya.app

From your Home Screen

Tuesday, October 13

5:00

Ranyanow

Call the bank

Starts in 1 hour, 6:00 PM

Two example iPhone screens. Left, Ranya in a Safari tab: Settings, Notifications, with the note "Add Ranya to your Home Screen to get notifications." Right, Ranya added to the Home Screen and closed: the lock screen at 5:00 on Tuesday, October 13, with a notification from Ranya: Call the bank, Starts in 1 hour, 6:00 PM.

Does Ranya work on Android?

Yes. On Android you install Ranya from Chrome. Where Chrome offers its own install, ranya.app/install shows a single Install Ranya button. Otherwise it walks you through the menu:

Reminders work there too. The first time you add one, Ranya asks to turn on notifications on this device: tap Turn on.

What's different about Ranya as a planner app on your phone?

On an iPhone or an Android phone, it is the same Ranya, built for a thumb. It opens straight to Today, with a tab bar for Home, Tasks, Chat, Calendar and More, and choices come up as sheets from the bottom of the screen rather than small menus. Three things in particular feel different:

• Habits are one tap. Tap a yes-or-no habit on Today to log it, or just say it on a call. If logging is the part you skip, log your whole day in one sentence.
• Calls go full screen. Tap the Ranya button and the call fills the screen with large captions and keeps it awake. Minimise it and it shrinks to a bar above the tab bar, so you can keep using the app while you talk. It is the easiest way to try planning your day out loud.
• Focus keeps the screen on. Start a focus session and the timer follows you to every page. While the session screen is open, your phone stays awake, so a phone propped on the desk does not go dark halfway through a block.

How to set it up, step by step

1. Open ranya.app/install on your phone

   Open ranya.app/install in Safari on an iPhone or Chrome on Android. The page opens on the steps for the phone and browser you are using. Opened on a computer, it gives you the link to send to your phone instead.

2. Add Ranya to your Home Screen

   On an iPhone, tap the menu beside the address bar, then Share, tap Add to Home Screen, leave Open as Web App on and tap Add. On Android, tap the menu in Chrome, then Add to Home screen or Install app, then Install.

3. Open Ranya from its icon and sign in

   Sign in with the account you use on your computer. Your boards, habits, goals and notes are already there.

4. Add a reminder and turn on notifications

   Open a task that has a time, tap Reminders, and under Add a reminder pick 1 hour before. The first time you add one on a phone, Ranya asks "Turn on notifications on this device?" Tap Turn on, then allow notifications when your phone asks. To do it later, go to More, then Settings, then Notifications, and tap Turn on for this device.

   Turn on notifications on this device?

   Reminders can reach you even with Ranya closed.

   Turn on

   Call the bank

   DateToday, 6:00 PM

   RepeatNever

   Reminders1 hour before

   Reminders

   1 hour before

   today at 5:00 PM

   Add a reminder

   At start

   5 minutes before

   10 minutes before

   Example phone screen: the task's Reminders sheet with 1 hour before picked, and a banner at the top: Turn on notifications on this device? Reminders can reach you even with Ranya closed. with a Turn on button.

   Once notifications are on for this phone, you can also set reminders on a call: "Call the bank at 6 tonight, and remind me an hour before." Ranya reads it back and waits for your yes. Then close Ranya, and at 5:00 the reminder for Call the bank arrives anyway.

5. Share the link with anyone who should have it

   A partner, a parent, a friend you plan with: send them ranya.app/install and it opens on the right steps for their phone.

Is there an App Store version of Ranya?

Today you install Ranya from your browser: Safari on an iPhone, Chrome on Android. That makes it a web app rather than a native app you download from a store. Once installed, it opens from its own icon with no address bar, has its own tab bar, and goes straight to Today, and task reminders reach you with it closed.