9 Best To-Do List Apps for Nurses of 2026

TickTick is the to-do list app that best matches how a nurse's week actually runs. Its App Store listing names the pieces that matter for shift work: multiple reminders per task, reminders based on time or location, flexible recurring tasks and calendar views that put tasks next to your schedule. A nurse can set a recurring reminder for a license renewal, a location reminder to pick up scrubs when leaving the hospital, and a habit goal for water or sleep, all in the free plan. The Pomo Timer helps with study sessions for certifications, and focus time can sync to Apple Health. Premium, at $49.99 a year, raises limits to 299 lists and 999 tasks per list, allows up to 5 reminders on each task, and unlocks full calendar views and custom Smart Lists. The cost is complexity: there are many settings, and nurses who only want a short checklist may find Apple Reminders or Microsoft To Do quicker to learn.

Todoist is the quickest task app to type into, which matters when you have thirty seconds at the station or in the break room. Its Quick Add field reads plain phrases, so "Renew BLS every 2 years" or "Call pharmacy tomorrow at 9" becomes a dated, repeating task without opening menus, and the Ramble feature lets you speak tasks instead. Any project can be shown as a list, a board or a calendar, and Todoist's App Store listing names Siri, home screen widgets, saving links as you browse, an Apple Watch app and location-based reminders. Sync covers iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac and other devices and browsers, so a nurse with an Android phone and a Windows laptop at home is covered. Pro costs $5 a month billed yearly or $7 monthly and adds the paid features; the free plan is enough for many personal lists. Compared with TickTick, Todoist has no habit tracker or focus timer and costs more per year.

Apple Reminders is the easiest place to start for a nurse with an iPhone, because it is already installed and costs nothing. Apple's App Store listing describes repeating reminders on daily, weekly or custom intervals, location triggers such as arriving at work or getting in your car, and creation by Siri, Control Center or the iPhone Action Button, which helps when your hands are full. Custom Smart Lists can gather reminders by tag, date, location, flag or priority, and any list can be saved as a template, so a pre-shift or post-shift checklist can be reused every time. The Apple Watch app lets you view, create and complete reminders from the wrist, and shared lists let you assign tasks to a partner or roommate. The limits are the Apple-only reach and the lack of extras such as habit tracking, a focus timer or board views. For nurses who mostly need reliable reminders, those limits rarely matter.

Microsoft To Do is a sensible pick for nurses whose employer already uses Outlook and Microsoft 365, because flagged emails appear as tasks and lists sync with the same account. Its App Store listing describes My Day, a personalized daily planner with suggested tasks, one-time or recurring due dates and reminders, steps that break a task into smaller parts, and attachments up to 25 MB. Shared lists send notifications when someone adds, completes or removes a task, which is useful for a household splitting chores around shift work. Microsoft states the app is free and available on all your devices, including an Apple Watch app. The gaps are a missing calendar view, no location reminders listed on the iPhone listing, and fewer filters than TickTick or Todoist. For a nurse who wants a clean daily list at no cost, it does the job.

Nursegrid is not a general to-do list, but it solves the problem most nurses have first: knowing exactly when and where they work. Its calendar page says you can enter full 6-week schedules in a few taps, add shift notes and set reminders, combine work shifts with personal events, and color-code multiple employers or worksites. The App Store listing adds the parts other apps cannot copy: comparing calendars with colleagues, seeing who you will work with before a shift, signaling availability for extra shifts or swaps, and messaging coworkers. An Apple Watch app shows weekly shifts and available swaps, and a calendar link lets family see your schedule. Nursegrid reports 650K+ active users. The trade-offs are clear: it has no projects, subtasks or priorities, the app contains advertising, and its social features are more than some nurses want. Most nurses will get the best result by pairing Nursegrid for shifts with TickTick, Todoist or Apple Reminders for tasks.

Things 3 suits nurses who use only Apple devices and would rather pay once than subscribe. The iPhone and Apple Watch app costs $9.99 on the US App Store, and sync runs through Cultured Code's free Things Cloud service. Its structure is simple: to-dos with notes, tags and checklists, projects with headings, and areas such as Work or Family. The Today and Upcoming lists show to-dos beside your calendar events, so a nurse can see three shifts and the errands around them on one screen, and the This Evening section separates after-work plans. Repeaters handle recurring tasks, reminders fire at a set time, and widgets put lists on the home and lock screens. The limits matter more for nurses than for desk workers: there is no Android or Windows app, the Mac and iPad versions cost extra, and the App Store page lists time reminders but not location reminders.

Any.do combines a task list, calendar and planner, which suits nurses who manage a household around their shifts. Its App Store listing describes reminders at a scheduled time, when you reach a location, or on a recurring schedule, plus calendar sync with the phone's calendar, Google Calendar and Outlook so shifts entered elsewhere show beside tasks. The daily planner walks through what is due, voice entry adds tasks hands-free, and forwarding an email to do@any.do turns it into a task. Shared lists let family members assign tasks to each other and chat. Premium costs $4.99 a month billed annually or $7.99 monthly on Any.do's pricing page. The App Store shows several promotional prices, so check the price on the website before you pay. Compared with TickTick, Any.do costs more per year and has no habit tracker or focus timer.

Google Tasks is the lightest option here and makes most sense for nurses who keep their shifts in Google Calendar. Its App Store listing covers the basics: task lists, subtasks and details, due dates with notification reminders, and tasks created from Gmail or Calendar on the web that appear on the phone. Because tasks sit inside Google Calendar, a nurse who enters shifts there can see errands on the same screen. It costs nothing with a Google Account. The limits are real for shift workers: the listing does not mention location reminders, tags or habit tracking, and it names only iPhone and iPad, so there is no Apple Watch app to glance at during a shift. Nurses who need more than a dated checklist will outgrow it quickly.

Notion is a workspace rather than a to-do list app, and it earns a place for nurses who want to build their own system. Its App Store listing describes task databases with custom priority labels, status tags and automations, thousands of templates, and notes that mix to-dos with 50+ content types. That makes it useful for a continuing education log, a certification study plan, a job search tracker or nursing school notes, and Notion says it is free for personal use and for students. The trade-off is effort. A to-do list in Notion has to be set up first, and quick capture between patients is slower than in TickTick or Todoist. The US App Store listing names iPhone and iPad but no Apple Watch app. Plus costs $119.99 a year or $11.99 a month through the App Store, which is more than any other paid plan on this list.