Paperless for iPhone App Review

/ Lon Hetrick

I really enjoy the satisfying feeling of a job well done.

I really dislike the stressful feeling of lots of jobs undone that need to be done, but I can’t remember all of them and I can’t remember which is most important and I can’t find the time and I can’t take the first step and the sky is falling NOW!!!

So…

I…

love…

the to-do list.

I love to-do lists so much that I even imagined what’s on Jesus’ to-do list.

It’s a powerful thing, a to-do list. A completed to-do list will put a rainbow on your day better than good coffee n’ dark chocolate.

Alas, the venerable to-do list is often mocked as “so 20th century”, a productivity artifact that is further past its prime than Rocky Balboa. Remember paper? Pencils? Pens? Handwriting? You know, I’ve heard of them…

Well, I’ll admit, that I don’t particularly enjoy re-writing and updating my to-do lists to keep them legible. (I have awful handwriting). But I haven’t been able to find a digital analogy to the good ol’ list that stays useful without re-writing it almost daily. The software, apps, and websites I’ve tried (including Remember the Milk, and GTD stuff) just seems like overly-complicated nonsense designed for people who are even more anal than I am. (Is that a vulgar term “anal”? – I haven’t decided yet. Scratch that, if you’re offended.)

So, imagine my gratitude when a good friend introduced me to the iphone app nirvana of digital list making called, Paperless (cue the angelic choir).

Paperless by Crush Apps is what it claims to be: just lists and checklists. Done brilliantly. No prioritization. No categorization. No synching with your calendar. No tutorials. No nonsense. Just simplicity.

Paperless Home Screen
Paperless Checklist Screen

Make a list. Or, make a checklist. Add notes if you want, or not. Check an item complete. Or, delete it. Or move it to a different list. Or email it to someone and make them do it ;-). Or, if it’s urgent, just drag it to the top of the list. Done. What could be simpler?

I’ve used it for about six months. I love it. I paid the $2.99 for the full version. (The free “lite” version, which limits the number of lists you can make, had me sold on Paperless in about 5 minutes.). I recommend it to all you iphone users.

If you like, you can read a Macworld review of Paperless.

Here’s the link to Paperless in Apple’s iTunes store.

Here’s the link to Crush Apps, the developers of Paperless.

I also wrote a review of the Blue Letter Bible iphone app.

Please feel free to like, share, email, tweet, or post…

10 thoughts on “Paperless for iPhone App Review”

  1. I totally, totally agree with you. It is so simple to use. It beats the competition into a cocked hat. My only concern is how sensitive can the information I enter into a list be? Are things like this secure enough to put bank details in for example. Probably in the lite version but what about the full version? As you can tell, I’m not very clued up about these things and may be being a bit paranoid but with the connectivity to email and stuff…..what do you think? I would very much appreciate your thoughts Bottom line of course is that it is indeed a great app….a definite winner.

    • Terry, Paperless is not secure at all – no user name/password. It’s not intended for storing secure items long term like bank info. I don’t recommend you do it. Pencil, paper and a fireproof box still works best for that.

    • I’m the developer of Paperless… it’s always nice to hear when someone finds the app useful, and I really appreciate you taking the time to write the review Lon.

      As far as protecting sensitive information goes, Paperless does have a passcode lock feature to keep out prying eyes (in the app settings). However, I wouldn’t consider that good enough security for storing something like bank information – and I wouldn’t send bank information in a list via email (even to yourself), as email is not very secure.

      Since security is a general concern for mobile devices (as they can easily be lost or stolen), I highly recommend setting up Apple’s free “Find My iPhone” service – which, among other things, will let you remotely delete all personal information from your device:
      http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/find-my-iphone.html

      I also recommend connecting your device to your computer every few days so that it can sync with iTunes, as that backs up all of your apps and information you have stored on the device.

    • As far as I know, there is no synching capability in the current version. Sounds like a good enhancement for a future version. Thanks for asking.

    • I also have tried numerous to do lists and Paperless is the only one I have been comfortable with. You can sync idevices by linking them to the same Dropbox account. My iPad and iPod sync perfectly and it was easy to set up.

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