Beamtask Review

If I had a nickel for how many times, at work or at home, I have heard the words “remind me,” then I would be the owner of a pair of home plate Dodgers season tickets. It’s as if I not only need to be responsible for my own insanely lengthy to-do list, but now everyone else’s. Fine; sign up for Beamtask and let’s get rolling.

Beamtask is an awesome idea, especially for those honey-do lists. I have enjoyed beaming tasks to my husband. Unfortunately, sending the reminders doesn’t ensure that the task is completed. There’d be some serious money in that kind of app. In the meantime, Beamtask is simple to setup and to use. Sign up quickly with an email address and a password. The opening screen overlay shows the location-specific actions for using the app. Users may click the "+" sign to send a new task to themselves or others. Tap the blue circle on the right to accept the task; tap the red x to reject it. Tap the blue circle on the left once the task is completed. To change the alarm reminder, tap the clock. Sweep right to delete. That’s it.

I put my son on Beamtask. He rejected my “clean your room” reminder, but that’s to be expected - he’s ten. One gripe I have with the app is that I can’t see that the task has been rejected on my end. I can see it’s been accepted, because the red x will disappear. I can see when a task is completed when the green checkmark appears on my screen. If I choose to delete a task I’ve beamed to someone else, it will delete off of my list but stay on theirs until they delete it.

To send someone else a task, just tap “others” and type in the email address of the recipient. Nothing is sent to their email inbox, but the task is added in the app on their phone and in Notification Center if they’ve allowed it. The person is then automatically added to the in-app contact list. The concept behind Beamtask is incredibly useful. Besides using this at home, I’m thinking of sharing this app with one of my collaborative work groups. We sit at meetings and divvy up tasks anyway; this would be an efficient and convenient way to keep track (for the group leader, especially).

Another gripe I have, although a small one, is the arrow at the top of the screen that points right. I’ve hit it twice, thinking it would reveal a screen to the right, but it logs me out. Ugh. Also, I wish this would sync with my personal contact list, and would give me the opportunity to send invites directly from the app. If Beamtask includes some advanced features, it could become a hit.