Honey Do In-Depth Review

I’m about to release top-secret details regarding secrets that have existed since the evolutionary behariorial processes in men and women resulted in marriage. The fraternal order I’m speaking of is the unwritten laws which govern married men. Most aren't consciously aware of these rules, but subconsciously adhere to them in rigid fashion, nonetheless.

So, in the interest of fairness and integrity, I’m putting myself at tremendous risk by reviewing Honey Do (voluntarily, mind you), thus exposing decades-old secrets, while simultaneously risking my Home and Garden-free life, as well as well as my freedom from DIY/home projects.

That said, I’m not perfect and have certainly done some pretty stupid things in my life. Nothing, however, compares to this: Giving my wife a free pass to build Honey Do lists for me. I’m essentially taking one for the collective team, in the interest of maintaining our reviewing standards and integrity.

Now, before I start my review, I need to establish a couple of specific, unwritten rules all married men follow (or should follow): First, married men NEVER utter the words Honey Do; together or separate, i.e. bees make a sweet, amber liquid and “do” is always replaced with perform.

There are also certain sociological rules surrounding the infamous Honey Do list. For example, married men are generally prohibited from saying these words (together or separate) in front of their wives and/or other women, for fear of planting ideas into their heads. Also, married men generally never mention Honey Do lists in front of their other married, male friends, as this may expose the married man to ridicule and embarrassment and his integrity as a dominant male will be questioned.

That established, Honey Do is an iPhone application that allows couples, or even groups of people (providing they all have iPhones with the app installed) to create to-do lists/projects, assign created tasks and duties and track the progress of these tasks (and hence the progress of the project) in real time. Lists/tasks have editable due dates and messaging capabilities which allow all users to interact with each other, as well as the elements of the project/list.

Here’s how HoneyDo works: Users create a free account using their email address. Once a user has an account, he/she can create a Group (which can be a project involving a series of tasks or a simple individual task), or join a Group, providing they have the necessary information (in this case, a code generated by the app from another user).

Once a Group is created, Honey Do allows you to invite others to join your group by sending an automatically-generated email to others you want to join your group. Hence, Honey Do is more than just a simple way to track Honey Do’s: its a powerful project management tool which allows users to create and track (simple/complex) projects.

Once a user creates a Group, the first Do (task) prompts on screen, allowing the user to enter a task, as well as information regarding the task, such as its name, i.e. what it is, who it’s assigned to, when it’s due, etc.

Once a task is created, its individual screen displays, among other things, the task’s due date and a countdown timer, showing how many hours are remaining to complete the task. When entering a task, users have the option of assigning the task to a user within the group and assigning one of several pre-defined rewards when the task is completed, such as money, love, a beer, etc. Conversely, users can also assign consequences to those failing to complete a task, i.e. payback and doghouse. A future feature I would like to see is the ability to edit these and create personalized rewards/consequences. This is really the only flaw (if you can call it that) I could find with the program. Once done entering the task information, simply hit Send and the task is created and sent to each member of the group, in the form of an on-screen alert and on-screen icon.

All assigned tasks are viewable and can be edited on the user’s task page. This page displays all tasks (based on/by assignment), shows whether they are completed or not and allows the user to create a new task. Users also have the option of sending an in-app text to whomever assigned the task, reject the task (oooooohhhhhh) and even integrate the task with your calendar.

Once a task is completed, the user checks the task’s checkbox and the host or user who created the task is alerted in real time. Conversely, when a task is created, those users assigned to the group will be alerted to the task, again, in real time.

My wife and I used Honey Do for a couple of weeks, giving it a thorough, solid assessment and not only did it never disappoint, we continue to use it. It allows us to keep in touch and efficiently collaborate on all aspects of running our household.

That said, I have to say, I am very impressed with Honey Do, both in its functionality and ease of use. More than just a Honey Do list, it’s a surprisingly powerful project management tool which allows multiple users to collaborate, coordinate and communicate in real time.

Admittedly, however, I found it somewhat surprising the developers limited the app's marketability by naming it Honey Do, considering the app's functionality and it's project-management capabilities.

Honey Do's GUI is also surprisingly linear and straightforward, considering everything it does. If you like or use to-do lists or are looking for an iPhone project management tool for use with other iPhone users, I strongly recommend Honey Do. Just make sure you don’t call the other users Honey, unless you enjoy demonstrating a flagrant disregard for decades of well-established rules.