A GTD app for Android
Two of the best-known GTD apps, OmniFocus and Things, have no Android app. Plenty of to-do apps do, but most are list apps with GTD left for you to build on top. Relay is a full Getting Things Done system with a native Android app, live on Google Play.
What a GTD app on a phone has to get right
- Capture in two seconds, from anywhere
- The whole method rests on getting things out of your head the moment they appear. If capture means unlocking, finding the app and waiting for it to load, you will keep it in your head instead.
- Lists you can act from without opening the app
- Most of what you do from a phone is glance at a list and tick something off. A widget that does that well saves dozens of app launches a day.
- The real review, not a cut-down one
- If the weekly review only works at a desk, it only happens at a desk, and soon it stops happening. The phone needs the whole system.
- The same system everywhere
- Your phone is one device among several. What you capture on it has to be waiting on your laptop, and the other way round.
Relay on Android
- A list on your home screen. Put a Relay list, such as Next Actions or the Inbox, in a widget and tick items off with one tap, switch lists from its title, or open an item. On Android 12 and later, it takes its colours from your wallpaper the same way Google's own widgets do.
- One-tap capture and processing. A quick-add widget captures a new task, and a process-Inbox widget drops you straight into processing.
- Share from any app. Share a link, some text or a file to Relay and it lands in the Inbox.
- Email to Inbox. Forward an email to your own private Relay address and it arrives as an Inbox item.
- The full system on the phone. Clarifying, contexts, projects, horizons, and the guided daily and weekly reviews all work on Android. Nothing is held back for a desktop version.
- Everywhere else too. The same account runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows, and in any browser, and your lists stay in step across all of them. If you sign in with Apple, use a browser on Windows: the Windows app has no Apple sign-in.
Other GTD apps on Android
We make Relay, so read this section with that in mind. These are the other apps people most often consider, and what each is good at.
| App | Good for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Nirvana | A GTD app with the classic lists, contexts, energy and time, on Android, iPhone, Mac, Windows and the web. | A free plan with limits on projects and areas, then Pro at $36 a year. Moving from Nirvana. |
| Everdo | GTD that stays on your own devices, with sequential projects, energy and time. | No web app. Pro is a one-time $99.99, and sync is optional. |
| FacileThings | Being guided through each stage of GTD, including a weekly review. | Web plus phone apps, no desktop app. From $7 a month on a year's plan. |
| Todoist | Fast, polished lists on every platform, with labels and filters you can shape into GTD. | No start dates that hide tasks, and no review mode. Moving from Todoist. |
| TickTick | Lists with a calendar, habits and a focus timer built in. | Tags and custom filters can carry contexts. No review mode or start dates that hide tasks. |
OmniFocus and Things are not on the list because neither has an Android app. If you are coming from one of them, see OmniFocus for Windows and Android or Things for Windows and Android.
Checked against each app's own site on 3 October 2026: Nirvana pricing, Everdo pricing, FacileThings pricing, Todoist on start dates, TickTick features.
Get Relay for Android
Install it from Google Play, or start in your browser and add the phone later. Sign in with Google or Apple in the browser and the same account works in the Android app.
30 days free, no card needed. Start in your browser or install the app.