The 'too many productivity apps' problem: an app idea
A single low-friction inbox that unifies calendar events and tasks from your existing tools, with instant capture and no guilt-inducing backlog views.
I deleted three productivity apps this week.
Not because they were bad but because I realized I was spending more time managing my system than actually using it. Sometimes adding another app feels productive but sometimes it's just another thing to maintain and I've started asking myself one question before using any new tool: "will this simplify my life six months from now?" and if the answer is no, I skip it. Has anyone else gone back to a simpler system?
The problem, in the searcher’s words
I keep downloading habit trackers, to-do apps, and time-blocking tools, and I end up spending more time tweaking the system than actually getting things done. Every new app promises to simplify my life but really just becomes one more thing to maintain, tag, and check.
What I actually want is one place where I can see everything — my personal calendar, work calendar, and task list — without flipping between apps in a 'planning loop.' And when I do open something, I don't want to be greeted by a giant backlog of everything I missed; that just makes me avoid it more.
Eventually I go back to basics: a whiteboard, an index card, or just the calendar and reminders app that's already open all day. The question I keep asking is whether a new tool will actually simplify things six months from now, or just be another thing I abandon.
What the thread shows
Multiple commenters independently describe abandoning productivity apps for simpler systems (whiteboard, index cards, calendar+reminders), pointing to real tool fatigue, but the thread's consensus solution is 'use fewer, simpler tools' rather than 'build a new app.'
“I was spending more time managing my system than actually using it.”
“the trap is that adding an app feels like progress so we keep collecting them instead of doing the thing”
“As long as I can see everything quickly in 1 place it gets done way faster dont waste time flipping back and forth in a planning loop.”
“A lot of these apps greet you with a wall of everything you 'missed,' which just feels bad and makes you avoid opening it again - it's not really a to-do list at that point, it's a guilt trip.”
Target customer
Who
Productivity-app power users (knowledge workers, freelancers, self-trackers) who have cycled through multiple habit trackers, to-do apps, and time-blockers
Context
They hit this problem after weeks or months of maintaining a multi-app system, when the overhead of tagging, switching, and reviewing tasks starts to exceed the time saved.
What to build
- Quick-capture input (under a couple seconds to log a stray thought) with no forced categorization
- Unified read-only view pulling in events/tasks from Google Calendar, Outlook/Microsoft Calendar, and one task app (e.g. Todoist)
- No 'missed items' wall — items simply reappear in today's view without a shame counter
- Simple daily/weekly view, not a full project-management system
- Works fully offline or as a lightweight web page you keep open all day
Build note — Would need calendar API integrations (Google Calendar, Microsoft Graph) and at least one task-app API (Todoist); the differentiating UX work is in capture speed and avoiding backlog/guilt patterns, not in feature breadth.
Later, if it lands
Who’s already out there
Task management app with lists, projects, and reminders across devices.
Gap: Commenter uses it alongside separate calendars and still needs to manually check multiple apps to see everything in one place.
Local-first note-taking app used here for daily notes/scratchpad.
Gap: Requires manual structuring (pages, links) and isn't a unified calendar/task view; one commenter replaced it once their new app had a built-in scratchpad.
Outliner-style note tool used for one-page-per-project notes and daily planning.
Gap: Same category as Obsidian — good for freeform notes but not for consolidating calendar + tasks without extra setup.
Demand read
The thread shows genuine, recurring tool fatigue across several commenters, but every resolution described (whiteboard, index card, calendar+reminders, one consolidated app they already have) is free or already owned — nobody names a price, a paid tool, or an explicit intent to pay for a new solution.
Worth digging into before you build
4 to considerNo idea is a sure thing at this stage — these are open questions worth checking yourself, not a verdict against building it.
Generic Idea
Productivity/task-consolidation apps are a saturated category (Todoist, Notion, TickTick, etc.); differentiation is unproven from this thread alone.
Weak Demand
No willingness-to-pay statements anywhere in the thread; commenters describe reverting to free tools (whiteboard, index cards, native calendar/reminders) rather than seeking a paid solution.
Already Solved
Several commenters (OP, conglies, stellarisman, Failed_Alarm reply) say a simple free combo — calendar+reminders, whiteboard, or one existing app — already resolves the problem for them.
Unsupported Field
demand.willingness_to_pay_signals is empty for lack of evidence in the thread.