I’ve been experimenting with different task management approaches on my Mac Mini M4, and one persistent challenge keeps coming up: the friction of opening an app just to add a quick task. Whether it’s remembering to schedule a dentist appointment during a meeting or capturing a project idea before it evaporates, those extra clicks and context switches add up throughout the day.
ToDoBar addresses this by living exclusively in your menu bar. Click the icon and your task list appears immediately, no windows to manage or apps to switch between. The speed is what makes it work. Type your task, hit Enter, and you’re back to what you were doing in under five seconds.
What caught my attention is the visual time indicator that ToDoBar displays for each task. Instead of just showing due dates, the app uses what the developer calls an “elegant, colorful ring” that shows both elapsed time and time remaining at a glance. You can customize the colors per task, which helps when visually scanning your list. This approach works better than I expected, particularly for tasks with looming deadlines.
The deadline notification system is more flexible than most menu bar apps. You can set how far in advance you want to be reminded (one hour, one day, whatever makes sense), and you can enable or disable notifications per task. This granular control means urgent client deadlines get alerts while routine tasks don’t create notification fatigue.
In my usage over the past few weeks on macOS 15.4, ToDoBar has been stable and responsive. The app shows your pending task count directly in the menu bar, or you can configure it to display the next pending task instead. For someone managing multiple projects across time zones with a distributed team, having that constant visibility helps prevent things from slipping through the cracks.
The app includes a year-long analytics feature that tracks your productivity patterns. You can export this data to CSV if you want to analyze your completion rates or identify bottlenecks in your workflow. This kind of self-awareness tool is valuable for anyone who struggles with time estimation or wants to understand where their time actually goes.
ToDoBar requires macOS 10.15 Catalina or later and supports both light and dark modes, adapting automatically to your system theme. The developer, Ram Patra of Softal Ltd., has maintained consistent updates and offers educational discounts (50 percent off for purchases of 20 or more licenses through Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager).
At its current promotional price point (check the Mac App Store for current pricing as the developer plans increases as features expand), ToDoBar represents a one-time purchase with no subscription or in-app purchases. For comparison, Things 3 is $49.99 and OmniFocus offers more robust project management at $39.99, while simpler alternatives like Reminders are free but lack menu bar integration and deadline visualizations.
The app’s limitations are worth noting. There’s no sync across devices, so if you work across multiple Macs you’ll need to manage separate task lists. The analytics are local only, with no cloud backup. Users who need team collaboration, recurring tasks, or complex project hierarchies should look at more full-featured options like Things or OmniFocus.
For anyone who wants their task list persistently visible without dedicating screen space to another window, ToDoBar delivers on that specific promise. It’s particularly suited for remote workers who juggle multiple communication channels and need quick task capture without breaking focus. The visual time tracking and customizable notifications make it more than just another to-do list, though whether those features justify the price depends on how much you value that persistent menu bar presence.
