To-do lists: fast private checklists that stay on your device

Most to-do apps ask for an account before you can write a single task, then sync your tasks to their servers. That is the right trade for a team that shares work, and the wrong trade for a shopping list. The free Cubbbix To-do Lists page needs no account: write the task, tick it off, and the list lives in your browser only. Nothing is sent to a server, and nobody else can see it unless you export it yourself.

You can make as many lists as you like, each with its own tasks, priorities and optional due dates. Filter a list to what is left, or to what is done, and clear completed tasks at the end of the day so the list stays a list of what is left, not a diary of what is finished. A list with fifty stale tasks stops being read, so keep each list short and each task one action, not a project.

Figure 1: Lists that live on your device, with priorities, due dates and filters.

The price, stated plainly

A list that lives in your browser lives on one device and one browser. Clearing your browser data removes it, and switching device loses it. That is the trade for needing no account, and the page states it rather than hiding it. The export covers it: a list exported as JSON is a plain file you can keep, email to yourself, or load back into the page on another device, with its tasks, priorities, due dates and done states intact.

The page also does not send reminders, because a page that only runs while it is open cannot remind you later. Due dates are shown on tasks for planning, not for alerts. If you need a reminder at a time, put the task in your calendar as well: this list is for keeping track, not for nagging.

Figure 2: Export a list you care about. Clearing browser data removes the local copy.

A list that actually gets used

Write tasks as actions: buy milk, not shopping. Mark a task done the moment it is done, while the win is fresh, and clear completed tasks daily. One list per area of life works better than one giant list: groceries, work, home. When a list stops being opened, it is usually too long or too vague, and the fix is to split it or rewrite its tasks as single actions.

Figure 3: One action per task, and clear completed tasks daily, so the list stays readable.

Questions people ask