You can create your own reminder and task management system and use a service that works for your team. But getting your family and friends to use the same task management app can be a challenge. The iOS app Karo (which means "Just do it" in Hindi) aims to solve problems even if the other person isn't using the app.

This isn't Mustafa Yusuf's first task management product. The Indian developer is also working on another task management app called Tasks for more advanced task management. Yusuf told that he developed Karo because other apps didn't allow him the flexibility to assign tasks to people in his address book. “No app allowed me to easily delegate and track tasks I had for people in my contacts, like my accountant, sister, plumber, or electrician. I just want to send a task to them, ask them to do it in the application (WhatsApp /message) they are already using, and get the notification when they act based on them. If they don't do this, I want to send automatic reminders, rather than raising their voices, "he said. Yusuf said that before the app, he had to manually remind himself through WhatsApp and other chat apps to complete tasks, and even he would forget tasks as there was no tracking system. 

Uses and Features

Karo makes it easy to enter tasks in a conversational interface like a messaging app. The app recognizes identifiers like "tomorrow" or "10am" so you can add tasks using natural language. Specify a specific date and time and it will automatically create a task with a due date. Additionally, you can @mention specific people to assign a task to them, or there are buttons to add a date, time, and contact to the task. Users can optionally attach images, videos, PDF documents, or voice notes to their tasks, and because it's 2024, there's an AI aspect to it. 

Users can call on Karo AI to split big tasks into smaller ones, or even help with trip planning or creating to-do lists. When you assign a task to someone, they'll get a notification in Karo if they have the app, otherwise the app will first send a WhatsApp chat and if that fails, an SMS reminder. For scheduled tasks, users will receive reminders not only on the task's due date, but also 2 and 4 days after the due date. For non-scheduled tasks, the app will send reminders 2, 4, and 6 days after the task's creation. On the main screen, the task is sorted by the contact. Pressing someone's name will give you a conversation interface that can check the past tasks and add tasks. The app also has an "Activity" tab where you can see updates on all the tasks you're part of.

Teams and small organizations can use dedicated task management solutions, but in countries like India, many businesses don't have a proper system in place. They prefer to solve problems directly in WhatsApp groups. Yusuf believes that Karo's integration with the platform and the ability to create groups in the app will appeal to WhatsApp users. He said some companies are already using the application in their operations   for example, a dry fruit seller in Mumbai uses Karo to assign packing and delivery tasks to his team. 

Team members will check in on task completion through WhatsApp, Yusuf said, adding that this could be useful for study groups or reading clubs. Karo is free to use, but you'll have to pay if you want to use features like groups, themes, attachments, etc. The original price for the app is $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $99.99 permanently unlocked with an introductory launch offer on all plans. Yusuf plans to make the Android version available to users soon. But he believes that even if people don't use the app, the ability to send reminders to their contacts without them logging into the app is a major benefit.