Inspiring iOS 7

While the intelligence squad got to work, Perchik started recruiting a team to build the user interface. Perchik decided to start with Android, where he believed it would be easier to stand out. At a time when many to-do list apps mimicked the look of pen and paper, Any.do abandoned skeuomorphism for a minimal look that owed more to Windows Phone than iOS. "To-do lists have always looked like something from your office, not an everyday consumer product," says Jonathan Saragossi, who led the initial design effort. "The first thing we wanted was to make it feel like something from your daily life, and not like something from work."

The app's signature feature is called the "Any.do moment." Each day, at a prescribed time, your phone begins chiming and a push notification invites you to open the app: "Take a moment to plan your day." It's a reminder that the company says leads users to stick with the app. Most of the interactions inside the app take place on a single screen, and the design emphasizes the use of voice input and gesture over tapping. In June 2012, Any.do came out on iOS. The Android and iOS apps together have been downloaded more than 7 million times.

Among those impressed has been Apple, which redesigned iOS this year with a flatter, minimalist look

Among those impressed has been Apple, which redesigned iOS this year with a flatter, minimalist look championed by Any.do. Along with music app Rdio, word game Letterpress, and competing task app Clear, Any.do was among the apps that Apple looked to for inspiration as it redesigned iOS, according to people familiar with the matter. When Jony Ive took over as the company’s head of design, he was given a list of forward-looking apps that suggested how iOS could evolve, these people said — and Any.do was on that list. (Apple did not respond to a request for comment.)

When iOS 7 was unveiled in June, it sported lightweight fonts, a minimum of decoration, and a newfound devotion to simplicity. Gone were the stitched leather in Calendar and the pool-table felt in Game Center. In their place were white space, text labels, and simple geometric shapes. "In taking away design elements that don’t add value, suddenly there’s greater focus on what matters most: your content," Apple says on its iOS 7 page — a design sentiment that Any.do had adopted from the start.

In July, Perchik and his team released Cal, a sleek calendar in the Any.do tradition, for iOS. (An Android version is coming within weeks.) The team next plans to shift its attention to email, followed by a notes app. Any.do's motto is "good day every day," and the apps they build are all designed to support that mission. "There's no point in creating great technology unless someone's using it," Perchik says. "You need to create something that's used each and every day."