Google has finally admitted that a proper suite of office productivity apps needs to include Tasks. Alongside the launch of the new Gmail, the company is announcing integration with Google Tasks. In Gmail, you’ll be able to drag emails over to the Tasks section of the web app to create a new to-do item based on that email.

But, blessedly, Google is finally releasing separate Google Tasks apps for both iPhone and Android. Before now, using Google Tasks has involved a confusing mess of inputs and outputs: a melange of Google Keep, Google Assistant, and Google Calendar all either accepted or showed you tasks, but getting a simple, single list of them was nigh-impossible.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Google Tasks on Android looks pretty bare-bones. We don’t know much more than what we can see above yet, but what we can see above is the ability to nest tasks, have them associated with emails, and assign due dates. No word on whether more robust to-do app features like setting priorities, categories, tags, or anything else will be supported.

The old situation, before this app existed, was quickly becoming untenable:

Email:

- Gmail or Inbox



Calendars:

- Google Calendar



Notes:

- Google Keep



Contacts:

- Google Contacts



Tasks:

- lol all of the above but also none of the above but also in a submenu of Google Assistant good luck nothing matters. — Dieter Bohn (@backlon) December 24, 2017

So the mere existence of the app is a sign Google might be moving towards a more coherent and directed office app strategy. Every other new feature introduced in today’s Gmail redesign leans in that same direction too. At the very least, Google’s office app offerings are now on par with the core apps that were included with the original Palm Pilot in 1997. Progress!

Update: The app is live and we’ve given it a quick go. Early first impression: it’s fast and lightweight, but pretty basic. You can create multiple lists and within then you can re-order by date or manually. You can also assign sub tasks, dates, and notes to tasks. But it’s still pretty far behind (or intentionally kept simpler) than other task apps: there’s no magical auto-entry where machine learning recognizes date inputs, no priority setting, and no way to enter tasks from Android’s Quick Settings panel — all features I love about Todoist.

Maybe the most interesting thing is that the app seems to be a bit more modern in its interaction UI than other Google Android apps. The menu options slide up from the bottom instead of from the side, sort of like how Google Maps works. I suspect this is a sign of things to come for Android.

Anyway, we will have much more detailed impressions once we’re able to really dig into the features here, including how integration with Gmail works. Meanwhile, some screenshots are below.