Sunrise
A real planner for Google Tasks
Start new thread

Sunrise - A real planner for Google Tasks

by
•
Google Tasks is fine for jotting things down. It’s terrible for planning your day. No Today view. No overdue section. No way to see what’s due this week at a glance. Just flat lists. Sunrise is a planner built on top of Google Tasks. See today’s tasks, catch what’s overdue, scroll through what’s coming up, and organize work on a kanban board — all synced with your existing Google Tasks lists. Your data stays in Google.

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Maker
📌
Hey Product Hunt 👋 I built Sunrise for myself. I rely on Google Tasks every day, but I kept hitting the same wall: it’s fine for jotting things down, terrible for actually planning your day. Google’s Tasks app is basically a notepad. You add items, check them off, and that’s about it. It can’t answer a simple question like “What do I need to do today?” There’s no overdue view, no day-by-day agenda. Just lists inside lists. You can get some of this in Google Calendar. Tasks show up there, and you can piece together a view of your day. But Calendar is built for events. Tasks are an afterthought, buried in side panels, awkward to manage, and never the main focus. So I built the planner I wanted. After using it for a while, I figured others might find it useful too. That’s why I’m sharing it. Sunrise is a planner for Google Tasks. Sign in with Google and your existing task lists sync both ways. You get: Today: everything due today, plus overdue items you’ve been ignoring Upcoming: a rolling view of what’s due day by day Tasks: your lists, but actually usable for planning Calendar events show up for context when you need them. But this isn’t a calendar app. The focus is making Google Tasks work the way a task planner should. What matters to me: Your data stays in Google. Sunrise is a client, not a second database. Works with the Google Tasks you already have. No migration, no new task system. What’s the one thing Google Tasks fails at for your workflow? That feedback directly shapes what I build next. Thanks for checking out Sunrise 🙏

 Well, I have been waiting for this one for long. Thank you for solving a problem for me!

Maker

 Thank you so much! Hearing that it solves a real problem for you makes all the hard work worth it. Really appreciate the support!

When I`m trying to connect my Google account, Google tells me that Sunrise is not safe because it was not checked by Google. And now I really wonder - is it possible to get official approval from them?

Maker

 I have already submitted Sunrise to Google for approval, though the process is taking a bit longer than expected. If you prefer to wait until Google gives us the official green light, that is totally fine too.

 Got it, thank you! My question was more out of curiosity - I wasn't familiar with the submission process. I love the idea of Sunrise, wishing you good luck and congats on the launch!

These planner apps are fascinating me so much lately. Just wanted to ask dies your app also notifies/reminds you of events that you marked in your planner in case you forget to do it
Maker

 At the moment, Sunrise does not send separate notifications or reminders. Because the app integrates natively with Google Tasks and Google Calendar, I purposely avoid duplicating features that Google already handles well. If you have notifications set up on your iOS or Android devices for Google Tasks or Google Calendar, those native alerts will continue to work perfectly in the background.

That said, I'd love to know more about your workflow on what specific use case or type of reminder would you find useful to have directly inside Sunrise that the native Google alerts don't quite solve for you?

Until today, I didn't even know Google Tasks existed :) Do many people actually use it? Or is it mainly an Android thing? (I use the Notes app on iPhone, and it doesn't have the issues you described.)

Maker

 It is definitely not just an Android thing. Even most iPhone users still rely on Google Workspace and Google Calendar for work, and Google Tasks just happens to come bundled right with it.

I liked the simplicity of the product, and this is exactly what seemed missing while using Google Tasks. However, while using Sunrise, I realized that tasks were not getting synched if another tab was open with Google Tasks in it. Great product though, especially the board!

Maker

 Changes you make inside Sunrise actually do hit the Google API instantly, even if you have Google Tasks open in another tab. Not sure why you face the sync issue. I'll keep an eye on this one.

However, there is a known limitation. If you edit a task directly inside Google Tasks, it doesn't send a real-time signal back to Sunrise, so Sunrise currently requires a quick page refresh to pull those outside changes in.

Does Sunrise nudge me about what's due (a notification/reminder), or do I only see the Today view when I remember to open it?

Maker

 Right now, there are no active reminders or push notifications, so you'll only see your schedule when you open Sunrise.

However, since everything syncs directly with Google, you can still rely on your standard Google Calendar or Google Tasks app notifications on your phone to give you those loud nudges while using Sunrise as your main visual workspace.

Hey - think this is just what I need, however getting this error from google when i try to sign in:

This app is blocked

This app tried to access sensitive info in your Google Account. To keep your account safe, Google blocked this access.

Maker

 That's expected. Google requires a formal verification process for new apps.


I’ve already submitted everything for approval, it may take a while. In the meantime, it's completely safe to click "Advanced" and then "Go to Sunrise (unsafe)" to get in.

Finally, someone fixed the Google Tasks experience. The overdue section alone is worth the install - I had no idea how much stuff I'd been letting slip.

Maker

 Right there with you! I used to try solving this by forcing everything into a single task list and sort by due date, but that completely wastes the benefit of having separate lists. With this I can finally use my lists 😂

The "Google Tasks is a notepad, not a planner" framing is spot on. For me the single biggest gap is exactly your Today view, being able to see what's actually due now versus the pile I've been snoozing. Flat lists let you lie to yourself about how much is overdue.

One question: does the two-way sync handle recurring tasks cleanly? That's usually where these Google Tasks layers quietly break for me. Nice, focused launch.

Maker

 Thank you for the support!

Regarding recurring tasks, you've highlighted a known limitation within the Google Tasks API. The API does not expose recurrence schedules or future repeat dates to third-party developers. As a result, future instances cannot be viewed ahead of time in your upcoming schedule.

I'm considering adding native recurring task support directly inside Sunrise. However, because of the API limits, these native recurrences would not sync back to Google Tasks and vise versa. I'm still evaluating which route to go.

 Thanks for the response! This irrespective of the new R&D, is a life-saver. Rooting for you!

This is exactly the gap I hit with Google Tasks too, everything lives in flat lists and there's no real sense of "what's actually due today" without manually scanning. One thing I didn't see addressed: I run a personal Google account and a separate work Workspace account with tasks split across both. Does Sunrise support connecting more than one Google account at once, or is it locked to a single sign-in? That's usually the dealbreaker for me with tools built on top of Google Tasks.

Maker

 That is a great point. Because I use separate project management tools for work, I hadn't hit that specific wall myself just yet. However, the good news is that I am actually planning to migrate my own work setup over to Google Workspace soon. I have no doubt I will be running into the exact same multi-account friction you just described.

Right now, Sunrise is focused on a single sign-in. But handling multiple Google accounts simultaneously is absolutely on my radar, and it is something I will be actively exploring as I build out the next phases.

Thanks for bringing this up!

 makes sense, appreciate the honest answer instead of a vague "it's on the roadmap." Good luck with the Workspace migration, you'll find out fast which parts of the UX assumed a single account. Will keep an eye on Sunrise as multi-account support lands.

12
Next