What was CalTodo? It is gone...

The default calendar software on the iPhone is ideallly suited to view and edit events from iCal or Outlook which are assigned date and time. Such events are automatically synchronized via iTunes.

Other than these events though, iCal also knows todos which are not scheduled and contain neither time nor date. These todos are also displayed in Apple Mail. (Simple ‘task notes’ which you check of as you handle them. Samples would be “Go get the milk!” or “Call Bob tonight”)

The Calendar on the iPhone though doesn't display these todos and that's where Todos comes into the mix!

Todos is a software solution consisting of a client for the iPhone and a server application for OSX Leopard. Together, these two applications allow to synchronize ToDos via Wi-Fi between iCal and Mail on Mac OSX Leopard and the iPhone.

The Client allows to manage the todos (Create, edit and delete) on the iPhone and merge back eventual changes. Of course, changes made on the Mac are also copied in.

In short:

With Todos you got access to your iCal todo list from iPhone and Mac alike!

It synchronizes via Wi-Fi! (Between multiple iPhones and Macs)

Todos on the iPhone can be synchronized with one or multiple Macintosh Computers and allows to manage a todo list. The changes are then merged back to a Computer on the next sync.

here's what the client looks like:

The iPhone client is oly half the answer. It needs a Todos Server to be the

bridge to iCal, Mail and other applications, which access the Mac OSX Todos.

The Todos Server runs as a sort of ‘agent’ in the background and can be controlled via an icon in the system's menu bar.

Via the menubar icon, you can start and stop the server and most importantly you can set a password for synchronisation with the server so that only authorized clients can access the todo lists on the computer. (recommended!)

Todos needs Wi-Fi for synchronisation. For the viewing and editing of task entries (todos) the Application doesn’t need a connection to the server.

If I dont have a Wi-Fi available when I need to synchronize, I can use my Macintosh (or Windows) computer to create an ad-hoc “computer-to-computer” network.

Every Mac with airport can create an ad-hoc network. The iPhone can then connect to the new network like it would to “regular” Wi-Fi network.

Below there’s a short guide to creating an ad-hoc network with Mac OSX:

First, select “Create Network...” via the airport icon in the menu bar.

The shown dialog queries for the new network’s name and communcation channel (The channel can be left at ‘automatic’.)

In some cases it might be useful to protect the new network via a password!

When the network was created successfully the icon changes. (If the icon looks like you are not connected, use the airport menu to connect to the new network as you usually would)

The new network can be used by the iPhone and consequently by Todos!

Todos consists of

-a server for Mac OSX 10.5 and up (For the communikation with iCal and Mail, Todos uses

a “leopard-only” feature. Therefore it is not planned/possible to make a version for OSX 10.4

or below. A Server for the Windows System is doable and planned)

-a client application for the iPhone OS version 2.0.

-for the synchronisation Todos uses Wi-Fi. (either the "normal" variant or "Ad-hoc" networks

(e.g. Computer-to-Computer networks as created by OSX)

To be able to sync at all, the Server must be allowed to accept incoming connections. The Todos iPhone client must be able to connect to the server! If you are using a firewall this may cause a problem.

Below is a short guide on how to configure the built-in OSX Firewall. If you use another personal firewall or are still not able to sync, contact me

If you start Todos for the first time and have the firewall enabled, the system should ask you whether or not the app Todos should be allowed to receive Network connections. Allow this action!

To see whether the program is now granted access, check the security preference pane and assure the settings look like the ones above. If they dont, just add Todos Server and set “Allow incoming connections” so the sync request from the iPhone goes through correctly.

Last but not least for Todos to work propertly you might have to disable stealth mode.

CalTodo was on the Appstore since Nov. ’08. In August 09 I tried to update it to 1.4.

Apple rejected it. So far nothing bad: at the beginning they rightfully rejected 1.1 as well due to a major programming error on my side. They saved me from making a lot of users very unhappy :) Once I fixed, it got approved okay.

With 1.4 though, they never even told me WHAT is wrong.... Coding error, GUI error, Legal issue.... dont know .... and I asked multiple times of course :)

So... I decided to stop my Development and focus on my other Apps and also my Studies.

If you used CalTodo -- a big Thank you! It has been fun!

If you were coming here, interested in CalTodo -- a big Thank you as well!