Following last week’s announcement, the new Google Tasks functionality in Google Calendar for Android is widely rolling out.
It’s a server-side update (Force stop from App info if you don’t see it), but version 2024.46.1 of Google Calendar is also widely rolling out on Android via the Play Store today. As of today, Google Tasks has over 10 million downloads compared to Calendar’s 5+ billion given the pre-installed nature.
The Google Calendar top bar prominently places a Google Tasks icon next to your account switcher, which is similar to the web experience. Having four actions side-by-side might be pushing things in terms of crowdedness, but the buttons are pretty distinct and all vital to the app’s operation.
Upon tap, the Tasks homescreen loads immediately. Save for “Tasks” not being centered at the top, the experience is identical to the standalone app. This includes a Dynamic Color background that is pretty different from Google Calendar, while the floating action button is in the same location for a unified experience.
With this update, the Calendar FAB > Task still only lets you create entries that have a date. You have to use the button in the Tasks view to create standalone ones. Changing Google Accounts in Tasks is also reflected in Calendar and vice versa.
Google Tasks app vs. Tasks in Calendar
If you exit the application while in Tasks and return a few minutes later, that view remains open. Similarly, Google Calendar remembers what tab/list you were last on.
Google Calendar does not have the Google Tasks “List” widget, so that’s one reason for still using the standalone app. (Hopefully, a Material You redesign is coming soon.)
At the moment, there’s no indication today that the dedicated application is going away. Since the two experiences are identical, it’s not much development effort for Google to maintain the lone app. Meanwhile, Google has yet to announce whether this experience is also coming to Calendar for iOS.
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