I struggle with the navigation in the IOS OF applications. I have been hoping the clever people at OG to realize the tedium it represents but I’m starting to wonder if I’m alone in my opinion. I would like some means by which to navigate to more areas of the application from almost anywhere. Vs. Only being able to go back…back…back… 😡 yes I know hold the home button to go back to home. Great. But it’s at the very top left corner of the screen. That’s a big stretch to be doing all the time. Why not swipe to bring up the navigation sidebar from almost anywhere? From there jump directly to any project or perspective. Or what about long press.to bring up quick navigation menu. Or long press to being up common actions as well?
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You are certainly not alone in wishing better navigation in Omnifocus for IOS. Here’s a suggestion that I sent to The Omni Group support last autumn:
In Omnifocus for Iphone, it is easy to forget tasks that are flagged, waiting in the inbox or waiting for review, as you don’t see the indications for those things if you don’t visit the home screen. It is much clearer in Omnifocus for Mac, with the sidebar buttons with coloured lines. It would be great if Omnifocus for Iphone/IOS had a toolbar at the bottom of the screen with buttons with numbers, just like on the home screen. That would also make navigating faster (if it was possible to go to the perspective by tapping on the button). This could maybe be a Pro feature, as you may have to choose which buttons to have in the toolbar. The button for creating new inbox items could remain where it is, to the right in such a toolbar.
Later I sent an additional suggestion:
Out of curiousity I tried the task manager 2Do on my Iphone the other day, and there I found an even better solution: a sidebar that you could slide in from the left. Then you could have it always visible. A sidebar like that would be great in Omnifocus for Iphone! If you make it look like the sidebar on the Mac, it would feel very natural to use both platforms, and navigation on the Iphone would be faster than today.
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This is a small thing but I thought I’d throw it out there.
You can swipe from the left side of the screen to go back one page instead of needing to use the back button itself. For me, that makes navigating pretty quick. But I feel your pain. It could be easier.
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If anyone else would like to cast their ‘vote’ for the feature request @Jan_H submitted please email us so we can be sure to track interest in something like this in our database. Thank you!
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The thing I find missing is navigating between related items.
For example:
- Launch a perspective
- Open a task and jump to its project
- Press the back button
You are returned to the project’s folder, not the button from project 1. That is an absolute pain that makes it cumbersome to take a quick peek at the project.
yes, this part of the workflow within the app process needs more refining for more fluid navigation and efficiency.(concerning quick looks in project folder)
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I cannot emphasize how much the basic navigation needs help. I’ve used OF on my iPhone and Mac for years. It is easy to use OF for iOS by touching the screen. It is absolutely NOT easy to move around in the program with a keyboard, even with the context-sensitive menus telling you what the options are. I felt mentally disabled ! What is missing: a way to move around the screen, like tabbing works in most software. As far as I can tell, there is no way to get into a list of actions without touching the screen or searching (which filters and is inefficient). That’s crazy. And I thought I was the sad mouse-centric user, resolved to learning to use use the keyboard. Well, so far, I don’t get it. And I’ve been using software for 30 years. Please think about this!
I feel like the tabs from Mac version would translate fairly well to iOS, and could potentially retain the familiar aesthetic – icons, colors, the contents-indicator-bar.
The iOS iTunes app has a customizable tab bar at the bottom. It might work quite nicely for OmniFocus, too.
Personally, I would welcome tabbed navigation. The issue I see with a slide-in sidebar is that 1) it’s still hidden, and 2) it might interfere with the back gesture.
(I’ll make sure to cast my proverbial vote to support@omnigroup.com.)
