Microsoft makes its Wunderlist successor, To-Do, available in preview as part of Office 365; Wunderlist will “eventually” be retired
iTunes — Open iTunes to buy and download apps. Carl Velasco / Tech Times : Microsoft Retires Wunderlist And Launches Successor, ‘To-Do’: How To Move Your Lists To The New App Abhimanyu Ghoshal / The Next Web : Microsoft just killed Wunderlist to launch a new To-Do app Collen Kriel / SiliconANGLE : Microsoft launches To-Do to replace Wunderlist: how to get started Martin Brinkmann / gHacks Technology News : Microsoft To-Do: the end of Wunderlist Shubham Agarwal / Technology Personalized : How to Import from Wunderlist and Todoist to Microsoft To-Do Bogdan Popa / Softpedia News : Microsoft Launches a New Task Manager for Windows, iOS, and Android JC Torres / SlashGear : Microsoft To-Do set to replace Wunderlist, preview now out Richard Trenholm / CNET : The first item in Microsoft's new To-Do app? Retire Wunderlist Justin Duino / 9to5Google : Which to-do app will you use now than Wunderlist is going away? [Poll] Tyler Lee / Ubergizmo : Microsoft Launches To-Do App For iOS Corazon Victorino / International Business Times : Microsoft Retiring Wunderlist Tool, Announces Replacement App Called To-Do Juli Clover / MacRumors : Microsoft Debuts New ‘To-Do’ Wunderlist Replacement Jerry Hildenbrand / Android Central : Microsoft introduces its new task manager app To-Do in beta Roger Fingas / AppleInsider : Microsoft debuts Wunderlist replacement To-Do on iPhone, Mac & iPad coming soon Michael Simon / PCWorld : Meet the new Wunderlist: Microsoft's To-Do task manager takes over Andy Weir / Neowin : Microsoft launches To-Do for iOS, Android and Windows; signals upcoming death of Wunderlist Madeline Farber / Fortune : Microsoft Is Replacing Its To-Do App Wunderlist With an App Just Called ‘To-Do’ Mark Wilson / BetaNews : Microsoft To-Do preview for iOS, Android, Windows and web signals the death of Wunderlist Usman / iPhone in Canada Blog : Microsoft Launches New ‘To-Do’ Intelligent Task Management App Dan Thorp-Lancaster / Windows Central : Microsoft plans to eventually retire Wunderlist in favor of To-Do Thorin Klosowski / Lifehacker : Microsoft's Wunderlist Replacement, To-Do, Is Now Available John Callaham / Android Authority : Microsoft's new To-Do app will replace Wunderlist Jeff Byrnes / AppAdvice.com : Wunderlist Users, Start Getting Things Done with Microsoft To-Do Peter O'Kelly / Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check : Microsoft to shut down Wunderlist in favor of its new app, To-Do | TechCrunch Ryan Christoffel / MacStories : The Successor to Wunderlist Is Here: Microsoft To-Do Scott Scrivens / Android Police : Microsoft adds Groups collaboration tool to the Android Outlook app Tweets: Brandon LeBlanc / @brandonleblanc : I am soooo in love with Microsoft To-Do. Been using it for all kinds of stuff! Check it out! http://blogs.office.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years after Microsoft bought 6Wunderkinder and its popular Wunderlist app, the company is shipping its replacement: To-Do, entering preview inside the Office 365 subscription rather than as a standalone product. The announcement already frames Wunderlist's fate — retirement is 'eventual,' not immediate — giving users a migration window rather than a hard cutoff.
The arc that follows confirms the strategy: Microsoft later redesigned To Do to look more like Wunderlist to ease the switch, set a firm end date, and finally shut Wunderlist down on May 6, 2020. This preview launch is the opening move of an acquire-absorb-replace sequence.
First-order effects
- Wunderlist's user base faces a forced migration to To-Do, with import guides appearing immediately for both Microsoft's own app and rival Todoist — the coverage itself is dominated by 'how to move your lists' explainers.
- To-Do becomes another feature of the Office 365 bundle, so subscribers get task management at no extra line item while standalone Wunderlist's independent roadmap ends.
Second-order effects
- Rival list apps like Todoist become landing spots for users unwilling to move into Microsoft's ecosystem, turning the retirement announcement into a customer-acquisition event for competitors.
- The shutdown ultimately hands the category a new entrant: Wunderlist's founder goes on to build Superlist, revealed as Wunderlist itself shutters roughly five years after the acquisition.
Third-order effects
- The pattern — buy a beloved standalone app, fold its function into the suite, retire the original — makes acquisition a substitute for building, and teaches consumers to price lock-in and export paths before adopting any single-vendor productivity tool.
- If the playbook keeps working, independent productivity apps face a structural squeeze: their most likely acquirer is also their most likely replacement, pushing founders toward either defensible niches or restarts like Superlist.
The trend: Consumer productivity tools are being consolidated into office-suite bundles through acquire-and-retire cycles, with each forced migration redistributing users between the acquirer's ecosystem and independent rivals.