Carrot is a different kind of to-do list app that turns your day into a game. The app, which happens to be female, gives you rewards when you complete your tasks. But, if you start to slack off, Carrot becomes very upset.
This is one task manager app that will keep you on your toes. Users are rewarded when tasks are completed with points and levels that also unlock mini games and 'happy pills' that help calm Carrot down when you haven't been ticking off your tasks. As your tasks are completed, you receive 'fortunes', that are quite odd -- including being killed by killer ants (I assume these get a bit nicer as you reach higher levels).
At the core of Carrot is a very simple to-do list app. There are no categories, sub-tasks or any of that other fancy stuff. You simply have one list and you swipe away tasks as they are completed, and add tasks as needed. Carrot simply makes things a bit more interesting by rewarding you and/or getting on your case, which can be quite effective for many users.
When creating the app, Brian Mueller said he wanted to go beyond a gamified to-do list that simply unlocks badges. He wanted something that went to the next level.
"There’d be a character – this funny/sarcastic/sadistic artificial intelligence named CARROT – at the heart of the app," Mueller told Lifehacker when recalling his original vision. "She’d be almost like a virtual pet, this malevolent supercomputer you have to keep happy by getting stuff done in real life. If you’re successful and efficient, she’d reward you. If you’re lazy, though, she’d get pissed off. And there’d be a central story that revolves around this pet cat that CARROT gives you; the story gets revealed bit by bit as you use the app and changes based on whether she’s happy or angry with you. What I was envisioning was much more game-like than any other 'gamification' system I’d ever seen."
Carrot is currently only available on iTunes for $1.99. There is also an alarm clock version that makes pressing the snooze button pretty difficult.
