Google Tasks is getting closer to something that users have long been pleading for: deadlines. The app is also apparently testing a new dedicated due-date field that could make it much more useful for work with time-sensitive components, according to an APK teardown from 9to5Google of a recent Android build.
What the teardown reveals about Google Tasks deadlines
In the updated Google Tasks v2025.09.15.807005873.0-release, an occult “deadline” control appears once you edit the task. It’s not provided when you create a task, and then it only takes place on any old date — no specific time. Also, the due date is buried in the task detail screen; it’s not front and center on that main list view.
- What the teardown reveals about Google Tasks deadlines
- Who’s afraid of the big bad “D” — Why deadlines matter for Tasks
- How this fits Google’s productivity puzzle
- Competitors are already treating due dates as first-class
- The fine print and limitations in this early build
- What people who power-use should look for
That behavior suggests to some researchers an unfinished, partially wired trait rather than a final rollout. That’s often how Google seeds functionality in staged builds: ship the UI hooks, gather telemetry, then broaden scope if engagement seems encouraging. No guarantee this sticks, and even if it does, the final experience might involve time selection and more list-level visibility.
Who’s afraid of the big bad “D” — Why deadlines matter for Tasks
Tasks has long prioritized simplicity. That minimalism aids in quick capture, of course, but it also blurs the distinction between “things I should do” and “things that need to be done by a certain date.” Which is to say, Tasks does have reminders and it works with Calendar, but no kind of hard-coded deadlines—delete completed tasks after only a day or two like I’m expected to use this thing as part of my full-time employment—or flexible ones.
Behavioral studies repeatedly demonstrate the effect of an explicit deadline to complete something on your completion rates. In reality, there’s a big difference between one with a clear “due by” date and one without when it comes to triaging—and how notifications will behave once the deadline hits. Without it, people rely on kludges like pinning tasks, entering date text in titles, and manipulating Calendar events to fake a sense of urgency.
How this fits Google’s productivity puzzle
Google has moved the consumer and Workspace Reminders on Calendar to Tasks, a change noted in the Google Workspace Updates blog that includes removing Reminders from these Google platforms. That migration exposed a void: Tasks still felt like a to-do list duct-taped to Calendar, not a planner that was designed for deadlines, priorities, and teamwork.
A real deadline field would also bring Tasks into more harmony across Gmail, Calendar, and the Apps sidebar of Docs and Sheets. It’s also part of the company’s effort at large to cut down on context-switching: capture a to-do from an email and set the concrete due date, then watch it show up where you decide your week.
Competitors are already treating due dates as first-class
Rivals like Todoist, Microsoft To Do, and TickTick all allow users to pick due dates and times, mark priorities, and have these dates bubble to the surface in list views or smart filters. Time-based filters, such as “Today,” “Upcoming,” and “Overdue,” are flowing straight from accurate due metadata. That visibility informs daily planning — it’s particularly important for teams and contractors who have external obligations to keep.
Tasks, on the other hand, has relied on Calendar for its time semantics and stars for lightweight priority storage. A built-in due-date field would provide Google with the building block it needs to get on board with reminders as a first-class citizen, which in turn is what they need to bring smarter views—overdue badges, upcoming buckets, and escalation rules, for instance—to regular people without forcing them to micromanage Calendar events.
The fine print and limitations in this early build
There are three caveats to the test implementation: the deadline can only be added on edit, not on creation; it doesn’t have a time picker; and it does not show up in the list row. Those are all non-trivial for time management. Creating a due time gives the option to deliver more specific poking, and list-level visibility smooths out by allowing for scanning of the deadlines in one place.
If Google adopts this, you can expect iteration: better list and “Today/Upcoming” views, time-picker support, maybe Calendar-aware notifications. One natural next step would be web and sidebar experience parity, and API exposure to enable Workspace add-ons and Chat apps to programmatically set deadlines.
What people who power-use should look for
The biggest signs that Google is for real here will be the ability to set deadlines at create time, seeing them in list views at all, and having the due dates emit separate signals (e.g., down to overdue states) so they can be treated as different from reminders (which is still full of fail).
Integration with subtasks, recurrence, and support for attached files—recently teased in a Calendar promo—would make the prospect of Google at least attempting to challenge the more solid alternatives all the more tangible.
For now, consider this a positive indicator and less of a finished feature. And if it happens, a native deadline might just be the rudder Google Tasks has always needed to help navigate from lightweight checklist to actual time-management tool.