All-New Wunderlist 3 Designed to be ‘Home to the World’s Lists’

By David Knight |

The all-new Wunderlist 3 has been launched by 6Wunderkinder as the Berlin startup looks to not only conquer the productivity space, but also become home to all the world’s lists. An awful lot of work has gone into developing Wunderlist 3, which comes complete with all-new architecture, new design and real time syncing.

And the new product is being launched across a range of platforms at the same time, including iOS, web, Mac, Android, Kindle Fire and Chrome OS, with Windows to follow soon.

Among the more than 60 improvements promised by 6Wunderkinder is public lists, which enables users to create, discover and share lists online. It is hoped the feature will in part act like the defunct startup HowDo, with users creating how-to lists for others – how to set up a GmbH, say, or how to move to the US.

Once a list is public, it can then be shared via Facebook, Twitter and Google+, or embedded into website. An ‘Add to Wunderlist’ button makes it easy for users to save the list to their own Wunderlist account.

Making Knowledge Usable

Talking to Silicon Allee earlier this week, 6Wunderkinder CEO Christian Reber said: “We realised that so far, over the last years, we have built a tool only for the creators of lists, the organisers, and we would have a much broader audience if we became the home of all the world’s lists. … Whenever you search for how to do something, or your favourite movies, or whatever, you will be able to search for those things in Wunderlist.”

Benedikt Lehnert, the company’s chief design officer, added: “There is so much knowledge out there that helps you do the things that you want to do, quicker, better and more efficiently, that is currently not usable. Making that knowledge usable, sharing lists and saving lists as your own which you can act on, that is what we are about. … Other products are more a repository. Wunderlist is all about getting that knowledge into your own life and acting on it.”

The pair were also very enthusiastic about the new architecture they and the rest of the team have built as part of the new product, especially the real time features. The real time sync extends to the entire platform – lists, items, comments, updates all appear immediately across all your devices, and those of people you have shared them with.

Benedikt added: “Everything you do in Wunderlist with your team or as an individual happens in real time. We compared a lot of services and there are only a handful that we see as being on the same level in terms of complexity and ability to scale and be super fast.”

Under the Bonnet

The new design, meanwhile, doesn’t represent a sea change from the outside, but the company insists it is more intuitive, lightweight and scalable than ever. And it’s the under-the-bonnet developments that come along with the new architecture where users will eventually see the most change, with the potential now to ship updates and new features at much shorter intervals.

The focus has very much been on improving the product, and Reber declared himself happy with the growth of users – now standing at over 8 million – and the revenue from Wunderlist Pro and Wunderlist for Business, new versions of which are being released at the same time. Ultimately, he sees the product being available everywhere, from device to smartwatch to fridge to car, and believes that making the best product on the market will inevitably lead to sustainable growth.

With so much time, energy and money being spent on rebuilding Wunderlist from the ground up, the release of its third incarnation is a big deal for 6Wunderkinder – especially considering the fact it has previous – but the overwhelming feeling coming from the company’s HQ at the Factory is one of optimism.

The entire team is set to move across to the main Factory building in the next few weeks when their new digs are ready, and up to 30 new hires can be expected by the end of the year as expansion into Asia becomes the new focus.