Elegant bucket list app ‘Soon’ launches on Android

In a world that is bombarded with things to do, it can be difficult to stay on top of everything we think is worth seeing. Movies we want to see, music to listen to, books to read, restaurants to try and places to go, there is nothing to do and almost no central way to watch them all. You can use a simple listing application like Google Keep for example, but where is the fun in it? Now there’s a new way to stay on top of your bucket list: Soon.

The application, which was available on iOS for a while, is a kind of smart list creator. It reminds me of the now inactive SpringPad in a way, but with a more modern approach. Soon it is not the first application of its kind on Android (Woovly is similar, but focuses on travel and restaurants), although it seems to be the most elegant to date. I’m sure some of you will mourn the white issue of the app, but it’s not something that concerns me personally.

When creating an account (offline Google, sigh), you will be taken to the main home screen with the various types of lists you can create: movies, TV series, music, books, restaurants, bars, shops, museums, hotels, cafes, parties, games and podcasts. Everyone has an easy-to-use search feature as well as suggestions on popular items. Once you add a few things, you can see them at Soon tab and highlight as complete. It’s very simple, and the main appeal here is that the details of each item are filled in automatically (image, information, relevant links, etc …).

There is also a special section dedicated to List of cities, where you can add things you want to do in a city and invite friends to work together. It’s a little annoying that other types of lists can only be shared, but not collaborated.

Soon it also helps you with the discovery thanks to a Trends section with items in each category, as well as edited topic lists by other users.

Finally, there is obviously a social element to Soon and the app lets you track friends, view their activity, share your own and more.

Overall, I find the idea behind Soon really awesome, but the app could do with a little improvement. At the moment, I watch my movies / shows in the Series Guide, I have a list of “listen” playlists on Spotify, many listings of places on Google Maps, restaurants on Zomato, many notes on Keep and so on. It will soon be able to replace many, if not all, of them, but it will take a long time to refill my lists from scratch. Local adaptation also seems limited, as I can not find many suggestions around me in Lebanon. Maybe the service needs more local users to become more interesting in this regard. In addition, the lack of a Google connection and collaboration on all types of listings – except cities – is annoying.

And finally, there is the issue of longevity. Every time a service like this starts, with so much potential to be ubiquitous and awesome, I am reluctant to invest my time to personalize it just to close and let me go else data transfer session. Years of app and service coverage may have made me more realistic, but what happened to the SpringPad taught me not to put all my eggs in the same basket.

Now do not misunderstand me, soon it is quite good and worth it. But whether or not you use it as the main bin list application is up to you.

Alternative title: It will soon be released on Android today