Platform Differences & Mac Features
Tasks, projects, tags, filters, dates, and sync rules are consistent across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Differences mostly come from navigation, input devices, system capabilities, and window layout.
Feature Matrix
| Capability | iPhone | iPad | Mac |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core task and project management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inbox Processing | Paged cards | Cards / multi-column | Desktop card flow |
| Quick Entry and natural-language dates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Apple Calendar display | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Configure location tags and geofences | ✓ | ✓ | Use results; configure on mobile |
| AlarmKit alarm reminder | Supported OS | Supported OS | Regular notifications |
| Widgets, Siri, share extension | ✓ | ✓ | Available system counterparts where provided |
| Insights | — | — | ✓ |
| Global Capture, menu bar, MCP | — | — | ✓ |
“—” means there is no corresponding dedicated surface, not that synchronized data is unavailable on that device.
iPhone
The Home screen provides common destinations, search, settings, Quick Add, and the Assistant. Inbox Processing uses paged cards for focused, one-handed decisions. Schedule is available as a quick destination.
Swipe, long-press, and drag can flag, select, delete, reorder, or adjust hierarchy. Follow the actions shown by the current list because gestures vary by context.
iPad
iPad uses a sidebar and multi-column layout. Navigation is generally grouped as:
- Capture and organize: Inbox, Projects, Tags, Perspectives, Calendar, Schedule, Nearby
- Actions: Flagged, Next Action, Waiting For, Someday / Maybe
- Review: Process Inbox, Review Projects, Logbook
- AI: Assistant
Projects, Tags, and Perspectives use collection → content → inspector columns and work well with pointer and keyboard input.
Mac Navigation and Inspector
The Mac sidebar groups:
- Organize: Inbox, Projects, Tags, Filters
- Built-in views: Schedule, Calendar, Flagged, and the three action lists
- Starred: frequently used projects and filters
- Archive: Logbook and Insights
- Assistant, Feedback, and Settings
Select a task to edit details in the right inspector. Option–⌘–I toggles it; Space can also toggle the inspector for the selected task while focus is in a task list.
Mac Quick Capture
New Task with Current Context
⌘N opens Quick Add and prefills context from the current page—project, tag, date, action list, or flag where applicable.
Global Capture
Control–Option–Space opens Global Capture from any app. It always creates an Inbox task and does not inherit the current Locus page.
Menu Bar
When Show in Menu Bar is enabled:
- Left-click opens Global Capture.
- Right-click or Control-click opens Locus navigation.
Common Mac Shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New task with current context | ⌘N |
| Global Capture | Control–Option–Space |
| Find | ⌘F |
| Complete task | ⌘. |
| Toggle flag | Shift–⌘–L |
| Delete task | ⌘Delete |
| Toggle inspector | Option–⌘–I |
| Add sibling task | ⌘Return |
| Add subtask | Shift–⌘–Return |
| Expand / collapse all | Option–⌘–→ / Option–⌘–← |
The current app menu is authoritative. If another app or the system owns the global shortcut, resolve that conflict first.
Insights on Mac
Insights offers 30-day, 90-day, and 12-month ranges with completed count, completion rate, daily average, streaks, heatmap, throughput, and project/weekday/time/tag breakdowns. It is read-only. See Review & Logbook for the completion-rate definition.
MCP: External AI Connections
On Mac, Model Context Protocol can expose Locus as a local tool to clients such as Claude Code, Codex, and Claude Desktop. Settings provides the command, executable path, and configuration snippet for the current installation.
MCP can query tasks, projects, categories, tags, Tag Groups, filters, and Nearby information, and perform allowed management operations.
Access Modes
- Read-only: the client cannot change data.
- Ask before destructive changes (recommended): deletion and high-impact changes require per-request approval.
- Allow all changes: the client can modify or delete without asking.
The first external connection displays a one-time disclosure. Turning it off disables MCP. Data goes directly to the client you configured, not through Locus servers, but remains subject to that client and its AI provider policies.
MCP Safety
Prefer Read-only or Ask before destructive changes. Connect only trusted local clients, never expose the local launch path or service publicly, and back up before bulk writes.