July 22, 2026 · 6 min read

Does Google Tasks have priorities?

If you have searched “Google Tasks priorities,” “Google Tasks star,” or “how to mark important tasks in Google Tasks,” you are looking for a way to surface what matters without opening every list. Google Tasks does not ship a priority field. Here is how people cope, and what works better on iPhone.

What people mean by priorities

Priority is not the same as a due date. A due date answers “when.” Priority answers “how hard should this interrupt everything else.”

People who search for priorities usually want:

A star, flag, or level that marks a task as important
Those tasks to stay visible even when the list is long
A way to rank a few critical items above the rest
The same signal in Gmail, Calendar, and on iPhone

Stock Google Tasks gives you lists, titles, notes, due dates, subtasks, and manual order. It does not give you P1, P2, P3, stars, or favorites.

What Google Tasks actually offers

You can drag tasks up and down inside a list. That is sort order, not priority. Move something to the top and it stays there until you move it again, or until new items land above it. There is no badge that says “this is important no matter where it sits.”

You can also:

Put urgent work on a list named “Priority” or “Today”
Prefix titles with numbers or symbols so scanning is easier
Rely on due dates and hope Google Calendar surfaces what is imminent
Nest steps as subtasks under a parent so the parent stands for the outcome

Those habits help a little. They also create maintenance. A Priority list becomes another silo. Title prefixes get messy. Calendar only helps when you remembered to set a date. Subtasks organize work; they do not rank it.

So the honest answer to “Does Google Tasks have priorities?” is no. Not in Google’s Tasks app, and not as a field that syncs across Gmail and Calendar as a priority.

Why the missing priority field hurts on iPhone

On a phone, long lists are harder to scan than on a desktop sidebar. You open Work, scroll past ten low-urgency items, and miss the one call that actually matters. You switch to Personal and lose the mental stack you just built. You start the day by reordering, not by doing.

Common failure modes:

Important tasks bury themselves under routine checkboxes
“Must do today” and “nice someday” look identical
Manual top-of-list order drifts every time you add something new
Due dates alone treat a soft goal the same as a hard commitment

Apple Reminders has flags, which is closer to what people want, but it cannot touch Google Tasks. If your work already lives in Gmail and Google Calendar, switching apps means leaving that ecosystem behind.

Workarounds people try (and their limits)

A dedicated Priority list. Clean at first, then you forget to move finished items, and half your life lives in two places.

Emoji or number prefixes. Fast to type, messy to maintain, and weak when you search by the real title later.

Due dates as a stand-in for priority. Dates are great for scheduling. They are a poor substitute for “this matters more than that,” especially for undated work.

If your life is a short checklist, none of this matters. If you keep several lists and a few items that must stay visible, the missing priority system becomes the product.

What works better on iPhone

Keep Google Tasks as the source of truth when your tasks already appear in Gmail and Google Calendar. Add a native iPhone layer that can mark favorites and keep them on top, without abandoning Google sync.

That is the idea behind ETasks as a Google Tasks app for iPhone: two-way sync with Google Tasks, plus ordered favorites so starred work stays visible in the order you choose. Favorites travel with Google-connected lists as metadata on the task, so the priority stays attached to the work itself. An all-lists view, search across every list, and planner views sit beside that when you need overview, not only ranking.

You still see the same tasks in Google’s surfaces. On iPhone, you also get a clear “what matters first” signal stock Tasks never provides.

When you do not need priorities

Stay with stock Google Tasks if:

You mostly use one short list
Due dates alone are enough to decide what to do next
You rarely have more than a handful of open items
Manual drag-to-top already matches how you work

Reach for favorites or priorities when:

Important work hides under long routine lists
You keep Work, Home, and side projects separate on purpose
You want a few starred items visible without rebuilding a Priority list
You want Google sync and a clearer ranking on iPhone

Quick answers

Does Google Tasks have priorities? No. There is no priority field, star, or favorite in stock Google Tasks.

Can I mark important tasks in Google Tasks? Only with workarounds: a Priority list, title prefixes, or dragging items to the top. None of those are a real priority system.

Does Google Tasks have stars or favorites? Not in Google’s app. ETasks adds ordered favorites on top of two-way Google Tasks sync, so important tasks stay on top on iPhone.