One search, seven jobs
“Time management app” is one phrase for several different tools. Before the names, here are the jobs, because most apps do one or two of them, and the one you want done is most of the choice.
None of these apps is a treatment. TimeLoop is not a medical tool. It does not treat, manage or improve anything, and nothing on this page is advice about ADHD. Each card says what an app does, in its maker’s own description, and which job suits you is for you to judge.
- Breaking a task down: you give it one line, and it comes back as steps you can start on.
- Running a routine: a list of short steps on a timer, one after another, with a voice or a bell for the next.
- Keeping the list and the timer together: a to-do list with a Pomodoro timer and a habit tracker beside it.
- Showing the day as a timeline: what is now and what is next, with a countdown for the thing you are on.
- Guiding the daily plan: a routine of deciding what fits today and giving each task a time, by hand.
- Scheduling for you: the app places the tasks on your calendar, around what is already there, and moves them when things change.
- Planning from a sentence: you say what has to happen, and the app writes it down and places it.
The seven, in alphabetical order
No app is crowned here, ours included. Each card says what the app does, which calendars it works with, where it runs, how it is paid for, what it costs, and one limit its own pages state.
Goblin Tools
Small tools that break a task down
- What it does
- Magic ToDo breaks a to-do item into smaller steps. Estimator guesses how long an activity takes, Compiler turns a brain dump into a list of actions, and Taskmaster shows one task at a time. Each is a single tool on one page, with AI behind most of them, and an account keeps your lists in step across devices
- Calendars
- None named on its pages. It keeps lists, which an account syncs and shares
- Where it runs
- The web, with apps for iPhone, iPad and Android
- Free and paid
- The web tools are free, kept so by sponsors, and its About page says they will stay free without ads or paywalls. The phone apps are paid once. Goblin Tools Pro, a monthly subscription, holds some advanced features
- What it costs
- The iPhone app $1.99 once, and Goblin Tools Pro by the month or $39.99 a year, on its US App Store listing; the web tools cost nothing
- One limit
- It breaks a task down and estimates it; when each step happens stays with you. Its pages name no calendar and no timeline, and its About page says to treat the results as guesswork and use your own judgment
Pick it if you want a task broken into steps you can start on, or a brain dump sorted into actions, from a free tool that does one thing at a time.
Motion
Auto-scheduling for work
- What it does
- Takes your projects and tasks, orders them by priority, deadline, duration and dependencies, and time-blocks them on your calendar. When anything changes, it plans the day again by itself
- Calendars
- Outlook, Google and iCloud calendar accounts in one view
- Where it runs
- iPhone, Android and desktop apps
- Free and paid
- A free trial, then a subscription priced per seat with a monthly allowance of AI credits; its pricing page names no free plan
- What it costs
- For one person, Pro AI $29 a month billed annually, or $49 billed monthly; Business AI $39 or $69; on its pricing page
- One limit
- It describes itself as built for individuals and teams at work, with projects, meetings and documents; its pages name no timer and no routine
Pick it if your planning is work: projects with deadlines and dependencies, for yourself or a team, scheduled against each other without you placing them.
Routinery
Routines run step by step on a timer
- What it does
- A routine is a list of short steps, each with its own minutes. The timer runs them one after another and a voice says what comes next. Habits stack into a daily checklist in a set order, weekly and monthly statistics show what held, and a widget on the Home or Lock Screen starts a routine with one tap
- Calendars
- None named on its pages; its calendar widgets show the progress of routines
- Where it runs
- iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android
- Free and paid
- Free with two routines, by its App Store listing; Premium, a subscription with a 7-day trial, removes the limit and the ads. A lifetime plan is sold from its website
- What it costs
- Routinery Premium monthly at $5.00 or $5.49, yearly at $36.00 or $39.49, and six months at $24.00, on its US App Store listing; its website shows no figure for the lifetime plan
- One limit
- It is built around routines that repeat. Its pages describe no placing of one-off tasks and appointments into a day
Pick it if the hard part of your day is a routine of many small steps, such as the morning, and you want it run for you minute by minute.
Sunsama
A guided daily plan for work
- What it does
- A planning routine each day: pull tasks from Asana, Trello or Jira, decide what fits today, give each a time on the calendar, and close the day with a shutdown. A focus mode and Pomodoro timers while you work, and reports of where the time went
- Calendars
- Syncs with Google, Outlook and Apple calendars
- Where it runs
- macOS, Windows and Linux, with iPhone, iPad and Android apps
- Free and paid
- No free plan, by its own words; a 14-day trial without a card, then a subscription
- What it costs
- $22 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month billed yearly, in US dollars on its pricing page
- One limit
- It is made for professionals and their work tools, and you place each task yourself in the daily routine
Pick it if you want a ritual at the start and end of each working day, with your work tools feeding it, and you are happy to decide the times yourself.
TickTick
A task list with a Pomodoro timer
- What it does
- A to-do list with reminders that keep ringing until a task is done, calendar views from a day to a year, a Pomodoro timer that cuts work into 25-minute intervals, a habit tracker with statistics, and voice capture that turns what you say into tasks with their dates
- Calendars
- Calendar views of its own, and it subscribes to your calendars
- Where it runs
- iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, a web app and a browser extension; its home page also names a watch
- Free and paid
- A free version with nine lists, 99 tasks per list, five habits and a basic calendar view; Premium adds more calendar views and task duration
- What it costs
- Premium US$49.99 a year, on its pricing page; the free version is US$0
- One limit
- The times stay yours to choose: it is a list with a calendar, not a scheduler. Its pricing page does not say whether the Pomodoro timer is free or Premium
Pick it if you want one list for everything with a Pomodoro timer and a habit tracker beside it, on every device you own.
Tiimo
A visual timeline with timers
- What it does
- Your day on a visual timeline, a countdown focus timer for the task you are on, checklists of steps, streaks and mood tracking, with widgets and Live Activities. The AI co-planner takes what you type or say, breaks it into steps, estimates each one and arranges them into a plan
- Calendars
- Imports Google Calendar on iPhone, Android and the web, and iCloud calendars on iPhone and the web; Outlook comes in through Google
- Where it runs
- iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and the web; the web planner is part of Pro
- Free and paid
- A free version on iPhone and Android with the planner, to-do lists and the focus timer; Tiimo Pro, a subscription, with a 7-day trial on the yearly plan
- What it costs
- Its FAQ says the price is shown at checkout; its US App Store listing lists Pro purchases from $7.00 to $54.00, without saying which is a month and which a year
- One limit
- The free version has limited AI chats and one profile, and does not include the web planner
Pick it if you want the plan carried out as much as made: a visual timer, steps, streaks and mood tracking, in a planner built by and for neurodivergent people.
TimeLoop
The day planned from a sentence ours
- What it does
- You say or type what has to happen. A language model picks out the events and tasks, and a scheduler that follows rules places them around your fixed events and the way to them. When you run late, you tap how late and the flexible things are placed again, with before and after shown first. You confirm before anything is saved. Planning from a sentence is part of Pro; by hand it is free
- Calendars
- Reads the calendars on your phone and Google Calendar as fixed events, writes your plan into its own “TimeLoop” calendar, and answers Google Calendar invitations; free
- Where it runs
- iPhone and Android phones (coming soon to both stores), and in a browser on any computer. The Mac app is not out yet; no iPad or watch app
- Free and paid
- A free version; Pro €4.99 a month or €29.99 a year, in the United States $3.99 or $24.99. On the App Store the yearly plan starts with a free week
- What it costs
- TimeLoop Pro €4.99 a month or €29.99 a year; in the United States $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year. Planning by hand costs nothing
- One limit
- Phones and a browser, no Mac app yet. No Pomodoro or focus timer and no streaks; it does not break a task into steps for you, and a thing without a time waits on the task list until you give it one. One question a day about how you feel, to size the day; no mood journal
Pick it if your days are shaped by appointments and other people, and the part you keep skipping is choosing a time for each thing and moving everything when the day slips.
As of October 2026. What is said about each planner comes from its own website, help centre or store listing; if it has changed since, their pages are right. They belong to their makers and have nothing to do with TimeLoop. The order is alphabetical: it is not a ranking.
Which one for which job
Start from the job you keep not doing, not from the longest list of features.
- A task you cannot start because it is too big: Goblin Tools, which breaks it into steps for free on the web.
- A routine with many small steps, such as the morning or bedtime: Routinery, which runs each step on its own timer.
- One list for everything, with a Pomodoro timer and a habit tracker: TickTick, on every kind of device.
- The day as a visual timeline, with a timer, steps, streaks and mood tracking: Tiimo.
- A guided plan at the start of each working day, with your work tools feeding it: Sunsama.
- Work projects with deadlines and dependencies scheduled for you, for yourself or a team: Motion.
- A day of appointments and other people, where you would rather say what has to happen than place it, and have it moved when you run late: TimeLoop.
Which of them are free
By their own pages: Goblin Tools’ web tools are free, and its About page says they will stay so. Routinery is free with two routines. TickTick has a free version with nine lists and five habits. Tiimo has a free version on iPhone and Android, with the AI limited. TimeLoop is free for planning by hand, replanning a late day with a tap and calendar sync; planning from a sentence is part of Pro. Motion offers a free trial and names no free plan. Sunsama says in its own words that it has no free plan and does not plan one.
The figures on each card are the ones each maker’s own pricing page showed on 14 October 2026, in the currency shown there, or, where the website shows none, its US App Store listing. Prices in other countries are set by the stores, and TimeLoop’s are the pricing page’s, as of October 2026.
What to look for
Whichever app you try, a few questions sort them quickly. They are questions about the app, not about you.
- Who chooses the time: you, on a timeline or in a daily routine, or the app, around what is fixed? Both exist on this page, and they are different habits.
- What happens when the day slips: do you drag every block, or does the app move what can move?
- Is there a timer, and of which kind: a Pomodoro for work in intervals, a countdown for the thing you are on, or a routine that runs step by step?
- Does it break a task into steps, or does it expect the steps from you?
- Where does it run, and is it the same app on your phone and your computer?
- What is free, and for how long: a free version, a free trial, or a paid app bought once?
How we chose
We started from the apps that come up for “ADHD time management apps” and its neighbours in searches, and kept one for each job, so that the page covers the jobs rather than repeating one of them seven times. Everything said about them was read on 14 October 2026 on each maker’s own website, help centre, FAQ or US App Store listing; nothing was taken from reviews. We did not test them side by side, so nothing here says which one works more smoothly: only what each says it does.
Left out, and why: Structured, FlowSavvy, Morgen, Trevor AI and Day Flow, because they are on our round-up of AI day planners and do the jobs already covered here. Two apps that call themselves planners for ADHD in their own names were left out as well, because we would be describing them by that claim rather than by a job.
Where TimeLoop differs
TimeLoop does one of the seven jobs, and it is the placing. You say or type what has to happen; a language model picks out the events and tasks, and a scheduler that follows rules places them around your fixed events and the way to them. When you run late, you tap how late, and the flexible things are placed again, with before and after shown before anything changes. A thing without a time is given none: it waits on the task list until you decide.
It does not do the other jobs. It has no Pomodoro or focus timer and no streaks, it does not break a task into steps for you, and it keeps no mood journal: it asks how you feel once a day, only to see whether today is too full. If a timer, steps or a routine are what you are after, one of the other six will suit you better.
It is a planner, not a treatment, and it is built for everyone. Planning by hand, replanning a late day with a tap, tasks and shared lists, and calendar sync are free. Planning from a sentence, the measured way to each place and the weather at each event’s place are part of TimeLoop Pro.