Gentle Steps: ADHD Planner

An ADHD planner that works out the order for you. Write down what you want to get done today, in your own words. Gentle Steps breaks the task into small steps, works out the order they actually need to happen in, and gives each one a reminder at the right time.

Works out the order for you

Most task apps hand you a list and leave the hard part to you. Write "make bread, go to the shops for the ingredients, do some studying" and Gentle Steps knows the shopping comes first, and that the studying fits into the time the dough is rising. A goal becomes at most three small steps. Nothing padded out.

ADHD reminders that arrive, then check back

Every step with a time gets a real notification. A little later, a quiet follow-up asks whether you managed to start, after 2, 5, 10 or 20 minutes, or not at all. You choose. If now isn't the moment, push that step back twenty minutes, or to tomorrow, straight from the notification. Getting started is the hard part of executive function, and a reminder that checks back is the nudge most planners leave out.

Built to be kind about it

No streaks to break, no completion percentages, no points. Miss a day and nothing scolds you. Anything left over is offered back gently, and "leave them for now" is respected until tomorrow. On a hard day, tap Need a hand? to keep one step and move the rest to tomorrow.

Easier to read

Choose a typeface, including Atkinson Hyperlegible and OpenDyslexic, and a background that is easier on your eyes. The reading settings are free, and always will be.

What's inside

• Today — write a goal, get ordered steps with times
• Reset a room — three small ready-made jobs for the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom or living room, for when you don't know where to start
• Plan — a month calendar; add tasks to any day and repeat them daily, weekly or fortnightly
• Learn — seven strategies for getting started, each saying plainly how strong the research behind it is, including where it is weak
• An optional morning check-in, so you don't have to remember to open the app
• Your list opens without a signal, and ticking things off catches up when you're back online

Free, with an optional subscription

The free version is paid for by a short video advert before each set of steps — two or three for a very long list. Gentle Steps Plus removes the adverts and adds:

• A tidy week already decided — small jobs assigned to days, so there is nothing to work out
• Bin reminders that know your collection day, fortnightly rotations included
• Help when you can't start — four ways to shrink a task you're stuck on
• Rework a day that's too much — when there's only an hour, or today isn't the day
• Plan something bigger across the week
• Your next step on your home screen, with a widget

If you cancel, Plus runs to the date you have already paid for. If you subscribe and don't use it, email and ask: you get back the time you have not used. Either way the free version keeps your tasks, your reminders and both reading settings.

Who it's for

Gentle Steps was built as an ADHD planner for adults, for autistic people and for people with dyslexia. Autism and ADHD often make the first step the hardest, whatever the task. It's for anyone who knows what they need to do and still finds starting to be the hard part.

Gentle Steps is a planning and reminder tool. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition. For medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, consult a healthcare professional.