Good days, planned

I launched Finalist 3 years ago, as I wanted a daily planner that didn't make me mad every time I opened it. Mind you, it wasn't that the other apps were awful, it was that my todo list was like my Inbox, never hitting Task Zero. Always staring at stuff I should have checked off a week ago. I wanted my old paper planners back, actively rebelling with bullet journals and other various paper schemes.

This is how Finalist came about. Its main goal is to be a safe space. A place for you to plan your life, and that's hard to do when you're mad at the tool you're using. The planner needs to be inside the circle of trust if you will. This is why Finalist functions a bit like the old paper planners: it focuses on what's ahead, not what didn't get done yesterday. John Gruber described it perfectly:

One aspect of Finalist that makes it different from most to-do/task apps is that instead of setting due dates for tasks, you add tasks to specific days. This really resonates with me. With most apps in this domain, the top-level items are tasks, and tasks have (optional) due dates. With Finalist, the top-level items are days, and days have tasks and events. This might sound like I'm splitting semantic hairs but it gives Finalist a very different feel, one that's more natural to me. If you've got unfinished items from yesterday, Finalist lets you move them all forward to today with one tap. Or, move some forward, and leave others behind. Or, just leave them all behind and move on. Up to you. I like that.

To be that safe space, Finalist brings everything in, including your calendars and Reminders, and shows you what you need to see today. And it's loaded with accessories to help you stay in the app.

• Add a weather forecast to the top of your Today screen
• Use the built-in Journal to tag locations you visit with photos
• Set up World Clocks to see the time and weather in faraway places
• Use the Planner tab to literally paint the coming days, weeks, or months with activities that inspire you

After a few days, you'll find yourself opening Finalist instead of Instagram. Looking ahead and planning birthdays, or getaways. My ultimate goal is for you to find good vibes when you open the app.

A sneak peek at what's coming

This summer, version 4.0 brings Notes in as a first-class part of your day. You'll be able to point Finalist at a folder of Markdown files, your Obsidian vault, an iCloud folder, anywhere, and the tasks living inside those files show up right on your Today screen and sync both ways. I wrote up how it works in Markdown, With a Calendar Attached. It's in beta now, and it lands for everyone this summer. Your six months will carry you right through it.

What other Finalist users say

Finally something that works!
This app has helped me so much in the past month of using it — and during a very devastating time in my life, where stress, fear, grief, and anxiety have stirred up extra with my ADHD. It has helped keeping up with my to do list, makes it easy to move unfinished tasks to the next day without making me feel guilty, and gives me a space to do some short journaling during the day. The free version is all I need, but I like the app so much I bought the lifetime to support the developer.

brandonrelle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ADHD Life Saver
I have tried them all. Truly. Spent gobs of money on both lifetime and monthly subscriptions on all of the heavy hitters. But THIS ONE works with my brain and just plain works. Can't say enough good things about this small but mighty app.

CultureDork ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE Finalist One
Finalist isn't merely a schedule organizer, habit tracker, journal, calendar, appointment tracker/reminder, or note-taking app… It is THE most amazing, oft updated/improved, and most helpful app I've ever had the pleasure to own!

If you are drawn to passionate developers who're more interested in giving the world consistently awesome apps rather than seeing how many in-app-purchases they can squeeze out of vulnerable customers, then THIS app should be your FINALIST!

JohnWicksUberDriver ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Six months on me

Tap the button below to unlock six months of Finalist.

After six months, it's $29.99 USD a year if you'd like to keep it, and free to walk away if you don't. Apple will remind you a few days before the trial ends. Or you can switch to a Lifetime license at any point for $59.99 (just cancel your trial).

Thanks for coming over,

Slaven 🇨🇦

P.S. Own a synthesizer? You have to check out Condukt, my dawless MIDI controller for hardware. Ever run a sequencer with an Apple Pencil? Now you can.