Show HN: built a 24h-clock based radial planner to help with ADHD time blindness
24 points by Kavolis_ 2 days ago | 14 comments
Hey HN,

I built DayZen because of the struggle I had with my ADHD and time management.

The core idea: Show your day as a 24-hour radial clock. Tasks become colored arcs around the circle. When the circle fills up, it's full.

How it works:

Drag tasks onto the clock face and resize them with your finger Overlapping tasks glow red immediately (no more finding conflicts at 11 PM) Two-way calendar sync keeps everything in one place Widgets show your current task and what's next

What makes it different: Most planners ask "what should I do?" DayZen asks "what actually fits?" It's not about motivation, it's about physics. You can't fit 10 pounds into a 5-pound bag.

I originally made this for my ADHD brain, which has zero time awareness. Turns out the visual approach helps anyone who thinks spatially or chronically overschedulules.

Tech stack: Native iOS (Swift/SwiftUI), local-first with optional iCloud sync, zero tracking or accounts required.

The app is live on the App Store now.

Happy to answer questions about the approach, technical choices, or why I thought a radial interface would work when every other planner uses lists.

  • baltic_apps 2 days ago |
    Love this !
    • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
      Thanks !
  • 7777777phil 2 days ago |
    Very cool idea thanks for sharing. I just downloaded the app to try It out, first "task" I wanted to set is sleep form 11pm to 7am, it always the time wheel always keeps jumping back to 11.05pm - is it not possible to set "tasks" across days / overnight?
    • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
      Hey,

      the issue you are describing I am currently investigating. During the initial/current designs I chose to set 00:00 sharp divide between days to allow easier calendar integration. However, due to feedback from you and several other users I am working on fixing this (together with several other known bugs) in the next release.

      • 7777777phil 2 days ago |
        cool, thanks for the quick response. feel free to drop a comment here or email me once implemented - happy to have another look! Cool idea!!
        • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
          Appreciate it !
    • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
      Additionally if you have any other feature suggestions feel free to drop them here or in my email because this feedback is crucial for me making this app enjoyable and useful for the users.
  • bambi_si 2 days ago |
    Downloading it !
    • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
      Let me know how you like it !
  • livityy 2 days ago |
    Why not React native ?
    • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
      Chose Swift it based on advice of others regarding better look and feel using native Swift (60fps animations on the radial clock interactions and gesture physics that felt right).

      React Native's bridge latency made the interactions feel slightly sluggish.

      Looking back, React native would have been beneficial for cross-platform cause now I am breaking my head with Kotlin

      • fartfeatures a day ago |
        Check out Flutter as another option, can target web, android, ios and desktop.
  • ed_db 2 days ago |
    This looks amazing, I would love to purchase if it ever is ported to Android.
    • Kavolis_ 2 days ago |
      Appreciate it ! Means a lot reading such feedback. I built it in Swift originally so for Android I need sometime rebuilding it (it's been months already of trying and trying to get the same look and feel)