Nowline is a calm day planner for people who lose track of time. You say your plan out loud, the app turns it into a day that fits your energy, and from then on it shows only what matters now: what is running, how much time is left and what comes next. I designed it alone, from research to 80+ screens. The app is not on the App Store yet.
Why another planner
Most planners are built for people who already know how long things take and who come back to the list on their own. For everyone else the story is familiar: you plan the morning, the day slips by noon, the app fills up with red overdue tasks, and you stop opening it.
Two kinds of apps showed me a way out. Visual planners like Tiimo prove that time is easier to feel as a shape than as a list. AI apps prove that talking is faster than typing. Nowline puts the two together and adds one rule on top: the app never makes you feel behind.
Six rules the whole app follows
- One accent colour means now: the current task, progress and today. Nothing else gets it
- Time is always a shape and a clock: every countdown has an end time, every appointment a leave-by time
- Nothing is permanent: every onboarding step can be skipped, every answer changed later
- No guilt: missed tasks turn grey, not red, and weekends off do not break the streak
- AI proposes, you decide: every suggestion shows why and can be removed in one tap
- Voice first, never voice only: wherever you can speak, you can also type
Eight short steps, all skippable
Onboarding asks only what changes the plan: when your head is clearest, when your day starts and ends, which calendars to bring in. Along the way you pick how headlines look, and the last step is a real first plan for today, not a tour.
Today, and getting things out of your head
The Today screen names the gaps between tasks and turns appointments into leave-by times. The running task sits above the tab bar like the mini player in Music, so it is always one tap away.
Capture takes three seconds. Quick add understands “dentist at 4 tomorrow” and splits it into date, time and duration. With voice you just talk: the transcript appears as you speak, and the app proposes a day with a short reason next to every slot and a flag on anything that clashes.
When the day slips
Missed tasks never pile up in red. Nowline shows what slipped, offers to move it to later, tomorrow or someday, and can reshuffle the evening for you with a preview first. After a really bad week there is a way to start fresh: the slipped tasks move to the inbox and today starts clean.
Focus and routines
A focus session starts in one tap from the plan. While it runs, distracting apps show a calm shield with the minutes left instead of a hard block, stray thoughts go to the inbox by voice, and the session ends with plain numbers.
Routines play step by step with a timer for each step. If a step runs over, the screen just says how much, with no red and no alarm.
Outside the app
Most of the time Nowline is not open, so the important parts live where you already look: gentle reminders before things start, a Live Activity on the lock screen, a ticker in the Dynamic Island with the current task, today’s progress and what is next, and widgets for the home and lock screens.
An honest week
The week view tells you, in one sentence, how the week went and when you focus best. Once a week the recap plays as a short story and ends with one useful step for the next week, like keeping your best morning hours free.
Settings, themes and Plus
Every onboarding answer can be changed later. Typography is a real setting: six typeface themes change headlines and big numbers, while body text stays in SF Pro. Plus is offered at the moment you need it, with trial dates spelled out and cancelling one tap away.
Moments and promos
Turning points get a full-screen moment with an illustration: a fresh start, the first week done, a rule explained, Plus switched on. Promos live inside the screens people already use, as one card with one action, never as a pop-up. The illustration set also gave the app its palette: forest green, lime, mustard, orange and peach.
iPhone Duo
On the foldable the day opens into two panes: the timeline on the left, the running task on the right. The whole week fits on one board, so you can see that Thursday is full and move something with one tap. Folded, the cover screen keeps only now and next.
What’s next
Nowline is designed end to end: 15 flows, 80+ screens with their states, the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Duo. Next come usability tests on a clickable prototype, an accessibility pass with Dynamic Type and VoiceOver, and a TestFlight beta before the App Store.
