How can planners apps help your lifestyle with ADHD?
4% of all US adults suffer from ADHD. This portion of the population has to manage their ADHD daily to conquer goals, battle procrastination, and combat distractions, all things those with ADHD are intensified for.
Planner apps are becoming a popular way to manage your schedule better and align priorities for the day ahead while trying to retain the focus you need to clear your to-do list or your boss's focus for you. org/patients-families/adhd/what-is-adhd">helpful for those with ADHD.
The most common types of planner apps are daily planners, bullet journals, visual planners, and calendar apps with a time-blocking methodology. For those living with ADHD, addressing it across the workday can help you achieve more, and planner apps can be good to help give you structure for this.
Some benefits of using a planner app across your busy day balancing your ADHD: Planner apps can give you a structured breakdown of tasks. These tools can help you prioritize what's on your list for the day ahead. Some of the planner apps can block distractions like websites and other apps. Allow you to reflect on your day using guided planning systems for increased success.
Here's what I've noticed after testing these apps: the best ADHD planners don't try to be everything. They focus on reducing cognitive load, not adding to it. That means visual clarity, simple workflows, and features that actually address ADHD challenges like time blindness, task paralysis, and the "out of sight, out of mind" problem.
The tools on this list were chosen because they either have explicit ADHD-friendly features (like Sunsama's task limits or Llama Life's timers) or they've built up strong communities of ADHD users who swear by them. We tested for things like: how quickly can you capture a task when your brain is racing? Does the interface cause overwhelm or calm it down? Can you actually see your whole day at a glance without drowning in information?
1. Sunsama
Best All Rounder
Sunsama is popular for ADHD, thanks to the focus on mindfulness. Features inside Sunsama mold are suitable for the needs of those with ADHD. They offer a focused way to plan your day called guided planning.
This can help you plan the day and reflect on what you've had and achieved, even moving open tasks to the next day. org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique">a Pomodoro timer, distraction-free focus mode for managing your tasks, and a push to limit the number of tasks you do so that the focus is on quality rather than quantity, something that many with ADHD can benefit from.
This is good for things like "time blindness" that for those who have ADHD can cause issues with time management, having all your meetings, task reminders and durations hosted in one place like in Sunsama makes life easier for managing this.
Comes with focused mode blocking distractions Guided planning helps focus your prioritizing your next day Comes with integrations with popular apps so you can centralize tasks Cost can be a deal-breaker Could be overwhelmed with features Sunsama charges $16 per month (annual) or $20 monthly (monthly).
2. Amazing Marvin
Best Customizable
Amazing Marvin is like a chameleon for those who want to use it for their ADHD. Chameleon in nature, it can be customized to how you want to use it, so each Amazing Marvin account can look quite different. They have tools that can be switched on for each user and tailored to their way of task management.
Amazing Marvin has features like a calendar, end dates, timers, and habit tracking, which are popular with those who have ADHD as they help them stay focused and consistent in working on projects and tasks.
These features can all be switched on and off, meaning you get a customized view of your task management based on what tools you need.
It can be customized with tools People like the visual nature of Amazing Marvin It comes with reminders and alerts for tasks Independently developed Can be deemed as complex Amazing Marvin costs $12 per month or $8 per month for annual pricing.
3. Structured
Best for iOS Users: Structured
Structured is one of the best iOS planner apps for those with ADHD. It comes with a way to add tasks that make life a lot easier; you can plot functions in the app based on time for the day ahead. These can be set as recurring tasks, a bit like habits, and a one-off task.
This helps those who like to see a visual representation of their day ahead and gives them a more realistic view of what's ahead.
The icons make it easier to see what's on and next at a glance. Structured can be food for work but much more for casual management for your tasks. If you commit to the lifetime pricing, you will get access to an AI feature that allows you to type out your plans for the day and Structured plans them out for you.
You can even use voice dictation making it even more ADHD-friendly.
Comes with a good free plan Great for planning your day ahead Comes with presets for tasks to add Lifetime access is one of the best values No Android app access Comes only on iOS and macOS Probably not as suitable for work tasks Structured costs $19.99 per year, or $49.99 for lifetime access.
4. Llama Life
Best for Timer Lovers: Llama Life
Llama Life is one of the popular timer apps that those with ADHD rave about. It allows you to load up your day with tasks, adding time duration and when you'd like to do them, and works as a timer to work through them. It now comes on iOS and on the web which allows you to use it as you work. Task timers help you stay on task when you've started them.
They can be customized further with access to reminders and alerts that allow for a better, more customizable way. Llama is generally fun and playful throughout the applications and uses for ADHD.
Comes with a timer & task in one Comes with Todoist integration for task import Reports for understanding what you focused on Expensive premium No Android app (they have plans) Llama Life costs $6 per month or $39 per year as an annual subscription.
Llama Life is an ADHD planner app & to-do app and lightweight extension for tasks.
5. Akiflow
Best for Busy Professionals: Akiflow
Akiflow is popular with those busy professionals who have ADHD. This is more expensive as a solution, around the same price as Sunsama, but it offers some great features like Sunsama that offer more structure to your day ahead.
Akiflow isn't as mindful for your task planning but will allow you to plan tasks in calendar view and better help you bring in tasks from other apps like Gmail, Todoisty, Notion, ClickUp, and more that you might use for work but hate context switching between day to day.
Akiflow is good for ADHD, but for some, it might be too complex or overwhelming, so it is worth exploring whether the app best suits your needs first. Many people will like features like Rituals that help you plan your day ahead and the ability to plan all your tasks in one location to reduce distraction and procrastination.
Rituals feature helps you do guided planning Great for bringing tasks in from other apps, reducing distractions It can be over-complex for most planning Akiflow costs $34 per month or $19 per month billed annually.
6. Todoist
Is Todoist good for ADHD?
Todoist is one of the best to-do list apps and works well with ADHD. Todoist offers a good free plan that gets people into the application. It allows you to see all your tasks, much like Trello allows you to move them between columns that you set up yourself.
Todoist also offers a way to capture tasks with an inbox and modes for habit-tracking that can be accessed in integrations.
This might be good for those morning routines and for kicking your day off with a strong focus and success that you can snowball into momentum. Comes with a visual board view Available on most and all major devices Adding calendar mode soon Reminders are locked in the premium Todoist costs $5 per month or $4 per month billed annually.
7. Routine
Is Routine good for ADHD?
Routine works as a minimal planner app that works well for ADHD. Routine offers a range of features, and it comes with a console that allows you, on macOS, to capture your tasks, notes, and events easily, something that many people will like as it allows you to capture quickly and get things into your inbox that pop into your brain that you don't want you to get distracted at the moment.
Routine is clean and minimal, which is something a lot of people who have ADHD will like thanks to the nature of complexity; the app is easy to navigate and comes with a common area that is broad and simple, making it accessible for all.
The console feature works as a perfect way to capture items Very minimal design and is easy to use Hosts your notes and tasks in one place Might be restricted for your device Growing in features with a small team Routine costs $12 per month or $10 per month billed annually.
8. Amie
Is Amie good for ADHD?
Amie is a popular calendar app that combines tasks and calendars. Many people might like Amie for ADHD thanks to the focused views for adding tasks and calendar items and the easy-to-use layout. It also works very well on iOS for easily adding tasks to your calendar and splitting them.
People like living with ADHD inside of Amie because they can see daily stuff like the weather and upcoming meetings and have a focused view of tasks and calendar events.
The separation between tasks and the calendar can be helpful for focusing but also allows you to block your time in the calendar, which is a technique that resonates a lot with those living with ADHD. Easy to use and friendly It comes with great ways to time-block Many people like combining tasks from apps like Todoist in one
9. Notion Calendar
Is Notion Calendar good for ADHD?
Many people say Notion can be overwhelming for ADHD, but some others have said it has allowed them to build the perfect workspace. However, Notion Calendar comes with Notion and Google Calendar to manage your calendar in a clean and straightforward layout that many people will love because of the focus modes and ability to plot out the week.
Being able to host your Notion databases and connect events associated with the projects you're working on and seeing them all in one place makes context switching easier.
It reduces cognitive function for those with ADHD. You can also connect Notion pages for meeting notes to each event, reducing anxiety about where the calendar and events are all located. Connects with Notion databases Works for free and with the popular Google Calendar Available on both Android and iOS
Notion Calendar is a calendar app owned by Notion for managing events & meetings.
What is the best free planner app for ADHD?
Quick questions that come up a lot:
The best free planner app for ADHD has to be Todoist. Firstly, Todoist is one of the only free to-do list apps on this list and comes with board views which a lot of people who have ADHD like to visualize their projects and tasks. Labels and filters inside of their premium offer a decent set of ways to narrow down types of work, but reminders are locked under premium access which is a shame for alerts on your phone. That said, the free tier is generous enough for most people to get real value without paying.
The best ADHD-friendly student-focused planner app is Llama Life. It has timers, preset tasks, and a way to work through your list with focus. Many people like Llama Life because it blocks distractions and gives you a sense of focus for your day. The timer-per-task approach is clutch when you struggle with time blindness (which, let's be real, most ADHD folks do). If budget worries you as a student, we recommend looking at Forest, a more game-like alternative that gamifies focus time.
The best overall planner apps for ADHD have to be Sunsama and Amazing Marvin. Both of these applications are most suitable for all-round use. Amazing Marvin is a customizable task management tool that helps you to choose what tools work best for your routine with many ADHD favorites. Sunsama takes a more opinionated approach with guided planning, but honestly both work well. It depends if you want customization (Marvin) or structure (Sunsama).
The best visual schedule app for ADHD would have to be Structured. The app, available on iOS and macOS, does a great job of planning your day using a timeline-based view that many people like to visualize what tasks are coming up. It comes with icons to add to each task and a time between tasks, giving you context for what's next to focus on. Seeing your whole day laid out visually helps so much with the "what should I do now?" paralysis.
About 4% of the USA population has ADHD, so finding a free planner app will help them save money and combat their daily work struggles. iPad users with ADHD will love visual planning experiences. These can come in many shapes and sizes on iPad, from handwriting-focused apps to timeline views.
One thing worth mentioning: don't feel like you need to stick with one app forever. I've noticed ADHD folks (myself included) tend to switch planning systems periodically. That's okay. Sometimes a fresh system reignites motivation. Just try not to spend more time switching apps than actually using them (speaking from experience here).
