Adults with ADHD face unique challenges when it comes to productivity. The constant pull of distractions, difficulty estimating time, executive dysfunction that makes starting tasks feel impossible, and the overwhelming nature of traditional to-do lists can turn simple daily planning into an exhausting battle. For iPhone and iPad users, the good news is that iOS offers a particularly strong ecosystem for ADHD-friendly productivity tools.
Unlike generic task managers built for neurotypical brains, ADHD-specific apps understand that motivation doesn't work on a schedule. They account for hyperfocus sessions that need protecting, rejection sensitivity that makes harsh reminders counterproductive, and the need for dopamine hits when completing tasks. The best iOS apps for ADHD leverage native features like Focus modes, widgets that provide at-a-glance accountability, and Shortcuts automation to reduce decision fatigue.
The iOS platform is particularly well-suited for ADHD management because of its tight integration between apps and system features. You can set up Focus modes that automatically filter notifications during deep work, create Shortcuts that chain together your morning routine apps, and use widgets to keep your most important tasks visible without the overwhelming context-switching of opening multiple apps. Many ADHD adults find that the closed ecosystem of iOS actually helps reduce the temptation to constantly tweak and optimize their setup, a common ADHD trap that wastes hours that could be spent actually working.
This guide focuses specifically on iOS apps that have proven helpful for adults managing ADHD symptoms. We're looking at tools that reduce friction, provide structure without rigidity, and work with your ADHD brain rather than against it.
How We Evaluated ADHD Productivity Apps for iOS
Not every productivity app works for ADHD brains, even if it's technically well-designed. We evaluated these iOS apps based on criteria that actually matter for adults with ADHD, not just generic productivity metrics.
First, we looked at cognitive load. Does the app require extensive setup before you can use it? Does it demand daily reviews or complex categorization systems? ADHD brains often struggle with apps that require perfect maintenance. The best tools either require minimal setup or make the setup process itself engaging enough to complete. We prioritized apps that work even when you forget about them for a week.
Second, we assessed motivation design. Does the app use shame-based reminders or guilt-inducing streak counters? Or does it understand that ADHD adults often know what they should do but struggle with execution? The most effective apps use positive reinforcement, gamification that actually feels rewarding, and community features that provide external accountability without judgment. Visual progress indicators, satisfying completion animations, and celebration of small wins all matter here.
Third, we evaluated iOS-specific integration. Does the app offer useful widgets that reduce the friction of opening the app? Can it integrate with Shortcuts for automation? Does it respect Focus modes? iOS apps that feel native to the platform tend to stick around longer than cross-platform tools that treat iOS as an afterthought. We also looked at Apple Watch support, since quick task capture from your wrist can be crucial when you have a fleeting thought you need to record.
Finally, we considered flexibility for different ADHD presentations. Some people need rigid structure, others need complete freedom to adapt. The best apps offer customization without requiring it, letting you layer on complexity as needed rather than forcing you to use features that don't match your brain.
Griply takes a lifeOS approach to ADHD management, which means it's trying to be your central hub for life organization rather than just another task manager. For ADHD adults who struggle with information scattered across multiple apps and notebooks, this consolidation can be genuinely helpful. Instead of checking five different apps to know what you're supposed to do today, Griply aims to house your habits, goals, projects, and daily tasks in one interface.
The app shines in its approach to habit tracking specifically. Rather than using the typical streak-based system that punishes you for missing a day (devastating for ADHD brains that are already dealing with shame), Griply shows habit completion as a percentage over time. Missing one day doesn't break anything, it just slightly lowers your percentage. This removes the all-or-nothing thinking that causes many ADHD adults to abandon habit apps entirely after one slip-up. The visual representation of habits also makes it easy to spot patterns without requiring manual journaling or reflection.
For iOS users, Griply offers well-designed widgets that bring your most important information to your home screen. You can glance at your habits for the day without opening the app, reducing the friction that often prevents task completion. The widgets update in real-time as you check things off, providing those small dopamine hits throughout the day. The app also integrates smoothly with iOS shortcuts, allowing you to build automation around your routines. You could set up a shortcut that marks your morning routine habits complete and opens your work project list, all triggered by a single tap.
The interface is clean without being sterile, using subtle color coding and satisfying checkboxes that feel good to tap. For ADHD adults who find motivation in visual organization, the ability to see all your life areas laid out in one dashboard can reduce the executive function required to figure out what to work on next. The app doesn't force a specific organizational method on you, instead letting you build out the structure that matches your brain. Some users keep it simple with just daily habits and a project list, while others build elaborate systems with multiple goal hierarchies. Both approaches work fine in Griply, which is rare for productivity apps.
2. Numo
Best for Task Management: Numo
Numo was built from the ground up specifically for ADHD brains, and it shows. Rather than adapting a neurotypical task manager with a few ADHD-friendly features bolted on, Numo assumes you have ADHD and designs every interaction accordingly. The result is an app that feels like it actually understands why you didn't do that task you've been moving forward for three weeks.
The standout feature is the community aspect. Numo includes a social feed where other ADHD adults share their wins, struggles, and accountability check-ins. This might sound gimmicky, but for many users it becomes the primary motivation to open the app daily. Seeing someone else celebrate finally doing their laundry after two weeks somehow makes your own task list feel less overwhelming. The community is actively moderated to keep it supportive rather than competitive, which matters when rejection sensitivity is part of your ADHD presentation. You can post your intentions for the day and get encouragement, or just lurk and absorb the energy of other people actually doing things.
The task management system itself is deliberately simple. You can add tasks quickly without categorizing them or assigning projects or setting up complex filters. Just brain dump everything into Numo and it helps you pick what to do now based on how you're feeling. The app asks you to set an energy level and available time, then suggests tasks that match. This acknowledgment that you might only have 15 minutes and low energy right now, rather than demanding you tackle your biggest project, makes it much easier to do something instead of nothing.
Numo's iOS widgets are particularly well-designed for ADHD needs. Instead of showing your entire overwhelming task list, the widget shows just your next task and a quick-add button. This reduces decision paralysis while keeping task capture frictionless. The app also uses playful design elements like friendly illustrations and casual language that make productivity feel less intimidating. Notifications are encouraging rather than nagging, using phrases like "Ready to knock something out?" instead of "You have 47 overdue tasks." For ADHD adults who've developed anxiety around productivity apps, Numo's gentler approach can make engagement actually sustainable.
3. Sunsama
Best for Mindful Planning: Sunsama
Sunsama takes a fundamentally different approach than most ADHD productivity tools. Instead of helping you do more tasks faster, it helps you do fewer tasks more intentionally. For ADHD adults who struggle with overcommitment and time blindness, this mindful planning framework can be transformative, though it requires more discipline than other options on this list.
The core of Sunsama is the daily planning ritual. Each day, the app guides you through reviewing your calendar, pulling in tasks from other tools, and deliberately choosing what you'll actually work on today. You assign a time duration to each task, which forces confrontation with time blindness. If you've planned 14 hours of work for an 8-hour day, Sunsama makes that visible before you start, not at 11pm when you're wondering why nothing got done. This time awareness feature includes reminders that pop up when you've spent your allocated time on a task, helping you notice when hyperfocus has made 30 minutes turn into three hours.
For iOS users, Sunsama offers a streamlined mobile experience focused on execution rather than planning. The philosophy is that you do your deep planning on desktop or iPad, then use your iPhone throughout the day to stay on track. The mobile app shows your daily plan with calendar integration, lets you check off tasks, and provides those time-tracking reminders. The iOS widget displays your current task and upcoming calendar events side-by-side, which helps with the ADHD struggle of forgetting you have a meeting in 10 minutes.
The guided weekly planning feature is where Sunsama particularly shines for ADHD brains. Instead of drowning in a backlog of hundreds of tasks, you review last week's completion rate and intentionally choose objectives for the coming week. This creates a zoom-out perspective that helps counter the ADHD tendency to treat every task as equally urgent. The weekly review prompts reflection questions that many users find helpful for noticing patterns in their productivity and energy levels.
Sunsama does require consistent daily engagement to work well, which can be challenging for ADHD adults during depressive episodes or particularly chaotic weeks. Unlike tools that gracefully handle abandonment, Sunsama works best when you use it every day. However, for people who can maintain that consistency, the reduction in decision fatigue and the mindful approach to task selection often leads to better outcomes than grinding through an endless task list.
4. Amazing Marvin
Best for Customizable ADHD Planning: Amazing Marvin
Amazing Marvin is the Swiss Army knife of ADHD productivity apps, offering an almost overwhelming degree of customization. The philosophy is that ADHD presents differently for everyone, so your productivity app should be moldable to your specific brain. Want a Pomodoro timer? Add it. Need the Eisenhower Matrix for prioritization? Enable it. Prefer to avoid time estimates entirely? Leave that feature off. This modular approach means Marvin can work for a wide range of ADHD presentations.
The built-in strategies library is where Marvin becomes particularly valuable for ADHD users. The app includes dozens of research-backed productivity strategies specifically tagged for ADHD challenges. Struggling with starting tasks? Enable the "Make It Tiny" strategy that automatically suggests breaking tasks into smaller subtasks. Dealing with time blindness? Turn on time tracking and duration estimates. The app essentially functions as a productivity coach that helps you experiment with different approaches until you find what works for your brain.
Marvin's iOS app is fully-featured, which is both a strength and a potential weakness. You can do essentially everything on your iPhone that you can on desktop, from reorganizing your project hierarchy to adjusting strategy settings. For some ADHD users, this flexibility is essential. For others, it becomes another opportunity to spend hours tinkering with settings instead of actually doing tasks. The key is recognizing which type of ADHD you have and whether that level of customization helps or hinders you.
The reward system in Marvin deserves special mention. You earn points for completing tasks and can cash them in for rewards you define yourself. This gamification taps into the ADHD need for immediate feedback and dopamine, making task completion genuinely satisfying. You can set rewards like "30 minutes of guilt-free video games" or "order that book you've been wanting" and the app helps you stick to actually claiming rewards rather than just pushing through to the next task.
The downside of Marvin's flexibility is the learning curve. The first few days with the app can feel overwhelming as you try to figure out which features to enable and how to structure your workspace. For ADHD adults who struggle with setup paralysis, this can prevent the app from ever getting used. However, Marvin includes starter templates for common ADHD scenarios that can help you get going without building everything from scratch. The iOS app also includes helpful onboarding that explains features gradually rather than dumping everything on you at once.
5. Addie
Best for ADHD-Specific Task Design: Addie
Addie is another app built specifically for ADHD task management, with a focus on reducing the executive function burden of deciding what to work on. The app uses a card-based interface where each task is presented individually, forcing single-tasking rather than scanning an overwhelming list of everything you need to do. This design choice addresses the ADHD tendency to freeze when presented with too many options.
The priority system in Addie is deliberately simple. Tasks are categorized as Must Do, Should Do, or Could Do for today, removing the complex urgency and importance matrices that many ADHD adults find paralyzing. When you open the app, it shows you one Must Do task and asks if you want to work on it now. If not, it shows the next one. This guided experience removes decision-making friction and helps with the common ADHD struggle of not knowing where to start.
Addie's approach to recurring tasks is particularly thoughtful. Instead of showing you every instance of a daily habit stretching into infinity, the app only shows today's instance. Missed yesterday's meditation? That's gone, not haunting your task list and triggering shame. This aligns with how ADHD brains actually work, where past failures can create such anxiety that they prevent current action. The focus stays on what you can do right now, not what you didn't do last week.
For iOS users, Addie offers a minimal widget that shows your current Must Do task and a completion checkbox. The simplicity here is intentional, reducing the temptation to doomscroll your task list when you should be opening the app to actually work. The app also includes gentle reminder notifications that can be customized based on your needs, and a body doubling timer feature that simulates working alongside someone else, which many ADHD adults find helpful for maintaining focus.
6. Study Bunny
Best for Focus Sessions and Gamification: Study Bunny
Study Bunny started as a study timer app but has evolved into a surprisingly effective ADHD focus tool for adults. The core mechanic is simple: you set a focus timer, during which you take care of a virtual bunny by staying focused. If you leave the app to check social media, your bunny gets sad. This might sound childish, but the gamification genuinely works for many ADHD adults who struggle with phone-based distractions.
The focus session tracking provides the data that ADHD brains often need to understand their actual work patterns. You can see how many focus sessions you completed this week, your average session length, and your most productive times of day. This objective information helps counter the ADHD tendency to catastrophize productivity, where it feels like you got nothing done when you actually completed three solid focus sessions. The app also lets you categorize sessions by project or subject, helping you notice if you're avoiding certain types of work.
Study Bunny's reward system uses coins earned during focus sessions to buy accessories and food for your bunny. This creates a tangible incentive loop: focus for 25 minutes, earn coins, buy your bunny a hat. It sounds ridiculous, but it provides the immediate dopamine hit that makes the next focus session easier to start. For ADHD adults who struggle with delayed gratification and need immediate rewards to maintain motivation, this kind of gamification can be genuinely helpful.
The iOS widget shows your bunny's current happiness level and a quick-start timer button, making it easy to jump into a focus session without the friction of opening the app and navigating menus. The app also includes a forest-style feature where you grow plants during focus sessions, providing a different visual reward system for users who prefer that metaphor. While Study Bunny doesn't include comprehensive task management, it pairs well with other apps on this list as a dedicated focus and time-tracking tool.
Leveraging iOS Features for ADHD Productivity
Beyond individual apps, iOS itself offers system-level features that can significantly help with ADHD management when configured thoughtfully. Focus modes are probably the most powerful tool available. You can create a Work focus that only allows notifications from your calendar and work communication apps, filtering out the constant ping of social media and news alerts. The key is setting these Focus modes to activate automatically based on time or location, removing the executive function burden of remembering to turn them on.
Shortcuts automation can reduce daily decision fatigue significantly. You can build a morning routine shortcut that opens your habit tracker, shows today's calendar, and starts your focus timer with a single tap. An end-of-workday shortcut could close all work apps, open your relaxation playlist, and log the day complete in your productivity tracker. The initial setup requires some focus, but once configured, shortcuts run on autopilot and reduce the number of small decisions that drain ADHD brains throughout the day.
Widget strategies matter more for ADHD than for neurotypical users. Rather than cramming your home screen with widgets for every app, focus on widgets that reduce app-opening friction for your most important tools. A well-configured widget setup might include your task app showing today's top three priorities, your calendar showing the next few hours, and a quick-capture button for brain dumps. The goal is information at a glance and reduced friction for capture, not comprehensive dashboards that become overwhelming.
Siri and voice commands can help with task capture during hyperfocus. When you're deep in work and remember something you need to do later, saying "Hey Siri, remind me to email John about the report" captures the thought without breaking focus. Many of the apps on this list support Siri integration for quick task addition, making voice capture a legitimate ADHD productivity strategy.
Choosing the Right App for Your ADHD Challenges
If your primary ADHD challenge is scattered information across too many apps and notebooks, Griply's lifeOS approach will probably resonate most. It consolidates habits, goals, and tasks into one interface, reducing the executive function required to figure out what system to check. The percentage-based habit tracking is particularly good for people who struggle with all-or-nothing thinking.
For those who find traditional productivity apps emotionally overwhelming and need community support, Numo's social features and gentle approach make it the standout choice. The energy-based task suggestions and simple capture system work well for ADHD adults who need flexibility and positive reinforcement rather than rigid structure.
If time blindness and overcommitment are your biggest struggles, Sunsama's time awareness features and guided planning rituals provide the structure many ADHD adults need. The mindful approach works best for people who can commit to daily engagement and want to focus on intentional work rather than maximizing task completion.
People who need extensive customization because their ADHD presents in ways that don't match standard productivity advice should look at Amazing Marvin first. The ability to enable only the features that help your specific brain makes it worth the steeper learning curve for many users.
For phone-based distraction and focus session struggles, Study Bunny's gamified timer approach provides motivation through virtual pet care that genuinely works for many ADHD adults, especially when paired with one of the more comprehensive task managers on this list.
Frequently Asked Questions
**Can I use multiple apps together or should I pick just one?**
Many ADHD adults find success using a combination of apps that serve different purposes. A common setup pairs a comprehensive task manager like Griply or Amazing Marvin with a focus timer like Study Bunny. The task manager handles what to do, while the focus timer handles staying on task while doing it. The key is avoiding redundancy. If two apps both want to be your task manager, you'll end up with tasks scattered across both and nothing getting done. Pick one app per function and stick with it for at least two weeks before deciding it doesn't work.
**What if I download an app and never use it?**
This is incredibly common with ADHD. The initial excitement of a new productivity system leads to downloading the app, then executive dysfunction prevents actually setting it up. To counter this, block 30 minutes immediately after downloading to do the initial setup. Add a few real tasks, configure one widget, and complete one task in the app before closing it. This creates momentum and familiarity that makes opening it again much easier. If you still don't use it after a week, delete it. The guilt of unused apps cluttering your phone creates its own executive dysfunction.
**Do these apps work if I keep forgetting to check them?**
Some do, some don't. Numo and Griply are relatively forgiving of inconsistent use because you can jump back in without extensive catch-up work. Sunsama requires more daily consistency to function as designed. The iOS widget strategy helps with the forgetting problem significantly. Put your chosen app's widget on your main home screen where you'll see it every time you unlock your phone. This passive reminder often prompts engagement without requiring you to remember to check the app actively.
**Are free versions enough or do I need premium?**
Most of these apps offer free tiers that are genuinely usable for basic ADHD task management. The premium features typically add customization, advanced analytics, or integration with other tools. Start with free versions and only upgrade if you find yourself actively using the app daily and wishing for specific premium features. Don't pay for productivity apps you're not actually using, it just creates guilt that makes ADHD worse.
**What about Apple Reminders and Calendar?**
The built-in iOS apps can work for some ADHD adults, especially if you prioritize simplicity and integration over ADHD-specific features. Reminders has improved significantly with features like smart lists and tags. However, it lacks the motivation design, gamification, and ADHD-aware approaches that make the specialized apps on this list more sustainable for many users. If you've tried Reminders and it works for you, there's no reason to switch. But if you've tried it and found yourself ignoring notifications and accumulating overdue tasks, the ADHD-specific alternatives here might stick better.
Finding Your ADHD Productivity System
The best ADHD productivity app is the one you'll actually use consistently. That might be the most feature-rich option, or it might be the simplest one that removes friction from task capture. Try one app at a time, give it at least two weeks of genuine use, and pay attention to whether it's reducing your stress or adding to it. The right tool should make productivity feel more manageable, not create another system to maintain perfectly. For iOS users, the combination of ADHD-aware apps and iOS system features like Focus modes and Shortcuts can create a genuinely sustainable productivity approach that works with your brain instead of fighting it.
Other Recommended ADHD Tools for iOS
Beyond the detailed recommendations above, these are some other tools worth exploring for ADHD management on iPhone and iPad. Each offers unique approaches that might resonate with your specific ADHD presentation and productivity needs.