RoutineArc User Guide

How every part of the app works, in the order you are likely to need it.

How do I…

Short walkthroughs for the things people actually want to do.

Capture something by typing

The quickest way in. Type the way you would say it and RoutineArc works out whether it is a task, an event or a note, and pulls out the date, time, place and priority.

Tap the "Add task, event, or note..." bar at the top of Today, Tasks, Calendar, Notes or Events.
Type naturally — "dentist tomorrow at 3pm", "lunch with Sarah at Cafe Roma thursday noon", "p2 renew the passport".
Press send. The item is filed straight away.

Several things at once works: "call mom and buy milk" becomes two items. "buy milk and eggs" stays one, because that is one errand.

If part of what you typed cannot be parsed, that part is kept as a plain task in your own words rather than dropped.

Capture by speaking

Dictate instead of typing. Speech is turned into text on your device, or in the cloud only if you agree.

Tap the round + button at the bottom right of Today.
Choose "Voice dictate", tap the mic, then speak.
Tap "Stop". Check the items it produced, edit anything that is wrong, then Save all.

Nothing is saved until you confirm, so a misheard word costs you a tap, not a wrong entry.

If your device cannot handle your language on-device, RoutineArc asks whether to use Apple's cloud recognition instead. Say no and type it — nothing is sent unless you agree.

Capture from a photo or screenshot

Point the camera at an appointment card, a flyer or a whiteboard, or pick a screenshot from your library, and RoutineArc reads the text off it.

Tap the + button on Today, then "Scan text (OCR)".
Choose Camera or Library.
Review what it found and save.

Text recognition runs entirely on your device — the picture is never uploaded.

A photo of a card stays one item. A photo of a bulleted list becomes one item per bullet.

If the photo has no readable text, RoutineArc says so rather than closing silently.

Start a task from a picture

Keeps the picture itself rather than reading it — the shelf you need to match, the form you have to fill in, the parking bay you left the car in.

Tap the + button on Today, then "Attach photo to task".
Choose Camera or Library.
The task opens with the picture already attached; give it a title and save.

Different from "Scan text (OCR)", which pulls the words out and throws the picture away — this one keeps the picture.

Ask Siri, or use Shortcuts

Ask RoutineArc what is next, tick a task off, add something or start a focus session by voice, or put the same actions in your own shortcuts. Siri listens for these phrases in English.

Say "What's next in RoutineArc". Siri reads what is on now and what comes next, today and tomorrow, from your events and tasks, without opening RoutineArc.
Say "Complete a task in RoutineArc" and Siri asks which one. RoutineArc applies it the next time you open it, and a widget showing that task drops it at once.
Say "Add a task in RoutineArc" or "Add an event in RoutineArc", then say it the way you would type it, such as "call mom tomorrow". Siri opens RoutineArc, which adds it.
Say "Start focus in RoutineArc" and choose a task. RoutineArc opens Focus Mode on it and starts the timer.

Each action answers to a few phrasings, and the Shortcuts app has them all, for your own shortcuts.

What's Next and Complete a Task keep working after the free week. Adding does not: Siri says so, and if you continue, RoutineArc keeps your words on Today under "Not saved yet" for when you unlock it.

Share into RoutineArc

Send text, a web link or photos to RoutineArc from another app, and add them to your day when you are ready.

In the other app, tap Share and choose RoutineArc.
The sheet says "Saved to RoutineArc" and what it saved. You stay in the app you were in.
Open RoutineArc. What you shared waits on Today under "Not saved yet". Tap Add to review it and save it, or Discard to drop it.

RoutineArc takes text, one web link, or up to ten photos at a time. Nothing is added to your day until you open it and confirm.

A photo is read when you open it, on your device. A link shared on its own is offered as a task named for its site.

If RoutineArc already holds as many shared items as it keeps, the sheet says so and saves nothing more until you have gone through them. A very long text is cut short, and the sheet says that too.

After the free week, sharing still saves what you share, and says so. Adding it needs an unlock.

Sharing to RoutineArc saves on your device only, and RoutineArc's own code there makes no network request.

Add from Control Center

A button for Control Center, the Lock Screen or the Action Button that opens RoutineArc where you add a task or an event.

On iOS 18 or later, edit Control Center, add a control, and choose "Add to RoutineArc".
Tap it. RoutineArc opens where you add a task or an event.

You can also place it on the Lock Screen, or set the Action Button to it.

After the free week it opens RoutineArc as you left it, with no purchase screen.

Plan my day

Turns your events and open tasks into an order of work, fitting tasks around fixed commitments and leaving room for travel.

On Today, scroll down to the Day Plan section. "Export to PDF" and "Plan my day" sit beside its heading.
Tap "Plan my day".
Later in the day, once a task’s time in the plan has passed and it is still open, the plan says how many tasks are behind. Tap "Re-plan from now" to plan the rest of the day from now.
After any re-plan, tap "Undo" to get back the plan you had before it. It goes when you leave Today.
Tap "Export to PDF" if you want it on paper.

A task with "Work Task" turned on in its edit form is only scheduled inside the hours in your work schedule.

A habit set to "At a set time" in Habits goes into the plan at that time, and your tasks are fitted around it. Once you have ticked it off today, the next plan leaves its time free.

With Apple Calendar connected, a timed event in it is fixed and the plan works around it. An all-day event does not fill the day.

Show your Apple Calendar events

See the events in your Apple Calendar on Today, in the Calendar tab, in Plan my day and on the widgets. RoutineArc reads them on this device and never changes them.

Open Settings → Calendar → Apple Calendar and tap "Connect Apple Calendar". iOS asks whether RoutineArc may read your calendars.
Tap "Calendars" to choose which calendars show. They all show to start.
Tap an event from Apple Calendar to see it. To change it, tap "Open in Calendar" and change it in the Calendar app.

RoutineArc asks for access only when you tap "Connect Apple Calendar", here or on the first day. If you said no, Apple Calendar says how to allow it in iOS Settings.

The events are not copied into RoutineArc's data, its backups, Export data or iCloud sync, and RoutineArc sets no reminders for them.

Declined invitations and cancelled events are left out.

Which calendars you turned off is kept on this device, and iCloud sync does not carry it.

To stop, turn off "Show Apple Calendar events" on the same page. It works on every plan, after the free week too.

Set priorities and pick the one that matters

RoutineArc uses the Eisenhower matrix: urgent and important, in four levels from P1 to P4.

Open a task (tap "Edit" first, unless it opened ready to edit) and tap a priority, or say it when you capture ("p2 renew the passport").
Turn on "Eat That Frog" to mark the single most important task of the day; it pins to the top of Today.
On the Tasks tab, switch to the matrix view to see all four quadrants and drag a task between them.
Inside a task, "Urgent" and "Important" are separate switches under EISENHOWER QUADRANT. Setting the P number moves both switches; moving the switches does NOT change the P number.
The "On Deck" card in Today's Priorities section is whichever task the app thinks is next. Tap it to open the On Deck screen and work through them one at a time — that card is the only way in, so keep the Priorities section shown if you use it.

Priority and quadrant are the same fact shown two ways, but only priority drives the pair. To change both at once, drag the task between quadrants in the matrix view on the Tasks tab.

Only one task can be the frog at a time. Marking a second moves the badge.

Make something repeat

Tasks and events can repeat daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or on a custom interval.

Open the task or event (tap "Edit" first, unless it opened ready to edit) and choose how often under REPEAT.
For weekly, pick which days. For monthly, pick the day of the month.
For anything else, choose Custom, type a number beside "Every" and pick days, weeks or months.

Work in a focus session

Three timers. When you start focus, the time you actually spend is recorded so Insights can show it back to you.

Open the Focus tab and pick Pomodoro, Timer or Stopwatch.
Or start focus straight from a task, which preloads a sensible length.
In Pomodoro, turn on Strict Mode if you want leaving the app to fail the run. It is not offered on the plain timer or the stopwatch.
In Pomodoro, turn on Ambient Sound for background noise while it runs.
On the stopwatch, each lap collects under Lap History.

Clear the backlog: evening review, weekly review, Keep It Honest, On Deck

Four different ways of dealing with what did not get done, each suited to a different mood.

Evening Review, for tasks whose due date has already passed: swipe RIGHT for Rollover, which brings it forward to today, DOWN to Complete it, LEFT to Delete it.
Weekly Review, for the wider backlog: swipe RIGHT to schedule it, LEFT to leave it alone, DOWN to delete it. The directions are NOT the same as Evening Review — see the note below.
Keep It Honest: for tasks that keep slipping. Each one must be done, deferred, delegated or deleted.
On Deck: one task at a time, with a timer, when everything feels like too much.
Both decks show buttons on every card as well, so you never have to swipe if you would rather tap.

THE TWO DECKS DISAGREE. In Evening Review, swiping left deletes; in Weekly Review it only leaves the task alone. Swiping down completes in Evening Review but deletes in Weekly Review. Read the label on the card before you fling it — a habit learned in one deck will destroy a task in the other.

Evening Review and Weekly Review are prompted at times you choose under Settings → Planning → Reviews.

Save places and get leave-by times

Store the places you go often and RoutineArc works out when you need to set off.

Turn on Settings → Places → Address lookup → "Look up addresses" first.
Go to Settings → Places → Saved Places and add a place, with an arrival buffer if you like to be early.
Put that place on an event and Today will show when to leave.

Address lookup is off by default and uses a network lookup, which is why it is opt-in.

Tell it when you work

Your shifts shape the plan: work tasks are scheduled inside them, and the calendar shows them as bands behind your events.

Go to Settings → Planning → Work Schedule. Once you have a shift, tapping it on the Calendar and then "Edit work schedule" brings you back here.
Add a shift with its date, times and location.
Set it to repeat, and how many months ahead to project it.

A shift whose end is earlier than its start ends the next morning, such as 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. The form says so under its times, and the Calendar shows its part on each day.

Manage what RoutineArc remembers

RoutineArc picks up facts about you — where the gym is, that you prefer mornings — and uses them when it files new things.

Open Settings → AI and memory → Memory to read, edit or delete anything it knows.
Use "Tell it something" to add a fact yourself.
Turn "Learn facts automatically" off in Settings → AI and memory → What AI does if you would rather confirm each one: a card on Today asks before anything is saved.

Memory is stored on your device, and in your own iCloud if you turn on sync, and you can delete any fact at any time. With address lookup on, an address it fills into a task or event is looked up like one you type.

Choose the AI backend

Two options, and both run entirely on your device.

Open Settings → AI and memory → AI engine.
Apple Intelligence, where your iPhone or iPad has it, is built into iOS and runs on the Neural Engine, so it uses little battery and needs no download. This is the recommended choice.
Rules engine needs no model at all and always works, but is far less flexible.

If Apple Intelligence is off or still preparing, RoutineArc runs the rules engine meanwhile and switches over when it becomes available.

Turn on reminders and the iPhone Live Activity

Reminders are off until you ask for them.

Open Settings → Notifications.
Turn on "Local Reminders".
Optionally turn on "Live Activity" on iPhone, which puts the current block on the Lock Screen and, where the iPhone has one, the Dynamic Island.
"Reminder sound" and "Reminder vibration" are on the same page. The timer has its own, "Timer sound" and "Timer vibration", on Settings → Focus.

If reminders ever stop being scheduled — usually because notification permission was revoked — RoutineArc tells you once rather than failing quietly.

Put RoutineArc on your home screen

Five widgets: Home, Tasks, Priority Matrix, Day Briefing and Day Overview.

Turn on Settings → Today, tabs and widgets → Widgets → "Background widget updates".
Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap Edit → Add Widget, and find RoutineArc.
Tap a task in the widget to complete it, or + to capture something.

Widget updates are off by default because they cost a little battery.

Try RoutineArc, then unlock it

RoutineArc is free to use for seven days. After that it keeps everything you already have and stops accepting new items, and editing existing ones until you unlock it.

Use it normally for the first seven days — nothing to sign up for, and no card. Automatic daily backups and sync across your devices with iCloud come with monthly, yearly and the lifetime unlock; backing up by hand, restoring, sharing and deleting are free for good.
Three ways in, whenever you like: the row at the top of Today, and RoutineArc Unlimited, the first row of More and the first row of Settings.
Four ways to pay: a monthly or yearly subscription, the one-time Essentials unlock, or the one-time lifetime unlock. Monthly, yearly and lifetime also turn on the automatic daily backup and let you sync across your devices with iCloud; Essentials does not.
The screen leads with the two plans, yearly and monthly; yearly also shows what it comes to each month. Essentials and the lifetime unlock are under "Pay once instead". Tap a plan to buy it.
If you own Essentials, the upgrade to Unlimited takes the lifetime unlock’s place there: a one-time payment that adds the automatic daily backup and sync across your devices with iCloud.
When the App Store offers you yearly’s first year at a lower price, yearly shows that price in place of the monthly figure, and what it costs after the first year. Apple’s purchase sheet states both before anything is charged.
On a new iPhone or iPad, tap Restore purchases — the unlock follows your Apple Account, not the device.
If you have an offer code, tap Redeem a code, under Restore purchases, and enter it in Apple’s sheet.
When the week ends, RoutineArc explains what changed once, and never asks again.
Once it has ended, the unlock screen shows your free week: the tasks you finished and the time you focused, when there is enough to show.

Read-only does not mean locked out. Everything stays readable, searchable and exportable, you can still tick tasks and events off, defer what you cannot get to, and delete whatever you like.

There is no account. The purchase is between you and the App Store; RoutineArc only ever learns whether this Apple Account holds an unlock.

Back up, restore and import

Everything is stored on your device, so backups are yours to keep.

Settings → Sync and backups → Backups → Export data writes a JSON file and offers the share sheet.
Under Backups, turn on "Automatic daily backup" (it comes with the monthly, yearly or lifetime unlock, not the free week or Essentials), and restore or delete any of them from the list.
Settings → Import has CSV templates to download for tasks, events, work schedule and rhythms, and imports a filled-in CSV.

Restoring replaces tasks and lists, events and calendars, notes, the work schedule and rhythm profiles. It is not a merge.

A backup restores in the version of RoutineArc that made it or a later one. An older version says to update first, and changes nothing.

On a device that syncs, what you restore replaces what your other devices have too, as each of them syncs. Something another device deleted after the backup was made may stay deleted.

Sync across your devices

With RoutineArc Unlimited, your tasks, events, notes and the rest can be the same on each of your devices, through your own iCloud.

Sign in to iCloud with the same Apple Account on each device.
On each device, open Settings → Sync and backups → Sync Across Devices and turn on "Sync with iCloud".
Changes go across when you open RoutineArc, when you come back to it, and shortly after you change something. Sync Across Devices says when this device last synced.
iCloud usually tells RoutineArc when another of your devices sends a change, and RoutineArc fetches it at once, even in the background, as long as iOS has not closed it.
While RoutineArc is open it also looks for changes from your other devices about every ten seconds, and as you leave it, it tries to send anything that has not gone yet.
A change you make offline goes as soon as the device is back online, while RoutineArc is open.

Settings, task photos and business rhythm duties stay on the device where you made them. To use the same business rhythm and work schedule on every device, turn on "Sync business rhythm and work schedule" under Sync Across Devices.

If two devices change the same item, the later change is kept. A delete wins over an edit to the same item, even a later one.

Before the first sync on a device, and before a sync that replaces a lot, RoutineArc saves a copy of what is on that device in Backups.

Your data is encrypted on its way to iCloud and while it is stored there, and only your Apple Account can open it.

If iCloud asks RoutineArc to wait, Sync Across Devices says when it will try again. Nothing is lost while it waits.

Keep RoutineArc up to date on each device. A device on an older version stops syncing when it meets something only a newer one knows, such as a list, and says to update the app.

With sync on, Handoff lets another of your devices nearby pick up the task, event or note you have open: on iPhone it appears in the App Switcher, and on iPad in the Dock. Both devices need "Sync with iCloud" on, and Handoff turned on in the Settings app. It tells the other device which item, never what it says. If the item has not reached that device yet, RoutineArc looks again for a few seconds, then says so.

Change what you see

Both the Today screen and the bottom tab bar are yours to arrange.

Tap Customize on Today to reorder or hide sections (up to four at once).
On the same screen, choose which tabs appear, up to five. More lists every screen that is not on the tab bar.
Under Settings → Appearance, Look sets light or dark and the colour palette, and Text and layout the text size and a compact layout.

Notes, Events and Insights are hidden by default — turn them on here, or reach them from More.

Choose which lists and calendars show on your day

Hide a list or a calendar from Today, the Calendar tab, Plan my day and the widgets. Its tasks and events are kept.

Tap "Customize" at the bottom of Today. Under "Lists and Calendars", tap a list or a calendar to hide it, and tap it again to show it.
Or open Calendars from the Calendar tab and tap the circle beside a calendar.
While something is hidden, Today and the Calendar tab say so, such as "Hiding Work". Tap "Change" there to choose again, or "Show all".

This choice is kept on this device, and iCloud sync does not carry it: an iPad can show other calendars than your iPhone.

Apple Calendar’s calendars are in Calendars too, under APPLE CALENDAR: the same choice as Settings → Calendar → Apple Calendar.

The Tasks and Events tabs still list everything, and reminders still ring.

A list put away is left out of your day the same way.

Every screen

One entry per screen, for when you want to know what a control does.

Today

The screen the app opens on. Top to bottom: how long is left of your free week, the date and how many tasks you have finished, the capture bar, a Memory card when it has something to ask or undo, your priorities, today's events, and the day plan.

Type into the bar that says "Add task, event, or note..." to capture anything. It works out whether you meant a task, an event or a note.
Under Priorities, the "On Deck" card is the single thing to do next. Tap it to open the On Deck screen, where you work through them one at a time.
A task marked TODAY'S MIT is the one whose “Eat That Frog” switch you turned on in a task's edit form; it stays pinned to the top until it is done.
Tap the circle to the left of any task to complete it. Tap the row itself to open it.
Touch and hold a task for a menu of what you can do with it, such as Mark done or Start focus. Touch and hold an event in the schedule for Complete event, or Edit series on one that repeats. An Apple Calendar event has no menu.
Tap "Plan my day" to build a schedule around the events you already have.
When the plan says nothing is due today and counts your backlog, tap "Fit backlog into today" to fit your undated tasks into the gaps between events.
Tap "Export to PDF" to share the plan, and "Customize" to choose which of these sections appear at all.
Tap the gear, top right, for Settings.

Most of this screen is optional: "Customize" can hide any section you do not use. The day plan is the exception — it is pinned, and shows a padlock there rather than a switch. The Memory card is not a section: it shows only while it has something to ask or undo.

The row at the very top shows the trial countdown while it is running; RoutineArc Unlimited, the first row of Settings, shows the same count.

With a keyboard, ⌘N on any tab opens what the + on Today opens, and ⌘F goes to the search field on Tasks, Notes or Events, or from another tab opens Tasks ready to search.

Tasks

Every task you have, as a list or as the Eisenhower matrix. The list can be filtered, and ordered by priority or grouped by tag.

Tap the magnifying glass, top right, and type in "Search tasks…" to find something by title. Tap it again to close the search and see every task.
In the list, tap the funnel, top right, to filter and sort it. "Show" picks Active, P1, P2, P3, P4 or Done; "Area" picks All, Work or Personal; "Sort by" picks Priority or Tags. The list changes as you tap. Tap the X to close, or "Reset" to go back to every active task by priority.
By priority, the P number orders the tasks; between two tasks of the same priority, overdue comes before dated, and undated goes last. By tags, tasks are grouped by their first tag, A to Z, untagged last, and ordered the same way within each group.
While a filter hides tasks, the funnel is highlighted and a chip at the start of the row of lists names the filter. Tap that chip to see every active task again.
In the list, the capture bar and the row of lists scroll away with the tasks, to leave the screen to them. Scroll back to the top to see them again.
Top right: the magnifying glass to search, the funnel to filter and sort, a checkbox to start selecting tasks, a toggle between the list and the four-quadrant matrix, and + to add.
Touch and hold a task for its menu, such as Mark done, Start focus or Delete. Select, in the same menu, starts choosing several tasks, as the checkbox does.
In the matrix, drag a task between quadrants to change whether it is urgent, important, both or neither.
To export, tap the checkbox to start selecting, choose the tasks you want, then tap "Share PDF". The export is what you selected, not what the filters show.

The filters combine: Work with P1 shows only urgent, important work tasks. The matrix leaves these filters out and shows every task by quadrant, so the funnel is in the list only.

The matrix is the fastest way to re-prioritise several tasks at once, because moving a card sets both flags in one gesture.

Lists

Keep tasks apart, such as Groceries, Work or a trip. A task in no list is in the Inbox.

In the Tasks list, the row of lists under the capture bar shows "All", the "Inbox" and each list. Tap one to see only its tasks.
Tap "New list" in that row to make one: name it and pick a colour.
A task you add while a list is open goes into it. Typing "to Groceries" at the end of a task puts it there too (in or on before a list's name work as well), and so does saying it to Siri.
To move tasks, tap the checkbox to start selecting, choose them, then tap "Move" and pick a list or the Inbox.
Tap "Edit lists" in the row to open Lists, where you can rename a list, change its colour, change the order, put it away or delete it.

A list put away keeps its tasks but leaves them out of All, Today, the Calendar, Plan my day and the widgets. Bring it back from the Lists screen, where it is under PUT AWAY.

Deleting a list moves its tasks to the Inbox, with "Undo" at the top of the screen.

Calendar

Your events on a timeline, by day or by week, with your working hours shaded in.

Use "Day" and "Week" at the top to change the span.
Tap the arrows either side of the date to move backwards and forwards.
Tap + at the bottom right to create one, or tap any block to open it.
To change your work hours, tap a work shift — the thin bar at the edge of its shading, or its name under the date in the day view — then "Edit work schedule". With no shift yet, use Settings → Planning → Work Schedule.
To copy a day into the day you are looking at, tap "Copy a day" under the quick-add box in the day view. Copy from the day before, the week before, or "Another day": the sheet lists what will be copied, and what will not and why. "Undo" on the row that takes its place takes back exactly what was copied.

A red line marks the current time on the day view.

Copy a day copies one-off events and work shifts. Tasks, habits, repeating events and events longer than a day are not copied, and a day copied twice gains nothing the second time.

Events with a place show it under the title. Opening one gives you "Navigate", which opens the place in Maps.

With Apple Calendar connected, its events are drawn in their calendar's colour. They cannot be dragged: tap one to see it.

Calendars

Keep events apart, such as Work, Family or a club, each in its own colour. An event in no calendar of yours is in the default calendar.

Tap the stacked squares beside the Day and Week switch on the Calendar to open "Calendars".
Tap + at the top right to make one: name it and pick a colour.
To put an event in a calendar, open it, tap "Edit", then the row under CALENDAR, and pick one. "New calendar" there makes one and puts the event in it.
In Calendars, tap a calendar to rename it, change its colour or delete it, and use the arrows to change the order.
The default calendar is at the top of Calendars. Tap it to rename it or give it a colour of its own; "App colour" puts it back.
Tap the circle beside a calendar to hide it from Today, the Calendar, Plan my day and the widgets on this device. Tap it again to show it.

Each event is drawn in its calendar’s colour on the Calendar, on Today and in the widgets.

Deleting a calendar moves its events to the default calendar, with "Undo" at the top of the screen.

Events

A plain list of every event, and the screen for editing one.

Tap an event to open it, then "Edit" to change anything (on an iPad, the Calendar’s two-pane day view opens it ready to edit).
Touch and hold an event in the list for Delete, which you confirm before anything goes. An Apple Calendar event has no menu.
Set "Start" and the end time, or turn on "All day" to drop the times entirely.
Under REMINDER, choose how long before the event you want to be told.
Under REPEAT, make it recur — daily, weekly, monthly, or a custom interval.
Under LOCATION, type a place or pick a saved one. Once it is saved, "Navigate" opens the place in Maps whenever you open the event again.
Tap "Save" to keep the changes, or "Delete Event" to remove it.

Notes

Anything that is not a task or an event — with a summary when a note gets long.

Tap + at the top right to write one, or tap a note to open it.
Use "Search notes…" to find one by title or content.
Touch and hold a note and tap "Summarize" ("AI Summarize" while Apple Intelligence is on) to condense it and pull out its action items. Tap "Done" to close the summary.
Tap "Save" to keep it. The X closes the editor without saving, so save before you leave.

Focus

Three timers — Pomodoro, a plain countdown, and a stopwatch — with a history of what you finished.

Pick "Pomodoro", "Timer" or "Stopwatch" at the top.
For Pomodoro, set "Focus (mins)" and "Break (mins)" under Pomodoro Settings.
Press the play button to start. The buttons either side reset and skip.
Under "Pomodoro" only: "Strict Mode" fails the run if you leave the app, and "Ambient Sound" plays background noise. Neither appears on "Timer" or "Stopwatch".
On the stopwatch, laps collect under "Lap History".

Focus time is recorded when focus starts from a task — the "Start Focus" button on any task, or its Focus chip — which ties the session to that task.

Insights

What actually happened: focused time, how good your estimates were, the spread across Eisenhower quadrants, and a 60-day completion heat map.

Open Insights from the tab bar, or from More while it is not on the tab bar.
Read the estimate accuracy figure to see whether you routinely under-estimate work.
Use the quadrant spread to check you are not living entirely in urgent-and-important.
The heat map shows which days you completed anything at all.

Everything here is computed on the device from your own history. There is nothing to switch on.

When the screen is wide, as on an iPad in landscape, the focus cards and the task charts are side by side.

The purchase and Settings, then three groups: Not on your tab bar, Routines and reviews, and Help.

The first row is RoutineArc Unlimited — the monthly and yearly subscriptions, the Essentials unlock and the lifetime unlock. Settings is the row under it.
Not on your tab bar lists every screen you have not put on the tab bar: Notes, Events and Insights to start with. "Edit" beside it opens Customize, where you choose the tabs.
Routines and reviews holds Habits, where the ready-made routines are, Evening Review, Weekly Review and Keep It Honest.
Help holds this guide, "Rate RoutineArc" and "Email the developer".

"Rate RoutineArc" opens the App Store's page for writing a review of RoutineArc.

"Email the developer" opens your email app with a message addressed to the developer and the version of RoutineArc as its subject. RoutineArc adds nothing else to it and never sees it.

Task detail

Everything about one task. It is the longest screen in the app, so it is grouped into labelled sections you can skip past.

On iPhone, open a task and tap "Edit" to change it; a new task, and a task opened in the Tasks pane on an iPad, open ready to edit.
PRIORITY sets P1 to P4, and moves the "Urgent" and "Important" switches under EISENHOWER QUADRANT to match. Those switches can be set on their own, but doing so leaves the P number where it was.
Turn on "Eat That Frog" to pin this task to the top of today as your most important one.
COMPLETE BY sets the due date. Turn on "Include Time" if the hour matters; leave it off for a whole day.
ENERGY & FOCUS records how long you think it will take and how much energy it needs, which is what "Plan my day" on Today schedules around.
REPEAT makes it recur. Choose a preset, or "Every" a custom number of days, weeks or months.
LOCATION takes a place. Type one into "Add location", tap the crosshair beside it to use where you are now, or tap one of your saved places under it ("Manage" edits that list). Once it is saved, "Navigate" opens the place in Maps whenever you open the task again.
SUBTASKS breaks the job up. Type into "Add subtask...", or tap "Suggest" beside SUBTASKS ("AI Suggest" while Apple Intelligence is on) to have them drafted for you.
CUSTOM TAGS, DELEGATED TO and PICTURE ATTACHMENT cover the rest: your own labels, who owns it, and a photo.
Tap "Save" to keep changes, "Start Focus" to work on it now, or "Delete Task" to remove it.

Setting a due date with a time, on a task with a location, is what produces a leave-by warning.

Tap "Suggest" beside PRIORITY to have the title and notes read and a priority picked on the form. Nothing is saved until you tap "Save".

Nothing on this screen is required. A task with only a title is perfectly valid.

Settings

Eleven pages, listed under Your day, Your app and Your data, and reached from the gear on Today or from More. Tap a row to open its page, which shows all of its settings in groups, with nothing to unfold. Above them, the first row is RoutineArc Unlimited, which opens the plans.

Planning: Hours sets "Day starts" and "Day ends". Work picks the rhythms you work to under "Business rhythm" (you can pick more than one), and holds "Work Schedule". Reviews chooses when the "Morning Review" and "Evening Review" prompts appear, and the "Weekly Review Day".
Calendar: Apple Calendar shows the events in your Apple Calendar, and "Week Starts On" sets the day your weeks begin.
Notifications: Reminders holds "Local Reminders", "Reminder sound" and "Reminder vibration". On iPhone, Lock Screen holds "Live Activity", which puts the current block on the Lock Screen and, where the iPhone has one, the Dynamic Island. Turning "Local Reminders" off stops every scheduled reminder — tasks, events, leave-by and the one about the free week ending. Focus timer alerts have their own switches and are not affected.
Focus: Timer holds "Timer sound" and "Timer vibration"; the length of a focus and a break are on the Focus tab, under Pomodoro Settings. History holds "Clear Focus History".
Today, tabs and widgets: "Customize", under Today and the tab bar, chooses the sections on Today and the tabs on the bar. Widgets holds "Background widget updates".
Appearance: Look holds "Light & Dark" and "Color Palette", Text and layout holds "Text Size" and "Compact Layout", and Accessibility holds "High Contrast" and "Animations".
AI and memory: AI engine picks what reads what you type, What AI does switches each feature on and off, "Learn facts automatically" among them, and Memory opens what the app remembers about you.
Places: Saved places opens "Saved Places", and Address lookup holds "Look up addresses", for network geocoding.
Sync and backups: Sync Across Devices turns on iCloud sync, on a device that can sync. Backups holds "Export data", "Restore from backup", the count of what is on this device, and "Automatic daily backup".
Import: Templates and imports has CSV templates to download, and imports a filled-in CSV.
Privacy: Privacy policy opens the privacy policy, and Permissions holds "RoutineArc in iOS Settings", which opens iOS Settings at RoutineArc, with what each permission is for under it.

"Only on days I work", under Work on the Planning page, is on by default: with a work schedule, the rhythm's tasks show only on days that have a shift and go on your days off, and what you did not finish on your last shift comes back on your next one. Turn it off to see them every day.

"Look up addresses", on the Places page, is off by default, and says under it what it sends over the network.

When the screen is wide, as on an iPad in landscape, the list and the page are side by side, with Planning open first.

Habits

Daily or specific-weekday habits, at any time or a set time, with streaks, a 28-day grid and a completion rate, and ready-made routines to start from.

Open More, then Habits.
Tap + at the top right, or "Add your first habit" while the list is empty.
Type into "Habit name (e.g. Meditate)", choose "Every day" or "Specific days" under CADENCE, and tap "Create habit".
Under TIME, choose "At a set time" to give a habit a start and how long it takes. Plan my day puts it in the plan at that time.
For a ready-made routine, tap the sunrise icon beside +, or "Add a routine" while the list is empty. Pick Morning, Study day, Shift day or Wind-down, change STARTS AT and DAYS if you like, and add it: each step becomes its own habit, one after another from the start time. Steps already in your habits are not added again.
Under DUE TODAY, tap a habit to check it off for today. Tap again to undo.
The grid under each habit shows the last 28 days at a glance.
To remove one, tap the pencil beside it, then "Delete habit" and "Delete". Its history goes with it.

Evening Review, Weekly Review, Keep It Honest, On Deck

Four ways to clear a backlog. Evening Review and Weekly Review are swipe decks — one task per card, decided with a gesture. Keep It Honest and On Deck use buttons.

Evening Review — for tasks whose due date has already passed; things due today are not in the deck. Swipe RIGHT for Rollover, which brings it forward to today, DOWN to Complete it, LEFT to Delete it.
Weekly Review — for the wider backlog. Swipe RIGHT to schedule it, LEFT to leave it where it is, DOWN to delete it.
Keep It Honest — asks what you will actually do with a stalled task. Choose "Do", "Defer", "Delegate" or "Delete".
On Deck — the one thing to do next. "Snooze" pushes it back and "Not now" skips it; once you have passed on everything, "Show passed tasks again" brings those back.
Every card in both decks also has buttons, so you never have to swipe if you would rather tap.

THE DECKS DO NOT AGREE, and it is worth knowing before you build a habit. Swiping LEFT deletes in Evening Review but only leaves the task alone in Weekly Review. Swiping DOWN completes in Evening Review but deletes in Weekly Review. Read the label on the card before you fling it.

Both reviews are prompted at times you set under Settings → Planning → Reviews.

Memory and Saved Places

The two things the app remembers about you, both editable and both stored on your device, and in your own iCloud if you turn on sync.

Memory: open Settings → AI and memory → Memory. To add a fact, type it into the box under TELL IT SOMETHING and tap + beside it. Tap a fact in the list to change it.
Turn on "Learn confident facts automatically" to let the app keep what it is sure about without asking.
When the app has noticed something, a card on Today asks whether to remember it. Tap the card to see what it noticed: "Save" keeps it and "No" dismisses it.
Saved Places: under ADD A SAVED PLACE, type a name and an address, set "Arrival buffer in minutes", and tap "Search & Save Place". With the address left empty the button reads "Pin Current Location" and saves where you are now.
A saved place can then be attached to any task or event by name instead of retyping the address.

The arrival buffer is how early you want to arrive. It is added to the drive time when a leave-by warning is worked out.

Deleting a memory deletes it from Memory. A backup saved before then still holds it, and an address it already filled into a task or event stays there.

Work Schedule

The hours you actually work, which the day planner treats as available and everything else as your own time.

Open Settings → Planning → Work Schedule. Once you have a shift, you can also tap it on the Calendar, then "Edit work schedule".
Add a shift with its "Date", "Time" and "Repeat".
Set "Location" for the shift, or leave it as "Anywhere".
Tap "Save Shift" to keep it ("Save Shifts" when it repeats, "Save Changes" when you are editing one). "Save Location" belongs to the "+ New Location" form above it and only saves a place — it does not save the shift — and it looks the address up, so it needs Settings → Places → Address lookup → "Look up addresses" turned on.

Work hours are shaded on the Calendar, and "Schedule during work hours" in a task’s edit form will only place it inside them.

An end earlier than the start makes a shift that ends the next morning; the line under "Time" says when. A shift that starts and ends at the same time is refused.

Customize Home

Which sections appear on Today, and in what order.

Tap "Customize" at the bottom of Today.
Switch off any section you do not want to see.
Use the up and down arrows on each row to reorder what is left.
Under "Lists and Calendars", tap a list or calendar to hide it from your day on this device.
Tap the X at the top left — the layout saves as you change it.

Quick Add

Where quick-add links land. The Shortcuts app can open daypilot://quick-add-action?text=… to add something without opening the app. Shows what it understood and waits for you to confirm before anything is saved.

The text comes from wherever you sent it, so there is nothing to type here.
Check the list of what it was read as — each row shows the title, the type and the date it picked.
Tap the add button at the bottom — it names how many it will save — or "Cancel" to discard. There is no editing on this screen: to change something, add it and then open it, or cancel and send different text.

Onboarding and Privacy

The steps on first launch, which end on your day planned, and the full privacy policy.

On first launch, "What’s on today?" takes what you need to do, one thing on each line, and "What’s fixed?" what is at a set time. "Your day" then shows them planned.
Open Settings → Privacy → Privacy policy → "Privacy Policy" to read what leaves the device and when.
It names every case where anything leaves the device, and says what is sent in each.

During the free week, "Next" on the last step opens the plans over Today. "Start my free week" closes them without buying anything. "Skip" goes straight to Today.

There is no RoutineArc account, so there is nothing to sign in to. With sync on, your data is in your own iCloud too: turning sync off leaves it there, and you remove it by deleting RoutineArc's data in your iCloud storage settings.

This guide

What you are reading. It ships inside the app, so it works offline.

Open More, then How to Use RoutineArc.
The first half answers "how do I…" for a specific job. The second half describes every screen.
Export it to PDF from the top of the screen if you would rather read it away from your device.