How to use Dayfall

The idea in 30 seconds

Dayfall is a countdown planner for ADHD and time-blindness. You pick a deadline; the app numbers every day backward from it, so the big number at the top always tells you where you are in time. Each day holds a few small tasks, each with a set number of minutes.

★ The one thing. Every day has one starred task with its own big Start button. Do just that and the day counts.
Tap the minutes, the timer starts. No deciding when to begin.
At zero: "Time's up. You're allowed to stop." It means it. There are no streaks, no points, no red badges.
Stuck? The I'm stuck button is always at the bottom. It never judges.

Put it on your phone

Dayfall is a website that installs like an app: it opens full-screen, works offline, and keeps your lists. On iPhone this also unlocks alerts — timer notifications only work once it's on the Home Screen.

iPhone / iPad: open dayfall.day in Safari → tap Share (the square with the arrow) → Add to Home Screen → Add.
Android: open it in Chrome → tap Add on the banner, or ⋮ → Install app.

Once installed, the app icon shows your days-left number (where your phone supports badges), and a long-press on the icon offers an I'm stuck shortcut that opens straight to the reset script.

Offline is fine. Everything saves on your device first. You only need a connection for Sync, buying packs, and sending a sign-in link.

Start a countdown

Tap Start a countdown (first run), or the countdown name at the top → + New countdown.
What is it? — name it (Move out, launch, finals week…). Leave it blank and it's called "Countdown".
Start date — defaults to today.
End date (the deadline) — defaults to three weeks out. Tap Create (or press Enter).

What the numbers mean

Days left = whole calendar days from today to the deadline. It turns amber when you're inside the last week.
Day 0 is deadline day itself. After it passes, the label reads done.
A day with every task checked shows ✓ done.

Right now a countdown's name and dates can't be edited after creation — start a new one if you need different dates. (Archive the old one; nothing is lost.)

Today, Week, Month

The three buttons under the big number switch views.

Today — one expanded card for today: the starred task's hero button, the task list, and an "add a task" row. If you have other countdowns with tasks today, they appear beneath as compact cards you can check off right there (see More than one countdown).
Week — seven day cards; use ‹ › to move a week at a time. Tap a day's header to expand it. Past days are greyed.
Month — a calendar. Each day shows its days-left number and a small green bar for how much of that day is done. Tap any date to jump to that week with the day open — that's how you plan ahead.

Tasks & the one thing

Add a task

At the bottom of any open day: type in Add a task…, pick minutes, tap Add (or press Enter).

Minutes are a fixed menu: 5 · 10 · 15 · 30 · 45 · 60 · 90 · no timer. Choosing from a short list takes a second; estimating from scratch is the decision that stops people starting.

The star ★

Tap ☆ on a task to make it the day's one thing — only one per day. The first task you add to an empty day is starred automatically. The starred task gets a hero card at the top with a big Start 45 min button; once it's done the card reads ✓ Done for today.

Just the first 5. Under the Start button (for tasks of 10+ minutes) there's a smaller button that starts a 5-minute timer on the same task. Starting is the whole battle, so the first step is tiny.

Check it off

Tap the square on the left. If you'd timed it, you'll see how it compared: "Planned 30m · spent 45m. Done is done."

Edit a task (change minutes, move it, repeat it, delete it)

Open a day that has tasks and tap Edit in its header. Each task row now shows:

Minutes dropdown — change how long it gets; saves instantly.
→ Today (on past or future days) / → Tmrw (on today) — moves the task, un-done, to that day.
↻ — repeat every day through the deadline (meds, laundry, watering plants). Check it off or don't; tomorrow it's simply there again. Tap again to stop repeating.
× — delete.

Tap Done to leave edit mode. Every move and delete shows a toast with Undo for seven seconds — there are no "are you sure?" dialogs.

The app learns your estimates. After a handful of timed tasks, if things usually run long it'll quietly suggest picking the next size up.

Timers

Start one

Tap the minutes chip on any task, the hero Start 45 min, Just the first 5, or Start 10 minutes in the I'm stuck sheet. An amber strip appears under the view buttons: the countdown, the task name, a sound button, Stop, and a shrinking bar so you can see time passing, not just read it. The browser tab counts down too, and the screen stays awake.

At zero

The strip turns green: "Time's up. You're allowed to stop." — a short alarm, a buzz, and a soft full-screen pulse. Tap Done. The alarm is never muted, whatever sound mode you're in.

Nudges

Longer timers get a gentle halfway blip (20 min and up) and a 5-minutes-left blip (10 min and up). Turn them off in the menu: Halfway & 5-minutes-left nudges. The end alarm still plays.

Sound while a timer runs — pick one

Mode	What you hear	Alarm if you switch apps?
Silent 🔇	Nothing	Only while Dayfall is open
Soft tick 🔊	A quiet tick once a second	Yes — the tick keeps the sound channel alive
Keep-alive 🤫	Nothing you can hear	Yes — an inaudible hum keeps the alarm working in the background

Set it in the ⋯ menu under While a timer runs, or tap the 🔇/🔊/🤫 button on the timer strip to cycle. Keep-alive is the one to use if you switch apps a lot.

Switching apps or closing the tab

The timer runs on the clock, not the screen — come back and it shows the right time. If it ended while you were away (within the last 15 minutes) you land straight on "You're allowed to stop." without it re-buzzing.

Notifications

The first time you start a timer you'll see "Get a nudge when a timer ends — even if you switch apps." Tap Enable. The end notification is titled "You're allowed to stop." and only fires when you're not looking at the app.

iPhone: notifications require the app to be on your Home Screen (iOS 16.4+) — see Put it on your phone. And if the app is fully closed (not just in the background) a web app can't ring; reopen it and it'll be waiting on "You're allowed to stop."

The I'm stuck button

Always at the bottom of the screen. Tap it and you get three plain steps — no decisions:

Drink water. Sit down for a second.
Start a 10-minute timer. Do the smallest visible thing.
You don't have to finish today. Tomorrow is already written.

Tap Start 10 minutes. If today has a starred task that isn't done, the button says Start 10 minutes on: <that task> and the time counts toward it. On your Home Screen, long-press the app icon for a direct I'm stuck shortcut.

Missed days

Missed days don't shout. Once a day, when you open the app, anything unfinished from earlier days is gathered into one sheet — "From earlier days — These didn't get done. That's fine — check what still matters."

Every leftover is listed with a checkbox (all checked to start). Uncheck anything you don't want to deal with today — it'll simply be offered again tomorrow.
Pick where the checked ones go: Today, Tomorrow, or any day this week. Then Move 3 to today.
Or Let them go — they're marked let-go, not deleted, and stop nagging.
Not now — ask me tomorrow leaves everything where it is.

Every answer is the right one. Moves and let-gos can be undone from the toast.

Deadline day & after

Day 0 is the deadline. The day after, Today shows a recap card: "You made it." with how many tasks you finished and how many timer minutes you put in. That counts.

Archive this countdown tucks it away (nothing is deleted) and switches you to your next live countdown.
Start a new countdown opens the new-countdown sheet.
Bring one back: ⋯ menu → the Archived section near the bottom → Restore.

More than one countdown

You can run several at once — a move-out, a launch, and a helper's list, say.

Add another: tap the countdown name (top right) → + New countdown.
Switch: tap the name → pick from the list (each shows 21 left · 2/5 today).
Today merges them. In Today view, every other countdown that has tasks today appears beneath the main card as a compact, dashed card — you can check off, star, and start timers right there, and tap its header to switch to it.
The recap line at the bottom (Today: 3 of 5 done · 45 timer min) counts across all of them.

Sharing a countdown with a helper

A partner, roommate, family member, or friend who wants to help — without having to ask you what to do. There are two ways today, and they behave very differently. Pick by one question: do you want to see each other's checkmarks?

Way 1 — One shared list (live)

Both phones sign in to the same Dayfall account. You see the same countdowns, and check-offs appear on both phones in real time.

On your phone: tap Sync → enter your email → Send sign-in link → tap the link in your email.
On the helper's phone: open dayfall.day → Sync → enter the same email → they tap the link on their phone.
Done. Both phones now hold the same countdowns and stay in step.

Give the helper their own list: create a second countdown (e.g. "Sam's list") with the same deadline. Their tasks and check-offs live there; yours live in yours; Today view shows both. That's how "your list, their list" works right now.

Way 2 — Their own copy (independent)

The helper gets the list on their phone, and their checkmarks are separate from yours. Nothing syncs between you. Best when someone's helping with their own chunk and you don't need to watch it.

Set up the countdown you want to hand over (a separate one just for them is cleanest).
⋯ menu → Backup → Download my data. Send them the file (text, email, AirDrop).
They open Dayfall → ⋯ menu → Import a backup → pick the file. It merges in; loading it twice never duplicates.

From then on, their copy is theirs. "Check things off freely — my copy is separate."

	Shared account	Their own copy
See each other's check-offs	Yes, live	No
Setup	Both phones sign in with one email	Send a file; they import it
Keeps updating as you add tasks	Yes	No — send a new file
Good for	Partners, a move you're doing together	A friend with one job, a kid, "here's your part"

What's not here yet: invite links, separate helper accounts on one countdown, and per-person permissions. Those are on the roadmap. Today it's exactly the two ways above — a shared account, or an independent copy.

Sharing your whole backup shares everything. Download my data exports all your countdowns. If you only want to hand over one, create it as its own countdown and archive the others first — or just tell the helper to ignore the rest.

Sync across devices

Sync keeps your countdowns the same on every device you sign in to — your phone, a tablet, a laptop. It's optional; without it, everything stays on the one device.

Sign in (no password)

Tap Sync in the view row. Enter your email → Send sign-in link.
Open your email on that same device and tap the link. It opens Dayfall signed in. First time? Check spam.

Repeat on each device with the same email. If a device already had countdowns on it, they're added to the account, not overwritten.

How it behaves

Local first. Every change saves on the device instantly, then syncs when you're online. Offline edits catch up later.
Live. A second device that's open updates without a refresh.
Per-task merging. Tasks added on two devices are both kept; a task deleted anywhere stays deleted; the same task edited in two places keeps the newer edit.
What syncs: countdown names and dates, all tasks (title, minutes, done, star, time spent), repeats, archived status.
What stays on each device: which countdown is selected, the running timer, timer-minute totals in the recap, sound mode, and the nudges setting.
The Sync button shows status: Saving… · Syncing… · Synced · Retry · Offline. Tap it anytime for Sync now.
Sign out keeps the local copy — nothing is deleted from your device.

Your data is private to your account; no one else can read it. Sync is free right now.

Backup & restore

⋯ menu → Backup.

Download my data saves a small file (dayfall-backup-2026-09-06.json) with every countdown. Keep it somewhere safe — cloud drive, notes, email to yourself.
Import a backup loads a backup, a plan pack, or a file someone sent you. It merges — importing the same file twice never duplicates; existing countdowns are updated, new ones added.

Moving to a new phone? Either sign in to Sync on both, or Download my data on the old one and Import it on the new one.

Plan packs

A plan pack is a complete countdown written in advance — every day already broken into small, timed tasks, rest days included. Day 0 is the day you load it. Find them at ⋯ menu → Plan packs → Browse plan packs, or at dayfall.day/packs.html.

Free packs load in one tap from the packs page — tap and it's in your Dayfall, starting today.
Premium packs ($9) are bought on Gumroad and delivered as a file: open Dayfall → ⋯ menu → Import a backup → pick the file.
Deals: add any 5 packs and use code HIGH5 at checkout to get two free; an All-Access Pass with every pack is on the way.
Want to see a pack before buying? Peek inside every pack.

Calendar reminders

Let your phone's calendar do the nagging. ⋯ menu → Reminders → Add this countdown to your calendar.

It saves a calendar file with one 8:00 AM event per remaining day: the days-left number and that day's one thing ("21 left — Pack kitchen"), each with an alert.
Open the file and tap Add All. Export again later and the events update rather than duplicate.

Settings

There are only two, both in the ⋯ menu — everything else is deliberately decided for you.

While a timer runs: Silent / Soft tick / Keep-alive (see Timers).
Halfway & 5-minutes-left nudges: on or off.

Dark mode follows your phone automatically. Notification permission is your phone's own setting.

Shortcuts & accessibility

Enter adds a task, creates a countdown, or sends the sign-in link — whichever field you're in.
Esc closes any sheet.
Everything works with a keyboard and a screen reader: timers announce when they start, hit halfway, and end; day cards, stars, and checkboxes all report their state.
Prefer reduced motion? The end-of-timer flash becomes a single gentle fade.

Troubleshooting

The alarm didn't sound when I switched apps. Set the sound mode to Keep-alive (or Soft tick) — Silent only rings while Dayfall is open. On iPhone, also make sure the app is on your Home Screen and you tapped Enable on the alerts banner.

No notification on iPhone at all. Web notifications need the app added to the Home Screen (iOS 16.4+). Open it from that icon, not from Safari.

The "From earlier days" sheet didn't appear. It's shown once per day. Tap Not now and it genuinely waits until tomorrow.

Sync says Retry or Offline. Check your connection and tap Sync → Sync now. Your edits are safe on the device and push when you're back online.

"Email limit reached." Sign-in links are rate-limited to a few per hour. Wait a bit and try once — don't tap repeatedly.

The link opened but I'm not signed in. Open the email and tap the link on the same device you asked from.

"Couldn't save to this device (storage full?)" Free up space on your phone; the message clears once a save succeeds. Do a Download my data when you can.

A helper's checkmarks don't show on my phone. That means they have their own copy (Way 2). To see each other's check-offs you both need to sign in to the same account (Way 1) — see Sharing with a helper.

I imported a pack and it started on the wrong day. Packs always start the day you load them (day 0 = today). Load it on the day you want to begin.

Quick reference

New countdown: Tap the name at the top → + New countdown
Switch countdown: Tap the name at the top
Plan ahead: Month → tap a date
One thing: Tap ☆ on a task (one per day)
Start a timer: Tap the minutes on a task
Tiny start: Just the first 5 (under the Start button)
Change minutes / move / repeat / delete: Open the day → Edit
Undo: The toast, within 7 seconds
Missed days: Automatic, once a day
Share (live): Sync on both phones, same email
Share (their own copy): Download my data → they Import a backup
Backup: ⋯ → Download my data
Restore an archived countdown: ⋯ → Archived → Restore
Calendar reminders: ⋯ → Add this countdown to your calendar
Alarm in the background: ⋯ → While a timer runs → Keep-alive

Open Dayfall