Show HN: DayZen: Visual day planner for ADHD brains

Posted by Kavolis_ 8 hours ago

Hey HN,

I've struggled with time-blindness my whole life. ADHD means I can write 14 tasks on a to-do list and genuinely believe I'll finish them before lunch. Reality disagrees at 11 PM when everything falls apart.

DayZen is my solution: your day as a 24-hour radial clock. Tasks become colored arcs. When the circle fills up, it's full. No more lying to yourself about what actually fits.

Just shipped 1.4 with Focus Mode The new version adds features I've wanted since day one:

Focus Mode: Full-screen timer that zooms into your current task. Distractions fade, simple controls keep you on track. Built it because I kept checking my phone to see "what's next" and losing 15 minutes to Reddit.

Live Activities + Dynamic Island: Your active focus session shows on Lock Screen with time remaining and progress bar. Sounds simple, but it's been genuinely game-changing for staying aware without pulling out my phone.

Insights: Added analytics (today/weekly/monthly/yearly) with streaks and category breakdowns. Turns out I spend 40% of my time on "Important but not urgent" which explains a lot.

Time awareness improvements: Specifically designed for ADHD time blindness. Visual feedback makes abstract time concrete.

Why a radial clock? Linear lists hide the finite nature of your day. They feel infinite, so you keep adding tasks. A circle forces honesty. Conflicts glow red immediately. You see gaps. You make the hard choices before the day starts, not at midnight when you're burned out. Technical details:

Built native iOS with SwiftUI Two-way calendar sync (Google, Outlook, Apple) Local-first, iCloud sync between devices No account needed, no tracking, no ads Lock Screen widgets use WidgetKit with Live Activities API Recurring tasks auto-generate instances for next 30 days

Privacy approach: Your schedule stays on your device. I don't collect, sell, or see your data. No analytics, no crash reporting, no server calls except calendar sync (which uses system auth). This was non-negotiable for me as both an ADHD person and someone who values privacy.

Looking for feedback on:

Does the radial approach click for you, or is it too different?

Focus Mode UX: Does the minimalism help or is it too minimal?

What other time-blindness features would help?

Try it: https://www.dayzen.xyz/

Site:Happy to answer questions about the technical implementation or design decisions. Built the whole thing solo over the past year while working full-time, so there are definitely rough edges I'm still smoothing out.

Comments

Comment by livityy 8 hours ago

Interesting approach. I've tried time-blocking before and always abandoned it because estimating task duration is hard. Does DayZen help with this or do you just get better at it over time? Also curious how you handle tasks that run over.

Comment by Kavolis_ 8 hours ago

Apps adjusts for actual vs planned time. This is quite good idea, ill think how to implement in the next release that when tasks run over, they glow orange on the clock—you see the cascade immediately and make the cut/push decision in the moment.

Comment by baltic_apps 8 hours ago

This looks great. One thing I'd love to see: integration with focus modes on iOS. Could it automatically trigger Do Not Disturb when you start a focus session? That + the Dynamic Island would be chef's kiss

Comment by Kavolis_ 7 hours ago

Will try to implement it next release !

Comment by hamurabee 7 hours ago

As someone with ADHD, the visual approach makes sense. Do you plan on making it more proactive rather than just utility tool ? like an assistant ?

Comment by Kavolis_ 7 hours ago

Still scoping it, would love to add AI for assisting, however, figuring out how to ensure privacy and security for such use case

Comment by matcha_prince 7 hours ago

Love the privacy-first approach. Refreshing to see a productivity app that doesn't need my email or track my usage.