Hobba and ADHD

With ADHD, to-do lists rarely fail at the writing-down part. They fail because the list gets too full, a task is too big, the start never comes, and every item left lying around brings a bad conscience. Hobba is built around exactly those spots.

To be upfront: Hobba is not therapy, does not diagnose anything and replaces neither. It is a to-do app. But one that knows where to-do apps tend to fail, and that would rather ask than nag.

When the list is too full

In the morning, “Today” asks for your top 3: what do you start with? Those three sit at the top; the rest stays, just behind them. And when more lands in “Today” than you set out to do, the list quietly asks once a day: Too much for today? You pick three, the rest moves to tomorrow. You decide how many tasks it takes before it asks.

When a task is too big

Some tasks get pushed along because they have no beginning. Hobba keeps a quiet count. Push the same task off “Today” for the fourth time, and its card shows one line: Postponed 4 times already. Break it up, or set it aside? No sound, no buzz, no notification. The question waits where you look anyway when you finally take the task on.

Break It Into Steps lets Apple Intelligence suggest steps, on device. The first one is the smallest possible start: not “do my tax return”, but “take the receipts folder off the shelf”. Only what you tap is kept. Without Apple Intelligence, the subtask field opens and you write the first step yourself.

Someday is the other answer. In Hobba it isn’t a junk drawer for everything without a date, it’s a decision: what lives there waits on purpose and leaves the inbox.

When the start won’t come

One at a time shows exactly one task from “Today”, large. Done, Later or Tomorrow. Plus a 5-, 15- or 25-minute timer that reports back even after you’ve left the app. Five minutes are often enough to get going.

For the moment when you want to get something small done first, there are quick wins: everything tagged #quick or with “5 min” in the title, in a list of its own and as a widget that shows exactly one to check off.

When your head overflows

A thought that isn’t written down right away is often gone. So writing things down in Hobba doesn’t ask for a decision. A sentence like “call the dentist tomorrow at 9” becomes a task with a day and a reminder; you can sort it later.

• On the go, you dictate to Siri into Apple Reminders, and Hobba pulls it into the inbox (guide).
• On the Mac, ⌃Space opens a field without bringing the app to the front.
• With the microphone in the entry sheet, you speak a whole sentence. With Apple Intelligence, it can become several tasks.

Without the guilt

• In the evening, Wrap up the day? asks what should happen to the rest: tomorrow, someday, or it stays. Nothing is moved overnight on its own.
• The ring on “Today” shows what got done today, no matter what it was planned for. Tomorrow it starts empty again.
• Your week sits above the logbook: what you finished in seven days. No points, no leaderboard, no comparing with anyone.
• Hobba only speaks up when you asked it to: for a reminder, a deadline, the timer or, if you like, the evening.
• With the system Focus filter, you hide whole projects, such as “Work” on weekends.

What’s free

Almost everything on this page is part of the free version. Hobba Pro covers the Apple Intelligence suggestions (steps, several tasks from one sentence), the Focus filter and more than three projects. Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.