How it works

ProcrastiMate is for the moment you have some time, a list of things you keep putting off, and no idea which one to start. You tell it how long you've got. It picks. You do that one. That's the whole trick: the deciding is taken off you.

1 · Your account

An account is free and takes a minute. On the sign-in screen choose Create account, pick a name, enter your email and a password (at least 8 characters). We email you a 6-digit code to prove the address is yours; type it in and you're in. From then on you sign in with your email and password.

Forgotten your password? Tap Email me a code instead on the sign-in screen and we'll send a fresh 6-digit code that signs you straight in. Codes last 10 minutes and you get three tries.

Your jobs and your progress are saved to your account, so you can pick up on your phone what you started on your computer, and the same rules apply everywhere.

2 · My Jobs

Everything starts with your list. New accounts come with a few example jobs so you can try a spin straight away; replace them with your own.

• Type a job in one line, such as "Water the plants" or "Reply to Sam".
• Choose how long it takes: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour or 3 hours. Be honest here: the timer will run for exactly that long.
• The icon next to the box picks itself from the words you type. Tap it to choose a different one; there's a search, so "dog" or "bills" finds what you want. Auto puts it back to guessing.
• The two drop-downs under the time chips bound the job to a place (Home, Work, Commuting or Shopping) and a time (Business hours, Evening or Weekend). Both start as Any, which means the job can come up anywhere, any time. "Put the bins out" is a Home job; "Book the dentist" is a Business-hours one; "Listen to the podcast" is for Commuting. See "Where and when" below for how they're used.
• Tap 🔁 Recurring for jobs that come round again and again, like emptying the dishwasher or watering the plants. Recurring jobs are the one kind you're allowed to pass on for free (see "No skips" below), because sometimes the dishwasher really is empty.
• Tap Add job. Jobs are grouped by time, with small badges for any place or time bounds. Tap the pencil to change the words, the time, the place or time bounds or the recurring setting, the cross to delete, or the icon to change it.

You can keep up to 500 jobs. Big jobs work best broken into pieces that fit a slot: "Sort the garage" is a 3-hour job, but "Sort one shelf in the garage" is a 15-minute one you'll actually get to.

3 · Where and when

Above the time buttons on Home are two drop-downs: I'm at and It's. They tell the reel where you are and what sort of time it is, so a job bound to Home never lands while you're on the train, and a Business-hours job never lands on a Sunday.

• I'm at starts as Anywhere, which means no filtering. Set it to Home, Work, Commuting or Shopping and jobs bound to a different place drop out of the reel. Jobs with no place bound always stay in.
• It's is worked out from your device's clock: Saturday and Sunday are Weekend, weekdays between 9 in the morning and 6 in the evening are Business hours, and the rest of a weekday counts as Evening. The drop-down shows what it has decided. You can override it with any of the three, or choose Any time to switch the filter off.
• The count on each time button is the number of jobs that fit right now. If a button is greyed out, nothing in that slot fits where and when you are; change the drop-downs or add a job.

Your choices are remembered on this device only, so your phone can be set to Commuting while your work computer is set to Work.

4 · Spin

On Home, tap the amount of time you have. Each button shows how many jobs are waiting in that slot. Your jobs for that slot spin past like a fruit machine, slow down, and land on one. The pick is random, though it won't give you the same job twice in a row when there's a choice.

Then you see your task. Take a breath, tap Start Timer, and go and do it.

5 · No skips

This is the rule that makes it work, so it's worth being clear about it.

• Once the reel has landed, that's your task. There is no re-spin, and the other pages are out of reach until the timer has finished.
• Reloading the page, closing the tab, switching to your phone, or turning the device off doesn't reset anything. Come back and you're on the same task with the same time left, because the clock runs on our server, not in your browser.
• Deleting the job from your list doesn't help either: the task you were given stays as it was.

If you're used to apps that let you wriggle out, this feels strict for about a day. Then it becomes the reason things get done.

The free exception: recurring jobs. If the reel lands on a job you marked as recurring, you get two buttons. You got me! Let's go starts the timer as normal. The other one reads, in full, "I pinkie promise this doesn't need doing and I'm not skipping it because I'm lazy." Tap that and the job is set aside and you're back at Home to spin again. It won't come up again for 24 hours if you have other jobs in that slot. Nothing is recorded either way. The fairy is watching, though.

The paid exception: a Skip ticket. Tickets are earned by finishing jobs (see the next section). If you have one, the task screen offers Use a Skip ticket under Start Timer. Once the timer has started, no ticket in the world will get you out.

6 · Tickets

Finishing jobs earns tickets, and tickets bend the rules a little. Your balance is shown at the bottom of Home and on the Progress page. Tickets never expire.

• Skip tickets. You earn one for every 5 jobs you finish. Spend one on the task screen, before the timer starts, to pass on the job the reel landed on. Nothing is recorded, the job stays on your list, and it rests for 24 hours if you have other jobs in that slot. The Job Fairies do have some heart after all.
• Pick tickets. You earn one for every 10 jobs you finish. Spend one from Home with Pick a job: you see your whole list, choose the job you want, and it becomes your task without a spin. The timer and the no-skip rule then apply as normal. Look at it as a reward from the Job Fairies.

Only jobs you said Yes! to count towards tickets. Passing a job on, with a pinkie promise or a Skip ticket, doesn't count, and neither does answering No. When a finished job earns you a ticket, the fireworks say so.

7 · Focus time

The timer counts down in a ring. Leave the page open if you like the reminder, or put the phone down and get on with it; either way it ends on time. If your device allows it, you'll get a chime and a buzz when the time is up, and a notification if the app is in the background.

8 · When the timer ends

You're asked one question: Did you do the job?

• Yes! It counts towards your progress, and you get ten seconds of fireworks. You've earned them. If the job is genuinely finished for good, tick It's done for good, take it off my list before you tap Yes; otherwise it stays in the list for another day, which is right for things like watering the plants.
• No. Nothing is recorded, the job stays in your list, and a fairy is very disappointed in you. Ten seconds later you're back at Home.

Honesty is the point. Nobody checks. The fairy trusts you.

9 · Progress

The Progress page adds up every job you said Yes to: how many, how much focused time, your ticket balances and how many jobs until the next ones, a bar for each of the last 14 days, and a split by time slot. Your day streak is the run of consecutive days with at least one finished job. Finishing something today keeps it alive; a day off breaks it. Yesterday still counts until midnight tonight, so you're never "behind" first thing in the morning.

10 · Settings

• Sound switches the reel's ticking, the chime and the fireworks on or off. It's remembered on this device.
• Sign out signs you out on this device only.
• Delete account removes your account, your jobs and your history straight away. It can't be undone, so you type your name to confirm.

Good to know

• Only one task at a time. If you spin on your phone, your computer shows the same task.
• The app works in any modern browser and looks best on a phone. You can add it to your home screen from the browser's share or menu button.
• Anything about your data is in the Privacy page, in plain English.