I finally released my iOS app!

Hour by Hour is a day planner that lets you sketch out your schedule with natural language. Write things like "Flight departs at 3:30pm" or "Set off 2 hours before", and it figures out the timing for you. Follow along with Live Activities on your Lock Screen, share schedules with friends via iCloud, and more.

It's free to download, with an optional one-time purchase to unlock unlimited schedules.

Download Hour by Hour on the App Store

The origin story

I originally had the idea while flying to San Francisco for GDC two years ago. I was doing the classic thing of working backwards from a flight time — if I need to be at the airport by 9, and it takes an hour to get there, and I need an hour to get ready... I wanted an app where I could just type all of that out naturally and have the timing calculated for me. I'd been mulling it over ever since, and I'm thrilled it's finally out in the world.

Natural language

I've always loved the natural language input in Fantastical, and Apple's own take in the Reminders app refined the idea further, with a clearer highlight and confirmation step. Hour by Hour builds on this — as you type, it parses your timing in real time and highlights what it finds. Times can be absolute ("at 3pm") or relative ("20 minutes before"), and linked events update automatically when plans change.

Photo import

A feature I'm particularly fond of was inspired by Devin Davies's wonderful Crouton: snap a photo of a physical schedule — a conference programme, a printed itinerary, a festival timetable — and Hour by Hour imports it and lets you follow along.

The icon

The gorgeous icon was designed by Matthew Skiles. I absolutely adore it, and Matthew was super professional and easy to work with. Check out his incredible portfolio!

Huge thanks to everyone who tested the app and gave me great feedback ❤️ especially Chris Wu, Jon Ingold and Tal.