Questions about Spurt

What is Spurt?

Spurt is a to-do list for iPhone and iPad built around deciding what to do next. It keeps your tasks, lists and reminders, and when you have a few minutes you choose the time you have (5, 15 or 30 minutes, or an hour) and how much energy is left. Spurt then shows one task from your list that fits.

Who is Spurt for?

Anyone whose list is longer than their day. If you’ve opened a to-do app, read twenty tasks and closed it again, Spurt’s picker is for that moment: it shows one task, and the only decision left is whether to start it.

When can I get Spurt?

Spurt is being tested now and is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone and iPad. This site will link to it the day it’s out.

Is Spurt free?

Yes. Spurt is free to download and use, with a banner ad at the bottom of the main screens and, after your first week, now and then a full-screen ad after you finish a task in Spurt. There are no ads in Plan, the picker, the timer or the add sheet, or when you clear the day.

Spurt Pro is optional: it removes the ads and opens every theme. Prices are shown in the app, in your own currency. Remove ads, at the end of each main screen, also offers a day without ads for watching one ad.

How does the Spurt button work?

Tap the amber button in the middle of the tab bar. Choose 5 min, 15 min, 30 min or 1 hr, and Easy ones or Anything; each choice shows how many of your tasks fit it. You then see one card at a time, in this order: today’s Must-Dos, then tasks that fit whole (Important first, then carried over, then today’s, then the rest), then pieces of bigger jobs.

Do it starts a timer for the task, Skip shows the next card, and Done ticks it off. A skipped task goes to the back for the rest of the day.

What is a Must-Do?

One of up to three tasks you pick for today in Plan, which opens on your first visit of a day with nothing planned yet. Must-Dos sit at the top of Today with a ring that fills as you finish them. When all of them are done the day is cleared, and anything you finish after that counts as a bonus.

Three is where it starts. You can change the number in Settings, from one to five, and on a busy day Plan lets you add more for that day only, up to five.

What happens to tasks I don’t finish?

They move to Carried over on Today, in grey, with how long they’ve waited, such as Carried 2 days. Nothing turns red and there’s no badge on the app icon. Once a task has waited three days or more, Tidy collects them in one place with Today, Someday and Delete next to each.

Can Spurt handle big projects?

Spurt has lists, and inside any task a checklist of up to 200 items, which covers most of what people run at home or on their own: a move, a trip, a week of shopping. A task longer than an hour, like Clear out the garage set to Half day, is done in parts. The picker offers Do 15 min or Do 30 min, and the minutes you put in stay on the task.

Spurt doesn’t have projects inside projects, Gantt charts or team boards. If you need those, a tool like Todoist suits you better.

Does Spurt have reminders and repeating tasks?

Yes. A task with a time can remind you at that time or before it: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour or a day before, or any amount you set. A task can repeat every day, on weekdays, every week or two, every month or year, or on a pattern you set, such as every Monday and Thursday, the last Friday of the month or three days after you finish it. The next one appears when you finish the current one; deleting one skips that day, and Delete the repeat ends it. From the reminder itself you can tick the task off or move it 15 minutes, an hour or a day on, and with Remind again it comes back twice until you answer it. A Must-Do you pick for midday, the afternoon or the evening gets an alert when that part of the day starts.

How fast is adding a task?

The + button opens with the keyboard up and the cursor in the title, so a task is a few keystrokes and Return. Several lets you type or paste a list, one task per line, and add them all at once. Already done records something you finished that was never on the list.

Can I share lists with my family?

Yes. A shared list can have up to 50 people. You invite them with a code that lasts a week, they join from Spurt, and everyone sees items added and ticked as it happens. Each person chooses the name the others see on that list. Shared lists stay separate from your own Today and Must-Dos.

Can I send a task to someone?

Yes, to anyone on a shared list with you or anyone you’re connected with. The task arrives at the top of their Inbox with your name on it; they add it or decline it, and you see when it’s done. Someone who doesn’t have Spurt yet gets an invite code with the task.

Is there a timer?

Do it starts a countdown for the task, shown as a ring with the minutes left. When the time is up it keeps counting, and on a long task you can carry on or stop and keep the minutes you’ve put in.

Is there a streak, and can I hide it?

There’s a streak for days with at least one task done. Miss a single day in a week and it holds as a rest day; if it does break, Me shows Today’s a fresh start rather than a zero. You can hide the streak in Settings.

How is Spurt different from Todoist?

Todoist is built to organise a lot of work: projects, labels, filters, priorities, recurring dates, shared projects and an AI assistant, Todoist Assist. It has a free plan, Pro for individuals and Business for teams.

Spurt is narrower. It’s for iPhone and iPad only, it has no projects or filters, and it’s built around picking what to do now: one task for the time and energy you have, and a few Must-Dos a day (three to start). If you plan long projects or work in a team, Todoist fits better. If your trouble is starting, try Spurt; you can paste tasks into it one per line.

Spurt or Things 3?

Things is a polished task manager for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, with Today, This Evening, Upcoming, headings and checklists. Its makers say Things “does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists.”

Spurt has shared lists for up to 50 people and can send a task to someone, and its main screen is the picker: one task that fits the time you have. If you want detailed personal planning across Mac and iPhone, Things suits that. If you want help choosing what to do now, or lists you share at home, Spurt does that.

How does Spurt compare with TickTick?

TickTick puts a lot into one app: lists, several calendar views, a Pomodoro timer, a habit tracker and countdowns, on phones, computers, tablets, watches and the web.

Spurt does less on purpose. It has no calendar view or habit tracker; it has the picker, a small daily Must-Do limit (three to start, five at most), and nothing turning red when a day slips. If you want one app for tasks, calendar and habits, TickTick covers more. If you want fewer decisions, Spurt is built for that.

Spurt or Microsoft To Do?

Microsoft To Do is free, syncs across iPhone, Android, Windows and the web, works with Outlook, and has My Day: a list for today that clears at midnight, with suggestions for what to add back.

Spurt’s Plan is similar in spirit, but it keeps the day to a few Must-Dos (three to start, never more than five), keeps the tasks you didn’t finish on Today under Carried over, and adds the picker, which chooses a task by the time you have.

Why use Spurt instead of Apple Reminders?

Reminders is free, built into iPhone and works with Siri. Its shared lists let people add, tick and assign reminders, and its grocery lists sort items by category. If that’s all you need, it’s hard to beat.

Spurt adds what Reminders leaves to you: picking one task for the time and energy you have, a morning plan of a few Must-Dos (three to start), big jobs done in parts with the minutes kept, and Tidy for tasks that keep slipping.

Can I use Spurt alongside another to-do app?

Yes. Spurt has no import from other apps, but you can paste a list into the + sheet’s Several mode and each line becomes a task.

Is Spurt made for ADHD?

Spurt isn’t a medical app and doesn’t treat anything. It was designed around starting: you choose by the time and energy you have instead of reading the whole list, you see one task at a time, unfinished tasks wait in grey instead of turning red, and Do it starts a timer for the time you picked. It works the same way for everyone.

If you want a visual timetable for your whole day, a planner built for that, such as Tiimo, will suit you better.

Do I need an account?

Yes. An account keeps your lists on every iPhone and iPad you use and lets you share them. You sign in with Apple, which can hide your email address from Spurt. There’s no password to make up.

What does Spurt collect?

Your tasks and lists, so they’re there wherever you sign in; your name and email from Apple, if you share them; how the app is used, through Google Analytics for Firebase; and, for ads, what Google AdMob needs to show them, with Apple’s tracking question asked first. The privacy policy has the full list.

Does Spurt sell my data?

No. Spurt shows ads through Google AdMob, which uses your device’s advertising identifier only if you allow tracking when iOS asks. If you don’t, ads aren’t based on what you do in other apps.

Where is my data stored?

In Google Firebase, in its London region, and on your iPhone or iPad so Spurt works without a connection.

Does Spurt work offline?

Mostly. Your own tasks and lists are on your device too: add, tick and change them offline, and they sync when you’re back online. Joining a shared list, inviting someone and sending a task need a connection.

Can I delete my account?

Yes. Settings has Delete account: after you confirm with Apple, your tasks, lists and account are deleted. The privacy policy says what happens to shared lists.

What does Spurt Pro include?

No ads and all five themes. You can pay monthly, yearly or once for life; the yearly plan starts with a free week if your Apple Account hasn’t had one, and Family Sharing works with all three, for up to five more people in your Apple family.

How do I cancel Pro?

Pro is billed by Apple, and you cancel it in your Apple Account’s subscriptions, or from Me in Spurt, which opens the same page.

Is Spurt on Android or the web?

No. Spurt is for iPhone and iPad.

Does Spurt have widgets or an Apple Watch app?

Not at the moment. Spurt runs on iPhone and iPad, in light and dark, with large text and VoiceOver.

How do I get help?

In Spurt, open Settings and choose Send feedback, or email the address on the Support page.