Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
Brili is the closest thing to Ready Time that anyone has built. Routines are made of small steps with a duration on each, and a routine can be scheduled from its end time, so the app works out when the whole thing has to start. When someone asks for an app that does the backward math, this is usually the one they hear about, and that recommendation makes sense.
The difference shows up when you fall behind. Brili holds the end time and shortens what is left, compressing the remaining steps so the routine still finishes on schedule. That can work well when you want the routine to end on time no matter what. It is harder when the steps have real lengths: a fifteen-minute drive still takes about fifteen minutes, even if the app shortens the slot.
Ready Time works backward from your deadline the same way, then leaves your durations alone. Every step keeps the length you gave it, gets a start time, and gets an alert at that start time. If you fall behind, the times you missed stay on the screen, so you can see what slipped and choose what to drop.
Plans do not have to repeat. A single appointment next Thursday is built the same way a weekday morning is. You turn on repeating only for the ones that come around again.
| Ready Time | Brili | |
|---|---|---|
| The core idea | Backward from your deadline to every start time | Routines that can be scheduled from an end time |
| Tells you when to start | Yes, an alert per step | Yes, worked out from the routine's end time |
| When you fall behind | Your times stay put, so you can see what slipped | Remaining steps shorten to protect the end time |
| Repeating plans | Yes (one-time unlock) | The default shape; routines recur |
| Gamification | None | Awards, rewards, and routine history |
| Pricing model | Free; one-time unlock. No subscription | Free trial, then subscription only |
| Account | No account | A Brili account |
| Sync | iCloud, through your own Apple ID | Through your Brili account |
| Platforms | iPhone & iPad | iPhone, iPad, Android |
Brili is the bigger app, with family and adult versions, a much larger feature set, and an Android build that Ready Time does not have. Ready Time has been in the App Store since 2018 doing the backward math and little else, free, with a one-time unlock for the extras.
It is also the app people find when they go looking for this. In one request thread, someone described wanting to enter an arrival time and subtract the drive, the parking, and the walk in from the lot. Brili was the answer they got. Their follow-up went unanswered: does it work for a one-time event that is not a routine? That question is a big reason this page exists.
Stay if routines are the point. The step cards, the visual clock, and the reward system are built for daily use, and the family version gives you something to hand a kid. Ready Time has nothing like that. On Android there is no choice to make here at all.
Switch if you want the plan to keep showing you the truth when the morning goes sideways, or if a subscription feels like more than you want for this one job.
Waking up is a different problem with a different app. See Ready Time vs. Alarmy, or browse all comparisons.
“I get so tired of counting backward to when I should start my task. This app is the solution.”App Store review
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
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