Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
Llama Life is a timed to-do list. Give each task a length, work through them one at a time, and it keeps a running finish time at the top: keep going like this and you will be done at 8:40. Chimes, soundscapes, and confetti when you finish make the list feel calm instead of harsh.
That finish time runs forward from now. The app can tell you your list ends at 8:40. It cannot take “I need to be done by 8:15” and turn that into a start time for each task. If the finish time it shows is later than the deadline you have in mind, you still do the subtraction yourself.
Ready Time starts at the other end. Tell it when you need to be done, list the steps with how long each one takes, and it works backward to a start time for every step. Then it alerts you at each one, right when it is time to begin.
Llama Life helps once you are already moving: it answers “when will I finish if I keep going.” Ready Time helps before you start: it answers “when do I have to start” so a fixed deadline like 8:15 has a real first step attached to it.
| Ready Time | Llama Life | |
|---|---|---|
| The core idea | Backward from your deadline to every start time | A timed list you work through from now |
| Tells you when to start | Yes, computed from the deadline | Shows when you will finish instead |
| “Ready by 8:15” | Enter 8:15; it finds every start | Watch the finish time and adjust yourself |
| During the plan | An alert and countdown per step | A countdown per task, chimes, confetti |
| Repeating plans | Build once, set it to repeat | Presets you relaunch any time |
| Pricing model | Free; one-time unlock. No subscription | Subscription only, after a 7-day trial |
| Account | No account | Email account |
| Sync | iCloud, through your own Apple ID | Through your Llama Life account |
| Platforms | iPhone & iPad | Web, iPhone, Android |
Llama Life also has a web app, an Android build, Todoist import, and a report of planned versus actual time. Ready Time has been in the App Store since 2018 doing the backward math between your deadline and right now, free, with a one-time unlock for the extras.
Stay if the timed list is how you get through open-ended work: a study block, a cleaning sprint, an afternoon of admin. That is the job Llama Life was built for. Stay too if you need it on the desktop or on Android, where Ready Time cannot help you.
Switch if your hard moments have a fixed clock on them. Out the door by 8:15, at the appointment by 2:00: when the deadline cannot move, you need a start time more than a projected finish.
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“It has helped me tremendously to manage my timeblindness, and I tell people about it all the time.”Ready Time user, 2021
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
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