Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time tells you when.
Structured is the category leader for timeboxing, and it's earned it: an Editors' Choice day planner, a clean vertical timeline, calendar import, and versions for basically every screen. If you want your day from 7 to 10 laid out as blocks, this is the app people mean.
The trade is that every block's start time is yours to pick, and yours to fix. When a meeting runs long, you're dragging blocks around to rebuild the afternoon. And the moments with real consequences — be ready by 8:15, leave for the flight by 2:40 — get no special treatment: they're just more blocks whose arithmetic you did in your head.
Ready Time is built around exactly that arithmetic. Set the deadline, list the steps and their durations, and it computes every start time backward from the end — then alerts you at each one. Stretch a step and the whole plan reflows. Nothing to drag.
| Ready Time | Structured | |
|---|---|---|
| The core idea | Works backward from a deadline to a start time for each step | Timebox your day forward on a visual timeline |
| Tells you when to start | Yes — computed from the deadline | Blocks alert at times you scheduled yourself |
| When plans slip | Change a step; start times recompute | Drag blocks to rebuild; Replan moves past tasks (paid, Apple only) |
| Repeating plans | Yes (one-time unlock) | Recurring tasks (paid) |
| Pricing model | Free; one-time purchase for extras. No subscription needed | Free basics; Pro subscription, with a lifetime option |
| Account & data | No account. Plans stay on your device, with optional iCloud sync through your own Apple ID | No account to start; a Structured Cloud account is needed for sync and the web app |
| Platforms | iPhone & iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android, web |
To be clear about scale: Structured is bigger than Ready Time in almost every direction — platforms, calendar integration, a full planning surface. Ready Time is two people shipping one idea since 2018: deadlines, steps, and the backward math between them.
Stay if you genuinely want the whole day planned — work blocks, calendar events, habits — and a timeline is how you think. Structured is the best-in-class version of that, and the lifetime option means you can even escape the subscription.
Switch if you keep opening a day planner to solve a deadline problem. Being ready on time isn't about seeing the whole day. It's about knowing when to start.
Tiimo plays in the same all-day space with a softer touch — see that comparison, or browse all comparisons.
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time tells you when.
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