You downloaded the app. Set it up enthusiastically. Used it for 9 days. Now it's radiating guilt from your home screen. Sound familiar?
It's not you. Most productivity apps fail ADHD brains because they were built for neurotypical ones.
Five ways productivity apps fail ADHD
1. Setup that never finishes
"Import projects, create categories, configure notifications..." Every step is a decision. Every decision costs executive function. An ADHD-friendly app should be useful within 60 seconds.
2. They assume you can estimate time
"How long will this take?" is the question ADHD brains are worst at answering. Apps built on time estimates are built on miscalculation.
3. They punish inconsistency
Streak counters. Missed-day indicators. "You haven't logged in" notifications. These are shame machines. Every guilt notification increases the odds you'll never open the app again.
4. They treat all tasks as equal
A flat list doesn't account for energy levels or activation difficulty. "Buy groceries" and "have difficult conversation" aren't the same kind of task.
5. They ignore transitions
The gap between tasks is where ADHD loses hours. Most apps track tasks but ignore the space between them.
What an ADHD app actually needs
- Instant value — useful in under a minute
- Visual time — timelines, timers, countdowns
- Energy-aware — tasks filtered by current capacity
- Shame-free — no streaks, no guilt, no punishment
- Transition support — nudges between tasks
- Low re-entry cost — easy to come back to after a gap
- Brain dump — a place to externalize everything without organizing
Why we built UpOrbit
We went through this cycle with every major app. We built UpOrbit because we couldn't find one designed around these principles from the ground up. Not adapted for ADHD as an afterthought. Built for it as the primary use case.
It's free, it's a web app, and it's designed to be easy to come back to. Because an ADHD tool that makes you feel bad for not using it has already failed.