A time blindness app that lets you see and feel time pass

If an hour can feel like ten minutes and the other way round, a clock alone doesn't help. Unstick turns time into something you can see, feel and plan in small pieces.

What time blindness means

"Time blindness" is an informal term, widely used in the ADHD community, for difficulty sensing how much time has passed or how long things will take. It isn't a formal diagnosis. It's the reason a "quick" task eats the afternoon, or why you're suddenly late when you felt early.

Why clocks don't fix it

A clock gives you a number, and then you have to work out what the number means. Deadlines are abstract until they arrive. What helps is making time visible (you see it shrink), physical (you feel it), and chunked (a short stretch with one job in it).

Three ways Unstick makes time tangible

1. See it. A liquid container or a depleting disc drains as the step runs, shifting from mint and teal to amber to coral and red. The remaining time is also written out, such as "4:58 left".
2. Feel it. Haptic taps arrive at the halfway mark, as a rising crescendo two minutes before the end, and as three firm taps at zero. They work with the screen locked.
3. Plan it. Each step has its own short length written next to it, such as 5, 15, 20 and 25 minutes for painting a room. Seeing a length beside each step is a gentle way to build a feel for how long things take.

Everyday habits that help with time blindness

• Start a timer before you begin, not once you've drifted.
• Use a countdown instead of a clock. "Twenty minutes left" is easier to feel than "3:40".
• Add a buffer when you guess how long something takes.
• Keep chunks short. Steps under half an hour are easier to hold in mind.
• Put an alert before the end, not only at it. Unstick's two-minute warning does this.

When time runs out, nothing breaks

Unstick shows "Time's up" and counts overtime without scolding. You can add two minutes or move on. Stopping early still counts the steps you finished, so a missed estimate doesn't turn into a failure.

Frequently asked questions