Owaves: Wellness Day Planner Reviews

There is something so calming to glance at my phone and see a big square that says "Eat Greens" and then "Bill Pay" to remind me what I'm doing now, and what I plan to do next. I'm guessing probably around 90% of the users of Owaves have ADHD because it's like it was built with us in mind, down to the day planned in a circle which is how I didn't even realize I view time. Setting it up was easy-peasy and creating day plans in the morning is so much fun I don't always use the "repeat every" feature, which I could. I like the reminders to play, and to eat, and to have free time without guilt or spinning my wheels trying to remember what I'm doing next.

I'm a preschool teacher and have used visual schedules for years, and have tried other scheduling apps like this. This one was recommended and while I don't necessarily *need* another neurodivergent-friendly app, this app is totally worth it. After trying to fit my days into a 24-hour box and getting frustrated when I'd fail every time, this simple little drag-and-drop round clock day planning app recognizes my struggles with time-blindness and speaks my language and gently reminds me of where I am now and where I was planning to go next. Plus the kid is ridiculously happy with the gorgeous colors. Love Owaves.

I’ve been a user of this app on my phone after first hearing about Owaves from Jessica @ How to ADHD, but the iPhone version of Owaves can be difficult and tedious to manage with the limitations of a smaller screen, so I was excited to find Owaves available for my new iPad. I’d hoped that a larger screen would make it easier to move & adjust activities on my schedule. Unfortunately, there’s no way to sync accounts between the phone and the iPad app, and on top of that there are basically 0 customization options for any schedule activities on the iPad version. It feels like a completely different app from what’s available for the iPhone. On my phone I can rename scheduled activites, choose different icons/emoji, add an image, and add long text notes, plus there are multiple viewing screens to see schedules by week/month/year as well as any saved day plan templates. On the iPad there is a single view of the daily schedule with an unlabeled slider to move between day/week/month views, and adding/editing schedule activities is a nightmare with clunky, inconsistent touch sensitivity. The apps are so different that it’s like comparing using a graphing calculator, to counting on your fingers. I really hope the developers plan on bringing the iPad version up to par with the phone version, instead of spending more time on the recent socialization features that add nothing helpful to my experience.

I’ve experimented with various apps over the past two years since finding out about my ADHD. While many apps are fantastic, none of them stuck. Owaves was exactly what I was looking for. I’m very visual and object-oriented, so the clock style layout of each day blew my mind.

I have ADHD. Owaves is phenomenal for building routines and habits, and I’ve found having the this app widget (specifically the progress bar) has helped me better understand my time limitations for each activity. Try to time yourself doing an activity, so you know exactly how much time to allocate for your schedule. Be honest with yourself! It’s transformed my time management abilities.

The customization is simple and easy to use, but the ability to include custom images for each activity was a game changer for me. When you assign a custom image to an activity, it will display in the center of your clock for the entire activity. So if you include a picture of the activity being performed (i.e. someone solving a math problem if the activity is “Study for Math Exam”), it’s easier to visualize yourself completing that task. I found some really pretty art that I assigned to studying, exercising, reading, etc., so you can make your clock look quite engaging.

I’d love to use Owaves and I like most of the features. However…there’s a few problems. 1) There are NO NOTIFICATIONS. This is my biggest issue. There’s obviously supposed to be notifications but there must be a bug or something. I have verified my settings on the iPhone and notifications are completely enabled. I’ve even allowed them to be persistent notifications and to be announced by Siri…but nothing comes in ever. Without the notifications, Owaves is pretty useless to me as I NEED a ping to be reminded to do things. 2) You can’t save a template of your task and be able to drag it onto the wheel. For example, I want to be able to drag in a 15 minute “Drive to work” task with a reminder 30 minutes beforehand. As Owaves stands, although I can drag in a “Drive” task, I can’t make it so that it’s defaulty named “Drive to work”, its default timing is 1 hour, and, because my app default reminder time is 10 minutes, it’ll be 10 minutes. I can go in and edit this information afterwords but that defeats the purpose of this being a quick and easy way to plan my day. I realize there are “day” templates but that’s not granular enough for me as I rarely have to exact same schedule every day. 3) Only 15 minute time block increments. Not everything takes 15 minutes and not everything starts on an even 15 minute increment. 4) Daylight savings time hasn’t been taken into account or something. Owaves thinks it’s 2pm right now when it is, in fact, 3pm.

Love it! Makes seeing my schedule more fun; it's less like a checklist or a long line of things on the schedule, and more like a colorful clock!

One request: i'm so lazy, i don't want to type out the titles or choose my own icons, haha, i love your presets! but when i go to the choices of preset icons you can't see the words they'll come with until after you put the icon on the circle, and then you have to click the clock again to see what the activity says. Any chance we can see the words on the choosing icon screen? it will be even easier for lazy me to paint my clock if i know what activity the little icon actually means; like, what does that owl mean?? it's cute but is it bird watching? or prepping for bed? or being smart? haha, i just want to know the words before i choose it so i don't have to look it up after i already dragged it onto my clock :) that's all! otherwise i love it. very fun app

I really like Owaves, the visuals and the adaptability is really amazing. With the integration with google calendar I can program events I can’t within Owaves . For day to day planning Owaves is very useful. However I really dislike how I can’t edit day plans. It is somewhat annoying that I have to create a new day plan each time I realize I need to add more details to the plan. Again, Owaves is really amazing and I hope that the developers feel proud of their work.

Edit: The new update is awful. While I may be biased as I have no use nor want for the new social feature. I feel righteously upset at the sudden increase in effort to use Owaves properly. It takes me over ten tries on average to enter and exit the edit feature. Considering this is a core mechanic of Owaves, I feel seriously put off from using Owaves. There is no optional tutorial to help me navigate the new features and remember how to get into edit mode. I suggest at the very least to include a button to enter and exit edit mode, as this would rapidly improve mine and (I assume) many others experience in Owaves. Also a delete button the is accessed easily for individual event in edit mode would as well be a great improvement. If the things I have suggested or otherwise another solution to my ill spent efforts are added, I will happily both use and endorse Owaves.

I love having a digital planner! I’m a freelancer, stay at home mom, and overall busy person. Having a planner I can keep on my phone is awesome! I used to write everything in a notebook, but then between baby and life, wouldn’t have what I needed to remind myself of appointments or tasks.

With Owaves , I set it, note it, and can make an alarm for whatever it is, all on one happy spot. I love that I can customize the icons, so I can make it really all about me. I rarely save day plans because my days are so fluid, but having that option is great.

I sit down each night and set my this app for the next day, which helps me make sure to make time for myself, fitness, and overall, I’ve been able to manage my time and life so much better. It’s so easy, and has been a lifesaver!

I love Owaves, I can see where I have gaps in my day and can schedule other things accordingly. I live on Owaves during the semester and I would never use any other app to plan out my day. I will say that I wish it would make military time an option simply because I am not familiar with it and have to use a conversion chart so I can successfully plan my day. Additionally, I wish there was a category for school and after school activities just to make the process of planning my day easier and faster since, as a college student, time is of the essence. Lastly, it would be nice to have a wider variety of time increments and by that I mean we could put down it 10 or 25 minutes dedicated to this or that since Owaves goes let’s us put down 15, 30, and 50 minutes dedicated to an event or task. Even without these things, I love Owaves . I can see where my time goes and how much time I spent here and there. It’s very visually appealing and easy to read.

I really love the design and concept of Owaves . I would be perfect, except for the times.
Owaves only allows you to add events in 15 minute time increments. I have ADHD and I have to plan out every tiny detail of my day or else it won’t happen; things like brushing my teeth and taking my medicine can’t be put in with those time slots. Not only that but my schedule starts at really odd times, class starts at 7:25 and we’re only given 5 minute breaks between classes. Not being able to see those breaks stress me out and having things not exactly right frustrates my brain really badly.
I think that if there wasn’t that obstacle for me I would absolutely love Owaves though! Having a schedule maker that lets you visualize your whole routine in a pie chart instead of one big long list is like a literal dream. I know it’s sound like I’m dragging it a little harshly but I think Owaves would be super helpful for people who don’t have the same issues as me!

Owaves is great for people who are time bling to SEE how much time they have once they scheduled the basics in. I also love that it goes in 15 min increments to allow for a little flexibility. The widget is great for having a reminder on a Home Screen how much time is left in a task and the five minute “hey this is next” reminder makes it easier to transition tasks. The only reason this has 4 stars is because, while i can add my own tasks the naming of the tasks doesn't stick it just switches back to the default name every time i go to schedule it. For example if i create a “dishes” option one day when i go to schedule it again it will have switched back to “flow” which can be confusing when you see the reminder pop up. So if there was a way to permanently save to name of newly created tasks , or the ones that are default, like being able to switch tea time with coffee time, I would be grateful. Otherwise this is a fantastic app.

I love Owaves’s concept, I want Owaves to work for me very much, tried it multiple times but because it only has the apple default notification with no way to customize the sound or vibration for it I literally miss all the notifications that it sends for the activities...

At this point I rather use the iPhone's built in calendar, at least I can set up a custom sound for that... like this, Owaves defeats it's purpose, extremely frustrating... I reached out to the developers a few times, I am even part of the beta tester team. With this problem Owaves is totally useless to me. The simple notification bleep can not be heard. To make the notification noticeable I even ordered a smartphone to set it up for a vibration, so I notice it... maybe that will help, I will update on this when it arrives, but if you have the phone in your pocket, you will not notice it.

When this issue is fixed I will change my review to 5 stars, outside of this problem Owaves is amazing, both in concept and visual execution and I will happily use it. Please fix this issue. Thanks!

Owaves does provide a useful way to view the time in a day. The categories are flexible enough to apply to various activities, especially with the customizable icons. The Apple Health integration is nice for tracking workouts or sleep. The edit mode is intuitive and granular, and I like how easy it is to insert a wedge in between two others.

But Owaves has a lot of little problems. There is a noticeable delay on the user interface even on a modern iPhone. If you leave Owaves in edit mode, it stays like that even if you leave Owaves for hours. When the day changes overnight, Owaves doesn’t switch over automatically. The complication for Apple Watch doesn’t update properly. It often shows the progress through an activity wrong or the last activity instead of the current one.

It’s a good app. But there are too many little problems for me to vouch for it fully.

I’ve been trying this planner out for a few days and it’s pretty good, I only have the smallest issue with it. I think that when you create a day and then save it as a day plan you should be able to have multiple saved reminder times instead of all of them defaulting to the same one. It’s a bit inconvenient—for some tasks, like getting lunch, I may want a reminder 10 minutes before in case I might need to wrap up something else. But when it’s time for me to fall asleep I’d like to be able to have it never give me a notification, as well as other tasks I’d rather have a ‘when it starts’ notification. But you can’t have all of them, you have to pick the one that is the least bothersome or works for most of your activities (for me, it’s when it starts) and just deal with the fact that the other stuff will be weird.

Someone recommended Owaves to me saying that it is great for people with ADHD. It definitely is! I love how visual the tasks are; it makes planning fun rather than overwhelming. The creative circle layout is a lot easier to process and work with than most linear and text-based planners and apps. I LOVE it!
The only suggestion for improvement that I have is that I wish you could change and set default tasks. For example, I wanted to permanently change the task “studying” to “homework,” but I have to manually change it every time I place it in the plan. The same goes for default pictures. It would also be nice to be able to change the time settings for the day (e.g change to increments of 25 minutes instead of 15). More flexibility with default settings would make Owaves absolutely perfect in my opinion!

I was amazed to find Owaves, and it is very promising. I am an adult who struggles with ADHD, and finding the right tools to help keep me ‘plugged in’ to the 24-hour clock is very difficult.

Imagine my surprise when I found this app, an app that represents time in the *exact same way* that I’ve imagined it visually since I was a small child! Owaves is easy to use and I LOVE the ability to customize day plan templates.

What does confuse me is that the updates appear to be out-of-sync between the iPad and iPhone, at least for me. I have the latest versions for an iPhone 8 and an iPad Pro (2018), but the iPad version lacks many of the features present on the phone (e.g., icon customization). The two apps also do not sync, which is frustrating. With more functionality updates, this will become my go-to tool for time management.

I’ve been using Owaves for several years now. I have seen many changes from the addition of customizable icons and recently the my Moai features… in my opinion Owaves has gotten better and more enjoying to use over time. Is it a perfect app? No, but I really appreciate when a development team listens and implements new features and doesn’t just let an app stagnate.

I personally use this app in tandem with other apps like streaks (habit building), reminders (routine creation) and even mind node( goal planning/brainstorming). I would love to see some of these features built into this app. If, however, that goes against keeping a simplistic feel to Owaves (which I love). Maybe some cross-app integration could be developed? Reminders would be the most useful for me as I regularly block off time in my this app to reference a list of reminders. This keeps this app decluttered but allows me the ability to create more complex list of tasks/checklists to go through.

Also, goal creation & planning would be an amazing feature.

In any event, I like Owaves and I’m giving 5 stars because I think the future is bright for this app.

With my ADHD this has been really helpful for me to see how much time I really have in a day, the circle instead of column helps me see the beginning and end better. Time blindness is rough and this is very useful in helping remind me what’s up next. What I WISH it had was syncing to my google calendar!! Which is where I put all my appointments, if those auto-filled in then I’d save my precious time having to re-enter them and could focus on filling in the other stuff. ANOTHER thing I wish it did was let you make CUSTOM TITLES you could save for the activities, you can change the icons but can’t save the titles for later, or copy/paste on already on the wheel if you need to do it again later. All this wastes time, which Owaves is suppose to help you avoid. All in all I really like it, but I could LIVE it with these improvements.

Owaves has so much potential to be amazing, but I think it lacks customizability. I would find Owaves so much more useful if I were able to make presents not just for entire day schedules, but for actual tasks themselves. As it stands now it looks like you insert your own emoji and Owaves decides what the task will be called based on the emoji, which is… fine I guess? But I would really prefer to be able to name it myself and customize what goes in each category. Since what people do and how they think about it is pretty unique to the individual, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were others wanting the same thing. It might even be nice to be able to customize the categories themselves, though I know Owaves puts a great deal of effort into curating said categories as a guide.

I love how Owaves has transformed my ability to pay attention to how I spend my time. Before this app I would find myself pacing a lot and feel the burden that my indecisiveness had on me. I still sometimes get caught up in what is most important to do next but then I just remember to check my watch or my O on the phone and the I feel more at ease. It’s not fool proof. With all things in life it requires some work but the benefit from the effort I put into planning my days totally outweighs taking 5min to think about my priorities. I love this app and I can’t wait to see how Owaves improves because that means my life and wellness will become that much easier to manage..

It’s much easier to consider the whole day at once with the circle, and I like that your can add your own option in the preset categories. However, there’s some things that I just need a whole other category for.

It would also be cool if when adding time to a task you could choose wether it takes time out of the next task, or moves the tasks back. Either way I usually have to adjust some thing afterwards, but it would be more convenient.

I know mostly listed ways I think Owaves could improve, but I chose 5 ⭐️ because it’s still the only app I’ve found that does what I need on a base level.

(PS. Worth the upgrade)
I’m a super anxious person and Owaves helped mediate some of my anxiety for the time being. Owaves helped make my routine into a game with points and such. Also, I no longer have to remember so much which is a relief.
The different color items I could have helped my cruddy eyes to navagate long lists. The group function is great also so I don’t get overwelhmed with too long of a list.

However, one thing I’m a little frustrated about is that when selecting a group through an item, it only displays 4 options and you have to delete ones if you make more than 4 for them to display. I got the upgrade so nothing else is limited. Idk. Either way, I only use 3 groupings so it doesn’t affect me at the moment but it urks me since I know I’ll be using more than 4 groups very soon.

Anyway, a lovely app and certainly worth the upgrade. It reminds me of Xbox achievements and the sound that it makes when I complete a task is very satisfying. And that I can change a setting to make the completed task not appear is fantastic. 5 star, hands down

Owaves is definitely the best organizing-planner-thing I have used. It’s beautiful, straightforward, and simple. In all the other apps, I have to write out every single little detail, but Owaves understands. It already has all the categories laid out in a pretty little palette, so all I have to do is drag the colorful bubble into the schedule.

Many complain that there aren’t enough categories or it’s a pain to use, and I understand. Sometimes I struggle to get the schedule the way I want it or I have something to do but it’s not a category, but the easiest way to fix that problem is to use the “flow” button. I use it as just a general theme. This can be fixed by tapping the bubble and adding a description and even a picture to remind the user of what’s going on, and I love that!

Hopefully this helped a few people making the decision whether to get this app! 😋😃

Thank you, this app Team, for making such a wonderful app and making my life a lot more organized!

It is such a pain to enter anything! It’s a beautiful app, clearly they focused on looks. It’s a shame no attention was given to how someone would actually use it.

I tried to put in my work hours - you have to drag the work icon to the circle and then drag the color block around until you get it where you need it, then turn the circle so you can expand to your end time. When I tried to add my lunch I realized I couldn’t just insert it... I have to go back and move my work time and add another work time on the other side of lunch. You cannot just select and change the times. You have to drag things around the circle. The first few times didn’t bother me so much but it gets old REALLY fast. And if things change, you have to go in and adjust everything by dragging. I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t add a feature letting you type in times.

I was really looking forward for this update. Thank you very much for such an awesome app. I can finally use it on the newer watch faces.
The other thing that I really wanted in this update but didn’t come, was to set more precise times. I would love to be able to set activities that are only few minutes long for example take medicine or drink water. Also my activities don’t always follow the 15 minute rhythm, there are activities that 10 or 20 minutes. I would love to be able to start my activity at the exact time like 9:55 or even 9:52.
Again, thank you soo much for such an awesome app. If the time input gets updated to precise minutes, Owaves will be absolute perfect for me.

Owaves takes a little bit of time to get used to, but so does everything else in life. Now that I have Owaves, I am much more organized and have everything planned when I need additional help or assistance in planning my day. People complain about not having enough time in the day to do the necessary things needed but when committing time to an app like this, you’ll be able to do all the things needed to keep you happy, healthy and active!

Really enjoy the concept of Owaves. I do think there need to be more parts that make it more malleable as a calendar such as copying single days and applying them maybe only on specific days rather than just repeating permanently. I’d also enjoy being able to copy whole weeks at a time for pasting so I can tackle things more week by week without the calendar already being full with the repeating days. Will definitely be using this more though and can’t wait to see it get even better!

I really had high hopes for Owaves. It’s visually pleasing, but entering and changing things is a pain. You have to rotate a wheel. If you change anything, it’s annoying to have to go back to the wheel and try to drag and move things just right. It’s cumbersome and takes more time than a different entry method would. I also don’t like that I can’t customize things more than I can. I don’t want preset choices: I want to be able to do what I want with it. Yes, I know it offers a little customization (you can choose the image, etc), but no where near enough. I want to be able to do what I want with it, not have to make my goals for the day have to fit into a prescribed group. Disappointed.

I bought an Apple Watch, found Owaves, and my ability to make better use of my time instantly improved. I wish Owaves was optimized for iPhone X and included the option to change colors for each set. I think some long term improvements could include Calendar and Scheduled Reminder integration, adding these somehow to the ring (maybe as an additional ring or just markers on the ring).

I downloaded Owaves to help me to manage time, as I tend to have a problem with remembering to do things and when to do them (I have ADHD). It was a life changer for the first few days and then it suddenly stopped alerting me for things. I went in and checked all of the settings and everything was correct, so I went into my phones motivation settings and everything was correct there as well. I tried reaching out to the this app team about a week ago but haven’t received a response. Super disappointed. It really was a game changer for me while it lasted.

I never properly took in to consideration how I actually spend my days until I used this wonderful app. It was a piece of cake to use and it honestly provides amazing insight in to how productive I am and how well I am taking care of my personal health and well being. After using Owaves I realized I need to sleep more and spend more quality time with my loved ones. I couldn’t be more satisfied with a free app. Bravo!

We all know the convenience of having a smartphone and all the apps and gadgets that accompany it, to make life easier. Whoever read my mind and decided to bring a health planner to fruition, THANK YOU!! This is a user friendly planning app that keeps track of your health, the way you’ve always dreamed. I highly recommend Owaves to anyone on a path to living a healthier life. You will be glad you downloaded Owaves!

Owaves is AWESOME! No joke! It really helps me keep track of my day, in terms of my way of living. I can look back to a week, or even month ago, and see how things may have changed! Owaves helps people really keep track of that busy schedule in a really easy way! I LOVE Owaves, not to mention it’s FREE!!! Because of that I will never leave!!! Seriously, everyone should use this!!!!
-Brooke M.

I know these guys personally; and they are putting their heart and soul into this project. Please support them! This could be a game-changer for young adult mental health; including diagnoses like ADHD, autism, depression and anxiety. Using a calendar to prioritize healthy activities like sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress management an relationships makes perfect sense. Can’t wait to see what this team does next!!