Changelog

A page for each child’s day with a Cheer for anything they did, a kid’s own tablet you can set up and keep on FocalNest, Tablet mode with the system bars out of the way and an Exit Tablet mode button for grown-ups, inviting another grown-up by email or with a link, kids who keep checking things off while your email waits to be confirmed, a card in Settings on the website for getting the phone app, a family screen that says what a kid earned, praise from the Family page that reaches your child, kids’ prize requests on every parent’s Nest, a family screen you can see right away, routines that say “step” and ask who new steps are for, bulk-added tasks for anyone in the family, how to forward an email, and repeating deadlines that keep their time when the clocks change.

• improved Buttons and choices match across the app. They look the same from screen to screen, more of them are easier to tap, and long labels stay off the edges. The energy buttons have room around their icons too, and choices work better with a keyboard or a screen reader.
• improved Rotating tasks are quicker to set up. Type a list of pieces with Enter, paste one in, or ask for suggestions. Each piece shows its minutes and steps at a glance, and Stop rotating turns it all off in one step.
• new Change a routine’s order while you’re doing it. Open the step list from the Nest and tap Change the order. The new order takes effect now and stays for next time. Kids can do this on routines that are only theirs.
• improved Puzzles keep your place. A puzzle saves as you play, so a game you left comes back from Treasures just as it was, on any device. On a shared screen, you get a "Still playing?" card before it closes, and More time keeps your game open.
• fixed Countdowns say "< 1 min" in the last minute. Timers on the family screen and the next-up line on your Nest used to say "Now" with time still left. "Now" waits until the time is actually up.
• improved Cards on the family screen are easier to use. Tap anything on the family screen and the card leads with what it is and keeps its main button in view, however long the notes are. A slow tap shows it's working, and if something doesn't go through, the card says so. Edit in Calendar opens the event, the PIN pad opens on top of the screen instead of behind it, putting a task off asks for a grown-up's PIN, and a card nobody's using closes itself after a minute.
• improved Names next to avatars. The family screen, the calendar, and the planner now say who someone is, so you don't have to remember whose avatar is whose.
• new A routine can run about 3, 4, or 5 days a week, on any days. Pick “Some days a week” in a routine’s settings. It shows up until you’ve done a step, then rests, spacing the days through the week. Miss a day and it’s still there tomorrow. When a routine with set days keeps getting skipped, “Not today” may offer to make it a few days a week instead, and Back undoes it.
• improved Settings is grouped. The Settings list is sorted under four headings: You, Family, Connections, and FocalNest. On a computer the groups sit side by side, so everything fits on one screen.
• improved Your account menu and a collection’s ⋮ menu are bigger and easier to tap. On a phone or tablet, tapping your picture opens a panel from the bottom of the screen with your name on top. Notifications, Switch profile, and the other things you reach for most are big buttons, Desk mode shows whether it’s on, and Log out sits on its own at the bottom. A routine, list, or project’s ⋮ menu works the same way, with Clone, Save as template, and Delete under More. On a computer they’re still menus.
• improved My Day: one menu per task, quick edits, and a routine in one place. Tap a task on My Day, or its ⋯, and one panel opens with Log progress, Snooze, and quick ways to change the time, the estimate, the name, or who’s doing it, without opening the whole task. Titles line up whether or not they have an emoji. A routine you’ve started stays in its part of the day with a ring that fills as you go, and moves to Done once it’s finished. Its ticked steps there are easier to tap to undo.
• improved Check off a to-do right on its email card. When a forwarded email adds something you’ve already handled, tap the circle beside it on the card. Open a to-do to say someone else did it, remove one you don’t want, or see more details.
• new Hand a task to someone else, or edit it, from the family screen. Tap a task on the family screen and a grown-up can pick who’s doing it instead. A one-time task becomes theirs, and a repeating one changes for that day only. It asks for that grown-up’s PIN, if they have one, and Undo puts it back. Edit details opens the task’s own page.
• fixed The family screen fits on every tablet. Coming up no longer runs off the bottom of the screen. When there’s more than fits, the extra items take turns in the last spot, including late ones. On a busy day the countdown circle gets a little smaller to make room, and a timer now lines up with the list below it instead of stretching edge to edge.
• improved A task’s ⋯ menu is bigger and easier to find things in. On a phone or tablet, ⋯ now opens a panel from the bottom of the screen with the task’s name on top. The actions you’re most likely after are big buttons, and the rest sit under Do it now, Who, When, and About this task. Snooze and Defer show their choices right there instead of in a second menu. On a computer it’s still a menu, grouped the same way.
• fixed Tablets and phones take updates on their own again. A paused or finished timer no longer keeps a tablet from updating all day, and an update that has waited a couple of hours goes in at the next quiet moment. After you install an app update from Google Play or TestFlight, the app takes a few seconds to get the newest version, so you no longer find a second update waiting. (Phone and tablet apps)
• improved AI drafts set-up steps, steps that rotate, and the days a routine runs. Describe a plan like a workout program and the AI can put one-time jobs, like clearing a space or getting the right equipment, under “Set up first,” make a step that alternates, like Day A and Day B, and run the routine only on the days you train. When the answer would change the plan, it asks one short question first, like how many days a week. Before saving, you can add or change pieces, give each its own steps, and pick the days it runs.
• improved Each piece of a rotating task can have its own steps. When a task rotates through pieces, open “Steps for this piece” under any piece to give it a checklist of its own, like different moves on workout days A and B. When that piece is up, its steps are the ones shown. A piece with no steps of its own uses the shared steps.
• new Routines and repeating lists can have a few things to set up first. When you add something to a routine or a repeating list, turn on “Just once, to get set up” for a one-time job like buying a kettlebell or clearing a space. It shows under “Set up first” at the top of the routine or list, happens once, and never holds it up or counts toward its steps.
• improved The wake-up alarm rings at alarm volume. On Android, your child’s wake-up alarm now plays at the tablet’s alarm volume, so turning the sound down for videos doesn’t make it quiet, and it rings through Do Not Disturb. If the app was closed overnight, the tablet still rings on its own, on repeat until your child taps “I’m up”, and that doesn’t make it ring again when the app opens. (Android)
• new A wake-up alarm on your child’s tablet. Turn it on from your child’s page in Settings → Family, under Sleep & wind-down. On the days you pick, their room tablet brightens slowly for ten minutes, then rings at their wake time. “I’m up” opens their morning. On the other days, the clock turns green at wake time, with no sound.
• fixed Drafting with AI shows its progress and finishes once. While a draft or a change is being made, the wizard shows how long it’s been working instead of an error. Trying again no longer starts a second draft, “Your draft is ready” shows once and goes away when you open it, and a change that doesn’t go through says so under the box with your words kept. Drafts also come back faster.
• improved Overlapping events ask one question: “Same thing?”. When two events or to-dos on the Calendar overlap, the card asks whether they’re the same thing, even when they have different names, like two emails naming one rehearsal two ways. Merge them, link them, or keep both from one place, instead of reading through a list of buttons. When the same two are on other dates too, one more tap merges those the same way. Long button labels also stay inside their cards on phones now.
• new “Same thing?” for any two things, with Undo. When two events, an event and a to-do, or two to-dos are really one thing, pick “Same as another…” from an event or a to-do’s menu. Merge them into one, use the newer one, link them, or keep both. Whatever you pick, Undo is right there. A grown-up’s Nest also shows pairs on the next week’s calendar that might be the same.
• fixed A reminder email doesn’t add the event twice. When you forward a reminder or an invitation for something that’s already on your calendar, FocalNest doesn’t add it again. The email’s card says it was already there, and “Not the same? Add it” adds it anyway if they really are two different things.
• improved A thank-you says what it’s for. When someone thanks you for several things at once, the message now names them, like “Dishes, Trash, and Laundry,” instead of just “3 things.” A long list names the first two and says how many more.
• fixed Undo takes back exactly what it did. Undoing a finished task now takes back a prize it earned, as long as nobody has asked to use it yet. A prize someone has asked for, or one you’ve already handed over, stays. And when you turn an event into a task and tap Undo, the drive comes back too, with the same drivers.
• fixed You can filter your tasks by context tag again. In Inventory’s filters, the Context tags section was empty, so there was nothing to pick. Your tags, like Home or Errands, show up there again.
• improved Your PIN is asked when it matters, not every time you switch. On a shared tablet, tapping your profile no longer asks for your PIN. It asks when you open Settings or do something only a grown-up can, like pausing a routine or approving a reward, and one PIN covers the next 10 minutes. It asks again once the screen sleeps. Ideas and updates from forwarded emails wait behind a Show button until you enter it, so the PIN never pops up on its own.
• improved First-time hints are easier to spot. When FocalNest points out something new, the rest of the screen dims and the button it’s about stays lit, with bigger words and a clear Got it button. You can still tap the lit button to use it right away. Tapping elsewhere won’t make a hint disappear before you’ve read it.
• fixed Tablets stay signed in while they’re in use. Every phone and tablet used to sign out 30 days after it was set up, even one in use every day. Now the 30 days start again each time it’s used, so a family screen in daily use stays signed in. A device that sits unused for 30 days still asks you to sign in again.
• fixed Settings says when Google Play or TestFlight has an update. Settings → App updates used to say you had the latest version even when a new version was waiting in Google Play or TestFlight. It now says where the update is, with a button to install it. (Phone and tablet apps)
• new Routines can go with an event. A routine can now happen before or after a repeating event, like “After swim” when everyone gets home from Swim. It runs on every Swim, moves when Swim moves, and skips anyone who isn’t going. Choose “With an event” in the routine’s schedule, or tap “Add a routine” on the event.
• improved Shorter tips of the day, and more of them. Each tip is now a quick line you can read at a glance. For something tucked in a menu, Show me lists the taps to get there. There are 20 new tips too, including Family, Bulk Add, and connecting a calendar.
• fixed “Return to” is easy to read on a child’s Play mode screen. On your own phone or tablet, the “Return to” link you use to switch back from a child’s profile now has a solid background, so their adventure picture no longer shows through it.
• improved More fits on the family screen, and timers take turns. When there’s more coming up than fits, the timer buttons fold away first: the timer picker becomes one button, running timers show fewer rows, and the clock gets smaller. Only then do the last items in Coming up take turns. Every item that fits now shows at once, and a running countdown keeps its full-size ring. With several timers going, the one on the big card stays put until it’s done, a new one joins the list below it, and “+N more” opens everything that’s running. The countdown to what’s next keeps going beside your timers, a finished timer says “It’s time” for a minute, and spoken reminders wait their turn instead of talking over each other. A kid’s timer from their Nest always shows, however many timers are running.
• new Not doing this, for one event. Tap an event on the family screen and a grown-up can say “Not doing this.” That one time leaves the family screen, everyone’s day, reminders, and the planner, along with any get-ready tasks nobody has started. It works for events from Google, your phone, or a forwarded email, and never changes the calendar it came from. Undo brings it all back, and so does “Bring it back” on the Calendar.
• improved Your iPad tells you when a new version is in TestFlight. Most updates reach the iPad on their own. When one needs a new version from TestFlight, a note at the top of the screen now says so, with a button that opens TestFlight. If the iPad is locked in Guided Access, the note says to leave it first. Updates made only for Android no longer hold the iPad back. (iPhone and iPad)
• fixed Timers on the family screen sit on the same card as everything else. A running timer, stopwatch, or counter now sits on the same card as the list of what’s coming up, so it no longer looks like a different color in the evening. The countdown to the next routine has that card too, so starting a timer no longer changes what’s behind the ring.
• improved Tapping something on the family screen shows what it is. A task now shows how to start, what you’ll need, its notes, and its checklist. A routine lists its steps, with the ones already done today checked off. An event shows when it starts and ends and its description. If it came from a forwarded email or text, you see the subject, who sent it, when, the attachment names, and any links, but never the message itself, since everyone in the house can see that screen.
• fixed One FocalNest calendar in Google, even after turning writing off and on. Turning off writing to Google Calendar and turning it back on now keeps using the FocalNest calendar it made the first time, instead of adding another one. If that calendar was deleted in Google, FocalNest makes a new one and carries on.
• improved Tablet mode hides the system bars, with a clear way out. With Tablet mode on, an Android tablet no longer shows the status bar or the navigation buttons on any screen. A swipe in from the edge still shows them for a moment. To leave, tap Exit Tablet mode on the profile picker, or in the account menu on a kid’s own tablet, and enter your PIN. The tablet’s other apps open up for 15 minutes. (Android)
• fixed Scanning a sign-in code opens the approval. When you scan the code on a tablet’s sign-in screen, the app now opens straight to the approval, even if it wasn’t already open. Before, it often landed on your Nest or the sign-in screen and never asked. (Phone and tablet apps)
• new Set up a tablet as one of your kids’, and keep it on FocalNest. When you sign in on a new tablet, choose “One of my kids” and pick whose it is, or register it for them in Settings → Devices. It opens on their profile every time, and a switch PIN keeps them out of yours. Kids don’t sign in with their own email. In Settings → Devices you can also turn on pinning and Tablet mode, so on an Android tablet a restart or the Home button comes back to FocalNest instead of their other apps. Both stay off until you turn them on.
• new See how your child’s day is going. Open Family and tap your child’s day to see their routines so far, what they checked off, what they earned, and what’s still to come. Tap Cheer on anything they did and they’ll see it on their Nest. Family is in the account menu now too, and on your Nest when your list is clear.
• fixed Repeating deadlines keep their time when the clocks change. A repeating task due at 8:00 PM came back due at 7:00 PM after the clocks went back. Now the next one is due at the same time as the last.
• improved The family screen says what a Done earned. When a kid checks something off on the family screen, the line with Undo now says what they got, like “You got a card! It’s in your Treasures.” The screen stays put, and the card, piece, puzzle, or prize waits in Treasures. Undo takes it back with the Done.
• fixed The heart on the Family page sends praise now. Tapping the heart next to something your child finished said “Could not send praise.” every time. Now it sends, and your child sees it on their Nest. Hearts show only on kids’ completions, for the family’s admins.
• fixed Kids’ prize requests show on your Nest. When a kid asks to use a prize, the request now shows on every admin’s Nest so you can say yes or not right now. It used to show only if rewards were turned on for you yourself, which they usually aren’t.
• new See the family screen right away when you set up a shared tablet. On “When nobody’s using it,” tap “Show it now” to see the clock and the family’s day without waiting. Tap anywhere to come back to who’s using it.
• improved Routines say “step,” and ask who new steps are for. A routine’s page now says “Add step” and “No steps yet.” When you make a new routine, project, or list in a family of two or more, choose who new items go to before you create it, so a routine meant for one child doesn’t show up for everyone. The describe-it box also shows an example of the kind you’re making.
• improved Bulk add can give tasks to anyone in the family. Bulk Add now lists everyone in your family, kids included, beside yourself and Family.
• improved How to forward an email, in Settings. Settings → Email now says how to forward from Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook, and that a line you write above the forwarded message tells FocalNest what to take from it.
• new Find the phone app from Settings. On the website, Settings now says how to get FocalNest on your phone: a link to join the beta on Google Play for Android, and a TestFlight invite from us for iPhone or iPad. The beta invite email says the same.
• fixed Kids can check things off while your email waits to be confirmed. If a week went by without confirming your email, FocalNest stopped saving changes, and that included your kids’ check-offs on the family tablet. Now kids on the family tablet can keep checking off their tasks. Your own changes still wait until you confirm.
• improved Invite another grown-up by email or with a link. When you add a grown-up during setup, you can give their email, and we’ll send them the invite. Leave it blank to share the invite link from Settings → Family later. A grown-up opening a link with no email on it can now create their account: the page asks for their email, or asks them to sign in if that email already has one. Invites for grown-ups no longer show a made-up age.

Several timers at once on the family screen, a place in the app to see what’s new, seven new Play adventures, more read-aloud for early readers, flexible rhythms first in the task form, every adventure for every kid, missed tasks that stay put, repeating-list items that keep their own days, a tidier Devices page, card puzzles you can start over, a simpler sign-in screen, a way to fix a task marked done by mistake, a glowing Start button for kids, a bonus for one more rotating piece, a look at what each re-plan moved, Calendar overlaps you can sort out in place, menus that fit small phones, daily chores that hold their own in your Nest, a way to change when a task shows up from its menu, a look at why each task is in your Nest, routines that open right away, a clearer way to confirm your email, Play costumes you can fix from your child’s Nest, a counter on the family screen and a stopwatch that keeps its time, flexible hours in the planner, and a planner rebuilt around your week, with what could give, what you could take, and a way to thank someone for the shared work.

• fixed A shared timer no longer says “one minute” twice. With the same timer on more than one family screen, a screen that ran a few seconds behind could say “one minute left” again just before “It’s time.” Now it only says “It’s time.”
• improved Your whole list is one tap away while you wait. While you wait at an appointment or a class, the Nest shows only what you can do on the go, or nothing if the wait isn’t free time. Tap “Show all my tasks” on the card to see everything until you’re home. Kids’ Nests no longer go quiet on the way to things: they see their tasks as usual.
• improved See why a tablet hasn’t updated yet. A tablet waits to install an update until nobody would notice, such as during lights out or while a countdown, a timer, or time calls are on the wall. Open the tablet in Settings → Devices to see what it’s waiting for and since when, and how its last update went in.
• improved Events a forwarded email suggests are easier to find. Events a newsletter only suggests now wait under “For you to decide” on your Nest until you add one or choose Not for us, even after you’ve read the notification. They also show on the Calendar on their day, marked as an idea, and a week-long offer stays listed through its last day. The notification for a forwarded email opens a page with everything it added or suggested, not the task list.
• improved The family tablet goes back to rest sooner. A shared tablet now returns to the profile picker after a minute of nobody touching it, and shows the family screen 30 seconds after that. It used to wait a minute and a half, then five minutes. Tablets still on the old timing have been moved over; one you set yourself keeps your times. Change them in Settings → Devices.
• fixed A shared treasure waits for you on the family tablet. When a child shows a grown-up a treasure, the note no longer pops up over the profile picker on a shared tablet. It waits until you pick your picture, then shows once your Nest is up. It’s in your notifications either way.
• improved More you can do from Coming Up. The ⋯ menu on a task in Coming Up now has most of what the big card offers: Focus, Just 2 minutes, Log progress, Claim, Reassign, Do it later, and Why is this here. “Dismiss” is now “Not doing this,” which you can undo, and a task marked important to do regularly asks before it’s skipped. Edit title is gone: tap the task to change it.
• improved A child’s reward shows up right after Done. When a child finishes a task, their puzzle piece or prize now appears in about a second instead of two. The finished task stays on screen until it does, so the next task no longer appears and then gets covered up. The reward screen shows what’s next.
• improved Tap anything on the family screen. Routines and events on the family screen open too, instead of sending you back to the profile picker. Tap a routine, then your picture, to start it in your Nest. Grown-ups can skip it for the day or push it 15 or 30 minutes later. Tap an event to see where it is, who’s going, and its to-dos. Grown-ups can say “I’ll drive,” take someone off it, or open it in Calendar to make changes. The red alert at the top opens too.
• improved Late tasks come up sooner in the Nest. A task that’s past its due time, or due first thing tomorrow, now goes ahead of chores that are only behind their usual pace, even ones marked important. Once it’s late, a morning or evening setting no longer holds it back. Anything critical or never skipped still comes first.
• improved Step-by-step help keeping a shared iPad on FocalNest. Settings, then Devices, now walks you through Guided Access on a shared iPad, and checks itself off when you start it. A restart turns Guided Access off, so FocalNest reminds whoever opens it to lock it again. On your phone, Settings, then Devices shows whether the iPad is locked. (iPhone and iPad)
• new Check off a task right from the family screen. Tap a task on the family screen, like one that was due yesterday, then tap the picture of whoever did it. Grown-ups can also choose Not now to bring it back tomorrow, or Not doing this. The screen stays where it is, with an Undo for a minute.
• improved The tip of the day is easier to find. It now sits right under your current task on the Nest, and at the top of My Day. It shows in the evening too, and doesn’t wait for What’s new. A tip you haven’t answered comes back the next day. Turn tips off in Settings → Tips.
• new Forwarded newsletters suggest events instead of filling your calendar. When a forwarded email only announces something, like a zoo show, an open house, or an optional PTA meeting, FocalNest lists it under “Might be worth a look” instead of putting it on the calendar. Each one says whether anyone has something on then and how much free time that week has. Add it in one tap, or choose Not for us. The planner shows this week’s under “Could add this week.”
• improved Drives: pick-up or drop-off, and either of you or both. On an event with travel, “Who’s taking them?” now has “Either of us” (one drive, whoever gets to it), “Both” (you both go, and it counts for each of you), and “Not decided yet.” Once someone is driving, choose Drop off, Pick up, or Both ways. A pick-up leaves in time to arrive when the event ends, and its reminder and the family screen follow. The family screen says when to leave and when you’ll be home on one line, and the drive’s name keeps up with the event unless you typed your own.
• fixed The family screen fits on a phone: long names wrap inside their cards
• improved Timers on an upright family screen are as wide as the list below them. On a tablet standing upright, a running timer used to sit in a narrow card above a wider “Coming up” list. Now the two line up, so a timer’s name fits on one line and its buttons fit in one row.
• improved The device you’re using is first in Settings → Devices
• improved A device switched to a shared screen starts with the family-screen features on. Urgent alerts, the countdown ring, lights out overnight, spoken timer reminders, and shared timers all turn on when you change a device to “A screen the family shares.” You can still turn any of them off. Opening a screen’s settings no longer resets anything you’d already chosen for it.
• fixed The Calendar shows whole task and event names. Long names in the Calendar used to be cut off with “…”, and on a narrow phone a task could lose its name entirely. Now the task’s name comes first and wraps onto a second line, with the collection’s name under it. Long email addresses and links wrap too, instead of running off the screen.
• improved Things due first thing in the morning come up the day before. A task due before noon, like a class snack to bring at drop-off, now counts the day before as its last day to get ready. It moves ahead of chores that are only behind their usual pace, and “Why is this here?” says so. Forwarded emails that ask you to bring something to school are now due by your family’s morning time, which you can set in Settings → Family → Scheduling. The card that shows what an email added now says “end of day” when that’s the due time, and lets you add a time.
• fixed Tapping the same number twice no longer zooms in. On iPhone and iPad, two quick taps on the same button, like a repeated digit in a PIN, used to zoom the screen. Now each tap counts. Pinching to zoom still works. (iPhone and iPad)
• new Several timers at once on the family screen, including the ones from the Nest. Starting a timer on the family screen no longer stops one someone else started. Timers, stopwatches, and counters now run side by side, with the one ending soonest shown biggest. Tap any other to bring it up front. A timer someone starts for a task in their Nest shows on every family screen too, with their picture and the task. Tap it there to mark the task done or add five minutes, after switching to them. Each person can turn this off in Settings. Time calls still run one at a time, so two clocks never talk over each other.
• fixed Reminder settings and links work on a pinned tablet. Opening reminder settings, a link, or the share sheet used to do nothing while the app was pinned. Now the tablet unpins for it and asks to pin again when you come back. (Android)
• new Put a shared tablet back on the ambient screen. Done on a shared tablet? “Ambient screen” in your account menu signs your profile out and brings up the ambient screen right away, so nobody else ends up in your Nest. A profile with a PIN asks for it again.
• improved Routine time call-outs play on every family screen. When a routine calls out the time, it now plays on all your family screens, including ones you add later. Choose screens… still lets you pick. The settings are worded more plainly too.
• improved Easier to see when an update is ready. Settings → App updates opens on its own with “Update ready” and an Update now button, and Devices marks other devices still on an older version. (Phone and tablet apps)
• fixed Signing in a tablet from your phone says when it’s done. After you approve in a browser, the page says you can close it, and coming back to it says it was approved instead of that the code ran out.
• new Tasks for after an event, like “Put your ballet stuff away”. On an event, “Add a task for this” now asks whether it’s to get ready or for after. A task for after shows up when you’re home, at the top of the Nest for the first half hour, and is due by bedtime. If it’s still undone the next night, it goes away quietly. It moves when the event moves, and it goes away if that person isn’t going. On a repeating event, choose “Every time” to have it for every one, and a change you make to one applies to the ones after it unless you choose “Only this one.” Get-ready tasks that start with pack, wear, or bring now show up the day before instead of a week ahead.
• fixed Get-ready tasks move when their event moves. Move Thursday’s ballet to Friday and “Pack the ballet bag” is now due Friday, by the new time you leave. It works when you move the event here, when you change this and following events in a repeating series, and when your calendar moves it. A deadline you set yourself stays where you put it.
• improved Two-factor sign-in stops after five wrong codes. If you use an authenticator app to sign in, five wrong codes in a row now pause code entry on your account for 15 minutes, recovery codes included. Signing in again doesn’t restart the count. You’ll get an email when it happens, with what to do if it wasn’t you.
• fixed Back works again, and Inventory opens faster. Back, in the app and on Android’s back button, could change nothing on screen. It now always takes you back. Inventory shows your collections at once, the first time and when you come back to it, then fills in and checks for changes, and opening it no longer stalls the app. Search waits for a pause in your typing, so the list no longer freezes as you type.
• improved The same email forwarded twice is added once. When you and another grown-up both forward the same school email, seconds or days apart, it’s added once, even when your notes, signatures, or greetings differ. The second person sees who sent it first and the note that came with it, can choose “Read it again for everything” if that note asked for only part of it, and tasks become either of yours. A different note adds only what’s new. An event the email says is someone else’s, like a child’s rehearsal, is no longer put on the calendar of whoever forwarded it.
• improved Inventory is one list: collections fold open to their tasks. Inventory no longer switches between Collections and Tasks. Each collection folds open to show what’s in it, and tasks that aren’t in one have a section of their own. One search finds both, with the matches marked. Tap a task to see when it was last done and by whom, how the last four weeks went, and where each person stands on it, then start it, log progress, or edit it from there. A task with a deadline or a set start time says so in its row and its card, and “Edit task” is at the top of its ⋯ menu.
• improved Full list names on the Nest, and “Confirm all” in the planner. The card on your Nest now shows the whole name of the list, routine, or project a task comes from, and tapping the name opens it. Back and ⋯ sit on the right, and “How this works” is the first thing in ⋯. In the planner, “Needs your OK” shows each task’s full title with who and which day, a Move button on each row, and one “Confirm all” for the rest.
• improved Updating a pinned tablet tells you what’s coming. On a tablet pinned to FocalNest, the update notice now says beforehand that the tablet may ask for its PIN, then Google Play updates FocalNest and brings it back. (Android)
• new Flexible hours in the planner. If your work or a class has no set hours, add it as hours a week, like 35h of work, and pick the days it can fall on. Your free time and the room-for-something-new check both count it, spread evenly over those days.
• improved Calendar overlaps show their times, and an event comes off in one tap. Overlaps on the Calendar now fold to a short card saying when each thing starts and ends. Tap one for the ways to sort it out, including “Remove”, which takes an event you added or forwarded off the calendar along with its get-ready tasks nobody has started. Undo puts it all back, and Delete in an event’s details has the same Undo now. If a later forwarded email names an event you removed, it isn’t added back on its own: the import says so and offers “Add it anyway”.
• improved Event details save as you tap, and get-ready tasks start on time. “Who is this for?” on an event now saves with each tap, like everything else there. “Add a task for this” lets you pick who does it in one tap, starting with the event’s people, and a task for something weeks away waits until a week before it’s due to show up.
• fixed The Android back button works. Back closes an open sheet or menu first, then goes back a page. On the first page it puts the app away rather than closing it. A tablet in Tablet mode stays on FocalNest. (Android)
• fixed Smoother on phones: Back, the PIN, and a few things that didn’t fit. Back from a task you opened on the Calendar returns to the Calendar, with your filters. Your own phone no longer asks for your own PIN when you switch back to yourself. The bottom of Edit Task no longer hides under “Done editing,” the cheer when you finish something stays on screen, and the planner’s weekly check-in buttons have room for two lines. Choosing “Shared screens only” on the spoken-line card leaves it open so you can still pick a voice, and “Mark all read” leaves What’s new waiting until you open it.
• new A warmer word when you finish something, said out loud. Finishing a task or logging progress now says something about what you just did and the kind of task it was, like a bill you’d been putting off being off your plate. It’s said out loud too, in one of two voices you pick. The first time, you can keep it, keep it to shared screens, or turn it off, and Settings has the same choices.
• fixed Tablets pick up updates sooner, and say when they last checked. App updates in Settings used to say “Up to date” even when an update was waiting. Now it checks when you open it and tells you when it last checked. Devices also hear about a new version as soon as it’s out, and Settings → Devices marks any that haven’t updated yet. (Phone and tablet apps)
• new Sign in a tablet with your phone. On the sign-in screen, tap “Sign in with your phone” and point your phone’s camera at the code. Tap the matching number on your phone, then Approve, and the tablet signs in as you. No camera? Type the short code in Settings, Security, “Sign in a tablet”. You’ll get an email each time, and “Sign out everywhere” is there too if you ever need it.
• improved More tasks can become appointments. “This is an appointment” is now in every task’s menu, and if one can’t move, it says why. If something needs sorting out first, it asks: a repeat that starts at different times on different days becomes one repeating event for each time, a task with no time asks when, and a step in a project or list asks before it leaves. Undo puts everything back. An all-day event can also become a to-do on its day. “Just 2 minutes” and “Log progress” no longer show on a timed trip like a lesson you drive to.
• improved A routine that’s often left unfinished now says where it usually stops. The card on your Nest names the step it usually stops after and shows you the steps that come next. If the routine is fine as it is, say so and the card won’t come back. Several routines for the same child now share one card.
• improved Tidier task cards in your tasks list. The checkbox now sits beside the task’s name, the buttons line up in one row with the ⋯ menu, and the details under the name wrap without a stray dot at the start or end of a line.
• fixed A list item set for a time waits for that time. An item in a repeating list with a time of its own, like a 5:00 PM chore, used to jump to the top of the Nest all day, every day, from the day after you set it. It now comes up as today’s time gets close, and “Why is this here?” names that time.
• new A counter on the family screen. Tap to count jumping jacks, toys put away, or anything else, by 1s, 2s, 5s, or 10s, with an optional goal. The screen keeps the number so nobody has to.
• improved The stopwatch keeps its time when you stop it. Stop used to clear the stopwatch straight away. Now the time stays on the family screen for 15 minutes, or until you clear it, and “Keep going” picks up where it left off if Stop was a mis-tap.
• fixed A profile with a PIN asks for it everywhere you can switch. Tapping a grown-up with a PIN on the “Whose turn is it?” screen used to show an error instead of the keypad. Now every place you switch profiles asks for the PIN the same way, on the same big keypad.
• fixed Switching from a child’s Nest no longer shows “Something went wrong”. Switching to another profile while a child’s Nest showed “While you’re at it” suggestions could replace the whole page with an error. Back buttons that sometimes did nothing, like Done editing on a task, now always take you somewhere.
• improved AI help on a shared task follows every child’s AI setting. A task’s words go to our AI provider only when everyone the task is for has AI features turned on in Parental controls. That covers a first small step, ideas for steps, and Play mode costumes. When a first step or step ideas can’t be offered for that reason, FocalNest says so, and you can type your own.
• improved Downloading your data now includes everything. Download my data in Settings, or Export Data for a child in Parental controls, now gets everything FocalNest keeps about you: races, Not now taps, thanks, away times, devices, forwarded email, and more. Passwords, sign-in keys, and our own internal records aren’t included.
• fixed A task nobody rated for stakes now says “Not set”. Quick-added and emailed tasks used to show as Low stakes while ranking higher than ones you marked Low stakes. Now they show no answer until you pick one.
• new Connect Apple Calendar on iPhone and iPad. FocalNest can read the calendars you choose in Apple Calendar and plan around them, and show what you’ve planned in a FocalNest calendar there. Your other calendars are never changed. It syncs whenever the app is open. (iPhone and iPad)
• improved “Tell us something” is in Settings too. Something broken, confusing, missing, or working well? The way to tell us is now at the bottom of Settings, as well as in the account menu.
• fixed Something you do a few times a day stays on the Nest after the first time. Checking off one of today’s reps used to take the item off the Nest until the page reloaded. It now stays, with one fewer to go.
• fixed My Day counts reps and shows times on your own clock. A finished routine on My Day now counts its reps the way the Nest does, and times read in your own time zone, even on a device set to a different one.
• improved Tasks moved out of an event’s way show in What changed. When a new calendar event bumps a task to another day, the move is listed in the planner’s What changed with everything else, and the notification takes you there.
• fixed Emailed tasks wait until it’s time to start them. A task from a forwarded email or text now starts when it makes sense to start it, not the day it arrives, so December’s snack day stays out of the way in October. The task says why it starts when it does, and you can change the day. Anything the email says to bring is listed on the task too.
• improved The family screen shows the whole outing together. An event now lists what leads up to it right under its name: its get-ready tasks, anything to bring, and when to leave. Tasks added from the event count; a task made separately keeps its own row.
• improved Inventory’s search finds tasks and collections from either side. Search on Collections now lists matching tasks under the matching collections, the way Tasks already showed collections. It also finds a rotating task by any of its pieces: “book” finds “Clean room” when one of its pieces is “Put books away”, and says which piece matched. What you type stays put when you switch between Collections and Tasks.
• improved Projects, routines, and lists are now called collections. The app used “project” for two things: one kind of collection, and all four kinds together. Now all four together are called collections, and Project means only the kind with a finish line, like a birthday party. Routine, Repeating list, and List keep their names, and menus and messages name the kind you’re looking at, like “Delete this routine?”
• improved In Treasures, card collections are now called sets. Same cards and the same progress, under a shorter name. A child hears the new word too, when Treasures reads itself out loud.
• new Sign in with Apple. Sign in or create your account with your Apple Account, on the website and in the iPhone and iPad app. Apple lets you keep your email address private if you prefer. In the iPhone and iPad app, Sign in with Google is there too.
• new Tablet mode keeps a shared tablet on FocalNest through a restart. Pinning a tablet to FocalNest ends whenever the tablet restarts. Tablet mode makes FocalNest the tablet’s home screen, so a restart or the Home button comes back to it, and FocalNest asks to pin itself again. It needs your profile-switch PIN, and a grown-up can switch to the usual home screen for 15 minutes or turn it off. (Android)
• improved The "Up next" card in Treasures can shrink out of the way. Tap the arrow on its top edge to turn it into a small "Back to the Nest" button for the rest of the visit, so it no longer covers your cards. Tap its other arrow to bring the card back.
• fixed Your Favorites in Treasures shows every starred card. Starred cards could go missing from Your Favorites once someone had collected a lot of cards. Every starred card now shows there, newest star first, and the row fades at the edge when there are more to scroll to.
• fixed A bonus task you take on leaves your list when you’re done. Taking on a bonus task used to keep it in your list for good, so it kept coming back. Now it stays only until you do it, let it go, or the day ends. Take it on again any time.
• new Move a task into a routine. Decided a task belongs in your morning or bedtime routine? Use Move to a collection on the task and pick the routine. Before it moves, you’ll see the days and time it will follow, and for a routine done in order, you choose where the step goes. Its old schedule is replaced by the routine’s. Collection names in that list now line up too.
• improved My Day shows whole task names, and each task has a menu. Long task names in My Day now wrap onto a second line instead of being cut off. Each task there also has a ⋯ menu to snooze it, mark it not needed, change its days, or edit it, in the same words as your other task lists.
• improved Play mode lines flow without the odd pause. Coral Kingdom’s characters used to stop short before “reefling” at the end of a line. Those lines, and a few in Wizard School, Night Train, and Space Station, are reworded and recorded again so they sound like natural speech.
• fixed A shared timer starts and ends out loud on every screen. When you start a timer on one family screen, every other screen sharing it now says how long it’s for too, not just the one you tapped, and every screen says “It’s time” when it ends. A second timer in a row also no longer skips the reminders the first one already gave.
• fixed Moving tasks into a paused repeating list pauses them too. A task you move into a paused repeating list, like weekly chores, now waits with the rest of it, instead of showing up on its own, and moving it back out turns it on again. A copied errand keeps its drive time. And turning a task with a deadline into a bonus task now clears the old deadline.
• improved Treasures cards read aloud in the new voice. Every card’s name, quick fact, and longer story, and each collection’s name and blurb, now use the same natural voice as the rest of the app. Cards you’ve already heard play the new recording the next time you tap them.
• improved Fix a Play costume right from your child’s Nest. On a shared tablet switched to your child, a card dressed up for Play mode now has “Grown-ups: change costume…” in its ⋯ menu. Enter the PIN you use to switch into your own profile, then pick what the task really is, or let FocalNest decide. You stay on your child’s Nest the whole time. It needs a switch PIN on your profile, which you can set in Settings.
• fixed Confirming your email is clearer, and the link works with ad blockers. If your email isn’t confirmed yet, you can still finish setting up your phone or tablet. Anything else that needs it now says “Confirm your email to make changes,” with a button that sends the link, instead of a permission error. The link in that email now works with an ad blocker on, too.
• improved Routines open right away, and Start stands out after a card piece. Opening a routine or list from your Nest shows its items at once instead of loading first. After a card piece, the next task sits in its own box, with Start beside its name on wider screens, so the puzzle above it gets more room. And on a shared tablet, What’s new no longer flashes up and disappears while your Nest loads after you pick yourself.
• new See why a task is in your Nest, and fix it if it’s wrong. Every task in your Nest now has “Why is this here?” in its ⋯ menu: what puts it where it is, like its rhythm, its stakes, or a Not now from earlier. If the wrong tasks are showing up, tap “Not the tasks you expected?” at the bottom of your Nest and pick the ones you expected to see. You’ll see what’s ahead of each one and why, with changes you can make in one tap and undo just as easily.
• improved Change when a task shows up, from its menu. A task that repeats on its own rhythm now has “Change when it shows up…” in its ⋯ menu, in the list view of your Nest as well as on the big card. It opens the same choices that come up after you’ve put a task off a few times: start fresh, a new rhythm, lower stakes, or put it away. If you change something, the task also leaves your list for the rest of the day, and Back undoes it.
• improved Daily chores hold their own in your Nest. Something you do about every day, like the dishes, now counts as due each day it comes round, instead of waiting until it was a day late to move up. An every-few-days chore no longer jumps ahead of it just for having a longer rhythm. Things you do a few times a day stay in your Nest until every round is done, not just the first.
• fixed Read-aloud greetings speak on their own. For a child who is read to, the hello when they open the app, What’s new, the cheer when a task is done, and the hint on a new card now play by themselves instead of waiting for a tap on the speaker. Your own name also shows where the app said “Me,” “Just me,” or “Whoever made it.”
• fixed “Potty” finds the toilet. A task named “Go potty” or “Try to pee” now suggests the toilet as its picture, and more ways of writing it (“Potty break,” “Use the restroom”) get their Play mode costume right away.
• improved A card your child shows you is just the card. Opening a card someone sent you no longer suggests your next task, and closing it takes you back to where you opened it instead of into their collection. For kids, a card they haven’t turned over yet gives a small peek after a few seconds, and the words under its name now say “Tap to flip it over and find out more!”
• new Tasks you do together. Some things get done side by side, like cleaning up the playroom. In a task’s Who row, pick two or more people and choose “Together” (or turn on “Everyone together” for the whole family). When one of you marks it done, it asks who joined in, with everyone already checked, and it counts as done for each of them, rewards included.
• new See who did a task, and when. Open a task to edit it and scroll past the settings to “History.” It lists each time the task was done, who did it, who helped, and when it wasn’t needed, across every repeat. If someone stepped in for the person it’s assigned to, it says “Taken care of.”
• new Pause a whole routine or list. From a routine’s or repeating list’s ⋮ menu, choose “Pause this routine…” to set it aside until you turn it back on, for a week or two, for a month, or until a date. Its steps, its start time, and its reminders all go quiet, and it comes back on by itself on the day you picked. Anything you’d already paused on its own stays paused.
• new Pause several tasks at once. Tap Select on your task list, or choose Select from a routine’s or list’s ⋮ menu, pick the tasks, and choose “Pause…”. They all take the same return day. “Turn back on” brings paused ones back together.
• improved Turn a task into an appointment from your Nest. When the task in front of you is really an appointment, choose “This is an appointment” from the card’s ⋯ menu. It moves to the calendar and your Nest goes straight on to the next thing. It’s offered only for tasks that can move, the same as in your task list.
• improved Kids see who took care of things. On a child’s Nest, the “taken care of” card and the thank-you now say who did it, like “Mara took care of these!”, instead of “Look who did these!” beside a picture. A task done twice now reads as one thing.
• improved Paused steps wait at the end of the list. In a routine or list, paused steps now sit at the bottom under “Paused,” a little faded, so the steps you’re doing come first. Tap one to turn it back on, and it goes right back to its place.
• fixed Cards fit small phones better. On narrow phones, the Back button on your Nest card no longer covers the routine or project name, and a task’s checkbox stays on the same line as its other buttons.
• fixed Switching profiles clears a “Something went wrong” screen. If a page ran into a problem, switching to someone else’s profile now gives them a fresh screen, and “Back to the Nest” works even when you’re already on the Nest.
• fixed Setting a routine to Anytime takes its time away. Switching a routine from a start time to Anytime used to keep the old time, so the ambient display went on counting down to it. Anytime now clears the time everywhere, and the routine’s schedule reads like “Weekdays · Any time.” Turning off different times on different days now sticks too.
• improved Routines and lists save as you edit. Editing a routine or list now saves each change as you make it, the way editing a task does, and “Done editing” takes you back. If something needs fixing first, like a start time with no time picked, the bottom of the form says what. A change to a routine, task, or event also shows on the ambient display at its next refresh instead of a refresh or two later.
• fixed New pieces and steps stay when you reopen them. Editing a task, a rotating piece or step you’d just added could disappear when you closed and reopened its section. It now stays put, and one you typed but didn’t add yet is added when you close the section.
• improved A clearer task form. Each row of the task form now reads as a plain answer: “Skipping: Never OK, Rarely OK, or Often fine,” “Effort: Easy,” and “Not before: Mon, Oct 20.” More opens as one panel, with context tags, notes, steps, and the project as rows inside it.
• fixed Date pickers open on the first tap. Picking a date, like when you pause a task until a day, now opens the calendar on the first tap on a phone or tablet instead of the second.
• improved A quieter Nest past your bedtime. After your bedtime, your Nest shows only what can’t wait until morning: anything marked Critical or never OK to skip, a task with a time you set before morning, something due before morning, and medicine. Everything else is one tap away under “Show anyway.” If nothing needs you, the Nest says so. It uses the bedtime and wake time in Settings → Me, or 10:30 PM to 7:00 AM if you haven’t set them.
• improved The task furthest past its rhythm comes first. When two repeating tasks are both overdue, the one further past its own rhythm now comes first, so a daily shower three days late goes ahead of a weekly chore a day late. This never moves a chore ahead of a Critical task that was in front of it.
• improved Change an event’s get-ready tasks without leaving it. Tap a task under “To get ready” on an event to change who it’s for or when it’s due right there, and tap its circle to mark it done. “All options” opens the whole task, and Back brings you to the same Calendar view with the event still open. The reminder settings now say which screen they’re for: “Phone reminder,” “Full-screen alarm,” and “Countdown on the family screen.” A repeating task’s Days row also says when some days are changed, like “Every Tue, Thu, plus 2 changed days,” and tapping it shows which.
• fixed Play mode costumes keep up with new activities. Some flossing tasks were dressed up as tooth-brushing. They now get their own costume, and older tasks get another look when Play mode learns a closer match. In Change costume…, Let FocalNest decide now shows what it picked right away, so you can change it on the spot.
• improved Forwarded emails: check and fix everything on one card. The “From your email” card on your Nest now lists what went on the calendar and what went on your to-do list in separate sections, and shows when each to-do is due. Tap an event to change who’s going, its time, or the drive each way, or tap a to-do to change who it’s for or its due date, without leaving the card. When an email invites the whole family, like a school celebration, the event now goes on everyone’s calendar. An optional sign-up becomes one “Decide:” to-do due on the sign-up date, instead of a to-do for every slot.
• new A tip of the day. Your Nest now shows one short tip a day about something FocalNest can do, like turning a task into an appointment or forwarding an email. Tap “Show me” to go straight there. Every tip stays in Settings → Tips, where you can also turn the daily tip off.
• improved Pause a task until a date. Pause a task for a week, 2 weeks, a month, or until a day you pick, and it comes back on that morning by itself. Pause it from the task’s ⋯ menu in your lists, or from its own Pause row when you edit it. The ⋯ menu also shows when a paused task comes back, so you can change the day or turn it back on early.
• improved A calmer ambient display. The ambient display now lists only times someone chose: events, routines, and tasks you gave a start time or a deadline. A time the planner suggested for a task stays off it. A task tied to an event at the same time, like the drive to ballet, now sits on the event’s line instead of taking a line of its own.
• new Screens that know what’s near them. Tell a tablet which rooms it sits near, like the kitchen, in Settings → Devices, and tasks you can do right there get a nudge up the list on it, for everyone who uses it. Anything more urgent still comes first. You can add a new place right from that screen. On the Nest, “Where are you?” is now a row of one-tap places instead of a menu, and a place you pick lasts an hour.
• improved Your whole day from the Nest. The row of routines and lists under your next task is now called “My routines and lists,” whatever it holds, and it ends with “My whole day.” Tap it to see everything on today by the clock, including tasks that aren’t part of any routine or list.
• improved Turning tasks into appointments, from more places. When you edit a task, “This is an appointment” (or “These are appointments” for a repeating one) is now at the bottom of the page, above Delete, not only in the task list’s menu. A repeating task with days changed one at a time, like a Saturday appointment with a few weeks off and some extra days, can now move too: the days you turned off stay off, the extra days come along, and the confirm sheet lists them first. Moving it back to a task keeps them.
• new A planner that starts with your week. The planner now opens on one number for the week ahead, like “About 3h free” or “Over by 4h 30m,” with a bar showing where the time goes. Switch to Next 4 weeks to see the month, or tap “See how this adds up” for the whole calculation. “What feeds your number” shows how a change to your hours, work time, or breathing room moves it before you save, and “Set up your number” walks you through it the first time. Once a week it asks how last week felt and suggests one change, with Undo.
• new See what could come off a full week. “Things that could give” lists what you could move to next week, hand back, skip this week, put off a month, or let go, and how much time each one frees up. Medicine, health, and must-do tasks are never on the list. Nothing changes until you tap Apply, and each change can be undone.
• new Take shared tasks when you have room. “Things I could take” lists the shared tasks open this week next to how much room you have. Pick the ones you want, and choose whether they’re yours just this time or every time they come back. FocalNest never splits shared work into anyone’s share, and anything nobody takes still shows up for everyone when it’s due.
• new See who’s done the shared work, and say thanks. The planner can show how many shared tasks each person in your family took care of over the last 4 weeks or 3 months, always in the same order and never ranked. “Say thanks” thanks someone for a stretch of time, like a month of laundry, and they can say “You’re welcome!” back. If you’d rather not see it, turn it off for yourself in Settings.
• improved Shared tasks count once for the household. When a task is for more than one person, the planner now picks a day for each of them, so someone with room today sees it today instead of waiting for everyone else’s free day. A task anyone could do used to take time out of every grown-up’s day, so a week could look fuller than it was. Now it counts once against the time the household has free together, becomes part of your own week only when you take it, and is done once one person does it.
• new Say you’re not going to one event. Tap “Not going” on an event, from the Calendar or My Day, to take yourself off just that one. Your reminder for it stops and the planner gives you the time back, while everyone else stays on it. Kids can say it for themselves. If you were the last one going, you can cancel that one instead. Undo puts you back.
• improved Move a repeating task to the calendar, and back. A repeating task at a set time, like “Piano lesson every Thursday at 4,” can move to the calendar as a repeating event with “These are appointments.” The ones already done stay in its history. On a repeating event, “This is something to do” now asks whether you mean just this one or all of them. Both come with Undo.
• new Events you add can repeat. Turn on “Repeats” when you add an event to make it happen every week, every other week, or every month, like “Soccer practice every Tuesday.” When you change or delete one, choose this event, this and following, or all of them.
• new “Did this happen?” for appointments added as tasks. If an appointment was added as a task and its time has passed, the Nest asks “Did this happen?” instead of listing it as missed. “It happened” moves it to the calendar, “It didn’t happen” takes it off your list, and “Still need to do it” keeps it with no set time.
• improved “Same thing?” now covers a to-do and an event. When an event and a timed to-do on the Calendar look like the same thing, you can merge them, and the to-do moves onto the event. Forwarded emails do this on their own when the time and name match exactly, and say so in the summary. Undo all puts the to-do back.
• new Turn a to-do into an appointment, and back. If something you added as a task is really an appointment, choose “This is an appointment” from its menu and it moves to the calendar with its time, people, and travel. An event you added that’s really something to do can become a task with “This is something to do.” Both come with Undo. When you add a task that looks like an appointment, like “Dentist” with a start time, the form offers to put it on the calendar instead.
• improved Get-ready tasks close when the event is over. A task tied to an event, like “$5 for the bake sale,” no longer shows up as missed once the event has passed. It closes as “Not needed this time,” and you can reopen it if you still need it. Drives, medicine, and follow-ups after the event stay on your list.
• improved An event for everyone takes everyone’s time. An event with no one picked has always been everyone’s on the calendar. Now the planner counts its time for everyone too, so FocalNest won’t plan anyone’s tasks on top of family dinner. Events can also turn off their reminder and their countdown, like tasks can.
• improved A clearer form for adding and editing tasks. The task form now starts by asking what kind of task it is: one-time, repeating, bonus, or a routine step. Below that, it shows only what fits that kind, with every answer visible at once. Anything you haven’t looked at is marked “assumed,” and if something stops a save, the form opens that part and says what to fix.
• new Mark a shared task done for whoever did it. When a task anyone could do is still on your list but someone else already did it, open its menu and pick “Someone else did it,” then choose who. It comes off everyone’s list, the credit goes to them, and any reward waits for them on their own screen.
• new Deadlines can be a day instead of a time. A task’s deadline can now be just a day, like “by Friday.” It moves up your list through the afternoon of that day, and only counts as late once the day is over. Pick “Day and time” if it really is due at a certain hour.
• new Leave times include getting out the door. Anything with travel now tells you to leave a little earlier, to allow for shoes, keys, and the car. It’s 10 minutes unless you change it in Settings → Me → Reminders, and reminders show it, like “incl. 10 min to get out the door.”
• new Set up your Nest from the Nest. The button at the top of the Nest now opens “Your Nest,” where you can pick one task at a time or a list, show your free time, ask about your energy, filter by place, and turn on Desk mode for this device.
• improved Saved games can be played any time. A game a child has earned and saved no longer waits for a routine to finish. Routine steps still earn cards, and finishing a routine still earns a game.
• fixed Clearer task form, and the Nest opens as you. A long task name no longer loses its last line after you pick an icon, and icon suggestions understand plurals, so “chairs” suggests 🪑. Bonus tasks now name who can do them. “Quick start” is now called “Just 2 minutes,” which is what it does. The Nest no longer flashes “All done” while it’s still loading, and opening the app after visiting a child’s profile greets you, not them.
• fixed Fewer things in the way on a phone. On the Nest, “Still to do” and “Due!” now sit inside the task card, next to why it was picked, instead of on a line of their own above it. On a new or edited task, the Cancel and Add Task buttons stay at the bottom of the screen after you close the keyboard. And the bottom of every pop-up sheet, like an event’s details, now stays clear of Android’s navigation buttons.
• improved Moving a task to a project takes one tap. Moving a task now opens a list of your projects, and tapping one moves it there. You can also change a task’s project from its own form, using the new Project button beside Who and Energy. An empty project offers “Add tasks you already have,” and on a project’s form, “New tasks go to” makes clear it only fills in who gets each new task.
• improved Search finds projects too, even with a typo. Searching Tasks now shows matching projects above the matching tasks, and tapping one opens it. Search on both Projects and Tasks forgives small spelling slips, so “dufel” still finds “Duffel bag,” and the closest matches come first.
• improved Calendar overlaps are quicker to sort out. Overlaps now fold into one line at the top of the Calendar, like “3 overlaps this week,” instead of a stack of cards. Each one says how much the two overlap. When one side can move, a button can start it when the other ends or end it when the other starts, with room for travel and an Undo. Two events or two tasks that are one plan can be marked “They go together,” and two copies of the same event can be merged, keeping the details you pick.
• improved The Calendar keeps itself up to date. The Calendar now refreshes when someone in your family changes an event or a task, when Google Calendar sends changes, and when you come back to the app after a while. You can also pull down on the Calendar or the Planner to refresh.
• improved Pick more than one starter set when you sign up. Setting up FocalNest, you can now start with a few ready-made sets at once, like a morning routine and homework help, and “More ideas” shows every set there is, not just the three suggested for your household.
• improved Insights’ deadline card says what it counts, and lets you catch up. The card now says how many of your tasks with a deadline were checked off by it, with a key for its bar. A late check-off isn’t always a late finish, so “Catch up on the last few days” lists recent tasks checked off after their deadline or still open past it, and lets you pick the day you did each one.
• fixed All-day events show on their own day. In the evening, the Calendar could list tomorrow’s all-day events under Today and leave out today’s. My Day and the Planner’s days had the same mix-up. Each all-day event now shows on its own date, wherever you are.
• fixed A deleted task’s reminder no longer goes off. Deleting a task with a full-screen reminder now cancels that reminder, on this device and on your family’s other devices. A reminder that comes up long after its time, because the app was in the background, no longer shows at all.
• fixed The planner’s reasons stay true after the day they were written. Why the planner picked a day used to say things like “deadline is tomorrow,” which was wrong a day later, and a past deadline could read “deadline in -8 days.” Reasons now name the date, like “due Fri Oct 16” or “deadline passed Oct 8.”
• fixed Changing a task to Anytime clears its old deadline. Switching a task from “By deadline” to “Anytime” kept the old deadline, so its card still said it was due. The deadline now goes away with the switch, and the same goes for a start time.
• improved Better icon ideas for therapy and counseling. A task like “Marriage counseling,” “Speech therapy,” or “OT appointment” now suggests icons that fit it, like 💑, 🗣️, or ✋, instead of a calendar and a stethoscope. Short names like OT, PT, and SLP work too.
• improved Errands can have travel time without a start time. A task you do by a deadline or anytime, like picking up a prescription, can now say how far away it is. The drive there and back counts toward how full your day is, and the task shows it beside the time, like “10 min + 30 min travel.” A leave reminder still comes only with a start time.
• improved Pick different days while you’re still making a task. When a new task repeats on a fixed schedule, tap “Some weeks different?” under the pattern to turn single days on or off, or give a day to someone else, before you save. You no longer have to save it first and come back.
• new Tasks can repeat every other week. Pick Weekly in a task’s schedule and set “Every 2 weeks” (or up to 8) for things like custody weekends or a class that meets every other Saturday. The card says “Every other week on Sat.” Turning single days on or off isn’t available for these yet.
• improved “What changed” shows what each task is. The list of what a re-plan moved now looks like the rest of the app, and each move shows the task’s project, how often it repeats, and who it’s for, so you can decide whether to keep it without opening the task.
• improved Repeating lists and “While you’re at it” are easier to read. Your repeating lists’ cards on the Nest are all one size now, and each item in a list says how often it repeats, when it was last done, and, if it isn’t due yet, when it will be. Names under a task wrap onto a second line instead of running off the card. The tasks you could do alongside your main card are now under “While you’re at it,” with the tag they share, each one’s project, and nothing on a rhythm that isn’t due yet.
• fixed Signing in with Google or Apple confirms your email. If you first signed up with a password and never opened the confirmation email, signing in with Google or Apple now counts as confirming it. And if setup ever needs your email confirmed, it says so and sends the link for you, instead of showing an error.
• new Desk mode: your phone shows your day while it charges. Turn on Desk mode from your account menu or Settings → Me, and your phone becomes a clock with your day on it: what to do now, with Start and Done right there, what’s coming up later, and how much is left. Tap the screen to use the app as usual; it goes back to your day after a minute. Reminders still reach you. Turn it off from the same menu or with “Leave desk mode.”
• improved “Took care of it” cards wait until you’ve seen them. When someone finishes a shared task after you’re done for the day, the card is still on your Nest the next morning, marked “Yesterday,” so you can still say thanks. A card you haven’t answered stays for up to three days. Got it and Say thanks still put it away, just like before.
• improved Notifications can be cleared, and they tidy themselves. Each notification has an × to clear it, and once you’ve read them all, “Clear all” puts them away. Either one can be undone for a few seconds. Notifications you’ve read now leave the list on their own after a week, and anything you haven’t read stays until you do. Reading or clearing one on a phone updates your other devices too.
• improved Tasks you do a few times a day show how many are done. In the Coming up list and in My Day, a task set to repeat during the day now says where you are, like “1 of 3 today,” the same as the main card. You can see that it’s set up right and which time you’re on.
• improved The Nest says when someone else could do it. When a task can be done by any one of several people, your main card, the Coming up list, and a routine’s checklist now show who they are, or “Anyone” for the whole family. A task everyone does on their own no longer lists everyone, since that doesn’t change what you do.
• improved Header buttons are easier to tap. The back button and your picture at the top of each page are a little bigger now. On a wide screen, the Nest’s top bar lines up with the cards below it, like every other page.
• improved In the evening, the Nest puts what can wait behind what can’t. In the last few hours before the bedtime in your settings, chores that will be just as doable tomorrow move down, errands move down further, and things whose chance ends tonight, like today’s brushing, move up. And when you keep putting off something that repeats every few days, the Nest offers to make it easier: start fresh next week, space it out to match how often it really happens, let it slide, or put it away for now. Back undoes any of them.
• improved A child’s Start button glows green until it’s tapped. On a child’s task card, Start is now green with a soft glow behind it, so it’s the first thing to tap before heading off to do the task. The glow stops the moment Start is tapped, stays off at bedtime, and stays off when the device is set to reduce motion.
• new Rotating tasks show the whole task, and “One more?” earns a bonus. A rotating task now names the whole task with today’s piece, like “Tidy room: Pick up trash,” on cards, reminders, and thanks, and the card says both out loud. After finishing today’s piece, “One more?” lets you pick another piece for a bonus. Tomorrow’s piece stays the same.
• improved Routine and list checklists count every rep. A twice-a-day item now moves the count on each tap, and its ⋯ menu can mark both done at once, with Undo taking back both. The checklist always lists the same items its count does. Rows show everyone an item is for, long titles wrap instead of cutting off, and you can open an item to edit it right from the list.
• new Riding along or not going? Tell the trip card. While you’re out, the Nest’s trip card has “I’m not driving” to see your tasks as a passenger, and “Not going” to skip the trip without it counting as missed. “Let’s go” on a reminder now opens that task in the Nest, and reminders for things with travel say “before leaving.”
• new See what FocalNest moved when it re-plans your week. Tap a “Today’s plan was adjusted” notification to see each task that moved, from which day to which, and why. Keep the change, move it back, or pick another day, and later re-plans leave your choice alone.
• new Change a task’s Play mode costume. If Play mode dressed a task up as the wrong thing, a grown-up can pick what it really is with Change costume… in the task’s ⋯ menu, under More, or let FocalNest decide again. Medicine and must-do tasks are never costumed.
• fixed Menus and pop-ups fit on small phones. “More” in a task’s menu now opens right inside the menu instead of off the edge of the screen, and pop-ups keep a margin on both sides, with long buttons wrapping onto two lines.
• fixed Coming back to the app, renamed tasks, and costume voices. Coming back after a while now closes any panel or sheet you left open. The family screen’s countdown says a renamed task’s new name within about a minute. Costumed cards keep their character voice right after an update, and switching adventures never shows or plays the old one.
• improved “Taken care of” names everyone who chipped in. When a shared task gets finished, the card now names everyone who helped along the way, like “Rebecca and Sam took care of Clean kitchen,” counting anyone who ticked off its steps or logged progress on it. One tap on Say thanks reaches all of them, and each can say “You’re welcome!” back. Helping partway doesn’t send anyone a notice by itself; the credit comes when the task is done.
• new Add a task and log progress on it in one go. Writing down something you’ve already started? Tap “Add and log progress” under Add Task. The task is saved, then you can say how far along it is, tick off steps, or mark it done.
• improved Task form sections open into view, and emoji ideas know more words. When you open a section of the task form, like Importance, it scrolls until the whole thing is above the buttons at the bottom. The emoji suggestions now understand hundreds more everyday words, so “Do taxes” offers 🧾 and “Call the orthodontist” offers 🦷. The race setting now asks “Offer a race?” and says what a race is.
• improved Check off tasks right from your task list. Each task on the Tasks page has a checkbox now. A task with steps opens its steps instead. “Task completed” shows the moment you tap, with Undo. The ⋯ menu matches the Nest’s, with the same words: Already done, Reassign, and Not doing this for one-off tasks, which takes a task off your list without counting it as missed. Editing, moving, cloning, splitting, saving as a template, and deleting are under More.
• fixed Coming back to the app no longer flashes the old screen. Opening the app after a while away could show the screen you left for a moment before the welcome screen. It now goes straight to the welcome screen. On a shared tablet, an app update also no longer flashes the profile picker on its way back to the page you were on.
• new Let a big chore rotate through smaller pieces. A routine step, a repeating-list item, or a task on its own rhythm can rotate through pieces. “Tidy room” can be dirty clothes one day, stuffies the next, then books. Each day shows the piece done longest ago, and a skipped day keeps the same piece, so nothing gets left out. The card also says what’s up next time. Add pieces under “Rotate through pieces” when you edit the task, or choose “One piece each time” when you split it. To do a different piece today, use the task’s ⋯ menu.
• improved Clearer choices when two things overlap on the Calendar. Each button now names what it changes, like “Push Bedtime back an hour” or “Skip Bedtime on Fri, Oct 23,” with a line saying what it does. Pushing back moves that day’s start only, and skipping takes that day off for the whole family, so the overlap goes away. “Keep both” sits on its own line.
• fixed Repeating tasks with a set time stay on their own day. A repeating task with a start time could show up on the wrong day, or twice at the same time on the Calendar and the kitchen screen. Each one now starts on the day it’s for, and a skipped one no longer shows.
• fixed Bandwidth counts overlapping plans once. When two things on your day overlap, or a meeting falls inside your work hours, that time now counts once in your bandwidth instead of twice. A drive to an event you’re also at counts once too.
• improved Change your energy any time, and “Not doing this” for one-off tasks. The Nest no longer asks about energy on its own. It’s asked when you arrive, and you can change it any time from Energy in the menu under your picture. One-off tasks have Not doing this in the ⋯ menu instead of Dismiss: it takes the task off your list without counting it as missed, and Undo brings it back. Tips now step aside while a menu or panel is open, the edit task button says Done editing, the importance chip always says how often skipping is OK, and words over Play mode backgrounds sit on a solid card.
• new Fix a task marked done by mistake. Tap a done task in My Day to see who did it, when, and what it earned. If someone else really did it, pick them and the credit moves to them. You can also change the time or undo it. Nothing anyone already earned is taken back.
• improved A simpler sign-in screen. Type your email and the sign-in screen shows just the next step for your account. Google and passkeys are still there, under “Other ways to sign in.”
• new Start a card puzzle over. A Start over button under a card puzzle puts every piece back on the table in one tap. Changed your mind? Tap Put them back and the pieces go right back where they were.
• improved Rewards show up as soon as a routine step is checked. Checking off a step in a routine’s list now brings up the reward banner right away, and it fills in a moment later, instead of a pause with nothing on screen.
• improved Notifications take you to what they’re about. When a task is moved, “Go to it” opens your plan on the day it moved to, with the task highlighted. A “took care of it” or “you’re welcome” opens that card on your Nest, a routine waiting on your decision opens its card, and a thank-you plays again. The notifications list also says how many are new.
• improved A tidier “Taken care of” card. The same chore done twice now shows once, like “Clean kitchen ×2”. After you say thanks, the card shows it for a moment and then goes away, and long task names wrap instead of getting cut off. Tapping “Got it” clears the number on your picture right away.
• improved Forwarded emails and texts can read the invitation link. When a forward leaves the details to a link, like a party invitation that says “see the page for time and address,” FocalNest can now read up to two of its pages to fill them in. It reads them the way anyone without an account would, never signs in or RSVPs, and if a page won’t open, it goes by the email alone.
• improved Spot a chore that is both in a routine and on its own. If a routine step is also a separate task, the routine’s page and your Nest now say so, so it doesn’t show up again after the routine is done. Stop the separate one with a tap, or keep both. Adding a step that already exists on its own asks first.
• new Seven new Play mode adventures. Play mode has seven new worlds: a princess palace, a building site, a superhero headquarters, an undersea kingdom, a race car pit crew, a jungle ranger station, and a school of magic. Costumes now fit more everyday tasks too, like hand-washing, walking the dog, music practice, playing outside, and more.
• improved More of the app reads itself aloud for early readers. For a pre-reader or early reader, a speaker button now reads more of the screen: the energy question, reward screens, prizes, puzzle hints, the routine checklist, Play, the “Whose turn is it?” picker, and more. These play when tapped. The quick “Nice work!” after finishing a task now says itself out loud, unless you’ve turned off “Start reading automatically” for that child.
• new Give someone their own copy of a shared task. When two people share a task, Give their own copy… in the task menu gives the people you pick a copy just for them. Split their copy into smaller steps and nobody else’s list changes. The original keeps its history.
• improved “You’re welcome!” now reaches the person who said thanks. When someone thanks you for taking care of a shared task, tapping You're welcome! sends them a note back. Letting it close on its own sends nothing.
• improved Card puzzles stay where you left them. Every piece of a card puzzle now stays where it was put, even in the wrong spot, when a new piece arrives, when you come back later, or on another tablet. When a card is finished, Learn more reads its fun fact right there, with audio, without a trip to Treasures.
• fixed Adventures speak in their new voices and say the task. Some Play mode cards were still using the old voices, or read the adventure’s line without saying the task after it. Every adventure now speaks in its new character voice, and a card says the real task after its line whenever read-aloud is allowed. Cards that read themselves aloud also start more reliably: if the tablet holds back sound at first, the next tap anywhere starts it.
• improved Reminders that show up on time. FocalNest now checks whether battery saving could hold your reminders until you pick up your phone, and shows you the setting that fixes it. If a reminder still arrives late, the Nest tells you when it was due, when it showed up, and what to change. Medication and other must-not-miss reminders now go off like an alarm clock on your own phone, which you can turn off in Settings. (Android)
• improved New voices for everything read aloud. Task and reward titles, the kitchen screen, and Play mode now use new, more natural voices, and each adventure has a character voice of its own. Young readers who hear the app read to them can also get a short spoken hello when they come back.
• new Describe it from inside any form. Starting a new project, routine, repeating list, or list? The top of the form now has Describe it and AI drafts the steps. AI builds it as the kind you already picked, and you review every step before anything is saved.
• new Ask AI to change a draft. When AI drafts something for you, type what you’d like different, like “Make it shorter” or “Split the cleanup over two days,” and the draft updates in place with a note of what changed. Each draft can take up to five changes.
• new Save an AI draft as a template. A grown-up can now save an AI draft straight to your family’s templates, next to Save project. The template keeps the steps and their timing, and asks who it’s for each time you use it.
• improved Everyone, two ways. When an AI draft is for Everyone, you now choose how it gets done: Whoever gets to it, where one person doing it finishes it, or Everyone does their own, where it stays on each person’s list until they’ve done it.
• improved Better time estimates for machine chores. AI drafts now count the minutes you’re actually busy, not the time a machine runs. Laundry comes back as Start the washer, Move it to the dryer, and Fold and put away, each a few minutes, instead of one long block that fills your day.
• new “Who’s taking them?” on events. Open an event with travel time and tap the grown-up who’s driving. They get their own drive at the event’s time, with a reminder when it’s time to leave, and their time is blocked for it. If the wait is time to get things done, that goes with the driver, so the kids aren’t offered on-the-go tasks during their own class. Everyone sees who’s taking them, and you can change the driver or take the drive off.
• improved “They go together” on calendar overlaps. When the Calendar flags a task against an event that’s really one plan, like the drive to ballet and the class itself, tap They go together. The two are linked and stop being flagged. For a repeating task it links this time only, so the next one may ask again.
• improved The + on Projects says what each kind is. Tap + on Projects and each choice now says what it is under its name, so you can tell a repeating list from a list before you open one. Below them, Not sure? Describe it lets you say what you want in your own words and AI sets it up, and Start from a template opens your templates and the starter library. Back from a form you opened there takes you back to Projects.
• improved Your templates, apart from the starters. Templates now show the ones your family saved under Your templates, above the Starter templates. Your own have a delete button, which asks first, and projects already made from a template stay as they are. Only grown-ups can save, change, or delete your family’s templates.
• fixed Templates remember “Shows up before”. A routine saved as a template now comes back with the same Shows up before it had, and with its own emoji. A routine made from a starter template, or by describing it, shows up 30 minutes early when it starts at 5 PM or later, and 3 hours early otherwise, the same as one you make yourself.
• new Edit and delete events. Open an event you added, or one from a forwarded email or text, and tap Edit to change its name, time, place, notes, or who it’s for. Delete asks first, and can take the event’s get-ready tasks with it, keeping any someone already started. Events from Google Calendar or a calendar subscription change in that calendar. Only grown-ups can add, change, or delete events.
• improved Tap an event anywhere to open it. Events on My Day, including all-day ones, on the Calendar page, on a forwarded email’s card, and in a forwarded email’s list now open the event, with its time, place, travel, reminders, and get-ready list. From the Calendar page, See the day still takes you to the planner.
• fixed “Who is this for?” sticks on Google Calendar events. When you choose who a Google Calendar event is for in FocalNest, it now stays that way when the calendar syncs again, instead of going back to the event’s guest list. Back to Google’s guest list undoes it.
• improved Add a task for any event. Open an event and tap Add a task for this to make something to get ready for it. It’s due by the time you leave when the event has travel time, when it starts if not, and the night before for an all-day event.
• new Forwarded emails now add the things to get ready. When a forwarded email asks you to do something for an event, like “wear red on Friday” or “send in $5 for the bake sale,” each ask becomes a task on that event, planned for the evening before unless the email gives its own date. If the email names a child, like “Sam needs a red shirt,” Sam goes on the event and the task goes to whoever gets your forwarded tasks. Open the event to see its To get ready list.
• new See what a forwarded email added, right on your Nest. After you forward an email or a text, a card on your Nest shows the events and tasks it added and anything it couldn’t. Tap a task’s person to give it to someone else or to whoever gets to it. Looks good puts the card away, and Undo all takes the whole thing back, keeping anything someone already started.
• new Choose who gets forwarded tasks. In Settings → Email, pick where tasks go when a forwarded email or text doesn’t say who they’re for: you, whoever gets to it, or someone in your family. If it names someone in your family, their tasks still go to them.
• fixed A task made from an event goes to the people going. Creating a task from a calendar event now puts it on everyone on the event, instead of leaving it with nobody.
• improved A missed pickup or appointment clears itself. A repeating task set for a specific time, like a pickup or an appointment, now clears itself an hour after its time if nobody got to it. It stays in Recently missed for a day, so you can still check it off, and the next one shows up as usual. Medicine, Critical, and never-skip tasks still stay on your list until they’re done or the next one is due.
• fixed “Starting soon” shows up on time, and goes away by itself. The in-app “Starting soon” notice used to appear late after the app had been in the background, and stayed until you tapped it. Now a late one is skipped, it clears itself when the moment comes, it never covers the family screen, and it doesn’t repeat a phone notification you already got. Open takes you to the task, not its edit form.
• new See whether reminders can arrive on time. On Android, Settings → Devices shows whether exact reminders are on. If they’re off, one tap opens the setting that lets reminders arrive right on time. (Android)
• improved Reminders and the countdown sit together, and a reminder can be off. In the task form, “Remind me on my phone” and “Count down on the family screen” now sit together under Heads-up, right after travel. Choose “Don’t remind me” for something that starts on its own cue.
• improved Travel shows beside how long a task takes. A task with travel now reads like “1 hr + 30 min travel” on its card and in the form, so you can see the whole trip at a glance.
• improved Different times on different days is easier to read. Choose “Same time each day” or “Different time each day” first. Each day then gets its own row with when it starts and ends.
• improved Your energy is asked when you arrive. The energy tile is gone from the Nest. When you open FocalNest and haven’t said in a few hours, the welcome screen asks: Low, Okay, or Lots. Skip is always there, and an old answer no longer counts toward what comes first.
• new Routines say when there isn’t time before you leave. If a routine’s steps won’t fit before your next thing, its card says so, like “About 25 min of steps · leave for Ballet in 10.” Start anyway, or tap After Ballet to come back to it later.
• new Choose how early a routine shows up. In a routine’s settings, “Shows up … before” sets how early it joins the Nest: 30 minutes, or 1, 2, or 3 hours. New evening routines start at 30 minutes, so bedtime steps don’t appear in the afternoon.
• fixed Timed tasks wait until it’s nearly time. A task set for a fixed time, like a 6 PM drink, used to show up in the Nest from the morning. It now joins two hours before you need to leave, and My Day still shows it all day.
• fixed The planner lists a repeating task once. A daily task you’d skipped or missed used to show up again on future days, once for every missed day, and its time counted each time. Each day now shows it once.
• improved Calendar: pick any dates, and see when to leave. Under “How far ahead,” choose Pick dates… to see any stretch of up to three months, past or future. Events with travel time show when to leave and when you’ll be back, and the add button shows its plus again.
• improved The family week starts today and shows its dates. The family week view now starts on today instead of Monday, and each column shows its date, so it lines up with your own bandwidth strip.
• fixed My Day’s “Now” line shows the time. The line marking the current time reads “Now · 9:27 AM,” and it no longer lands under a later part of the day.
• fixed Nothing hides behind Android’s bottom bar. A few sheets and pop-ups, including the “Starting soon” notice, could sit under Android’s navigation bar. They now clear it. The update bar is easier to read over adventure art, too.
• improved Smaller things in the task form. Repeat patterns wrap onto two rows, so Weekly is never off the edge. Repeating-list items say which days they come back. Emoji suggestions understand two-word names, so “toilet paper” suggests 🧻 first. Your forwarding address shows in full.
• fixed Forwarded emails with bigger photos get read. An email with a photo over about 2 MB used to vanish without a reply. It’s read now, and if a file is too large, the reply says so and what size works. If a forward can’t be read at all, or arrives after the hour’s limit is used up, you get an email saying so instead of silence.
• new Add travel time, and get things done while you wait. Give a timed task or event its travel time each way, and reminders and the countdown come when it’s time to leave. While you drive, the Nest stays quiet. If you can work while you wait, it shows only tasks marked “Can do on the go.”
• new Pick who does a repeating task on each day. In “Change days…,” switch to Who and tap a day to give it to one person, any one of you, or everyone. Handy for taking turns on pickups and drop-offs.
• fixed Tasks from a forwarded email show their due date. A task like "reply by Monday" used to open showing today, with Monday hidden. It now opens as due Monday.
• new See where your tasks came from, and every task from one email. In Tasks, open Filters and choose where a task came from: added by hand, from an email, from a template, and more. Choose “From an email” to pick one forwarded email, see what FocalNest kept of it, and see the tasks it made.
• improved Tasks no longer flash when they’re due or late. A task at or past its time keeps a steady border, and a late one says when it was due, like “Was due 4:00 PM,” instead of “Overdue.”
• improved Timers and countdowns end with a calm “It’s time.” instead of “Time’s up!”
• improved The kitchen screen’s countdown now says what it’s counting down to. You’ll hear “Soccer practice. Thirty minutes left.” instead of just the minutes. Events synced from Google, iCal, or Outlook still get the plain countdown.
• improved Each person in your family has their own settings page. Tap someone under Settings → Family. Their settings are grouped into sections that show what each one is set to, so you open only the one you need. Settings pages across the app are shorter, too.
• improved When someone does a shared step in a routine or a shared list item, everyone else who could have done it sees who did it and can say thanks
• fixed Updating a pinned tablet no longer means unpinning it first. Tap Update and FocalNest unpins itself, updates, and asks to pin again when it reopens. (Android)
• fixed An item with its own days in a repeating list now shows up only on those days. Put “Take out recycling, Mondays” in an everyday list and it appears on Mondays. The list’s “done today” count includes only what’s on today.
• improved Repeating tasks start as a flexible rhythm. Tap Repeats and pick about daily, about weekly, or about monthly in one tap, or Custom to set your own. A “~” on a task means “about.”
• improved Set a bonus task’s cooldown in days, weeks, or months, and a custom length in hours
• improved Pickers show each person’s name instead of “Me,” so a shared tablet is never unclear
• fixed Editing a task no longer resets its bonus settings or its different start times on different days
• fixed A repeating task you marked missed or not needed no longer shows up a second time in Tasks, a project, or the planner.
• improved “Not needed this time” and “Change days…” now work from Tasks and project pages too.. Find them in a repeating task’s ⋯ menu. Changed your mind? Tap Undo.
• fixed The pencil on a routine’s checklist opens its settings every time. Repeating lists are called repeating lists there, and steps are numbered only when their order matters.
• improved A card in Treasures now shows what’s next, with a Start button and a way back to your tasks.. When a child shares a card, the alert opens their card, and “Sent!” appears only once your reaction has reached them.
• fixed Installing an app update now brings you back to the page you were on, without the welcome screen. A tablet showing the kitchen screen goes back to it. (Phone and tablet apps)
• fixed A tablet removed in Settings → Devices can be set up again and shows up there.
• improved Every Play adventure is on for every kid, including new ones as they arrive. Nothing to turn on first. To hide one for a child, go to Settings → Family.
• improved Coming up on the Nest shows who each task is for
• improved Looking over a child’s settings, you can pick their three card collections right there. Step away halfway and it picks up on the same question when you come back.
• improved Settings → Devices puts app updates first and tucks old devices away. Devices nobody has used in a week sit in their own Inactive group, with one button to remove them all.
• improved Repeating lists ask their own questions. Pick which days a list is on, with no start time it never used. Each item now says it comes back with the list, not “one-time,” and keeps its own answer about skipping.
• new What’s new, in the app. When FocalNest changes, a short note shows up on your Nest, and every note stays in Settings under What’s new.