Quietkeep

Where do you want to be?

    What you are holding

    Every one of them

    Sort a batch

    Pick a batch. One card at a time, oldest first — leave whenever you like, nothing minds.

      What should happen to it now?

      Stopping for now

      Your way back is already saved. This is only if you want to leave yourself a note.

      Leave it empty if you would rather. Nothing asks again.

      Fix a typo, or say it better.

      Once sorted, a dated thing shows in The days ahead; Send to my calendar, under Things you can do, reaches yours.

      Stays with the item and shows only here.

      As many as fit, commas between them, and none is required. With no place of its own, a thing goes where it lives — or anywhere, if that has none.

          What happened to this
            Where it lives

            Stops it coming back. Not finished, not binned — and you can pick it up again.

            The Menu is the shelf of things you want rather than owe — nothing there carries a clock or nags. Put on the Menu moves this to it, and the choice beside it says which kind of want it is.

            Elsewhere in the app

            How it works

            The one thing it offers you

            Two things at a time, never a list, and never the same two by accident — they are picked to be unalike so you can prefer one rather than compare them. Not this costs nothing and records nothing.

            Finishing, and stopping

            Finish something and the screen settles: it names what you did and waits. Nothing arrives until you ask for it. That is enough for now ends the session the same way finishing does — stopping is not failing.

            How heavy, and how the day is going

            Mark anything light, ordinary or heavy, and tell Quietkeep the day is low, steady or sharp. It changes which things come forward, never how many. Nothing is counted and nothing is worked out about you from it.

            When the screen is too much

            Just one thing shows a single item in larger type with nothing else — no reasons, no counts, nothing moving. You turn it on and off; it is never turned on for you.

            When and where you meant to do it

            Any item can carry a line in your own words — after I put the kettle on — shown back exactly as you wrote it. Never required, never checked.

            How long things take

            Note a rough guess if you want one. Where something has been timed, Quietkeep shows the two ends of what actually happened, never an average, and never a comparison with your guess.

            Add it to your home screen

            Quietkeep runs in the browser, but it is better on your home screen: it opens like an app, works with no signal, and it is where the browser can hold onto your planner for good.

            • iPhone or iPad (Safari): tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
            • Android or a computer (Chrome / Edge): open the browser menu and choose Install, or use the install icon in the address bar.

            Installing asks to allow notifications. Allow it — on Apple devices that is what lets the browser keep your planner instead of clearing it, and it is the only reason it is asked. Quietkeep never sends notifications. Nothing is uploaded: it is the same app with its own icon.

            Help

            Short answers to the things people ask. Tap one to open it.

            Every path through Quietkeep — every way in, through and out, drawn as the steps you take.

            How do I get something out of my head?

            Type it in the box at the top and press Hold it. One line is enough — you are only getting it down.

            What happens to everything I put in?

            Quietkeep offers each one back when you have a moment, one at a time, with a small choice. Nothing is lost while it waits.

            How does it decide what to show me next?

            It hands you one next thing with a short list behind it, never the whole pile. Not this costs nothing.

            What if a date has already gone by?

            Nothing is ever marked late or overdue. A passed date becomes a card asking when you would like to look at it again.

            Will it remind me?

            Not by itself — it sends nothing. Send the item to your calendar — Send to my calendar, under Things you can do — and the calendar reaches you.

            Is my writing private? Where does it live?

            On this device, and nowhere else. No account, no sign-in, no server, and nothing collected about you.

            Everything stays on this device. No account, no sign-in, and no server holding your writing, because there is no server. Nothing about you is collected.

            How do I back it up, or move to a new device?

            Export a copy under Your data saves everything as one file; Bringing a copy back reads it on the new device.

            Can I keep two devices in step?

            A separate edition, Quietkeep Sync, does that — sealed on your device before anything leaves, with a key only your devices hold.

            There is a separate edition, Quietkeep Sync, that does exactly that — sealed on your device before anything leaves, with a key only your devices hold. The default app you are in never contacts anything at all.

            Why does it work this way?

            Every choice here comes from research on memory, attention and motivation. The full reasoning, with sources, is in Planning for Humans.

            Your data

            Storage on this device

            Bringing a copy back

            Moving to a new device, or restoring after something went wrong. Choose an exported file and Quietkeep will tell you what is in it before anything changes.

            The record itself

            Everything Quietkeep shows you is worked out fresh from one append-only record of what happened. You can read that record — every line, in plain words, newest day first. Looking changes nothing.

            Things you let go

            Letting go is a decision, and decisions can be revisited. Everything you let go is here, newest first — open one and “Keep it after all” brings it back with a clock of its own.

            The Not Now ledger

            Things other people asked of you, that you decided not to carry. Each is parked — it comes back on its own day, quietly — and each is kept, so when the same request comes back you can point at the decision instead of making it again.

            The journal

            Somewhere to write that is not a list and asks nothing of you. Entries are scrambled with a passphrase only you know, so they cannot be read from this device’s storage, from a backup, or by anyone Quietkeep syncs through. Nothing here is ever counted, searched, or brought back at you.

            Bringing work in from another planner

            Takes a TaskPaper or CSV export — OmniFocus, or anything TaskPaper-shaped. Projects keep their contents.

            Clearing things out

            Two different things, and not the same favor. Save a copy first — it is the only way back.

            Things you can do

            Things you can do

            Only days you set are sent. Your calendar runs when Quietkeep does not, so it is the thing that can reach you. The days ahead, on the front page, shows the same list inside the app, live.

            Today, on paper

            One page to print: what is next, what else is ready, what is with other people, and what is coming.

            Telling someone where things are

            What has changed since you last told anyone, plus what is still outstanding. You choose what goes in it.

            Since when

            Getting things in from somewhere else

            Safari has no share sheet for web apps, so the way in from outside is a Shortcut that opens this address. That is a browser limit, not a decision here.

            Check where it opens. On an iPad, running this from a Shortcut has been seen to open Safari rather than the app on your Home Screen. It will say it held your note, and it will have held it in Safari — a separate copy your installed app never shows you. If Safari comes to the front, use the box at the top of the app instead until this is sorted.

            Trying it out with something in it

            Puts a small set of ordinary work in, dated around today, so there is something to judge.

            A whole invented life, to try things on

            Makes a file of fifteen hundred invented things, mostly unsorted like a real store, with one of every kind. Import it to try things on.

            Settings

            One pass through your messages

            Offers one pass through your messages when you come out of working on something. Off unless you ask for it.

            A clock in the header

            A clock at the top, with how much of today is left beside it.

            Composing your day, by hand

            Choose up to five things for today yourself. They sit above Next up, and the app never picks them for you.

            A day for requests

            Park what people ask of you until a day you choose, so a request is dealt with on your day rather than as it lands.

            When your day ends

            Everything that means today asks this. Midnight is the usual answer and it is not everybody’s.

            How big this app is

            Only this app, and only on this device. It does not touch anything else on your phone, and nothing you have written down changes.

            Light or dark

            Only this app, and only on this device. Nothing you have written down changes, and your device's own setting is left alone.

            How long a timer runs

            How long the Do now timer runs. Set it here, calmly, rather than in the moment you are trying to start.

            Reminders that reach you

            Your calendar runs when Quietkeep does not, so it is the thing that can reach you. The button is Send to my calendar, under Things you can do.

            The number on the app icon

            The number on the app icon is how many things are ready now. It is the same number as “ready now” beside what you are holding, and it goes away by itself when nothing is asking.

            Colors

            Five sets, all checked to the same standard for being readable. Which you pick is taste.

            This app uses

            What comes back, and when

            Where the attention is

            What each one is carrying

            The places you have

            Where your time actually went

            What’s the situation?

            Where you are, how long you have, and who is in front of you. Each narrows what the app offers you and what the list shows — nothing is taken away, and everything still comes back. Each chooser appears once you have named a place or a person, so a new planner shows only the clock.

            Recognize this one?

            Nothing has to be named. This only saves what you have set above.

            Running without you

            Everything worth a look

            In the room

            Where everything is

            The days ahead

            What you’re working toward

            What’s here, and what you can open

            Things you can open

            On this page

            Something on your mind that isn’t a task?

            You do not have to know what to do about it. That is the next question, and it is not the first one.

            How you are, and anything weighing on you

            None of this becomes a task, takes a date, or comes back at you. It is here so the app can ask less of you while you are carrying it.

            The Menu

            Your projects, areas and goals

            Quietkeep

            What Quietkeep is

            A planner that holds what you put down and brings it back on its own, so you do not have to remember to look. It lives entirely on this device: no account, no sign-in, no server.

            What it is not

            It is not a medical or therapeutic tool, and nothing in it is advice. It never scores you. It cannot reach you on its own, so reminders go through your calendar. It holds only what you put in.

            What’s new

            If something is wrong

            Quietkeep can write out what it knows about itself. It contains nothing you wrote — only counts. Read it before you send it; nothing goes anywhere on its own.

            Part of a family of free apps

            Quietkeep is one of Noah Jefferson’s free apps — small tools, no accounts, nothing to pay. See the rest of them, and how to get in touch, at noahjefferson.pages.dev.

            Accessibility statement · Source and license