Nowside help.

Tasks and lists

Tap Add Nudge, enter a title and Save. New tasks default to Just once. Choose Every day if the task should return daily. Open First step, list & details for optional information, or create lists under More → Lists.

Choose Today, Tomorrow, Pick a date or Someday. Future tasks appear in Upcoming. Someday keeps a task without a date or task alert. Deleting a list keeps its tasks and moves them to No list.

Open Add checklist in the task editor to add individual items or paste a list. Save the task, then tick items in its task view. Checking the last item does not complete the nudge; tap Done when you are ready. Checklist items have no separate alerts.

Every day controls when a completed task returns. To receive a daily alert too, choose a time and enable Repeat this alert every day. It continues even if the task is already done; turn the task’s alert off to stop it. Daily alerts start at the next matching local time. A later future start uses a one-time alert. Existing one-time alerts do not silently become daily alerts. Daily check-in is a separate prompt to open Today.

Show the task name in an alert

Your first timed task offers private or named text with a preview. To change it later, open Today, tap the bell, adjust Show task names and Save. Task alerts and re-nudges can include the title. Notes and voice transcripts stay out of alerts. Daily check-ins, focus and break alerts keep their general wording.

Your device’s notification preview settings still control what appears on the Lock Screen. Turn Show task names off and save to return to generic text. If Nowside reports an alert-update error, tap Save to retry.

An alert did not arrive

Check Nowside’s reminder status and notification access in iPhone Settings. A date alone does not schedule an alert. Turn on Remind me at a time and choose a time. iOS Focus and notification preferences can affect delivery.

Completing a one-time task alert cancels it. Immediate Undo restores its original time if it is still in the future and the task has not changed again. It does not replay an elapsed alert. Fixed daily alerts continue even after Done. Deleting or moving a task can cancel alerts; check the resulting task status.

Nowside allows up to 60 pending alerts across task alerts and re-nudges, and reports when it cannot schedule another. Alerts are not guaranteed. Do not rely on Nowside for safety-critical reminders.

Start a short focus session

Open Focus & task tools on a task. Choose 5, 15 or 25 minutes. Pause & keep my place lets you leave a return point without replacing the original first step.

When the timer ends, choose whether to continue or take a five-minute break. A timer never completes the task for you.

Log an activity in Momentum

Open Momentum and create a tile. Add a name, an optional cue, a symbol and a colour. Open the tile to see its month calendar. Tap today or an earlier date to add or remove a mark. Future dates cannot be logged.

Unmarked days stay neutral. You can keep up to 24 tiles. Deleting a tile removes its active history after confirmation. This version has no archive or weekly-target setting.

Record or type a thought

Tap the microphone beside Add Nudge on iPhone or New nudge on iPad. Tap Record a thought, speak for up to 60 seconds, then Stop & review. Review the title, choose when, and Save. The recording remains in Saved thoughts, directly on Today or in the iPad sidebar. Type instead works without microphone permission.

Transcription of recordings made in the iPhone or iPad app runs on-device where your device and selected language support it. Allow Speech Recognition if asked. If it is unavailable, keep the audio, edit the text yourself or try later. Nowside does not send the recording to a cloud transcription service.

Recording stops when you leave the screen or switch apps. It does not resume automatically. After stopping, review the title, choose when and Save. A spoken date does not automatically set the schedule.

Exporting and recovering notes

Open a note and choose Export note & audio. Save & export a copy saves text edits first. Check the destination: exports may include private audio and text.

If a note cannot be read, open Preserved notes needing attention. Export original files keeps a recovery copy. Where audio is available, Recover audio as a new note creates a separate copy and leaves the damaged original in place. Keep the original until you have checked the copy. Interrupted recordings may be incomplete.

New captures are limited to 200 notes or 250 MB, including damaged folders. Recording needs 2 MB of free library space. Nothing is removed automatically at the limit. Storage details are available in the voice library and expand near capacity. Export older notes before deciding whether to delete them.

Nowside on Apple Watch

Install Nowside on your paired iPhone and Watch, then open it on the phone. On the Watch, tap Refresh if your tasks are not current. You can complete a nudge, snooze it for ten minutes or tick its checklist items. Long checklists show a subset on Watch; open the iPhone app for the full list.

Open Momentum on the Watch to see your tiles and the current month. Choose Log today or Undo today. Create tiles and edit earlier days on iPhone.

Dictate or type a Quick note

Open Quick note, tap Speak or type, and use the text-entry options offered by watchOS. Review the words, then tap Save note. Saved on iPhone confirms the phone has saved your note. Open Today → Saved thoughts or tap Latest from Watch to open that note. No audio recording is saved with a Watch note.

Apple provides Watch Dictation and may process speech on its servers. Availability depends on your device, language and Apple settings. This is separate from Nowside’s on-device transcription of recordings made on iPhone or iPad.

When the phone is not reachable

Tap Save note, even offline. One explicitly saved note stays on Watch and retries when Nowside reconnects or reopens. Its text stays fixed while waiting. Try now safely retries the same note; an unsaved draft does not send automatically. Open Nowside on both devices if it remains waiting. After Saved on iPhone, choose Add another note to start again.

Task and Momentum changes need a connection and are not queued for later. Check the phone confirmation before assuming a change saved. Removing a pending note from Watch does not undo a copy already saved on the phone.

The Watch connects through your paired iPhone, not directly to your private iCloud library. Update Nowside on both devices when the Watch asks for a newer version. The Watch app requires watchOS 10 or later.

Widgets and the Action button

Open Nowside at least once, then add its widget through your iPhone’s Home Screen or Lock Screen customisation controls. Today widgets open your tasks. Voice nudge opens New nudge with voice capture ready; tap Record when you’re ready. Widget updates depend on iOS and may not appear immediately.

On a supported iPhone, choose a Shortcut in Settings → Action Button. Select Capture Voice Note, or create a shortcut containing that Nowside action first. The shortcut opens the recorder. You still tap Record to start.

You can also use Add Nudge in Shortcuts. Check its Repeat and Keep in settings, because saved shortcuts retain their own choices. Select dates and lists in the app.

Something looks missing

Keep the app installed. Do not delete app data or reinstall as a first troubleshooting step. Nowside stores data locally. If sync is enabled, check its status on both devices before assuming the other copy is current. Support cannot retrieve your private iCloud content.

Unlock your iPhone and retry. Check Today, Upcoming, Someday and the list filter. For voice notes, check Preserved notes. Device backups may contain app data depending on your settings, but restoration is controlled by Apple and is not guaranteed by Nowside.

Sync and backups

Sync starts off on each device. Export a backup on both devices before enabling it. Use the same Apple Account, enable Sync with iCloud in Sync & data on each device. On iPhone, tap the gear on Today; on iPad, open About & privacy in the sidebar. Then keep Nowside open and check the status on both devices.

The sync feature is designed to exchange changes while Nowside is open, with checks about every 30 seconds and a Sync now button. It does not promise instant or closed-app updates. Checklists require Nowside 1.3 or later on both devices.

Do not assume the other device has a current copy until both report a successful sync. Preserve your data and include the sync status and app version in a feedback report. If the build says iCloud is not configured, that message does not mean data was uploaded.

Keep or restore a backup

Sync & data can export a backup of tasks, lists, Momentum and voice notes, including audio. Keep the file somewhere private. Restore adds copies without replacing current records. Restored alerts are off, running timers are not restored and device preferences are preserved. Check the copies before removing anything. Sync is not a separate backup.

Getting help

Open About Nowside, then Send feedback for the app version and Copy app details. On iPhone, tap the gear on Today; on iPad, use About & privacy in the sidebar. Include what you tried, what you expected and what happened. Remove private details from any screenshot.

If you are using a TestFlight build, choose Nowside in TestFlight and Send Beta Feedback. Apple also receives TestFlight feedback.

Email nowsideapp@gmail.com for help or feedback. Nowside is operated by Daniel McDonald in Australia.

For a useful bug report, include your iPhone model, iOS version, Nowside version, what you did and the exact message shown. Remove private details from screenshots. For an alert issue, include the date, time, timezone and notification-permission status.

Never send passwords or Apple Account credentials. Support cannot read your local data or private iCloud records. Read the privacy policy before choosing to share a recording or task list.