User Guide: Mobile

The Mindwtr mobile app is built with React Native and Expo. Android is fully supported; iOS is available on the App Store and via TestFlight beta.

Overview

The mobile app uses tab navigation for main views and a drawer for additional views.

Interaction Patterns

• Tap to open and edit tasks.
• Swipe for quick actions (see Swipe Actions section below).
• Share sheet adds items directly to your Inbox.

Navigation

Bottom Tabs

Menu Tab

Tap the Menu tab to access additional views:

• 📋 Board — Kanban board view
• 🗓️ Calendar — Time-based view
• 📝 Review — Daily + weekly review
• 🏷️ Contexts — Filter by context
• ⏳ Waiting For — Delegated items
• 💭 Someday/Maybe — Future ideas
• 📦 Archived — Archived tasks
• ⚙️ Settings — App preferences

Global Search

Tap the search icon in the header to open Global Search.

Search Operators

Use operators for powerful filtering:

Saved Searches

Save frequently used searches:

1. Enter your search query
2. Tap "Save Search"
3. Name your search
4. Access from the drawer under Saved Searches

To delete: Open the saved search, tap the trash icon in the header.

Quick Capture

Mindwtr offers multiple ways to capture tasks quickly on mobile.

The capture screen is input-first. The syntax help is tucked behind a small “?” toggle to keep the interface clean.

Share Sheet

Capture tasks from any app using the share sheet:

1. In any app (browser, email, notes), find something you want to capture
2. Tap the Share button
3. Select Mindwtr from the share options
4. The content is added to your Inbox automatically

Great for:

• Saving articles to read later
• Capturing emails as tasks
• Adding links from web browsing

Home Widget

Add the Mindwtr widget to your home screen for quick access:

1. Long-press on your home screen
2. Select Widgets
3. Find and add the Mindwtr widget
4. Tap the widget to open quick capture or view focus items

Quick-Add Syntax

Mindwtr parses natural language when adding tasks:

Date formats: today, tomorrow, friday, next week, in 3 days

Audio Capture

Capture tasks using your voice with AI-powered transcription.

Setup

1. Go to Settings → AI Assistant (in the Settings tab).
2. Enable Speech to Text.
3. Choose a Provider:
4. OpenAI / Gemini: Cloud-based (requires API key).
5. Offline (Whisper): Runs locally. You can download a model (e.g., Tiny or Base) directly in settings.
6. Set your Default Capture Method in Settings → General if you prefer audio-first.

Using Audio Capture

• Quick Add: Tap the Audio tab in the Quick Capture screen.
• Record: Tap the microphone to start.
• Transcribe: Stop recording to process the audio.
• Smart Parse: If enabled, the app will extract dates and fields automatically.

Inbox

Your capture zone for quick task entry.

Adding Tasks

1. Tap the input field at the bottom
2. Use the share sheet from other apps
3. Tap the home widget
4. Type your task with quick-add syntax
5. Tap the add button or press Enter

Processing Inbox

Tap Process Inbox to start the clarify workflow:

1. Is this actionable?
2. Yes → Continue

3. No → Trash or Someday/Maybe

4. Will it take less than 2 minutes?

5. Yes → Do it now, mark Done

6. No → Continue

7. What's next?

8. I'll do it → Add context, move to Next Actions

9. Delegate → Move to Waiting For

10. Where will you do this?

11. Select contexts (@home, @work, etc.)

12. Add custom contexts

13. Assign to a project? (Optional)

14. Select a project or skip

Focus

Your primary dashboard for doing.

Sections

Features

• Context filter — Tap a context chip to filter the Next list.
• Swipe to Focus — Swipe a task right to toggle "Focus" status (moves it to Today).
• Quick Status — Tap the status badge to change status.
• Pomodoro (Optional) — Enable in Settings → GTD → Features → Pomodoro timer to show a focus/break timer panel linked to your current task.

Review

Review your tasks and update their status.

• See task details (description, start time, deadline, contexts)
• Quickly mark tasks as done
• Navigate between tasks
• Select mode: Batch select tasks and share them

Task Editor (Task + View)

The task editor has two modes:

• Task — edit fields, checklists, dates, tags, contexts
• View — clean read-only summary with tappable checklist

Swipe left/right to switch between Task and View.

Checklist-first tasks default to View mode for faster checking.

The editor starts minimal. Tap More options to reveal advanced fields; any field with existing content stays visible.

Description markdown supports unordered lists and task checkboxes (- item, [ ] item, [x] item).
Markdown checkbox lines can populate checklist items when you save.

Recurring tasks support two strategies:

• Strict (fixed cadence)
• Repeat after completion (next date from completion time)

Use the recurrence field in the task editor, then toggle Repeat after completion when needed.

Attachments

You can attach files or links to a task from the editor. Audio notes can be saved as attachments when Save audio attachments is enabled.

See [Attachments] for details on syncing and cleanup.

AI Assistant (Optional)

Enable in Settings → Advanced → AI assistant:

• Clarify — turn vague tasks into concrete next actions
• Break down — generate checklist steps for big tasks
• Review analysis — highlight stale tasks during review
• Copilot — context/tag/time suggestions while typing

AI is optional and only runs when you request it.

Reusable Lists

Use checklists as templates:

• Duplicate task — copy a master list (packing, travel prep)
• Reset checklist — uncheck everything for reuse (groceries)

Calendar Integration

Mindwtr can overlay external calendars (ICS subscriptions) in the Calendar view:

1. Go to Settings → Advanced → Calendar
2. Add your ICS URL
3. Refresh to fetch events

External events are view‑only and are not synced.

Calendar

Time-based view with scheduling capabilities.

Views

• Month View — Overview of tasks with due dates
• Day View — Detailed timeline with scheduled tasks and external events

Scheduling Tasks

1. On the Calendar day view, tap Schedule Tasks
2. Select from Next Actions (shown first) or search Todo tasks
3. Mindwtr finds the earliest free slot (avoids conflicts with external events)
4. Task gets a start time based on its time estimate

Drag to Reschedule

• Long-press a scheduled task block
• Drag to a new time slot (snaps to 5-minute intervals)
• Release to update the start time

External Calendars (iCal/ICS)

Subscribe to external calendars to see events alongside your tasks:

1. Go to Settings → Advanced → Calendar
2. Enter the calendar URL (ICS/webcal format)
3. Give it a name and tap Add
4. External events appear as gray blocks in Day view

Projects

Manage multi-step outcomes.

Project List

• View all active projects
• See task count per project
• Tap to view project details

Project Details

• View all tasks in the project
• Add new tasks
• Group tasks with Sections inside the project
• Tap a task to assign a Section in the task editor
• Edit project settings (name, color, notes)
• Assign Area of Focus (e.g., Work, Personal)
• Add Project tags for filtering
• Set sequential or parallel mode
• Set review date
• Complete or archive the project

Sequential vs Parallel

Swipe Actions

Quickly manage tasks with swipe gestures:

Contexts

Browse and filter tasks by context.

Location Contexts

• @home — Tasks to do at home
• @work — Tasks for the office
• @errands — Out and about
• @agendas — Discussion items
• @computer — Need a computer
• @phone — Need a phone
• @anywhere — Can do anywhere

Tags

Filter tasks by energy level, mode, or topic:

• #focused — Deep work requiring concentration
• #lowenergy — Simple tasks for tired moments
• #creative — Brainstorming and ideation
• #routine — Repetitive/mechanical tasks

Waiting For

Track items delegated or waiting on external events.

• View all waiting tasks
• See deadlines
• Move to Next when ready
• Mark as Done when received

Someday/Maybe

Incubate ideas for the future.

• Review periodically during Weekly Review
• Activate by moving to Next status
• Archive if no longer relevant

Notifications & Reminders

Mindwtr sends push notifications to keep you on track.

Types of Notifications

• Due date reminders — Alerts when tasks are due
• Start time alerts — Reminds you when it's time to begin
• Recurring task reminders — Notifications for recurring items

Snooze

When a notification appears, you can snooze it directly:

• Tap Snooze to be reminded later
• Choose from preset intervals (5 min, 15 min, 1 hour, etc.)

Tap the notification body to jump directly to the Review screen.

Permissions

Make sure notifications are enabled:

1. Go to device Settings → Apps → Mindwtr
2. Enable Notifications
3. Allow alerts and sounds as desired

Settings

General

• Appearance — System, Light, or Dark
• Language — English, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, German, Russian, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Korean, Italian, Turkish

Notifications

Task Reminders:

• Enable/disable notifications for due dates and start times

Daily Digest:

• Morning Briefing — Summary of due today, overdue, and focus tasks
• Evening Review — Prompt to review and wrap up the day
• Configure times for each

Weekly Review:

• Reminders — Get a weekly notification to start your review
• Time/Day — Customize when you want to review (e.g., Friday at 4 PM)

GTD

Customize how Mindwtr works for your GTD workflow:

Features (Optional):

• Priorities — Show a priority flag on tasks
• Time Estimates — Add a duration field for time blocking

Time Estimate Presets:

• Choose which time estimates appear in the task editor
• Options: 5m, 10m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 3h, 4h, 4h+
• Default: 10m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 3h, 4h, 4h+

Auto-Archive:

• Automatically move completed tasks to the Archive after a set number of days (default: 7 days)
• Set to "Never" to keep completions in the Done list indefinitely

Task Editor Layout:

• Tap a field to toggle visibility (hidden fields still show when they have values)
• Long-press the drag handle to reorder fields
• Hidden fields can be revealed with the More button in the editor

Data & Sync

See [Data and Sync] for sync setup.

Sync Backend:

• File — Sync via a shared JSON file (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
• WebDAV — Sync to a WebDAV server (Nextcloud, ownCloud, etc.)

Other Options:

• Sync — Manually trigger sync
• Last sync status — View when data was last synced
• Sync history — Collapsed by default; tap to expand recent entries
• Export Backup — Save data to a file
• Settings sync options — Choose which preferences sync across devices (theme, language/date format, external calendar URLs, AI settings). API keys and local model paths are never synced.

Advanced

AI Assistant:

• Optional BYOK assistant for clarifying and breaking down tasks

Calendar (ICS/iCal):

• Add Calendar — Enter a name and URL
• Enable/Disable — Toggle visibility of each calendar
• Remove — Delete a subscription
• Test — Verify the calendar loads correctly

About

• Version number
• Check for updates
• Website and GitHub links

See Also

• [Mobile Installation]
• [Data and Sync]
• [GTD Workflow in Mindwtr]