What do the terms in ADHD app reviews mean?

Body doubling is working while another person is present. Timeboxing gives a task a fixed slot. Pomodoro is a 25 minute work interval with a break. Taps to capture counts the steps from a locked phone to a saved task. Forgiveness is how an app treats a missed day. A page-locked recap summarizes a book only up to your page. Immersion reading is reading and listening at once. A desk review is assessed from official pages, not hands-on use.

The words ADHD apps and their reviews use, defined in a sentence or two, with a link to where each one matters on this site. App terms only: this is not a medical glossary.

Focus and starting

Body doubling: working while another person is present, in person or on video, so their presence helps you start and keep going. See body doubling apps.
Focus session: a booked or timed block of work with a set end. Focusmate’s sessions are 25, 50 or 75 minutes.
Pomodoro: a work interval, classically 25 minutes, followed by a short break. TickTick has a built-in Pomodoro timer.
Timeboxing: giving a task a fixed slot of time, then stopping when it ends. Llama Life is built around it.
Focus audio: music or soundscapes designed to sit under work without lyrics to follow, such as Brain.fm or Endel.
Friction blocker: an app that puts a pause or step in front of a distracting app rather than locking it. one sec is the example on our blocker list.
Hard block: a blocker that removes access for a scheduled period. Opal’s hard modes are an example.

Planning and memory

System of record: the one place your tasks live. Everything else points to it.
Capture: getting a thought out of your head and into the system of record. Fast capture is the most important feature of a to-do app for ADHD.
Natural-language entry: typing “dentist tue 3pm” and having the app set the date and time.
Visual planner: an app that shows the day as a timeline or blocks rather than a list, such as Tiimo or Structured.
Renag: a reminder that repeats until you act or reschedule, as Due does.
External memory: holding information in a tool instead of in your head. See memory apps for ADHD.
Task breakdown: splitting a large task into small steps, which Goblin Tools does from a pasted sentence.

Reading

Page-locked recap: a summary of a book that stops exactly at your page, so it cannot spoil what comes next. Magic Bookmark and Kindle’s Story So Far do this.
Cast list: a list of characters and how they connect. A spoiler-safe one adds people only once you have met them.
Text to speech: software reading text aloud in a synthetic voice. Built into iPhone (Speak Screen) and Android (Select to Speak).
Immersion reading: reading the text while a narrator reads it, with the words highlighted. See immersion reading.
Read & Listen: Amazon and Audible’s name for keeping your place in sync across a Kindle ebook and its audiobook, formerly Whispersync for Voice.
BYOB: Magic Bookmark’s phrase for bring, buy or borrow your own book. The app works alongside your copy rather than containing the book.

How we score

Rubric: our eight weighted criteria, totaling 100 points. See how we score.
Setup friction (20 points): minutes and decisions from install to first real value.
Taps to capture (part of capture friction, 15 points): taps from a locked phone to a saved task with a due date, median of three runs.
Forgiveness (15 points): what happens after a missed day. Repair options score well; shame loops do not.
Reward design (10 points): motivating without manipulating. No fake urgency, no loss-framed pushes.
Price honesty (10 points): trial terms as written against as experienced.
Staying power (10 points): update cadence over 12 months, plus team and funding signals.
Verdicts: KEEP (we would leave it installed), TRIAL FIRST (fit depends on something specific about you), SKIP (the cost outweighs the help).
Desk review, provisional: an entry assessed from official listings, websites and documentation rather than hands-on use. Timings and tap counts show as Not yet measured.
Partial score: on newer desk reviews, the points for only the criteria the official pages let us assess, shown against the points available (for example 55/70). Not comparable with a total out of 100.

Questions people actually ask

What is body doubling?

Working while another person is present, in person or on video. Their presence helps many people start a task and keep going. Focusmate and Flow Club book the other person for you.

What is the difference between timeboxing and Pomodoro?

Timeboxing gives any task a fixed slot of whatever length you choose. Pomodoro is a specific pattern: a 25 minute work interval followed by a short break.

What does “taps to capture” mean?

The number of taps from a locked phone to a saved task with a due date, counted on a stock device and reported as the median of three runs.

What is a page-locked recap?

A recap of a book that stops exactly at your page, so it cannot spoil later events. Magic Bookmark and Kindle’s Story So Far work this way.

What does “desk review” mean on this site?

The entry is assessed from official listings, websites and documentation, not from hands-on use. Its scores are provisional and timings and tap counts show as Not yet measured.

Sources

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