Make an app
Make a to-do list and planner app for iPhone
Every to-do app has an opinion about how you should plan. With Borel you write your own: describe your lists, how you pick today's tasks and what a reminder should do, and Borel builds a native iPhone planner in SwiftUI with due dates, repeating tasks, reminders and a button that puts a task into your calendar.
Updated
“A to-do and day planner: tasks have a title, notes, a project, a due date and an optional reminder time. A Today screen shows what's due or overdue, Upcoming groups the next 7 days, and Projects lists each project with its open tasks. Tasks can repeat daily, weekly or monthly. Add a task to my calendar with one tap.”
Screens
What a to-do list app needs
The screens Borel builds from the prompt above. Ask for more, fewer or different ones.
Today
Overdue on top, then today's tasks, with a quick-add field at the bottom.
Upcoming
The next seven days, each day a section you can add straight into.
Projects
Each project with a colour, a count of open tasks and its own list.
Task
Title, notes, project, due date, repeat rule and reminder in one sheet.
Data
What it keeps
Borel writes these as Swift models. On the phone they work with no connection; in Borel's cloud they follow a signed-in person.
| What | Holds | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Task | Title, notes, due date, repeat rule, done | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Project | Name, colour, order | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Reminder | Time and the task it belongs to | Scheduled on the iPhone |
Native iPhone features
What it can use on your iPhone
Written in Swift with Apple's own frameworks, so they work the way iPhone owners expect.
Make it yours
What to ask for next
Once the first version runs, ask for changes in the chat, in words like these.
- “Let me type 'call mum friday 5pm' and fill in the date and time from it.”
- “Add a 'Someday' list for tasks with no date.”
- “Show how many tasks I finished each day this week.”
- “Let me reorder Today by dragging.”
How to make it
From a prompt to your iPhone and the App Store
- 1
Describe it
Paste the prompt on this page into Borel, or write your own in plain words. Borel plans the screens with you before it builds.
- 2
Try it in your browser
Borel writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI, builds it with Xcode on its own Mac and opens it in a live iPhone simulator in your browser, free.
- 3
Put it on your iPhone
With Pro, Borel Companion for Windows or Mac installs it on your own iPhone with your Apple ID: a cable the first time, then Wi-Fi.
- 4
Publish it when it's ready
Pro publishes to the App Store from the same project. Apple's Developer Program, $99 a year, is the one thing you pay Apple.
On your iPhone, add tasks the way you really do: in a hurry, one-handed, between other things. If the quick-add field is too far down or the due date takes too many taps, say so. Try the calendar button, which asks for permission the first time, and check that the event lands in the calendar you expect.
Planners are personal, and yours can stay that way on your own iPhone. If you'd rather have it on your iPad as well, ask for accounts: tasks move to Borel's cloud and follow your sign-in.
Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month, and the simulator in your browser costs nothing. Pro, from $20 a month, adds installs on your own iPhone through Borel Companion and publishing to the App Store.
Before you start
Good to know
- It doesn't read or edit Apple's Reminders app; tasks live in your own app.
- Siri can't add tasks to it.
- There's no home screen widget for today's tasks.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Describe your lists and how you plan in plain words, and Borel writes the app in Swift and runs it in your browser.
Yes: daily, weekly, monthly or on chosen weekdays. Borel creates the next one when you tick the current one off.
Yes. Borel uses Apple's EventKit, and the app asks for permission the first time you add one.
Yes, with accounts in Borel's cloud: a shared project others join with an invite code, once the app is on the App Store for them.
Make your to-do list app
Start from the prompt on this page, change it to fit your idea, and Borel builds it while you watch.