macOS and iOS

Cadence

Thirty trackers in one app, with nothing on a server.

See Cadence How I built it

At a glance

Free on one device, with Apple for review
macOS 15 or iOS 18
iCloud sync $14.99, paid once

The short version

What Cadence does

Notes in one app, habits in another, trips wherever you happened to be sitting. None of that is broken on its own, and together it means there is no single place to open to see what your life currently looks like. A habit, a task, a trip and a recipe are the same life. They only look like separate problems because separate apps sold them that way.

Cadence is thirty trackers in one place: hydration, weight, food, mood, todo lists, projects, pomodoros, fasting, a planner, notes, habits, events, a journal, routines, packing and shopping lists, chores, goals, countdowns, trips, recipes, a meal planner, medications, workouts, progress pictures, affirmations, ambient sounds, finances and a private timeline. Nobody wants thirty, so you switch off the ones you do not.

It is a native Mac and iPhone app rather than a website with an app around it, and everything you type stays on the device you typed it on. There is no account to make, because there is nothing on the other end to make one with.

In detail

The parts worth knowing about

Not the whole list - the app has more screens than a page like this can usefully hold. These are the decisions that make Cadence different from the last one you tried.

Thirty modules, and you keep the ones you use

Every tracker is switched on or off individually. The ones you turn off leave the app entirely rather than sitting in a menu waiting to be scrolled past.
Nothing leaves the device

No account, no server, no analytics on what you log. What you type is written to your own disk and stays there. iCloud sync, if you buy it, moves it between your own devices and nowhere else.
One menu item exports the lot

Everything you have ever logged, out as a JSON file you can read. It is your data whether or not you are still using the app, which is the only version of that sentence that means anything.
Quick add that shows its working

Type "submit the report friday at 3pm p1" and it fills in four fields. Every piece it thinks it recognised is highlighted back at you, because a guess that quietly eats a word out of your title is worse than no guessing at all.
Streaks that only count the days you scheduled

Skipping Saturday on a weekdays-only habit does not break the run, and neither does an unfinished today. A streak that punishes you for your own rules is a guilt counter.
Budgets that judge pace, not totals

A plain progress bar hides the thing that matters, which is being 80% through the month's money on the 10th. The bar marks where you should be by now, and a category running ahead of the calendar says so.
Insights that refuse to overclaim

Cadence will tell you that days tagged "exercise" averaged a higher mood. It will never tell you the exercise caused it, it says nothing at all until there is enough tagged and untagged data to compare, and a difference too small to mean anything is called negligible.
On the phone, where you actually log things

The iPhone build is the same app with its own navigation rather than Mac screens squeezed narrow. Widgets for today's habits, what is coming up and water against your target; a pomodoro or a fast running on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

On screen

Cadence, running

The Today screen on macOS: a good-afternoon card with the day at nought percent, four counters for tasks, habits, focus minutes and chores due again, and columns below for today's task, a six-habit checklist and the last seven days — Today, on the Mac

The module library on iPhone, thirty-one of thirty-one switched on: Planner marked always on, then Todo Lists, Projects, Routines, Countdowns and Events, each a row with its own switch — Thirty modules, switched on one at a time

A habit called Read open on iPhone: current streak, personal best of seven, seventy-five percent completion and thirty-nine logs, over a weekly adherence line and a twelve-week grid of the days it was kept — A streak that counts scheduled days only

The finances screen on iPhone: the month's net above four budget bars, each with a mark showing where spending should have reached by today, Transport already twenty-three over and the rest still short of their marks — Budgets marked against the calendar

What it costs

Pricing

The free app is the whole app. Sync is the one thing that needs paying for, because it is the one thing that costs something to run.

Cadence

Free

On one device, for as long as you like. Not a trial.
- All thirty modules, none of them locked
- Everything stored on your own disk
- The full JSON export
- No account, no sign-up, no email address
iCloud sync

$14.99

Paid once. Not a subscription, and there is no second one.
- Your Mac and your iPhone holding the same data
- Synced through your own iCloud account
- One purchase, both platforms

Before you start

What you need

Mac: macOS 15 or later
iPhone and iPad: iOS 18 or later
Processor: Apple silicon or Intel
Size: About 37 MB on disk
Latest version: 1.0, August 2026
Where: With Apple for review
Account: None. There is nothing to sign up to.
Your data: On your own disk, exportable as JSON

Free on the App Store, once approved

It is with Apple for review. The link lands the day it clears.

See Cadence How I built it

Cadence

What Cadence does

The parts worth knowing about

Thirty modules, and you keep the ones you use

Nothing leaves the device

One menu item exports the lot

Quick add that shows its working

Streaks that only count the days you scheduled

Budgets that judge pace, not totals

Insights that refuse to overclaim

On the phone, where you actually log things

Cadence, running

Pricing

What you need

It is with Apple for review. The link lands the day it clears.