Jan 12, 2026 Jan 12, 2026 2026-01-12

It’s been two months since the last release of my ADHD-friendly productivity app, addTaskManager. In app development terms, that’s either abandonment or focus.

Well, it was focus.

I just released addTaskManager version 2.6.0 yesterday, and the reason for this delay is simple: you can now search your tasks.

Search Wasn’t There Before

I know. A task manager without search sounds like a car without wheels. But here’s how I got there.

When I built addTaskManager around the ADD framework (Assess, Decide, Do), the whole point was reducing cognitive load. You just reduce your workload to three realms, with clear separation of concerns: evaluate in Assess, plan in Decide and execute in Do. The structure and orientation were basically built in.

The theory was: if everything has its place, you don’t need search. You just go to the place.

But in practice you accumulate a lot of stuff. Sometimes I have more than 200-300 items in sight, spread over 3 realms. Scrolling through a realm looking for that one task you vaguely remember creating last Tuesday? That’s not reduced cognitive load. That’s frustration.

So I finally built search. And I took the time to build it properly.

Search From Anywhere, Travel to Anything

Here’s how it works now.

You can trigger search from anywhere in the app. Type what you’re looking for and the results appear across all your data types: tasks, projects, subtasks, ideas, everything, grouped by realm (with icons and color significance).

Tap a result, and the app navigates to it. Not just shows it overlaid in the current screen. It actually travels there.

You see the realm tab highlight and the top level realm screen opens. It then navigates to the second level, where the task / project is located. For example, in Decide it can go from top level realm screen, to Undecided project list, then to the project subtasks lists, then to the specific subtask you just selected. When the item appears, it’s selected and highlighted, with action buttons ready. I find this UX almost soothing, a smooth travel from “I want this” to “here it is”.

And I call it “traveling animation” because that’s what it feels like. You’re not just finding something. You’re following the app as it takes you from the top of the hierarchy to the exact item you wanted: realm → data type → item with action buttons visible.

The Free Tier Gets 10x More Room

While I was deep in search building, I also looked at the free tier limits.

And honestly, they were too tight. People were hitting the paywall before they even had a chance to really test whether the ADD framework works for them.

So I increased the limits by 10x.

That’s right: ten times more tasks, more ideas, more room to actually use this thing before deciding if it’s worth paying for.

The rationale behind this decision: if the app really helps you, you’ll want to support it. Not because you ran out of space, but because you found something that works for you.

And if it doesn’t help you, you shouldn’t be paying anyway.

Stability Stuff

A few fixes that you won’t notice because that’s the point:

• There was a crash that could happen when searching and navigating quickly. Fixed.
• The keyboard wasn’t lifting search results properly on some devices. Fixed.
• Tab bar sizing was off on iPad and Mac. Fixed.
• Badge indicators on realm tabs weren’t showing. Now they’re back.
• All the search and sharing features are now fully localized in every supported language.

Why Two Months?

Building search properly takes time. There are many things to consider and overlapping this with the structure of the ADD framework was an extra challenge.

I think I could have shipped a basic search in two weeks. But then I chose to ship a good one in two months.

Whether that was the right call, I don’t know. Indie app economics say ship fast and iterate. My gut said get this right because people will use it constantly.

We’ll see.

addTaskManager 2.6.0 Is Live in AppStore

If you’re already using addTaskManager, update and try the search. Press the search icon, type something, tap a result. See if the traveling navigation makes sense to you or if it’s overkill.

If you’re new, the free tier now gives you real room to test the ADD framework. Capture ideas in Assess. Move the ones you commit to into Decide. Execute from Do.

And now, when you forget where you put something, just search.

Note: there are still a few glitches, but they are fixed in 2.6.1, which, at the time of writing, is in review, should be available in a matter of days.