Timeful

[nelsonic]

In 2014 when we were exploring the features we wanted in "Time" our Task+Time tracking app, we briefly looked at "Timeful", however we did not capture our research anywhere public...

Timeful App

There is no longer a website for the app and the wikipedia page for Timeful is spartan but conclusive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeful

A todo list and calendar app created by Dan Ariely https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Ariely
acquired by Google/Alphabet on May 4th 2015 (announced on "Star Wars Day")

https://gmail.googleblog.com/2015/05/time-is-on-your-sidewelcoming-timeful.html

No indication of the cost/price of the acquisition in any of the "Tech Press/Media":

• https://techcrunch.com/2015/05/04/google-acquires-timeful-to-bring-smart-scheduling-to-google-apps/
• https://9to5mac.com/2015/05/04/google-acquires-timeful-time-management-ios-app/
• https://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/04/google-acquires-ios-app-timeful/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/3wfz1w/google_bought_timeful_in_may_removed_it_from_the/

The Crunchbase profile https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/timeful#/entity
indicates that the company was founded in 2012 and they got $7M in one Investment from 6 investors:

Sample UI

This UI screenshot gives you a layout & color scheme flavour for the app:

Video Review(s)

Thankfully there is a UI Demo video still available on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/dBO7bsgIAds

"Tips & Tricks"

On May 15, 2015 "Robert W" published the following video:

Insightful Video Description:

"The iPhone productivity app Timeful was recently updated to version 1.7.1, but unfortunately it made the app less user friendly. The developers stated to me in an email that they were partnering up with Google and that they would only support the app Timeful but would not be adding anymore features.
In this video i will demonstrate some ways that you can still use the Timeful app in a more user friendly way, it will require and few more steps but it will accomplish the same outcome as the previous version did."

Endorsement from Robert Scoble

I suspect (part of) the reason the app got "mainstream" adoption and eventually onto Google's (acquisition) "Radar" (besides the Dan Ariely connection) was due to this extended review by Robert Scoble:

https://youtu.be/ztswLXT8wfs

A short (succinct) overview (not much depth):

https://youtu.be/xHeEIiInWnY

Related Learning / Articles

• "What I Learned about Productivity While Reinventing Google Calendar": http://observer.com/2017/01/what-i-learned-about-productivity-while-reinventing-google-calendar

Todo/Task

• (Re-)watch all the available videos (please link to any new ones you find)
• Search for other articles or press releases you can find from the time.
• Summarise functionality you find intuitive/useful (preferably with reference to the specific section of the video and capture screenshots if applicable)
• Create issues in the Time backlog with any features we don't already have described.

[delmaamoun]

Hey is this project still alive? I'm dying to get something like timeful but nothing quite cuts it

[iteles]

@delmaamoun We're working on it in the new year!
What is it that you're missing from the options you've seen? We'd love to hear about what you've found in your searches!

[delmaamoun]

What I loved is being able to schedule my tasks and have that complete view of my calendar without a hassle. Everything was categorized, color coded, planned, or even if it's not planned i can just work with the to-do list in the same way. Projects also helped a lot in being able to schedule chunks of time to do things on the same big task. The fact that I set aside my work hours for example to not schedule anything at the time was also cool.
All in all, it really helped me finish my work and be productive because i could tangibly see how much I need to do per day and how long it would take me to finish something.
I also think the part with scheduling habits or goals has been copied in so many other different apps that it doesn't hold that much weight now as it used to back in 2015.

[pie6k]

Wanted to let you know guys I'm creating some app with similar goals to this one. It's AI based time planner app - https://timpler.com/

You can try it here - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timpler-to-do-habit-manager/id1432739728?ls=1&mt=8

Let me know if this is what you're looking for. Also, I'd appreciate any kind of feedback.

[nelsonic]

Hi @pie6k! Thanks for sharing. is your project open source? 🤔

[pie6k]

@nelsonic - no, it's not :)