Structured App Review: The Best Daily Time Blocking Planner

Why Time Blocking Works (And Why Paper Planners Don't)

Time blocking is a productivity tactic popularized by Cal Newport in his book Deep Work. The concept is straightforward: write down everything you need to accomplish in a day, then assign each task a specific time slot. It forces you to be realistic about how much you can actually get done and eliminates the mental overhead of constantly deciding what to work on next.

The problem? Cal Newport's approach is built around pen and paper. He even sells an official Time Block Planner for $25 that lasts about three months — meaning you're spending $100 a year on what is essentially a grid notebook. For anyone who lives and works digitally, pulling out a paper planner every morning just doesn't stick. If you're the type who plans your day while drinking coffee and scrolling your phone, a paper planner is dead on arrival.

What Is Structured and How Does It Work?

Structured is a digital time blocking app available on Mac, iOS, Android, iPad, and Apple Watch. It gives you a clean visual timeline of your entire day, with color-coded blocks for each task. You can see exactly what you're doing at any given time, when you have free time, and how your tasks fit together.

The app supports three types of tasks. Recurring tasks — like waking up or a nightly wind-down routine — appear automatically each day in a distinct color. Synced calendar events pull in from external calendars, so things like a sports schedule or work meetings show up alongside your personal tasks. And then there are the tasks you add yourself, either manually or through Structured's AI dictation feature.

What makes the interface genuinely useful is the visual density. You can see your full day at a glance, slide tasks around to adjust timing, and immediately spot gaps in your schedule. When Structured detects free time, it proactively suggests you fill it — even recommending tasks based on your history.

The AI Dictation Feature That Makes It a No-Brainer

The standout feature of Structured is its AI dictation assistant. Tap the robot icon, hit the microphone button, and just start talking. You can ramble through everything you need to get done in a 20-to-30-second stream of consciousness, and the AI parses it into individual tasks with estimated durations.

This is surprisingly accurate. If you say something like "I want to spend three hours editing video today," Structured will create a three-hour event. You don't need to be precise or structured (pun intended) in how you speak — the app handles natural, conversational input well, even with background noise. Planning your day becomes something you can do half-awake with a cup of coffee in hand rather than a focused sit-down exercise.

Once the AI extracts your tasks, you review them, add the ones you want to your timeline, and then drag them into the right time slots. It's the perfect blend of automation and manual control — the AI does the tedious part of creating tasks, and you handle the strategic part of deciding when they happen.

Calendar Sync, Reminders Integration, and the Inbox

Structured plays nicely with the tools you already use. It syncs with external calendars, so you can subscribe to schedules — like a sports team's game calendar — and have those events appear directly in your daily timeline. This means you're never double-booking yourself against fixed commitments.

For Apple users, the Reminders integration is particularly handy. You can configure specific Reminders lists to feed into Structured's inbox. That means you can use Siri throughout the day to capture tasks via Apple Reminders, and they'll be waiting in Structured's inbox when you sit down to plan the next morning.

The inbox itself is a simple but effective feature. It acts as a holding area for tasks that haven't been scheduled yet. Whether tasks come from Apple Reminders or are added directly in Structured, you can drag them from the inbox into your day whenever you're ready. It keeps your timeline clean while ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

How Structured Actually Improves Your Day

The real value of Structured isn't about squeezing more tasks into your day. It's about building an accurate picture of what a realistic day looks like for you. If you're the type of person who thinks you can accomplish five times more than is humanly possible — and most ambitious people are — having a visual timeline that shows your actual capacity is a notable improvement.

By reviewing previous days, you start to calibrate your expectations. You learn that three big tasks is actually a great day, and anything beyond that is bonus territory. This shift in mindset reduces the stress that comes from an impossible to-do list and replaces it with a sense of control. When you finish your planned tasks and still have energy, you can pull from the inbox and add more. But you're not starting the day already feeling behind.

The flexibility of the interface also handles the inevitable disruptions. Running late on a task? Slide it down. Something took less time than expected? Structured highlights the free time and suggests what you could do with it. It's time blocking without the rigidity that makes most planning systems fall apart by noon.

Pricing and How to Get Structured

Structured runs about three dollars a month for a subscription, which gets you the full feature set including AI dictation, calendar syncing, and cross-device support. That's significantly cheaper than buying Cal Newport's paper planner four times a year at $25 a pop.

You can download Structured directly from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. If you're already a Setapp subscriber, Structured is included in the Setapp bundle, which gives you access to hundreds of Mac and iOS apps for a single monthly fee. For anyone not familiar with Setapp, it's essentially a subscription service for curated Mac software — well worth looking into if you use multiple productivity tools.

One limitation worth noting: there's currently no Windows or web app. If you're fully in the Windows ecosystem, you'll need to look elsewhere. But for anyone with an iPhone, Mac, iPad, or Android device, Structured covers all your bases with seamless syncing across platforms.

Watch the Full Video

Prefer watching to reading? Check out the full video on YouTube for a complete walkthrough with live demos and commentary.

Final Verdict

Structured is one of the best time blocking apps available for people who think in daily schedules rather than project lists. The visual timeline, drag-and-drop rescheduling, and Apple ecosystem integration make it genuinely enjoyable to use.

Where it falls short is collaboration and cross-platform support. If you work in a team or need Windows and Android apps, look elsewhere. But for solo productivity on Apple devices, Structured earns its spot as a daily driver.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Structured app?

Structured is a daily planner and time blocking app that helps you organize your day visually. You create time blocks for tasks and see your entire schedule laid out in a timeline view.

Is Structured available on all platforms?

Structured is available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Apple Watch. It syncs across all Apple devices through iCloud, but there is no Android or Windows version available.

How does time blocking work in Structured?

You assign specific time slots to tasks throughout your day, creating a visual schedule. This helps you see exactly what you should be working on at any given time and prevents overcommitting.

Is Structured free or paid?

Structured offers a free version with basic features. The Pro version enables additional features like recurring tasks, custom icons, and import from calendar for a one-time purchase or subscription.

How does Structured compare to other planning apps?

Structured stands out for its clean visual timeline design compared to list-based apps like Todoist. It focuses specifically on daily time blocking rather than project management or task lists.