North Vancouver Dad Builds ADHD Planner App After Years of Watching Productivity Tools Fail Him
Flint launches on the Apple App Store during Mental Health Awareness Month, offering a calmer starting point for brains that don't think in straight lines.
NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, May 5, 2026 /CNW/ - James R.C. Smith, a marketing professional and father living with ADHD, has launched Flint ADHD Daily Planner on the Apple App Store. The launch arrives during Mental Health Awareness Month, a timing Smith says wasn't coincidental.
Flint is a daily planner built specifically for ADHD brains, the kind that get overwhelmed by too many options, struggle to start even when the task is small, and need to know what to do right now, not just someday. Unlike traditional productivity apps that assume linear thinking, Flint adapts to how its users actually function.
"Most productivity apps were designed for people who already have their executive function sorted," Smith said. "If you have ADHD, opening one of those apps can make things worse. You see the empty fields, the projects, the tags, the priorities, and you freeze. I built Flint because I needed something that met me where I was on the bad days, not just the good ones."
WHY MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH MATTERS HERE
ADHD affects an estimated 1 in 20 adults globally, and rates of diagnosis among adults have climbed steadily over the past decade. The condition is closely linked to anxiety, depression, and burnout. Tools that promise organization but deliver shame are a real part of that equation.
Smith was diagnosed as an adult after years of building workarounds for himself. Flint reflects what he learned through that process. The app is designed to reduce friction at the exact moments ADHD makes simple tasks feel impossible: starting, deciding, and recovering when a day goes sideways.
HOW FLINT WORKS
Every morning starts with a stoplight check-in. Green, yellow, or red, one tap tells the app how much the user has to give that day. The schedule adjusts around that, not the other way around. A capacity bar shows how full the day is before stress sets in. Tasks that overflow don't disappear; they wait in an Overflow Tray, guilt-free, ready when the user is.
Other features include:
Voice capture that listens to how a task is described and automatically sets priority and schedule.
AI-powered task extraction from brain dumps written into Notes.
Built-in routines (Brain Dump, Clear Inbox, Plan Tomorrow, Quick Capture, Plan a Project, Weekly Review) that walk users through each step.
Energy-level tagging on tasks (low, medium, high focus) so users can match work to actual capacity.
A Timeline view that shows the day as a scrollable hourly schedule, colour-coded by priority.
PRIVATE BY DEFAULT
Flint stores everything locally on the device. There's no account requirement, no subscription needed for core features, and no data sent to anyone. For users who already feel exposed by their diagnosis, that decision was deliberate.
"People with ADHD already share enough of themselves with apps that profit from their attention," Smith said. "Flint isn't one of them."
AVAILABILITY
Flint ADHD Daily Planner is available now on the Apple App Store for $5.99. It requires iOS 16 or later and is supported on iPhone, iPad, Mac (with Apple Silicon), and Apple Vision.
Download: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flint-adhd-daily-planner/id6762219649
ABOUT JAMES R.C. SMITH
James R.C. Smith is a marketing and communications professional based in North Vancouver, BC, with more than a decade of experience across B2B SaaS, consumer brands, and tech. He runs socialdad.ca, a parenting website, and builds independent digital products focused on practical problem-solving. Flint is his second app on the Apple App Store.
SOURCE SocialDad
MEDIA CONTACT: James R.C. Smith, LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jamesrcsmith, Web: socialdad.ca
Share this article