For the days you have them, and the days you don’t.

Still Dad is a private iPhone app for separated fathers. Plan your time with your children, and keep what you don’t want to forget.

Tell me when it’s ready See how it works

Works offline No account No other parent needs to join

Still Dad’s Today screen on Friday, 2 October. With you today: Ella. Planned handover: Monday, 5 October. A line from Make your place theirs: They may arrive quiet, wired or loyal to the last place they left. Next time: Ask how Saturday’s competition went. Get blueberries for the pancakes.

Every other weekend.

Ella is nine. From handing her back on a Sunday to picking her up again is twelve days. This is how Still Dad fits into them.

Ella is made up. The screens are from the app.

  1. Sunday, 6.10pm

    Outside her mum’s house

    Her first swimming competition is on Saturday. She’s mentioned it eleven times since lunch, and did the arms in the back seat all the way here. It isn’t your weekend, so you won’t be there. Before you pull away, you write yourself a next-time reminder: ask how it went.

    “I can do a whole length now, Dad. Without stopping.”

    Sunday, in the car
    A new next-time reminder. Under “What do you want to do next time they’re here?” is typed “Ask how Saturday’s competition went.”

  2. Wednesday, 11.40pm

    A message from her mum

    It’s about the school holidays. You’ve started a reply three times. You put the version you don’t want to send in Let it out, and discard it. Then you read Clear lines, which says to answer the practical question and leave the rest. In the morning you send two lines.

    The guide Clear lines, under Boundaries. It opens: The kettle clicks off while a second message sits on your phone. The first one asked about Sunday. The second one is about what kind of father answers late. Under Start with the bit that matters: Read the message once and find the practical question. Answer that part only.

  3. Saturday, 8.45am

    The kitchen table

    Her race is at ten, across town. You write her a private letter about the girl who wouldn’t put her face in the water in June. A letter in Still Dad has no send button. You keep it until she’s old enough to read it.

    A private letter to Ella, dated Saturday 26 September: Ella, it’s the morning of your first competition. It’s your mum’s weekend, so I’m at the kitchen table writing to you instead of shouting from the side. In June you wouldn’t put your face in the water. Last Sunday you told me you can swim a whole length, and did the arms in the back of the car all the way to your mum’s. Whatever the board says at the end, you got in. That was the hard part. Love, Dad

Friday, 3.20pm

The school gate

“How did the competition go?”

She tells you all of it before you reach the car: the cold water, the girl in lane four, and the time she’s going to beat next month.

Something to read before you reply.

Clear lines, the guide from Wednesday, is one of 65 practical guides. There are 8 quiet reads beside them, and all of it works offline. Today opens with one line from them, picked for the kind of day it is.

  • Handover days
  • Make your place theirs
  • Your ex’s people
  • Money without panic
  • Finish one thing
  • Getting going again

“Get food on the table before you ask about their week.”

From Handover days

Questions

Does the other parent need to join?

No. It works the same whether you get on or not.

Does it work with more than one child?

Yes. Each child has their own profile, and a reminder or moment can be for one of them or for all of them.

Is anything sent anywhere?

No. There’s no account, no server and no sync. What you write is saved in the app on your iPhone. Your phone’s own backups may include it, and a backup you export is a file you keep. The privacy policy has the detail.

Can I lock it?

Yes, with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. It’s off until you turn it on.

What is the log for?

Plain dates and what happened, including contact that was refused or denied. Useful the night before you meet a lawyer. Useful never, which is better.

Where does it work?

On any iPhone with iOS 17 or later, wherever you are. It’s written in British English. The support lists cover the United States, the United Kingdom and Kenya, and Find A Helpline covers everywhere else.

What will it cost?

It will be a subscription: $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year in the US, with a free trial on the yearly plan. Elsewhere, the App Store shows the local price. There are no ads: the content is the product, and you are not.

Nearly ready.

Still Dad is in private testing. We’ll tell you the day it’s on the App Store.

Tell me when it’s ready