Reusable checklists for iPhone & iPad

Slates

For the lists you do again and again. Save one as a slate, then start a fresh copy whenever you need it. Tick things off, close the app, come back next month — it is exactly as you left it, until you reach for the slate again.

In development iOS 17+ iPhone & iPad No third-party code
Slates app icon — a fanned stack of dark slates with chalk lines dissolving across the front one

Slates · v1.0

One

What it does

One list at a time

Most checklist apps hoard every list you have ever made. Slates keeps exactly one — the last one you started. Tick items off, put your phone away, come back a week later and it is untouched. When you need the list again, tap the slate and it comes back clean.

disposable lists · permanent slates

Slates you reuse

Build a slate once — packing, the weekly shop, the gym bag, a pre-flight check — and reach for it forever. Give it an emoji or one of around 180 symbols, break it into sections, file it under a group, and star the ones you use most so they sit at the top.

sections · groups · favourites

Yours to take away

Export your slates as JSON for a faithful backup, or as Markdown task lists you can read and edit in any text editor. Import reads both and is deliberately forgiving — headings, bullets, numbers and - [x] boxes all work, so a file you wrote by hand imports fine.

json + markdown · no lock-in

Straight to the point

Long-press the app icon and jump into a slate without opening the app first — favourites first, then whatever you reached for most recently. Your slates and your current list follow you between devices through your own iCloud account, with no account to create.

quick actions · icloud sync
Two

Seven themes

One accent colour, used where it earns its place — the tick you just made, the progress bar, section headings inside a slate. Everything else is left to the system, so Light, Dark and System all look right without a second set of colours to maintain.

Ink

Ocean

Forest

Sunset

Berry

Violet

Graphite

Three

The details

The current list

Exactly one, kept until you replace it. Add ad-hoc items that belong to this run only, reorder, or clear it entirely.

Sections

Break a slate into headings. They are not tickable and never count toward progress, so "3 of 8" means eight real things to do.

Icons

Around 180 SF Symbols across nine categories, searchable by name, or any emoji you care to paste in.

Groups

File slates under names you choose — Travel, Home, Work. Favourites are pinned above the lot.

Import

JSON or Markdown, sniffed rather than guessed from the extension. # starts a slate, ## a section.

Export

All your slates or just one, as .json or .md, written wherever you choose in the system save sheet.

Sync

iCloud key-value storage, to your own account. Most recent change wins; there is no server of mine in the path.

Built with

SwiftUI, no third-party packages. The store, the Markdown reader and writer, and the theme system are all first-party code.

Requires

iOS 17.0 or later, on iPhone and iPad.

Four

Nothing phones home

No accounts. No subscriptions. No adverts. No analytics. No third-party code of any kind. Slates has no server for the app to talk to, so there is nothing to collect and nothing to sell. Your slates live on your device, and in your own iCloud if you switch that on.

The whole policy is short and written in plain English, on the privacy page.

Read the policy