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Ethos

Ethos widgets, Siri, Shortcuts and Control Centre

Ethos has Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets for today, Rhythm, your groups, a shared list and a countdown, and most of them let you tick things off where they are. Two controls go in Control Centre, a Live Activity shows the task you’re on, and Siri and Shortcuts can tell you what’s next, tick it, or add something to today or to the shopping list. All of it is free and reads the same day as the app.

Home Screen widgets

Press and hold the Home Screen, choose Edit, then Add Widget, and search for Ethos. Each widget, in its own words:

  • Today, small: “What is next, and how much of the day is kept. Tick it from here.”
  • Today, medium: “The next three things, each one tickable.”
  • Today, large: “The whole day, each row tickable.”
  • Kept today: “How much of today is kept, in a ring.”
  • The day: “The shape of the day, with a marker at now.”
  • Rhythm: “Your rhythm in its ring, and where it is heading.”
  • People, in three sizes: “How the people in your groups are doing today, and what they kept.”
  • List, small or medium: “A shared list, like the shopping. Tick things off from here.” You choose which list it shows.
  • Countdown: “The days to the next thing you’re looking forward to.”

Widgets follow the palette you chose for that device. The same widgets are on iPad and the Mac, and a daily planner on Apple Watch covers the watch’s complications.

Lock Screen widgets

On iPhone, the Lock Screen gets a smaller set. Today comes in three shapes and shows what’s next and how much of the day is kept. Rhythm fits in a circle. People and Countdown each have a rectangular shape and a single line that sits above the clock.

Live Activities

When a task’s reminder time comes round, a Live Activity can show it on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Before the task, it shows its time; once the time has come, it counts down to the moment the task would count as late. Press Kept to tick it.

Shared routines have their own: the routine’s name and time, and everyone’s faces in thin rings that close as each person keeps it, ending on “Kept together”. Sharing routines with your family explains how to turn that on or off per group.

Ethos has no server, so it can only start a Live Activity while the app is open or when you use a widget, a control or Siri.

Control Centre and the Action button

Two controls can go in Control Centre, on the Lock Screen and on the Action button:

  • “Tick what’s now” ticks the thing you’re on, without opening Ethos. It picks whatever you’re most behind on.
  • Today shows how much of today is kept, such as “4 of 11 kept”, and opens Ethos when pressed.

On the Mac, both controls work in Control Centre and the menu bar.

Siri and Shortcuts

Siri knows these phrases with no setup. Each includes “Ethos”, so Siri knows which app you mean.

  • “What’s next in Ethos” says the next thing on today’s list and how long you have, without opening the app.
  • “Tick it in Ethos” ticks what’s now.
  • “How’s my rhythm in Ethos” gives your Rhythm.
  • “Add to today in Ethos” asks what to add, and puts it on today without touching the week. In Shortcuts you can give it a time too.
  • “Add to the shopping list in Ethos” asks what to add. Name any list: “Add to Packing in Ethos”.
  • “Open the shopping list in Ethos” goes straight to it.
  • “Tick a shared routine in Ethos”, or name it, ticks your part of a routine you keep with others.
  • “Whose turn is it in Ethos” says whose turn a rota is on.
  • “What’s on for the family in Ethos” reads out today’s shared routines, the family’s note and tonight’s meal.
  • “Add a countdown in Ethos” starts a new countdown.

Search for Ethos in Spotlight and the first four show as buttons beside the app’s icon. In the Shortcuts app, the same actions are there to build your own shortcuts with, along with ticking a single task or list item.

Narrow the day with a Focus

Ethos has a Focus filter, “Narrow the day”. Set it up in the Settings app under a Focus, add Ethos’s filter, and choose the hours it covers, such as 09:00 to 18:00 for Work. While that Focus is on, Ethos only shows the part of the day it covers. Turn on “Only unfinished” for a Focus like Sleep, where what you want is what’s left.

Nothing is deleted or moved. Today shows “A Focus is hiding” a number of things, with “Show all” beside it, and the widgets, the watch and Siri all see the same narrowed day.

Questions

Can I tick tasks from an Ethos widget?

Yes. The Today widgets in small, medium and large sizes let you tick tasks where they are, and the List widget lets you tick items on a shared list.

Does Ethos work with Siri?

Yes. Say “What’s next in Ethos”, “Tick it in Ethos”, “Add to today in Ethos” or “Add to the shopping list in Ethos”, among others. Siri answers without opening the app where it can.

Are widgets part of Ethos Plus?

No. Widgets, controls, Live Activities, Siri and Shortcuts are all free.

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