Shovel - Study Planner

I used to love this app and used it every day. Suddenly it stopped working and after several measages to the customer support I haven’t received an answer.

What student can afford that?

This app is so so good, I wish I could use it as there isn’t an app like it. However the developers have unfortunately stopped working on it (last update 2 years ago). It works fine on the web app, but this app crashes all the time, you can’t do anything and your schedule doesn’t load half the time. Also it seems notifications don’t work half the time, both in the app and on the web app. This is a requirement for me, and unfortunately I can’t use this because of it.

Hi, so I love this app. It is really helping with my productivity. I want to mention something I noticed. When trying to schedule a last minute task through the phone- it is really difficult to click "plan". Like idk if being able to zoom in and out would help but it is impossible to click. And moving tasks to allot less time doesn't seem to help. Please

I love Shovel, however the IOS app has tons of bugs. Web app is also slow for me.

This app has a such a great concept behind it that really gives me, a grad student with a full time job, hope I can get everything done without any of my work suffering. But, there are a few tiny glitches that get annoying when they pile up. 1) The widget doesn’t work because it doesn’t stay “logged in” when the app is logged in. 2) There’s no way to add a widget to the Home Screen for the latest update. 3) The phone app is just kinda slow and lacks functionally (which I can accept if everything else worked perfectly). 4) My app sends two notifications for plans: one for the actual time duration and another for the time it starts up until 11:59pm. Again, not a huge issue but annoying. This app has so much potential and I really don’t want to see it stop getting the updates it needs. I’m on my free trial and I’m concerned about subscribing because it feels like this app will gradually lose more and more functionality. I know that it’s primarily for Desktop and I do it use it that way, but I’m on my phone WAY more than my computer. I’d love to see this app grow and continue using it over the next three years!

I downloaded Shovel ages ago, but the weak mobile app lead me to trial other, better software. But, before I purchased the lifetime subscription, I made sure to ask whether the app was being continually developed, I was assured that it was — it was not. Further, I did my research before making this claim. A quick search on LinkedIn shows that all the team members, besides the founders no longer work at the company and stopped working there right around the time of the last big update. That means no software engineers — it’s dead. At one point, the website’s SSL certificate had lapsed for months, and I wasn’t even able to log on. It’s back up now, but why on earth would I trust it to not happen again? Don’t waste your money. Although the app works, it won’t be updated. And it’s mobile app is very weak anyway. I’d only consider using the app if you are content with primarily using the web version and hoping the app stays stable enough to work for a couple more years. Here’s a list of other options that are somewhat similar to Shovel’s (very unique functionality): TimeFinder, SuperPlanner, Structured, Sorted 3, and TickTick. Do yourself a favor and use one of those actively developed apps. As for Shovel’s developers, consider taking the app off the App Store. Or correct me if I’m wrong, either way, users deserve better.

I use Shovel for my online college classes and most of the time it works great! However, the app has many glitches and it’s harder to organize and plan your class schedule through the app then on their website. The only reason I have the app is just so I can see what my schedule is on the go, that’s about all it’s good for.

The main reason I use shovel rather than Google Calendar is for the course/task focused way that things are organized. Helps a ton for super busy people where you need to be as efficient as possible when planning your schedule. There are problems with the app but the website is pretty good (and where I spend most of my time anyway). Devs are super responsive too!

Without a doubt, it’s one of the best planning/scheduling apps out there which are dedicated to students. I just wish they add more useful features (like dark mode and a pomodoro timer).