DIO Support

Help with DIO

DIO 1.0 · Last updated 5 August 2026

DIO is a place to put the thoughts your head will not stop holding. You write one down, crumple it into a ball, and throw it in a bin. Then you sort it later, when you have the room to decide.

It was built by an ADHDer for brains that run loud, and everyone else is welcome too. Most things people write in about are answered below, so have a scan first. If you still need us, we are at the bottom and a person reads every message.

What DIO does

• The throw is the point. A thought becomes a paper ball you physically toss into a bin. That small act of getting it out of your head is the whole ritual, and it is why the quiet comes back.
• No account, no server. There is no sign-up, no password, and no DIO server. Your thoughts live on your phone and in your own iCloud. We could not read them if we wanted to.
• Works offline. Every feature that holds your thoughts works in airplane mode. The only thing that needs the network is the subscription check with Apple.
• No streaks, no scores, no red numbers. Nothing punishes you for disappearing for a week. DIO just waits.
• It rearranges to fit you. Reorder or hide any home card and any bin. Whatever you do not use switches off and stops taking up room.
• Soundscapes and focus timers built in. Four steady background soundscapes that keep playing on the Lock Screen, plus Focus Sprints, a five minute start, and box breathing.
• Toss Up, for when choosing is the hard part. It pulls one open thing at random so you do not have to pick.

How to use DIO

Dump without deciding. Type the thought, throw it, move on. Do not sort it yet. Remembering and deciding at the same time is what makes a busy head seize up, so DIO splits them apart.

Sort when you have capacity. Come back to the pile whenever. Send a thought to one of the eight bins, keep it as a to-do, or let it go. Letting go sends it to Trash, where it stays recoverable for 30 days.

The morning reset. Each morning DIO clears out what you finished so the day starts clean. Anything unfinished in Today steps back to Later. Nothing unfinished is ever thrown away for you.

Tools when starting is the hard part. Toss Up picks for you, the timers give a start a shape, and Dopamine Dive keeps a list of small things that get you moving.

The same guide lives inside the app, under Settings, About and Legal, How DIO works.

Questions people ask

Do I need an account? Why not?

No. There is no sign-up, no password, and no login screen anywhere in DIO. We did it this way because an account would mean a server holding your thoughts, and a server holding your thoughts is a thing that can be breached, subpoenaed, or read by an employee. Skipping the account skips all of that. Your subscription is tied to your Apple ID by Apple, so nothing needs a login from us.

How do I delete my account?

There is no account to delete. DIO never creates one, so there is no username, no password, no profile, and no record of you on any Elitec system. What you can delete is your data, and the control for that is Delete All My Data in Settings, Privacy and Data, under Leaving DIO. It is covered in full below. If you were sent here looking for an account deletion form, this paragraph is the answer: there is nothing on our side to close.

Where is my data, and can Elitec see it?

On your iPhone, and in your own personal iCloud so it reaches your other Apple devices. That iCloud space belongs to your Apple ID, not to us. Elitec holds no copy and has no way in. We do not monitor, review, moderate, or read what you write, and there is no technical means for us to do so, because there is no server, no database, and no copy on our side. This is also why we cannot email you your data or delete it on request: there is nothing on our side to send or delete. The one exception is anonymous usage signals, if you switched them on. Email dio@elitechq.com and we will delete those. The app does both itself, and both are covered below.

Could someone make Elitec hand over what I wrote?

We could not hand it over, because we do not have it. A subpoena, a court order, or any other legal request can only reach what a company holds, and Elitec holds no copy of anything you write in DIO. That is a consequence of how the app is built rather than a promise about how we would behave, which is why it is worth saying plainly. The same fact is in the Terms.

Does DIO work offline?

Yes, for everything that holds your thoughts. Airplane mode, no signal, a plane, a basement, it all works. The only times DIO reaches the network at all are to check your subscription with Apple and to send anonymous counts of which features get opened. Neither carries anything you wrote, and the second can be switched off.

Does DIO track what I do in the app?

Only if you say yes, and never your content. DIO can send anonymous usage statistics through TelemetryDeck: which screens open and which tools get used, tied to an identifier iOS gives to apps from the same developer, hashed on your phone, never a word you wrote and never anything that identifies you. It starts off everywhere and stays off until you turn it on, and it is one switch in Settings under Usage data. Your thoughts, to-dos, habits and events never leave your device and your own iCloud: put the phone in Airplane Mode and every part of DIO keeps working.

I got a new phone. How do I get my things back?

Sign the new iPhone into the same Apple ID, install DIO, and open it. Your bins, to-dos, habits, and settings come down from your own iCloud on their own. There is nothing to log into. If the paywall appears, tap Already subscribed? Restore and your subscription comes back with it. Give it a moment on first launch; iCloud sometimes takes a few seconds to deliver.

I deleted the app. Is my data gone?

No, and that is on purpose. Deleting the app removes what was on that phone but leaves your iCloud copy alone, so reinstalling brings your things back. If you want it truly gone, use Delete All My Data before you delete the app.

How do I delete everything permanently?

Settings, Privacy and Data, Leaving DIO, Delete All My Data. It clears DIO's data on that device, removes DIO's keys from your iCloud so your other devices clear too, deletes the on-device diagnostics archive, and cancels every reminder DIO had scheduled. There is no undo, and there is nothing on our end left over afterwards, because there was never anything on our end. The only thing that can be left anywhere else is the anonymous usage history, and only if you switched Usage data on: write to dio@elitechq.com and we will delete those signals from our analytics provider. If a second device is offline when you do it, it clears when it next comes online and opens DIO.

How do I cancel my subscription? Does deleting the app cancel it?

Cancel in your Apple account: open the iPhone Settings app, tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions, then DIO, then Cancel. You can also reach the same sheet from inside DIO, at the very bottom of Settings under Leaving DIO. Deleting the app does not cancel anything, and neither does Delete All My Data. The subscription is with Apple, so it keeps renewing until you cancel it there.

I canceled. Do I lose access immediately?

No. You keep full access until the period you already paid for runs out, so canceling early costs you nothing. Cancel the moment you decide and use the rest of the time you paid for.

Can I get a refund?

Refunds are handled by Apple, not by us, because Apple takes the payment. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com with the Apple ID that bought the subscription. We cannot issue a refund ourselves, and we cannot see your purchase. If you live somewhere with a statutory cooling-off right, including the 14-day right in the EU and the UK, that right applies to your purchase from Apple and is exercised through Apple.

What happens to unfinished items overnight?

They wait for you. Anything unfinished in Today moves to Later rather than being deleted. Nothing unfinished is ever thrown away on your behalf; it just steps out of the spotlight until you are ready for it.

Why did my finished items disappear this morning?

That is the morning reset clearing what you completed so the day starts clean. Finished items go to Trash and stay recoverable there for 30 days, so nothing is lost if the reset caught something you still wanted. If you would rather a finished item stuck around, tap Keep on it and the reset leaves it alone.

Can I get my data out of DIO?

Yes. Settings, Privacy and Data, Export a copy of my data. DIO writes a single readable text file holding your pile, every bin item with its state, your to-dos, habits, DIO calendar events, and Dopamine Dive list, then hands it to the normal iOS share sheet so you can save it to Files, mail it to yourself, or drop it anywhere. It is built on your phone, nothing is uploaded to make it, and we never see it. Events imported from Apple Calendar are left out, because those belong to your calendar rather than to DIO.

Why do my DIO notifications not make a sound?

Nine times out of ten it is the silent switch on the side of your iPhone. When that is flipped to silent, iOS silences DIO, and DIO cannot override it. Only Apple's own Clock app is allowed to sound an alarm through silent mode. That is an iOS rule, not something DIO chose or can work around, so no setting inside DIO will fix it. Flip the switch back and the sound returns. After that, in order: check Focus (iPhone Settings, Focus), because a Focus mode can silence an app with no sign of it in DIO. Then check DIO's own Quiet hours (Settings, Notifications and Reminders), which holds back ambient reminders during the hours you set so it does not buzz at you overnight; reminders you put on a specific event always come through, even during Quiet hours. Then check the permission itself: iPhone Settings, Notifications, DIO, with Allow Notifications and Sounds both on.

Does DIO change my Apple Calendar?

Never. DIO only ever reads your calendar. It shows your real events beside your own so the day reads as one picture, and it does not create, edit, or delete anything in Apple Calendar. When you mark an imported event done, hide it, or give it a different category in DIO, that choice is recorded by DIO and is never written back to your calendar. Events you make in DIO live in DIO. One thing worth knowing: iOS has no read-only permission for calendar events, so the prompt you see grants full access. DIO does not use the write half of it, and there is no code in the app that saves or removes a calendar event.

Is DIO a mental health app?

No. DIO is a productivity app informed by how ADHD brains work. It is not a medical device, it does not diagnose or treat anything, and it is not a crisis service. If you are in crisis or worried you might hurt yourself or someone else, contact your local emergency number. In the US you can call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time.

Is there a free version?

No. DIO is one subscription with everything in it, and it starts with a free trial so you can decide with the real app rather than a screenshot. There is no reduced free tier, no feature held back behind a second purchase, and no ads.

What is the free trial, and how do I know before I get charged?

The trial length and the price that follows are both shown on the purchase screen before you agree to anything, and Apple confirms them again in its own sheet. DIO then tells you three separate ways before the first charge: a reminder 24 hours before it converts carrying the real price, a note in the app's notification bell if you declined notifications, and a quiet banner on Home for the last 48 hours. Cancel any time before it converts and you are not charged. The free period is one-time per subscription group for your Apple ID.

Can I use DIO on iPad or Mac?

DIO is built for iPhone. It will install and run on an iPad in iPhone compatibility mode, but the layout is designed for a phone and it is not an iPad app. There is no Mac version.

Is DIO available in my language?

Not yet. DIO is English only for now. It respects your region for dates, times, and the first day of your week, but the words themselves are English. If you would use it in another language, tell us which and it goes on the list.

Can I look at other days, or only today?

Any day you like. The week strip at the top of Home slides a year back and a year forward, so you can look at what a past day held or see what is already waiting next month. Tap a day to open it. When you want to come back, the return-to-today control sits beside the week label and takes you straight there. The day you pick stays picked until you change it or the clock rolls over to a new day.

Can I put a habit or a to-do on my calendar?

Yes, and the control is the same one everywhere. To-dos, habits, appointments, and items in any of the eight bins can all be given a time and a length, and they show on your day like anything else. Habits also do everything to-dos do: schedule, edit, send somewhere else, or delete, from the same menu.

Can I start a habit later, rather than today?

Yes. Give the habit a start day in the future and it waits under Starting later with its date, rather than disappearing until then. It does not count as due and does not remind you until that day arrives. It stays visible on purpose: a habit you just made vanishing reads as the app having lost it.

What categories can I give an event?

Eleven: Work, Health, Social, Self-Care, Errand, Focus Block, Rest, Appointment, Birthday, Family, and Travel. An event with none yet simply reads as No Category. Each has its own color so a day reads at a glance. You can also change the category on an event that came from your Apple Calendar; DIO remembers your choice and never writes it back, because DIO only ever reads your calendar.

Where do my kept items go?

Keeping an item means the morning reset leaves it alone. Kept items stay in their own bin, and there is also a Kept list in Settings, directly below Trash, that gathers all of them in one place grouped by bin. Keep applies to bin items; to-dos and habits work differently and have no Keep.

Is there a way to turn the animation down?

Yes. Settings, Motion and Haptics, Reduce motion. It stands DIO's movement down without you having to switch on the system-wide setting for every other app on your phone. If you do use the iPhone's own Reduce Motion, DIO already follows it; the in-app switch is there so you can have a calm DIO and a normal everything-else. The same section holds the haptics and confetti switches.

What is Dopamine Dive, and does it do something to my brain?

It is a list of small things people commonly find helpful when starting is hard, plus whatever you add yourself, and a button that picks one at random for the days when choosing is its own chore. Every brain is different, and DIO makes no claim or guarantee that anything on that list changes your brain chemistry. Nothing there is medical advice and none of it is a test you can fail. The same is said inside the app, on the screen itself.

Can I edit or undo something I threw away?

Yes. Anything you let go of goes to Trash and is recoverable for 30 days, in Settings under Trash. A bulk toss also offers an immediate undo for a few seconds afterwards, and longer if VoiceOver is running so the button can be reached.

Does the audio keep playing when I lock my phone?

Yes. Soundscapes keep going with the screen off and appear on the Lock Screen with normal play and pause controls. Nothing is downloaded and DIO has no access to your music library; the sound is generated by the app as it plays, which is also why there are no audio files to take up space.

Troubleshooting

Notifications are not appearing

1. Check DIO's own Quiet hours first, in Settings, Notifications and Reminders. It holds ambient reminders during the hours you chose.
2. Check iOS is allowing them: iPhone Settings, Notifications, DIO. Allow Notifications on, and Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners ticked.
3. Check Focus: iPhone Settings, Focus. A Focus mode can silence an app without any sign of it in DIO.
4. If you skipped the permission prompt when you first set DIO up, iOS never asked again. Turning it on in the path above is the fix.

Calendar events are not showing

1. Check the connection: the calendar button at the top left of DIO's Calendar tab. Green means connected.
2. Check iOS granted access: iPhone Settings, Privacy and Security, Calendars, DIO.
3. Check the event is on a calendar that is switched on in the Apple Calendar app itself. A hidden calendar there is hidden in DIO too.

iCloud is not syncing between devices

1. Both devices must be signed into the same Apple ID. DIO has no account of its own, so a different Apple ID is a different set of data.
2. Check iCloud is on: iPhone Settings, your name, iCloud. DIO's sync rides on iCloud, so it stops when iCloud is off.
3. Give it a minute and reopen DIO. Sync arrives in the background and is not instant.
4. Very full iCloud storage can stall it. Check the same iCloud screen.

Restoring a purchase

On the purchase screen, tap Restore Purchases, or Already subscribed? Restore during setup. It asks Apple what your Apple ID owns and lets you straight in. If it says nothing was found, check you are signed into the Apple ID that bought the subscription: iPhone Settings, your name, at the top. If it says it could not reach the App Store, that is a connection problem rather than a missing subscription; try again on Wi-Fi.

The purchase screen says it cannot reach the App Store

That is DIO failing to load prices from Apple, not a problem with your subscription and not a crash. Tap the button again to retry, or close and reopen DIO. It is almost always a brief network or App Store hiccup.

Something looks wrong

Close DIO fully and reopen it; that clears most display oddities, and nothing is lost by doing it. If something is missing rather than misdrawn, check Trash in Settings before assuming it is gone, check Kept in case you kept it, and check Customize in case the card or bin is switched off rather than empty. If it persists, use Something is broken under Settings, Feedback, so the technical details come with your message.

Still stuck? Write to us

The easiest way is from inside DIO: Settings, Feedback. Two rows there, Something is broken and Something is missing. Both open your own email app with a draft, so nothing is sent until you send it.

Something is broken fills in a short technical block for you so you do not have to look any of it up. This is the whole of it, and you can delete any line before you send:

• The app version and build number.
• Your iOS version.
• Your iPhone's hardware model identifier, for example "iPhone17,2". That is the model, not the name you gave your phone.
• Your language setting and your region setting.
• Your text size setting, and whether Reduce Motion and VoiceOver are on. Most reports of a broken layout turn out to be a layout nobody had seen at that text size, so these three save a lot of back and forth.
• Whether you have an active subscription.

It carries nothing you have written in DIO, no name, no email address of ours to hide behind, and no device name. Your own email address comes with the message because it is sent from your mail app, and that is how we reply.

If you would rather write to us directly, we are at dio@elitechq.com. That address is also the one to use for anything about your data or your privacy rights, wherever you live.

A person reads every message and will write back. DIO gets better because people say what is missing, so if something is clumsy, confusing, or simply not there yet, that is the most useful thing you can send.

To get a useful answer on the first reply, include:

• What happened, and what you expected instead.
• What you were doing right before it happened, if you can remember.
• Your iPhone model and iOS version, from iPhone Settings, General, About.

DIO is made by Elitec LLC, Denver, Colorado. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Support