Help & support

A little help
along the way.

Find your bearings, fine-tune your countdown, or get in touch with Kevin.

Your countdown

How do I set up my retirement date?

Open Settings and choose your last working day and progress start date. The last working day is included if it is an eligible workday. You can also change the holiday schedule, PTO goal and color palette.

What counts as a working day?

The app uses Monday–Friday and removes enabled holidays and scheduled days off. The overall forecast also allows for time off you plan to take but have not scheduled yet. It is designed around eight-hour workdays.

Why is the live clock paused?

The clock counts eligible working time from 9 AM to 5 PM in your device’s local time. It pauses outside those hours, on weekends, on holidays, and on scheduled PTO days. Each remaining working day contributes eight hours before the eligible part of the current day is accounted for.

How do I add or remove PTO?

On iPhone, open Calendar and tap a future workday. On Apple TV, open Months, focus a future workday, and select it with the remote. Select the day again to remove PTO. Changes recalculate the countdown.

Does my PTO goal apply every year?

No. The PTO goal covers the entire planning period. Scheduling days within that goal does not deduct them twice. If you schedule more days than your goal, the scheduled days are still taken into account.

Why do monthly totals differ from the overall forecast?

Month totals subtract PTO assigned to specific dates. The overall forecast also includes the remaining time off in your PTO goal that has not yet been assigned to a month.

iPhone & Apple TV

How do I add a Home Screen widget?
  1. Open Next Chapter at least once.
  2. Touch and hold the iPhone Home Screen, choose Edit, then Add Widget.
  3. Search for Next Chapter and choose a size.
  4. Touch and hold the widget, choose Edit Widget, and select Days, Hours or Minutes.

iOS controls widget refresh timing, so a widget may update less frequently than the open app.

Will my iPhone and Apple TV stay in sync?

Each device keeps its own plan. Set dates, holidays and time off separately on each device. Story Studio and Home Screen widgets are iPhone features.

What devices are supported?

The apps require iOS 26 or later on iPhone, or tvOS 26 or later on Apple TV. AI drafting needs a compatible iPhone with Apple Intelligence enabled and its model available. Voice transcription also depends on supported hardware and language assets.

Where can I download the apps?

Next Chapter is coming soon. Both apps are planned as free downloads with worldwide availability, subject to Apple’s review and regional availability. App Store links will appear on the home page once the apps launch.

Stories & voice

Can I write without voice or AI?

Yes. You can type and save your own words. In Settings, turn off voice as the default for text input if you prefer the keyboard. AI drafting is optional.

My recording saved, but transcription failed. What now?

Keep the recording and use the retry option in its interview. Check whether speech language assets are available on your device. You can continue using typed input. Do not delete the app to troubleshoot a recording you want to keep; local recordings can be lost when the app is deleted.

Why is AI drafting unavailable?

Check that your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, that Apple Intelligence is enabled, and that the on-device model is ready. Availability can depend on device, language and region. You can still write, edit and save without AI.

How can I delete a story or recording?

Delete the interview from Stories to remove its responses, drafts and associated recovery recording. A successful recording is automatically deleted after its transcript is safely saved. Device backups may retain earlier copies according to your system settings.