Waddle

Which penguin
are you?

Nine quick questions sort you into one of ten penguin types. From then on, Waddle shapes your routines around yours — and never scolds you for the days you don’t open it.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Free on iPhone, iPad and Android. No account needed.

Diesel PenguinHard to get going. Impossible to stop once you do.

The quiz is the setup

Most apps open on a blank list and a settings page. Waddle opens with a few questions about how you actually get going.

  1. Answer nine quick questions

    Like A chore you’ve been putting off. What finally gets you moving? Skip any you like — one answer is enough.

  2. Meet your penguin

    What you might recognize, your superpowers, where things get sticky. Your penguin wears its type on the home screen from then on.

  3. Get routines made for it

    A Diesel Penguin starts with a slow warm-up morning; a Clutch Penguin gets a morning speedrun. Every routine the penguin writes for you after that is shaped to your type too. Waddle suggests a reminder time to match, and your reminders speak in your type’s voice — softer, plainer or more playful.

Change any of it whenever you like, and take the quiz again from Home. Already using Waddle? It’s waiting on your home screen.

Quiz question: A chore you have been putting off. What finally gets you moving?
Result page: You are a Diesel Penguin. Hard to get going. Impossible to stop once you do.
A routine made for a Diesel Penguin: Slow warm-up morning, four steps, ten minutes

Meet all ten

Ten ways of getting things started. Most people recognize themselves in a line or two — open any of them.

Diesel Penguin Hard to get going. Impossible to stop once you do.

You might recognize this

  • "Clean your room" freezes you. "Grab the trash off the floor" doesn't.
  • You've stared at a list long enough to memorize it.
  • You meant to do five minutes and did an hour.

Superpowers

  • Once rolling, you go further than you planned.
  • You can tell right away when a task is too vague.
  • Small starts work on you almost every time.

Gets along best with Buddy-System Penguin. Someone nearby moving first is often the push that gets your snowball rolling.

Clutch Penguin Give you a week and it waits. Give you an hour and it's done.

You might recognize this

  • "I have all day" has turned into "I have ten minutes" more than once.
  • Your best ideas show up the night before.
  • You work better with a timer running.

Superpowers

  • Remarkable speed when it counts.
  • Oddly calm in moments that make others panic.
  • When time is short, you cut straight to what matters.

Gets along best with Waiting-Mode Penguin. One of you is ready since yesterday, the other shows up at 11:59. Together you land right on time.

Waiting-Mode Penguin You're always there first. Usually since this morning.

You might recognize this

  • One plan at 3 pm has put your whole morning on hold.
  • Your friends know you'll be there first.
  • You've set three alarms for one thing.

Superpowers

  • People can count on you.
  • You think ahead about what might go sideways.
  • You're great at getting ready.

Gets along best with Clutch Penguin. You bring the calm, they bring the speed — together you cover each other's blind spots.

Locked-In Penguin You didn't lose track of time. Time lost track of you.

You might recognize this

  • You've looked up and somehow it was dark outside.
  • "Five more minutes" has meant an hour.
  • You've forgotten lunch because something was interesting.

Superpowers

  • Focus that goes deeper than most people's.
  • You learn things all the way down.
  • Hours of work can fly by without effort.

Gets along best with Side-Quest Penguin. A Side-Quest Penguin passing by is the perfect tap on the shoulder.

Side-Quest Penguin The main quest can wait. Look — a side quest.

You might recognize this

  • You have several things half-started — kind of on purpose.
  • You start with the fun part, then sneak in the dull part.
  • Your browser has more tabs than you'd admit.

Superpowers

  • Lots of things moving at the same time.
  • You bounce back fast from interruptions.
  • Variety keeps your energy up for hours.

Gets along best with Locked-In Penguin. Next to a Locked-In Penguin, you find out what staying put for a while feels like.

Buddy-System Penguin Solo mode: loading… Co-op mode: done.

You might recognize this

  • You get more done when someone's just around.
  • You've cleaned your whole place because a friend was coming over.
  • A "you've got this" text has actually got you going.

Superpowers

  • You bring energy into a room.
  • You're great at getting others going, too.
  • Shared tasks feel much lighter to you.

Gets along best with Diesel Penguin. You two give each other the push to get started.

Quiet-Achiever Penguin Done. No announcement needed.

You might recognize this

  • Compliments make you want to leave the room a little.
  • You like checking things off with nobody watching.
  • You'd rather see a quiet chart than a trophy.

Superpowers

  • You don't need an audience to keep going.
  • Steady, low-drama progress.
  • You're honest with yourself about what's done.

Gets along best with Shiny-Object Penguin. A Shiny-Object Penguin brings the odd fresh idea; you bring the staying power.

Shiny-Object Penguin Day 1: obsessed. Day 15: …what was that app called again?

You might recognize this

  • Your phone has a folder of apps you loved for two weeks.
  • Setting things up is more fun than doing them.
  • A new notebook makes you want to start everything over.

Superpowers

  • Endless curiosity.
  • You're brilliant at starting and setting things up.
  • You find fresh angles on old problems.

Gets along best with Quiet-Achiever Penguin. A Quiet-Achiever Penguin shows you how to keep going quietly after week two.

Wildcard Penguin Every day is a plot twist.

You might recognize this

  • Some days everything clicks; other days, nothing does.
  • One rough morning has made the whole day feel gone.
  • A plan that worked last week feels impossible today.

Superpowers

  • You make the most of good days.
  • You adapt fast when plans change.
  • You're kind about other people's off days.

Gets along best with Out-of-Sight Penguin. You roll with whatever the day brings; the Out-of-Sight Penguin brings the one spot that never moves.

Out-of-Sight Penguin If you can see it, it exists. If it's in a drawer, it's gone forever.

You might recognize this

  • There is a chair in your life that holds clothes, not people.
  • You've bought something you already owned — it was just in a drawer.
  • You leave things by the door so they come with you.

Superpowers

  • A strong visual memory.
  • You always know roughly which pile it's in.
  • You're great at setting up cues for yourself.

Gets along best with Wildcard Penguin. Your in-plain-sight habits keep a Wildcard Penguin on track even on a wild day.

Not sure which one you are? The app will tell you in nine questions.

Nothing to break

Waddle has no streaks, no red warnings and no word for a day you didn’t open it. Finish a routine after two or more days away and it counts a comeback instead.

  • Every comeback adds a baby penguin to your island.
  • Home shows two numbers: routines finished, and comebacks.
  • Opening the app after time away brings fish for your penguin — more the longer you were gone.
That was a comeback! Welcome back — Waddle never bothers with streaks.

What’s inside

Small on purpose. Each part does one job and gets out of the way.

Time melts instead of counting down

Each step is a slab of ice that thaws while you work — or a snowball rolling along behind you, if you’d rather. Run long and the ice just finishes melting. Nothing turns red.

“I need a minute” and “Skip” sit side by side, one tap each, no questions asked.

A routine step running: Stand up and start the timer, on a melting ice floe

Say a routine in one sentence

Type “get ready for work, 30 minutes” and the penguin writes the steps for you, the way your type likes them. Adjust the minutes, drop a step, done.

This uses the smart helpers — see the plain facts for what that means.

New routine: say it in one sentence

Clear my head

Spill everything that’s swirling around — typed or out loud. Then drop each thought on a day of the month, or on the Later shelf, or let the penguin place them for you. Big ones get split across a few days.

Want someone to keep you on it? Hand the list to the drill sergeant penguin, and clock it out when you’re done.

Spill everything: a list of loose thoughts
Put it on the day you want: a card being placed on a calendar

Never start alone

When starting is the hard part, your penguin sits down beside you and gets on with its own thing — ice fishing, carving, reading, washing up. The clock only counts up. No camera, no booking.

Want real people around? Join a room: up to eight penguins, public or by invite code. No camera and no microphone — just a quiet grid of penguins at work. Press and hold any penguin to report or block.

Together time: hard to get going alone? We will just start, side by side

A penguin that’s yours

Missions pay a fixed amount of gold — never for days in a row — and gold buys hats, scarves, boots, sleds and skies.

Comebacks bring fish, and fish furnish the island: an igloo, a campfire, a snowman, a log bench your penguin actually sits on.

Your penguin on its island, with a snowman, a campfire and a bench
The wardrobe: island keepsakes like ice flowers, a fish bucket and a snowman

Cards worth sending

Share your type, or a finished routine as a color card or a little receipt. Any routine also turns into a code a friend can paste straight into their own Waddle — no account, no link that expires.

A type card: Diesel Penguin, with three lines you might recognize
Sharing a routine as a receipt-style card

On your lock screen

Lock and home screen widgets on iPhone, a Live Activity while a routine runs, and a home screen widget on Android that opens straight into the routine.

Five colors

Pick the one that’s easy on your eyes. Switch any time.

Dawn glacierClear skyMint glacierTwilightWarm ivory

Two languages

English and Korean. Switch any time in Settings.

Left out, on purpose

  • Streaks to break
  • Guilt-trip notifications
  • Mood tracking
  • A stats dashboard
  • Calendar sync

Those are the features that turn a routine app into a second job.

The plain facts

Price
Free. No ads, no paywall.
Account
Not needed. Sign in (email link, Apple or Google) only for backup, rooms and bring-a-friend rewards.
Your data
Routines, your penguin and your progress live on your phone unless you turn on backup. There are no analytics, crash-reporting or ad libraries in the app.
Smart helpers

One switch, off until you turn it on. When it’s on, the text you type for these features goes through Waddle’s server to Anthropic’s Claude, which writes routine steps, splits and dates a brain dump, and breaks big tasks into pieces.

Writing a routine from a sentence and Clear my head need it switched on. The privacy policy spells out the rest.

For coaches, therapists and disability services

What it is. A self-management tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose or treat anything and makes no clinical claims, and it should never stand in for care.

What is safe to hand someone. It is free, has no ads and no analytics, works without an account, and keeps routines on the phone. The smart helpers send text out only after your client switches them on — and two features need them.

What it hasn’t had. An accessibility audit. Screen-reader support is still thin. If that matters in your setting, it is fair to hold off.

Questions? Write to hkforwork5260@gmail.com.