Help and getting started

Get an Anthropic key

Anthropic makes the Claude models. You need an API key from the Anthropic Console. It's separate from a Claude.ai subscription, which doesn't include API usage.

1. Go to console.anthropic.com and sign in, or create an account.
2. Under Billing, add a payment method or buy credits. A new account usually needs this before a key will work.
3. Open API keys and choose Create key. Name it "myFriday" so you can recognize it later.
4. Copy the key. It starts with sk-ant- and is shown only once. Paste it straight into myFriday; you don't need to keep another copy. If you lose it, make a new one.
5. Set a monthly spend limit in the Console too (look under Limits or Billing). It's a second safety net on top of the cap you set in myFriday.

Get an OpenAI key

OpenAI makes the GPT models. A ChatGPT subscription doesn't include API usage either; the API is billed separately.

1. Go to platform.openai.com and sign in, or create an account.
2. Under Billing, add a payment method or prepaid credits.
3. Open API keys and choose Create new secret key. Name it "myFriday".
4. Copy the key. It starts with sk- and is shown only once.
5. Set usage limits: look under Limits (or your project's settings) for a monthly budget and email alerts.

Console menus change from time to time. If a label here doesn't match what you see, look for "API keys" and "limits" in the provider's settings.

What the AI costs

Typical use runs about $3–15 a month in API charges, paid to your provider at cost, depending on the model you pick and how much you chat. You set a monthly cap; she pauses at it. The app suggests $20 a month to start, and you can change it during setup.

What the app does with your key

• Checks it once. During setup the app makes a small test request to your provider to confirm the key works.
• Keeps it in the iOS Keychain on your iPhone, the same secure storage iOS uses for passwords.
• Sends it only to the provider you chose, with each request, over an encrypted connection.
• Never sends it to us. There's no myFriday server between your phone and the provider.

To remove the key from your phone, replace or delete it in the app's settings, or use Settings → Erase everything in the app. To shut a key off everywhere, revoke it in your provider's console. That works even if your phone is lost.

Connect Apple Calendar and Reminders

1. Tap Connect next to Calendar or Reminders, either in the last setup question or later in the app's settings.
2. iOS shows its own permission prompt. Choose Allow Full Access so she can read your schedule and reminders for your briefs.
3. That's it. She uses them to prepare briefs, spot gaps in your day, and add the events and reminders you ask for.

Contacts works the same way. Apple Health is optional, read-only, and off until you turn it on.

Changing or revoking access

• Calendar, Reminders, Contacts: Settings → Privacy & Security → Calendars (or Reminders, or Contacts) → myFriday. Changes take effect right away.
• For Calendar you can also pick Add Events Only. She can then add events, but she can't see your day, so briefs won't include your schedule.
• Health: open the Health app, tap your profile picture, then Apps under Privacy, and choose myFriday.

Menu names vary a little between iOS versions.

GTD in five minutes

Getting Things Done is David Allen's method for getting everything out of your head and into lists you trust. It has five steps. Here's how each one maps to myFriday's default lists (GTD Classic).

1. Capture. Get it out of your head: type it, say it to Siri, or share it from another app. Everything lands in Inbox. Don't sort yet.
2. Clarify. For each Inbox item, ask: is it actionable? If not, delete it or move it to Someday/Maybe. If it is, what's the very next physical step? If that takes under two minutes, do it now. She suggests; you decide.
3. Organize. Put each action where it belongs: Next Actions with a context like @calls or @errands, Waiting For when someone else has the ball, Scheduled when it can't start before a date, and Projects for anything that takes more than one step. She never invents a due date.
4. Reflect. Look over the whole system once a week so you can keep trusting it. See the weekly review.
5. Engage. Pick what to do now from Next Actions, by context, time and energy. Your morning brief gives you a short list to start from.

On Focus? Your lists are Inbox, Next, Later and Someday, with three Big Rocks and three Quick Wins pinned on top. "Waiting" is a tag. On Simple? It's Today, Upcoming and Someday, and the same habits still help.

The weekly review

Pick a review day during setup (or later in settings) and she'll have it ready that day. The review has three parts:

1. Get clear. Empty your Inbox, and capture anything still on your mind.
2. Get current. Go through Next Actions, Waiting For, Scheduled and Projects. Look back at last week's calendar and ahead at the next two weeks. Make sure every project has a next action.
3. Get creative. Scan Someday/Maybe and move anything that's now a yes.

She prepares a checklist of what needs a look: projects with no next action, things you've been waiting on longest, and dates coming up. You decide what moves. On Focus, it's a good time to pick next week's Big Rocks.

The activity log and approvals

Activity log

Every action she takes, including every change to your lists, calendar or reminders, is recorded on your phone. The log is append-only: she can't edit or remove entries. Open it from the app's settings to see what happened and when, or export it.

Approvals and Face ID

• Everyday actions just happen, like filing a capture into a list. They're still logged.
• Consequential actions wait for you. She shows a card with exactly what will change. It runs only after you confirm with Face ID (or Touch ID, on iPhones that have it), and it runs once. Doing it again needs a new card.
• Anything prompted by something she read waits for you too. If an email, web page or shared document leads her to suggest an action, that action needs your approval, however small.
• Some things aren't offered at all, even with Face ID: sending a message or email, spending money, and deleting in bulk.

Troubleshooting

"Invalid key" during setup

• Copy the whole key, with no spaces before or after. Anthropic keys start with sk-ant-; OpenAI keys start with sk-.
• Check you picked the right provider. An OpenAI key won't work as an Anthropic key.
• Check that billing is set up, or that you have credits left. New accounts often need this before any key works.
• Make sure the key hasn't been deleted or disabled in the provider's console. If in doubt, create a new key and paste that.

"Spend cap reached"

• At 100% of your monthly cap she pauses AI features until the next month starts. Lists, capture and reminders keep working.
• To keep going now, raise the cap in the app's settings and confirm with Face ID.
• The app's spending figure is an estimate. Your provider's bill is the final word.
• If requests fail while you're still under your cap, you may have hit the limit you set in your provider's console. Check it there.

Notifications aren't arriving

• Open Settings → Notifications → myFriday and make sure Allow Notifications is on.
• Check whether a Focus (Do Not Disturb, Sleep, Work) is silencing them. You can allow myFriday during a Focus in Settings → Focus.
• If Scheduled Summary is on, iOS may hold notifications for the next summary.
• Check your brief and check-in times in the app's settings.

Briefs arrive late, or only when I open the app

iOS decides when apps get to run in the background, not us. myFriday asks iOS for time before your brief is due, but iOS may run it later, or not at all if Background App Refresh is off, Low Power Mode is on, or you haven't opened the app for a while. If a brief isn't ready, she prepares it as soon as you open the app.

• Turn on Settings → General → Background App Refresh → myFriday.
• Opening myFriday most days helps iOS learn when you use it.

She didn't send my email

That's by design: she drafts, and you send. Open the draft, check it, and tap Send in the compose sheet.

Still stuck?

Email hello@myfriday.technology or see the support page. Never include your API key in an email.