Made in the Hunter Valley, NSW
One job. One app.
No nonsense.
Most software tries to do everything and ends up doing very little well. Idle Ideas takes the opposite approach: pick one real problem and solve it properly, at a small, fair price with no per-user fees and no lock-in. Have a look, take what's useful.
Free, right now
No trial clock and nothing to buy. All three are open today: tap Open and go.
-
Free
Mixed Paws
For households with more than one pet
Every pet's health, food, expenses and paperwork in one app.
- Vet visits, vaccinations and medications, each with a due-date reminder
- An emergency card that builds itself from what's already in the app
- Expenses, photos and documents, filed against the right pet
Everything stays on your phone. Not a substitute for veterinary advice.
Free. No trial, nothing to buy.
-
Free
Ground Value
For anyone saving up for a trip
See what your savings buy on the ground, and watch the trip fill up.
- A budget for the days there, by travel style, backpacker to luxury
- Every deposit in the local money, and in beers, meals and nights there
- How much of the trip is paid for, in days, and what to save each week
- 33 destinations, and anywhere else priced by region
No bank login. Everything stays on your phone. Prices are examples, not quotes.
Free. No trial, nothing to buy.
-
Free
Singleton Tonight
For anyone heading out in Singleton, NSW
What's on tonight at Singleton's pubs and clubs, and the six nights after.
- Meal deals, raffles, trivia, bingo and live music at Singleton's pubs and clubs
- What's on now and what starts soon, with your locals first
- Send a mate the specials, and one-off nights to your calendar
- The evening's weather, and getting home: courtesy buses and a taxi
Specials come from venues' websites and Facebook pages, so check before you go. Venues can list for free.
Free. No trial, nothing to buy.
The rest, by what you do
Pick the group that sounds like your week. Every app's page has its price, what it keeps on your device, and a button to hear when it opens.
-
Business apps
For small businesses run from a phone: cleaners, sparkies, plumbers, caterers, market stallholders and farms. Bookings, run sheets, quotes, invoices and records, with no per-user fees.
Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps, CaterPass and Stallie. One more is still being built.
See the business apps -
Home and family apps
For the household: the pets' health, the kids' week, Nan's medicines, the shed full of boxes, the bags you pack every time, the water left in the tank, and what the pool needs.
Mixed Paws, Adds Up, DaySheet, Doovalacky, Repack, Water Paddock Utility and Pool Chem Dip.
See the home and family apps -
Work and shifts apps
For people paid by the roster or the hour: your swing worked out a year ahead, the shift tracked right up to knock-off, and a solicitor's CPD year kept in order.
Boots Off, Tools Down and CPD Ready.
See the work and shifts apps -
Travel and going out apps
For time away and nights out: what your savings buy on the ground, how much ice your esky needs, which cellar-door wines you liked, and what's on tonight in Singleton.
Ground Value, Slushometer and Singleton Tonight. One more is still being built.
See the travel and going out apps -
Art and hobbies apps
For painting, drawing and making things: a drawing grid and composition lines sized to your real canvas, so the picture lands where you planned it.
Graticola.
See the art and hobbies apps
How to get an app
Four steps, and you can stop after any of them.
-
Register your interest, or test it
Open the app's page and tap Register: you'll get one email when it opens, and nothing else. Or tap I want to be a tester to try it before then.
-
Try it free
Open it in your web browser. Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps and CaterPass come with an example business to look around, Adds Up with an example family, Stallie with an example market stall, and Repack with starter packing lists. The free days only start once you put in your own details, not before.
-
Put it on your device
No app store needed. iPhone or iPad: Safari, Share, Add to Home Screen. Android: Chrome's menu, Install app. Computer: the install icon in Chrome or Edge's address bar.
-
Buy a licence
When it's earned its place, buy it. For Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps, CaterPass, Adds Up, Repack, Stallie, Slushometer, Water Paddock Utility and Pool Chem Dip you buy from inside the app, and your licence key comes in the receipt email: paste it into the app's Activate page and you're set.
Right now: Mixed Paws, Ground Value and Singleton Tonight are open and free, so with those you can go straight to step three. The others aren't open yet, so for them step one is the one that works today. Each app's own page has its price and what it keeps on your device, and most have step-by-step install instructions too.
How they get made
-
01
Your data stays yours
Most of these never see your information at all. It lives in your browser or on your phone, and you can export it whenever you like.
-
02
Honest about limits
Nothing here claims to be a government service, a complete solution, or a substitute for your own judgement. If something is a preview, it's labelled one.
-
03
One job, done properly
Each project is scoped to a single problem. That's what keeps them simple to use, cheap to run, and fun to build.
Why Idle Ideas exists
Big platforms chase every feature and charge per user for the privilege. Idle Ideas does the opposite: one app, one job, done properly, at a small, fair price you can cancel any time.
Every app is built and tested in-house before release, and nothing here claims to be more than it is. If something's a preview, it's labelled one.
Your information stays on your own device wherever the app allows it. It is never sold, and only ever passed to a service an app needs to do its job, which each app's page spells out.
If an app suits the way you work, give it a go, and if it earns its place, a licence keeps the next one moving. If none of them fit, that's fine too — thanks for stopping by.
Common questions
The short answers. Each app's own page goes into the detail.
Where does my data go?
It depends on the app, and each page says so plainly. Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps, CaterPass, Mixed Paws, Tools Down, Doovalacky, Adds Up, Repack, Stallie, DaySheet, Sip or Tip, Slushometer, Pool Chem Dip, Water Paddock Utility and Ground Value keep everything in your browser on your own device, with no account. Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps, Doovalacky, Adds Up, Sip or Tip and Water Paddock Utility only ever send a licence key, to check it; Sip or Tip reads wine labels on the phone itself. Ground Value and Mixed Paws are free, so there's no licence to check: Ground Value sends nothing at all, and Mixed Paws only downloads the off-leash parks list for your state. Singleton Tonight is free too, with no account: your favourites stay on your phone, and it downloads only its list of specials and Singleton's weather forecast, both from its own site. CaterPass does the same, and can also read one photo of a handwritten recipe or invoice with AI, but only if you switch that on. Repack and Stallie send a licence key too, and send a trip's destination or a market's place for a weather forecast, which you can switch off. Slushometer sends only a licence key, and downloads a list of servos for your state from this site; it finds the nearest on your phone, so your location never leaves it. Pool Chem Dip sends only a licence key: nothing about your pool leaves your phone. Dusty Ledger keeps your records on your phone, and turns your speech into text on the phone too. Sorting those words into a record is done by an AI service, so that step waits for signal and sends only the words of that entry, nothing else from the app. Boots Off keeps everything on your phone as well, and the roster goes home as your own text message. Graticola sends nothing of yours: your photo opens on your device and stays there. Idle Ideas doesn't sell your data.
Is there a free trial?
For most of them, yes. Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps and CaterPass give you every feature free for 14 days, with no card and no sign-up. The 14 days only start when you add your own business details or first client, so looking around the example data doesn't use them up. Adds Up gives you 14 days too, which start when you name your family or add your first kid, so does Repack, from the first time you add or change something, and so does Stallie, from when you name your stall or add your first product or market. Boots Off and Tools Down are free for 14 days, no card needed. Mixed Paws, Ground Value and Singleton Tonight don't need a trial: they're free. Slushometer, Pool Chem Dip and Water Paddock Utility have no free trial; their pages show the real app before you buy. Graticola is free for its testers while it's tested.
How do licences and payment work?
Moppa is AU$49 a year, Bright Spark, RiserOps and CaterPass are AU$99 a year, Adds Up and Stallie are each A$39.99 a year or A$4.99 a month, and Repack is A$19.99 a year or A$39.99 once: the whole price, with no GST on top. You buy from inside the app, paying by card through Stripe; your licence key comes in the receipt email, and you paste it into the app to activate it. Subscriptions renew until you cancel, which you can do any time with no fee. If you stop, nothing you've entered is deleted. Boots Off and Tools Down are each A$6.99 a month or A$59 a year, DaySheet is a one-off A$5, Slushometer, Pool Chem Dip and Water Paddock Utility each a one-off A$14.99, and Sip or Tip is free for two tasting days, then a one-off A$9.99. Mixed Paws, Ground Value and Singleton Tonight are free. Prices for Doovalacky, Dusty Ledger and Graticola will be announced before they open.
How do I get help?
Help is built into the apps. Moppa, Bright Spark and RiserOps each have a step-by-step user guide on their Help page, and a Contact page that sends your message straight through. Adds Up, CaterPass, Repack and Stallie each have a guide on their Help page too, and their Contact pages start an email. Every message is read and answered directly, with no ticket queue or call centre in the way. Tools Down has a user guide under More, plus a tip on each step of its setup. Doovalacky's is behind the question mark at the top, with tips as you set up. DaySheet has printable help sheets on its page, with a picture for every step. Each app's page here also answers the common questions for that app.
Which devices do they work on?
They're web apps, so there's no app store. Moppa, Bright Spark, RiserOps, CaterPass, Mixed Paws, Doovalacky, Adds Up, Repack, Stallie, Dusty Ledger, Sip or Tip, Slushometer, Pool Chem Dip, Water Paddock Utility, Ground Value, Singleton Tonight and Graticola work on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and install like a normal app. Boots Off and Tools Down are made for your phone, and DaySheet for a phone or tablet. Once installed, most of them keep working with no signal. Where your data lives on your device, nothing syncs through a server: a backup file moves it from one device to another, and Repack, Stallie and Sip or Tip can combine two devices' copies.
Can I buy one today?
Mixed Paws, Ground Value and Singleton Tonight, yes: all three are free and open now, at mixedpaws.idleideas.com.au, groundvalue.idleideas.com.au and singletontonight.idleideas.com.au. The rest not just yet. Moppa, Boots Off, Bright Spark, RiserOps, Adds Up, CaterPass, CPD Ready, DaySheet, Doovalacky, Repack, Stallie, Sip or Tip, Slushometer, Pool Chem Dip and Graticola are looking for testers, and each app's page says how to become one; Tools Down and Water Paddock Utility are in private testing; and Dusty Ledger is still being built. Register your interest on any app's page and you'll get one email when it opens, and nothing else.