Reclaim AI Review: Auto-Scheduling That Actually Saves Time?

Category: Reviews · Stage: Evaluation

By Max Beech, Head of Content

Reclaim AI auto-schedules your tasks onto your calendar using AI. Instead of manually time-blocking "Write report 2pm-4pm," Reclaim finds optimal time slots based on your calendar, priorities, and working hours.

After 45 days real-world testing: Reclaim saves 15-25 minutes daily on calendar management, but only works if you treat calendar as single source of truth.

What Reclaim AI Actually Does

Core premise: Your calendar should show everything—not just meetings, but also tasks, habits, buffer time, focus blocks.

How it works:

1. Connect Google Calendar
2. Add tasks/habits to Reclaim (not separate task app)
3. Reclaim's AI auto-schedules tasks into calendar gaps
4. As meetings get added/cancelled, Reclaim re-shuffles tasks automatically

Example:

• Monday 9am: Add task "Write Q4 report" (3 hours, due Friday)
• Reclaim finds: Wed 1pm-4pm (3-hour gap with no meetings)
• Schedules "Write Q4 report" Wed 1pm-4pm
• New meeting request for Wed 2pm arrives → Reclaim moves report to Thu 10am-1pm automatically

The promise: Calendar stays optimized without manual re-planning.

Key Features

1. Smart 1:1 Scheduling

Sync Reclaim with colleagues using Reclaim → find mutual availability automatically.

Traditional approach:

• "When are you free this week?"
• Check calendar, suggest 3 times
• Back-and-forth until finding mutual slot (4-6 messages)

Reclaim approach:

• Click "Schedule 1:1 with Sarah"
• Reclaim finds mutual free time
• Sends calendar invite automatically (0 messages)

Time saved: 5-10 minutes per 1:1 scheduled

2. Habits Auto-Scheduling

Schedule recurring activities (exercise, reading, lunch) without manual calendar blocking.

Example habits:

• "Gym" - 1 hour, 3×/week, prefer mornings
• "Lunch" - 1 hour, daily, 12pm-2pm window
• "Email processing" - 30 min, daily, flexible timing

Reclaim finds time slots that fit preferences and auto-adjusts when calendar changes.

3. Task Time-Blocking

Unlike task apps (Todoist, Things): Reclaim tasks must have time duration.

Philosophy: "If it's important, it needs calendar time."

Example:

• "Prepare board deck" - 4 hours total, due Friday, break into 2×2-hour blocks
• Reclaim schedules Tue 2pm-4pm + Thu 9am-11am

If Thursday meeting gets added at 10am: Reclaim automatically moves 2nd block to Fri 8am-10am.

4. Scheduling Links (Like Calendly)

Create booking links for external meetings:

• "Book 30-min intro call" → generates link → share with prospects
• They see your availability, book directly
• Reclaim buffers travel time, prevents back-to-back bookings

Comparison to Calendly:

• Calendly: £8/month
• Reclaim: Included free (or £8/month for team features)

Reclaim advantage: Considers tasks/habits (not just meetings) when showing availability.

Real-World Testing (45 Days)

Week 1-2: Setup and Adjustment

Initial setup time: 45 minutes

• Connected Google Calendar
• Added recurring habits (gym, lunch, focus time)
• Migrated tasks from Todoist to Reclaim

Challenge: Learning to trust AI scheduling. Initial impulse to manually override every auto-scheduled block.

Behaviour shift required: Stop manually time-blocking. Let Reclaim handle it.

Week 3-4: AI Learning My Patterns

Observation: Reclaim improved at scheduling over time.

• Week 1: Scheduled "gym" at 4pm (too late for me)
• Week 3: Learned I prefer morning workouts → scheduled 7am-8am consistently

How it learns: Observes when you move/complete tasks, adjusts future scheduling.

Week 5-6: Sustained Time Savings

Average daily calendar management time:

• Before Reclaim: 25-35 min (manual time-blocking, rescheduling when conflicts arise)
• With Reclaim: 8-12 min (reviewing AI suggestions, minor adjustments)

Time saved: 15-25 minutes daily

Compounding benefit: Less decision fatigue. AI suggests schedule, I approve and execute.

When Reclaim AI is Worth It

1. Calendar-Committed Workflow

Reclaim requires treating calendar as single source of truth—everything (meetings, tasks, habits, buffer time) lives on calendar.

User quote: "If you're not calendar-blocking already, Reclaim won't magically fix your workflow. But if you block time manually, Reclaim automates 80% of that effort." — Consultant, 36

2. Frequent Rescheduling

If your calendar changes frequently (meetings added/cancelled, priorities shift), Reclaim's auto-rescheduling prevents manual replanning overhead.

Example day:

• 9am: Planned focus work 10am-12pm
• 9:30am: Urgent meeting added 10:30am
• Without Reclaim: Manually find new time slot for focus work (5-10 min)
• With Reclaim: Auto-moves focus work to 2pm-4pm (0 effort)

3. Many 1:1 Meetings

Managers, consultants, sales roles scheduling 5-15 1:1s weekly → Reclaim's smart scheduling saves significant time.

4. Cross-Team Coordination

If your team uses Reclaim, finding group availability becomes instant (vs email tennis).

When Reclaim is NOT Worth It

1. Low Meeting Volume

If you have 2-3 meetings/week with mostly open calendar, Reclaim's auto-scheduling provides minimal value. Manual time-blocking takes 5 minutes—hard to justify tool overhead.

2. Prefer Task Apps Over Calendar

If you like Todoist/Things workflow (task lists, not calendar time-blocking), Reclaim forces different mental model.

Reclaim philosophy: "Tasks need calendar time." Task app philosophy: "Tasks are prioritised list; schedule flexibly."

These are incompatible. Don't force Reclaim onto task-list workflow.

3. Irregular Work Hours

Reclaim works best with consistent schedule (e.g., 9am-6pm workdays).

If your work hours vary wildly (shift work, on-call, freelance with irregular hours), Reclaim's AI struggles to learn patterns.

4. Don't Want AI Making Decisions

Some people prefer full manual control over calendar. If seeing AI auto-schedule tasks feels uncomfortable, Reclaim frustrates more than helps.

Pricing Breakdown

Reclaim AI:

• Free: 1 calendar, unlimited tasks/habits, smart 1:1s, scheduling links
• Starter: £8/user/month - Team features, priority support
• Business: £12/user/month - Advanced integrations (Slack, project tools)

Free tier genuinely usable for individual users—not hobbled trial.

Comparison:

• Calendly: £8/month (only scheduling links)
• Motion: £25/month (similar auto-scheduling + project management)
• Reclaim: £0-8/month (auto-scheduling + scheduling links + habits)

Value proposition: Reclaim offers best price-to-feature ratio in category.

Integration Ecosystem

What Reclaim connects to:

• Google Calendar (primary integration)
• Slack (notifications, status sync)
• Asana, Linear, ClickUp (task sync)
• Jira (issue scheduling)

Missing integrations:

• Todoist (can't sync tasks both ways)
• Microsoft Outlook/365 (Google Calendar only)
• Apple Calendar (Google only)

Limitation: Google Calendar requirement excludes Microsoft-centric users.

The Honest Verdict

Reclaim delivers on promise: AI auto-scheduling saves 15-25 min daily for calendar-committed users.

But works only if:

1. You already time-block (or willing to start)
2. Use Google Calendar (not Outlook)
3. Trust AI to schedule tasks
4. Have moderate-to-high meeting volume

For right user: Reclaim is productivity multiplier—calendar stays optimized without manual effort.

For wrong user: Adds complexity to simpler task-list workflow.

Personal decision: I continue using Reclaim because:

• I time-block everything anyway
• Saving 20 min daily = 7 hours/month
• Free tier meets my needs (no payment required)
• Auto-rescheduling when calendar changes prevents replanning overhead

If I preferred task lists over calendar blocking, I'd use Todoist instead.

Key Takeaways

• Reclaim AI auto-schedules tasks, habits, and meetings onto Google Calendar using AI (free-£12/month)
• Real-world testing: Saves 15-25 min daily on calendar management vs manual time-blocking
• Worth using for: Calendar-committed workflows, frequent rescheduling, many 1:1 meetings, cross-team coordination
• Not worth for: Low meeting volume, prefer task apps over calendar, irregular work hours, want manual control
• Free tier genuinely usable (unlimited tasks/habits, smart 1:1s, scheduling links)—no payment required for individual use
• Requires: Google Calendar (excludes Outlook users), willingness to treat calendar as single source of truth
• Best alternative: Motion (£25/month, more features but pricier); Calendly (£8/month, scheduling links only)

Try Reclaim AI: Free forever tier (no credit card required) →