Thousands of lawyers have used the previous version of the app for years. Hearings, deadlines, case files — data built up carefully over time, woven into the fabric of everyday work. Understanding how to handle this transition, and why it’s worth doing, is the most important question right now.
Let’s answer it, calmly.
Why the new version can’t import data automatically
When we decided to rebuild the app from scratch, we didn’t do it for the sake of change. We did it because the technology behind the previous version had reached its limits: device sync, Apple Intelligence, a modern interface — none of it was possible without starting over.
The price of that choice is that the two archives — old and new — speak incompatible languages. There’s no automatic bridge, because building one would have meant never truly leaving the constraints of the past behind. And breaking free from those constraints was exactly the point.
This isn’t an excuse. It’s the technical reality of choosing to genuinely innovate.
The good news: your data isn’t going anywhere
The previous version will keep working on your device. The data you’ve entered over the years will stay there, accessible, for as long as you need — even if the app were one day removed from the App Store, the local data on your iPhone or iPad would remain untouched.
There’s no rush. You can run both apps side by side for as long as it takes.
Where to start
1. Download the new app and get comfortable with it
Counsel Planner is free to download. We made that decision out of respect for everyone who purchased the previous version: it wouldn’t have been right to ask long-standing users to pay again for a new app.
Before moving a single piece of data, explore the new app using the preloaded sample archive: six realistic cases with hearings, deadlines and notes. It’s there to help you understand how the new way of working feels — cases, hearings, tags, notes — before you start entering your own data.
2. Identify your truly active cases
Open the old app and do one thing only: separate your active cases from the archived ones. You don’t need to move everything. You need to move what you use today and what you’ll use in the coming months. The rest can stay where it is — available in the old app whenever you need it.
That distinction is the key to not feeling overwhelmed.
3. Rebuild your active cases, one at a time
For each active case, open the old app, read through the data, and enter it into the new one. This isn’t a task to complete in a single afternoon — it doesn’t need to be. Do three today, five more tomorrow, whenever you have a free quarter of an hour.
Focus on these essentials for each case:
- Client details — name, reference, any descriptive note
- Upcoming hearings — those already scheduled in the calendar
- Open deadlines — procedural time limits and pending steps
- Relevant notes — only what you actually need today
Past hearings already held, files archived years ago, historical notes: leave them where they are. They’ll remain available in the old app.
4. Use the moment to tidy up
Fourteen years of data is fourteen years of accumulated clutter. Closed cases, clients who never came back, hearings from years ago still marked as open. Moving to the new app is the right opportunity to clear things out and start fresh with a clean, ordered archive.
A lean archive is an archive that works better.
How long does it actually take?
It depends on how many active cases you have. A small practice with around fifty current matters can complete the transition over a few evenings. Those working with hundreds of files will need more time — but even then, working by priority, the data you actually need day to day can be moved within a few days.
There’s no right amount of time. There’s your amount of time.
Why it’s worth doing
The previous version won’t receive new features. It can keep doing what it has always done — and it will do it well for a good while yet — but it will never have iCloud sync, Apple Intelligence, or the new capabilities that will arrive in the months ahead.
The new Counsel Planner is the app we’ll be building on for the next several years. The best time to start the transition is now, unhurried, without pressure — not when there’s no longer a choice.
And remember: downloading it costs nothing. We wanted it that way, as a concrete sign of respect for everyone who has followed us from the beginning. You can try it, get comfortable, start moving your data — without having to commit to anything before you’re ready.
Questions about the transition, or something not working as expected? Write to us at support@counselplanner.app — we read everything and reply within one or two business days.
