Leevo
When should I leave?
Updated 21 October 2026
Short answer: start from the time you must arrive and work back. Subtract the drive time with current traffic, then a buffer for parking or the walk in. That is when you leave. Subtract the time you need to get ready, and that is when you stop what you are doing.
The formula
- Arrive by: the time you must be there, not the time it starts. If you need to be seated, checked in or parked first, use that time.
- Drive time: how long the drive takes from where you will be when you set off, with the traffic at that hour.
- Buffer: parking, the walk from the car, a lift, a security desk.
- Get ready: finishing up, packing, finding your keys.
Leave by = arrive by − drive time − buffer
Start getting ready = leave by − get-ready time
A worked example
You have an appointment at 4:00 PM. The drive is 35 minutes and parking takes about 10. You want 15 minutes to wrap up.
- Leave by 4:00 PM − 35 min − 10 min = 3:15 PM.
- Start getting ready at 3:15 PM − 15 min = 3:00 PM.
Work out yours
Start getting ready at
Leave by
The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing anywhere. Take the drive time from a maps app with the departure time set to when you expect to leave.
When the answer keeps changing
The formula assumes you know where you will set off from. Often you do not: you are out running errands, at a friend's, or still driving away from where you need to be. Every mile further away moves your leave time earlier, and traffic moves it again.
Apple Calendar's Time to Leave alert helps when the trip is a calendar event with a location. It alerts you when it is time to go, but gives no separate warning to start getting ready and no countdown you can glance at.
How Leevo does this for you
Tell Leevo where you must be and by when. While you are out it keeps recalculating the drive from wherever you are, with Apple Maps traffic, and moves your leave time with you.
- A Get ready alert comes first, 15 minutes before you need to leave by default.
- A Leave alert follows. It is Time Sensitive, so it gets through a Focus.
- A Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island counts down in between.
iPhone, iOS 18 or later. Free while in beta.
Flights and other hard deadlines
For a flight, the arrive-by time is when you need to be at the airport, not the departure time. Airlines commonly suggest two hours before a domestic flight and three before an international one; check yours. For anything where being late would cost you, such as a flight, a medical appointment or a court date, check the time yourself as well.