Challenges and feature locks

In a newly created organization, features that aren’t open yet carry a lock. Finish that feature’s challenge, or press “Skip and use it (no points),” and the feature becomes available. This page covers how to spot a lock, how to open it, and how to go through a challenge.

Checking whether a feature has a lock

• Cards in “Other features” — They show a lock icon and “Open with a challenge,” and are grouped near the bottom of the page under “Opens when you finish a challenge (only for you, once you finish)”
• Features pinned to the sidebar — They show a lock icon, and pressing one opens the lock dialog
• Features in the menu (≡) at the top left on mobile — They show a lock icon, and pressing one opens the lock dialog
• ”…” on a goal — Items for features that aren’t open yet are grouped at the very bottom under “Hidden features (n)”
• Home — A lock appears on “See all ToDos,” “Edit widgets,” “Add widget,” and the entrance to routines
• “Recording, audio, meetings & notes” at the top right of the screen — Tiles for features that are still closed carry a lock

To open “Other features,” press “More” in the sidebar on a computer, or “More” in the bar at the bottom of the screen on mobile (→ Understanding the sidebar and screens).

Opening a lock

Press a feature that has a lock and the lock dialog opens. The dialog shows what you’ll be able to do once you finish that feature’s challenge. The dialog’s title is “You got a ◯◯ challenge ticket,” and while you hold the ticket it reads ”◯◯ challenge ticket” (◯◯ is the feature’s name).

• “Start now” — Starts the challenge right there and takes you to the screen for the first step. When you finish the challenge, the feature becomes available and you earn points
• “Later” — Closes the dialog. You keep the ticket and can start the challenge anytime from the list of challenges
• “Skip and use it (no points)” — Opens just the feature, without doing the challenge

A skipped challenge doesn’t count as finished. It stays in the list of challenges, and you earn points when you complete it later.

When you finish a challenge, a “Challenge complete!” card appears and shows the points you earned and your proficiency level. Any feature the challenge unlocked is ready to use right away.

Going through a challenge

A challenge takes you through its steps in order, following the on-screen guide. Some steps move on automatically when you open a screen, some you finish by pressing “Done,” and some by pressing “Next” or “Got it!”

• Stopping partway: Press “Stop (start over next time)”. If you close the browser tab, it depends on the challenge. For most challenges, your progress isn’t saved and you start from the beginning next time. A challenge with no time limit lets you pick up where you left off when you open it next, even after closing the tab (if you stop it yourself, you start over). Challenges whose description says “There’s no time limit, and you can pick up where you left off even after closing the tab” are of this kind
• When time has passed: Except for challenges with no time limit, 24 hours after you start, “Time has passed. Please start again from the beginning.” appears and you start over from the beginning
• Steps that ask the AI: “Go ahead and ask AI!” appears. Choose the AI to use (Claude Code, Codex, or ChatGPT), and the AI opens with the instruction already filled in. A ✓ appears once Addness confirms that the AI has acted

If the AI isn’t connected to Addness, Addness can’t confirm that the AI has acted. For how to connect, see Install an AI app and connect it to Addness. A connected AI can report to Addness that it finished a challenge step (→ MCP integration).

When you can’t start

Sometimes the dialog shows only “Skip and use it (no points),” and the challenge’s “Start now” doesn’t appear. In that case, the dialog shows one of the following.

• “Only admins can start the challenge for ◯◯.” — Appears when someone who isn’t an admin looks at it (example: “Invite a teammate”)
• “The challenge for ◯◯ can’t be started in the app.” — Appears when it can’t be started on the device you’re using (examples: “Invite a teammate” in the app, “Try screen recording” on a phone)
• “The ◯◯ challenge can be started once the report has numbers (from the morning after you start using Addness).” — Applies to Usage report. The numbers in the report are tallied every morning, so it’s usually from the morning after you create the organization
• “The ◯◯ challenge can be started in organizations on the Focus plan or higher.” — Applies to Virtual Space (→ Virtual Space)
• “This challenge can be started when you have a goal that isn’t in your ToDos yet.” — Applies to “Try choosing the ToDo to work on now”
• “The ◯◯ challenge can be started after Templates is unlocked.” — Applies to Routines
• “The ◯◯ challenge is for people on a paid plan who can upload to ◯◯.” — Applies to File Send

Opening member features

Member features such as the org chart and the challenge of handing a goal to a teammate open when a person you invited joins the organization. Skipping doesn’t open them. Notifications and Chat don’t wait for member features: even in a newly created organization, they appear in the left menu and in the bar at the bottom of the screen from the start, and you can start their challenges from the lock dialog. The Meetings, Usage report, and Virtual Space challenges can also be started without waiting for member features.

1. In the challenge “Invite a teammate,” you invite one teammate. Guidance appears in the order of the invite button, the link, and the email, and you finish by copying the link or sending the invitation by email. Once you finish, the Members page becomes available
2. When the person you invited joins the organization, member features open. If you’ve finished “Invite a teammate,” the “Challenge complete!” card shows “Your teammate joins” and you earn 500 points

Until member features open, “When the person you invited joins, member features open up” appears at the top of the Members page. If you joined an organization by invitation, member features are available from the start (→ Members list page).

Features with locks and the challenges that open them

Cards in “Other features” open with the following challenges.

Group	Card	Challenge that opens it
Work with your team	Members	“Invite a teammate”
Work with your team	Rankings	“Find your place in the rankings”
Work with your team	Network	“Get to know Network”
Work with your team	Virtual Space	“Step into Virtual Space”
Streamline your work	Templates	“Get to know templates”
Streamline your work	Knowledge	“Get to know Knowledge”
Streamline your work	Mind maps	“Get to know mind maps”
Streamline your work	Forms	“Learn about forms”
Store your data	Drive	“Get to know Drive”
Store your data	Meeting notes	“Get to know meeting notes”
Store your data	Recordings	“Try screen recording”
Store your data	Audio recordings	“Try audio recording”
Store your data	File Send	“Learn how File Send works”
Store your data	Databases	“Learn about databases”
Automate your results	Customer Management	“Learn about Customer Management”
Automate your results	Customer journeys	“Learn about customer journeys”
Automate your results	Analytics	“Learn about KPIs”
Know yourself	My Page	“Get to know My Page”
Know yourself	Usage report	“Get to know the Usage report”

Entrances other than the “Other features” cards open with the following challenges.

• Notifications — “Get to know Notifications”
• Chat and “Comment” on a goal — “Get to know Chat.” Comments share the lock with Chat, so pressing “Skip and use it (no points)” on Chat opens Comments too (→ Chat page)
• ”…” on a goal — “Add from template” opens with “Get to know templates,” “Assign / Members” with “Invite a teammate,” and “Notifs” with “Get to know Notifications.” “Meeting” opens with “Get to know Chat,” and “Set up KPI” with “Learn about KPIs” (→ Home)
• Home — “See all ToDos” opens with “Try choosing the ToDo to work on now,” “Edit widgets” and “Add widget” with “Add a widget to Home,” and routines with “Get to know Routines”
• Top right of the screen — “Record” opens with “Try screen recording,” “Audio” with “Try audio recording,” and “Meeting” and “Meeting notes” with “Get to know meeting notes”

Everyone’s goals (in an organization where you’re the only member, “Goal tree”) and the Goal detail page don’t carry locks. When you open them for the first time, “You opened ◯◯ for the first time!” appears and you earn points (→ Goal detail page).

Viewing the list of challenges

• Opening it: On a computer, open “Challenges” in the left menu. The entry stays even after you finish all the challenges. While you hold a ticket, a gray dot appears at the top right of the entry (no number is shown). You can hide “Challenges” in the left menu by right-clicking it and choosing “Hide from sidebar”. Once hidden, it is listed in “Other features”, and you can bring it back from there. “Other features” also has a “Challenges” card under “Know yourself.” On mobile, open it from “More” → “Know yourself” in “Other features”
• Top of the page: Three roads line up: “To-dos finished,” “Streak,” and “Times you Addnessed (from anywhere),” and you earn points when you reach the next target
• “Your tickets” — The tickets you’ve got line up here. Press “Start now” to go to the first step
• “Handy features” — Challenges for features without locks, such as the desktop app and the mobile app, and challenges for features that are already open, line up here. Press the heading to open it. Press “Get ticket” on a card to get the ticket
• “Challenges not found yet” — Press the stacked cards to open them, then press a face-down card to open a dialog. Press “Unlock” and the challenge is found, and you get the ticket
• “Completed n · Skipped n” — The challenges you’ve finished line up here. You can bring a skipped challenge back with “Try again”

When you finish the guide to using Home (“Learn how to use Home”), the ticket for the challenge “Learn how Challenges work” is found. While you have the ticket, a gray dot appears on “Challenges” in the left menu on a computer, and on “More” at the bottom of the screen on mobile. When you open the Challenges page, “You found a ticket!” appears. Press “Start,” and speech bubbles appear one after another at 5 places on the page (the road of counts, milestones, tickets you found, handy features, and features you haven’t found yet). Read the bubbles and press “Next,” then press “Done!” at the end to finish and earn 30 points.

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

When a feature has several challenges, they are divided into the tiers “Beginner”, “Intermediate”, and “Advanced”. A tier tag appears on the ticket card and on the challenge page, and the page lines up the feature’s three tiers.

• They go in order: Finish Beginner and you get the Intermediate ticket; finish Intermediate and you get the Advanced ticket. The card shows the next tier, such as “Clear for the Intermediate ticket”. Among the three tiers lined up on the page, the title of Advanced shows ”?” until you get the ticket
• Intermediate and Advanced can’t be skipped: “Skip” doesn’t appear on the challenge page or in the ticket dialog. If you skip Beginner, you still get the Intermediate ticket. If you try to start before finishing the previous tier, “Finish “◯◯” first. Then you can start this challenge.” appears

Points and proficiency level

When you finish a challenge, you earn the points set for that challenge, and your “Proficiency level” goes up. You get no points when you skip. To see how your points add up, see Proficiency level.

Details

• Who gets locks: Only newly created organizations get locks. Organizations you’ve been using since before then don’t get them. Guests don’t get them either
• Which features get locks: The number of features with locks depends on when the organization was created. The features showing a lock on screen are the ones locked in that organization
• Features you’ve opened once: They stay open in your other organizations too
• Members: People who join an organization by invitation can use the Members page and member features from the start

This article is based on the screens as of October 21, 2026.

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