Everything SignPrep can do

• Choose how assignments enter SignPrep: import from Calendar or add them manually. Both are first-class routes, and calendar access is never required
• If you choose Calendar, SignPrep explains why access is useful before iOS asks, then lets you pick exactly which calendars to use on Choose Work Calendars, where a tap anywhere on a calendar’s card turns it on or off
• Notification permission is only requested when there is a concrete upcoming assignment to remind you about
• A privacy and defaults step covers notification and Live Activity titles, Minimise Sensitive Details, optional App Lock, Calendar Notes, and Apple Intelligence availability, and a button labelled “Open Privacy Preview” opens the Privacy Preview
• Your name, asked on the “What should we call you?” page and used in greetings; your preferred sign language, auto-detected from your region; and whether CPD tracking starts on
• An optional guided tour of the real assignment card, checklist, Swap Timer, Ambient Mode, and DC-S form, using fictional content. Every scene is watermarked as an example, and the tour saves nothing and requests no permissions

You can skip most steps and grant permissions later. Existing users are not sent through onboarding again. Settings › Help & About › Getting Started opens a sheet holding View Onboarding Demo, Restart Onboarding, and a Privacy & Security row; replaying never changes your settings or data.

Settings › Calendar & Sync sets up how assignments come in from your work calendars. SignPrep only reads your calendars and never writes to them.

• Sync Upcoming Assignments, and Work Calendars, a screen listing your calendars with a Save button. Until SignPrep has full calendar access, that row opens a calendar-access explanation instead
• Sync Range: the next 7, 14, or 30 days. A repeating calendar booking appears once for each date in your sync range
• Include Past Assignments, with a Past Range of 2 weeks, 1 month, or 3 months once it is on. Past assignments are marked complete on import
• Include All-Day Events
• Filter Events by Title, with a Filter Mode and a keyword field once it is on: include only events that contain certain words, or exclude events that do
• Use Calendar Notes for Preparation, on until you turn it off, described under Calendar Notes
• Reset & Resync Calendar

The last sync time appears at the end of the Sync section. An assignment imported from a calendar event whose location was picked from a map keeps that event’s coordinates, read from the event and never looked up, and a refresh updates them when the event changes. Assignments you add in SignPrep or with Siri are never changed by a refresh, and a first import that fails offers Retry.

• Settings › Notifications: 15-Minute Assignment Reminders, Reflection Reminders (with a Remind Me picker when on), Live Activity During Assignments, and Cue Test & Reliability Check. A Turn On Notifications in Settings button appears only after notifications have been refused in iOS Settings
• Reflection reminders after an assignment ends, and CPD reminders (quarterly if you are behind pace, plus inside 30 days of your deadline) from Settings › CPD Tracking
• Every notification is generated and scheduled on your device. Tapping one, or a button on one, opens SignPrep

Assignment list

• Grouped into Today, Tomorrow, and Upcoming, plus a Completed section, each row with the title, domain chip, date, time range, and a live countdown
• A personalised greeting at the top, and a Monthly Insights card that opens the Dashboard
• A View all upcoming assignments link appears when more than ten are upcoming, and View all completed assignments works the same way. Neither list sorts or filters
• Batch selection: a selection bar with Select All on the Assignments tab, Glossary › All Entries, and the Reflection tab. Swipe to ignore, or ignore many at once
• Ignored calendar events have their own Ignored Events screen where you can un-ignore them
• Your reflections, notes, checklists, CPD links, AI briefings, and research are preserved across every calendar sync; only the calendar metadata refreshes

Add your own assignments

• Tap + on the Assignments tab. Calendar-style editor with 5-minute pickers; changing the start shifts the end by the same amount
• Manual assignments live alongside imported ones and are never touched by a calendar sync
• On iOS 27, Siri AI can add one after checking with you (“Add an assignment tomorrow at ten at City Hospital in SignPrep”), move one (“Move my ten o’clock assignment in SignPrep to eleven”), or open one for you to cancel. Adding and moving change SignPrep only; your calendar is never changed, and nothing is deleted unless you confirm in the app

Assignments by voice

• “What’s my next assignment in SignPrep” tells you about your next assignment, or the one in progress, with a card
• “What’s my day like in SignPrep” lists today’s assignments and their times
• “Find my upcoming assignments in SignPrep”: ask for today’s, tomorrow’s, this week’s, upcoming, or completed assignments. Siri says how many there are and shows up to three
• “Open my next assignment in SignPrep”, “Brief me on my next assignment in SignPrep” (domain, start time, and how many preparation items are done), and “Check preparation for my next assignment in SignPrep”
• In the Shortcuts app, assignments can be filtered by start date, domain, whether they are complete, or words in the title

Assignment detail

The screen opens on the assignment’s status and live timing, then is grouped under Prepare (briefing, checklist, research), Details (calendar information marked “From your calendar”, and your own additions, which are kept across calendar refreshes), and After (Write a Reflection, Log Missed Terms, and Log CPD Hours). A full-width Mark as Completed or Mark as Incomplete button sits at the bottom.

• Live countdown with status colour; date with the day of the week; a source line (imported from a named calendar, or manually created)
• The Briefing card, in Prepare
• A Location card when the assignment has a saved location, with one-tap copy and Apple Maps or Google Maps directions
• Prepare for this Assignment, one row that opens Preparation, with checklist progress at a glance
• An Assignment Notes card, in Details, that grows to fit what you write. Share Notes sends the notes, with the assignment title as the subject, straight to the share sheet
• The Live Session card from one hour before the start until the assignment ends
• Manual assignments have Edit and Delete in the toolbar

Directions

From the Location card, or say “Get directions to my next assignment in SignPrep” to open Apple Maps with directions to the assignment in progress or your next one; with an assignment open on iOS 27, Siri AI takes “Get directions to this”. The assignment needs a saved location. When it has map coordinates, Maps uses them; with only a name or address, Maps gets that text and finds the place itself. SignPrep never looks the place up. The Apple Watch app has its own Directions screen.

Cue test

Settings › Notifications › Cue Test & Reliability Check, or the Start Cue Test action in Shortcuts, opens the Cue Test so you can check swap cue sounds, haptics, and notifications before you start.

Every upcoming or ongoing assignment has a Briefing card under Prepare in Assignment Detail. On a device that supports Apple Intelligence, with SignPrep’s AI features on, the briefing prepares itself when you open an assignment that has none yet: a short two-sentence orientation to the assignment’s subject matter and the terminology to expect. It is written on your device or, on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, by Apple’s Private Cloud Compute when that is available, your device is online, and the switch under Apple Intelligence is on, and a line under the briefing names the model that wrote it. Tap Regenerate for a fresh take. Briefings are saved with the assignment and survive calendar re-syncs. Completed assignments keep their saved briefing as read-only history, and if Apple Intelligence is off, the card stays visible and points you to Settings.

Tap Prepare for this Assignment in Assignment Detail to open Preparation. A summary card orients you with the assignment title, date, domain, and checklist progress, then you open only the tools you need: Checklist, Research, Key Terms, Role & Context, Calendar Notes, and Resources. The whole screen is read-only once the assignment is completed, which keeps the historical record intact; marking it incomplete restores editing.

Checklist

• Add, complete, delete, and reorder items
• Templates, in the checklist’s overflow menu: Apply Template and Save as Template. Templates need no Apple Intelligence
• Suggest new prep items, in the same menu, on Apple Intelligence devices. It runs on your device and asks before replacing your checklist
• Checklist items cannot be changed by voice

Research This Topic and Search the Web

• Research This Topic, on the Topic Research card, writes a summary under four headings, Key Terminology (where SignPrep asks for three to five named terms, each with a short definition), What to Expect, Communication Challenges, and Vocabulary to Review, without leaving Preparation; Regenerate replaces it. It shows on any device that can run Apple Intelligence; with SignPrep’s AI features off it prompts you to turn them on. On iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 it can use Private Cloud Compute, like the briefing, and the line under the summary names the model that wrote it
• Add to Notes, under the summary, adds it to Assignment Notes as plain text, once, and returns you to the assignment with the notes in view
• Search the Web opens a Review Web Search sheet: SignPrep builds a general query on your device, checks it for likely identifying details, and shows it to you. You check, edit, and approve the query before anything is searched; only that query is sent, to Google, which opens in your browser, and a query that still appears to contain protected information is blocked

Key Terms

• Suggested words and phrases worth preparing, on an Apple Intelligence capable device with Apple Intelligence and SignPrep’s AI features on, plus recent terms for the assignment domain
• Add terms for review and connect them to your glossary, so assignment prep feeds your long-term sign library. Add to Notes, after Suggest Key Phrases, copies the suggestions into Assignment Notes

Role & Context and Add More Context for AI

• Your role and contextual information for the assignment, and, on Apple Intelligence devices, an Add More Context for AI field for anything else Apple Intelligence may use
• The Role & Context notes are not used for briefings or Research This Topic; Search the Web can use words from them in a search you check first
• Your own context and imported Calendar Notes stay separate; imported notes never overwrite what you wrote

Calendar Notes

If your work calendar already contains useful assignment details, SignPrep brings those notes into Preparation and includes them in the assignment’s AI request unless you turn that off.

• Use Calendar Notes for Preparation, in Settings › Calendar & Sync, is on until you turn it off, and each imported assignment follows it unless you change Include in AI Context on its Calendar Notes card
• Imported notes appear as read-only source information, shown separately from your own notes. You can copy the text, and SignPrep never edits your calendar events
• Calendar Notes never appear in widgets, notifications, Live Activities, Apple Watch surfaces, device search, Siri, exports, logs, or analytics, although a briefing prepared from them can appear wherever the briefing does. When included, they become part of that assignment’s AI request, on your device or, on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, through Private Cloud Compute, as the privacy policy describes

Resources

• Keep assignment-specific links and reference material together while you prepare

Guide: Assignment preparation for interpreters

The Glossary tab

All Entries and Random Sign, then Review, then sections for Favourites, Recently Viewed, Recently Added, Suggestions From Recent Assignments and AI Suggestions (both only when AI is on and ready), related words, and your stats. Each section appears only when it has something to show. With no signs yet, a No Glossary Entries card sits at the top.

Suggestions from your assignments

Suggestions From Recent Assignments offers terms drawn, on your device, from your next assignment and your last three: their title, domain, added context, Assignment Notes, parts of the Research This Topic summary and, when included, calendar notes. A filter keeps out anything that looks like a person’s name, and Regenerate pages through unused terms before asking the model again. They are not verified signs or authoritative terminology.

Record and organise your signs

• Tap + to open New Sign. Record video with your camera, or import from your Photo Library. SignPrep asks for camera access only and records no audio; audio is stripped from imported videos
• Each entry has a label, description, word type, domain tag, language tag, source, and draft or confirmed status. Replace a video, or delete a video without deleting the entry
• Synonyms, on the New Sign and Edit Sign screens: lay and clinical variants, alternate spellings, and paraphrases, with suggestions from the sign’s translations you accept by tapping. Siri and glossary search find the sign by those names too, and synonyms travel through export and import
• Mark favourites, from the app or, with Siri AI on iOS 27, by saying “Favourite this sign” with a sign open
• AI help on Apple Intelligence devices, on your device: Look Up Definitions, Suggest Related Words, Topic Suggestions, and Domain Auto-Suggestion

Find what you need

• The magnifying glass opens All Entries with the search field active. While a search term is entered, results appear in relevance order, ranked by the same resolver Siri uses, which understands labels, synonyms, translations, categories, and varieties
• Filter by domain or sign language; the language filter shows only when your signs use more than one sign language. Sort alphabetically, newest first, or most viewed
• By voice: “Find a sign in SignPrep” asks which word you are looking for and shows the closest match on a card, letting you choose from up to three if several match; “Show me a sign in SignPrep” shows a named sign on a card. On iOS 27, with SignPrep’s AI features on, if nothing matches by name Apple Intelligence can suggest a sign from an imported glossary pack with a similar meaning; and Siri AI can search your glossary in your own words. Siri shows signs on a card, with a still from the sign’s video; videos play only inside SignPrep
• Random Sign, on the Glossary tab, opens a random sign from your whole glossary, never the same one twice in a row. The Random Sign action in the Shortcuts app, in the app’s words, “never repeats the current Featured Sign”.
• The Featured Sign widget shows a sign from your glossary and changes as often as its own Refresh Featured Sign option says, from every hour to every day; Show My Featured Sign in Shortcuts names the sign a widget on its default options shows, so a widget set differently can show another sign

Review queue

• The Review sheet shows the signs due for review one card at a time, and says why each sign is there: pinned, missed, due, low confidence, assignment match, or selected. Pinned signs come first, then missed ones; when nothing is due, the same sheet shows the Review Inbox for terms you captured during an assignment
• Pin to Queue (or Unpin) and Remove from Queue act on the queue only; removing a sign from the queue does not delete it or touch its review schedule
• In Shortcuts, Start Review Session opens the signs due, from all your signs or one category or sign language, and Signs Due for Review tells you the counts

Review and share

• Video player with slow-motion playback and a Loop control that stays as you set it
• Share sends an entry’s text and video straight to the share sheet, and Save Video saves its video to your Photo Library

Guide: Sign language glossary app

Live Session is contextual: the card appears in Assignment Detail from one hour before the start until the assignment ends, or one hour after the start when no end time is stored, and never on a completed assignment. It offers Swap Timer and Swap Clock before you open it. The timer button at the top of the Assignments tab opens the Live Session directly, without going through an assignment.

Live Session is the live-session page designed to stay open while you work, keeping timing, the active interpreter, and assignment progress together. When used without an attached assignment, the same tools are shown as Swap Timer.

• Say “Start a session for my next assignment in SignPrep” to start a session for the assignment in progress or your next one, or use the Start Session control in Control Centre, which brings SignPrep forward so the app can start it. If a session is already running, neither starts a second one
• “Open my live session in SignPrep” opens the Live Session for the assignment in progress
• One session state sits behind every surface, so start, stop, pause, resume, and swap each have one meaning wherever you use them, and repeats are harmless

Swap Timer supports structured interpreter rotation. Set an interval and warning time, then let SignPrep cycle through Running, Swap Soon, and Swap Now, with A/B interpreter roles, a large countdown ring, last and next swap information, and haptic and optional audio cues.

Controls

• Pause, resume, swap, and stop work the same way from the app, Apple Watch, the Lock Screen, and Siri. In SignPrep, Stop first asks “Stop swap timer?”; on the watch and the Lock Screen it stops at once
• By voice: “Start the swap timer in SignPrep”, “Pause timing in SignPrep”, “Resume timing in SignPrep”, “Swap now in SignPrep”, “Stop timing in SignPrep”, and “Who’s on in SignPrep”, which tells you how long until the next swap and the swap count. These commands act on whichever mode is running, and they work even if SignPrep was closed while the timer ran
• On the Lock Screen, the Swap Timer’s Live Activity carries Swap & Restart, Pause or Resume, and Stop
• The Swap Timer control in Control Centre brings SignPrep forward and opens timer setup, or the Live Session when timing is running
• In the Shortcuts app: Start Swap Timer with a 10, 15, 20, or 30 minute preset, Swap Timing with a turn length of 5 to 60 minutes, and fine-tuning actions that apply to the timer only: Skip Ahead in Swap Timer, Adjust Swap Timer, Mute Swap Timer, Unmute Swap Timer, and Set Active Interpreter
• On iOS 27, Siri AI can run the Swap Timer like a Clock timer: “Start a twenty-minute swap timer in SignPrep”, then pause, resume, cancel, or change the turn length

Guide: Swap timer for team interpreting

Swap Clock supports flexible turn-taking based on real clock time. It shows the current time, elapsed time since the last swap, and clock-based segments for Interpreter A and Interpreter B. Use it when a fixed interval does not fit the assignment but you still want a clear record of who has been active and when the last swap happened.

• The Swap Clock is started, paused, resumed, and stopped in the app or by voice, and Apple Watch can record a swap
• By voice: “Start the swap clock in SignPrep”, then the same pause, resume, swap, and stop phrases as the timer. “Who’s on in SignPrep” tells you which interpreter is on, the minutes in the current turn, and the swap count. Siri AI can start the Swap Timer but not the Swap Clock, so use the Siri phrase for the clock
• Only one mode runs at a time. By voice, SignPrep refuses to start one while the other is running rather than switching silently
• Its Live Activity carries no buttons, and the Apple Watch screen is a mirror with a single Swap button
• A paused Swap Clock shows as paused in the widget and Live Activity

Ambient Mode is made to be set down. Rest the phone nearby during an assignment and read the Swap Timer at a glance: large text keeps the timing legible from a distance, and the colours pulse when it is time to swap. The full-screen view shows timing, A/B interpreter roles, and assignment progress, with swap actions available and setup and end controls left in the standard Live Session view.

Open it with the expand button at the top right of the Live Session. It also starts on its own after ten seconds without a touch while the selected mode is running and not paused, unless VoiceOver or Switch Control is on, and a swipe down exits it.

During assignments

A Live Activity can start from 30 minutes before an assignment and stays up throughout, on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island: title, domain chip, an hours-and-minutes countdown, and a progress ring filling from start to end. Its tap targets, Log Reflection and Swap Timer, open the app.

During swap cycles

The Swap Timer has its own Live Activity with the countdown, phase status, interpreter dots, and swap count, and three buttons that act in place: Swap & Restart, Pause (or Resume), and Stop. The Swap Clock’s Live Activity shows its state and carries no buttons; tapping it opens the Swap Clock.

Prefer generic wording on the Lock Screen? Turn off Show Assignment Title in Live Activity and SignPrep shows “Assignment” instead of the real title. Calendar Notes never appear in Live Activities. Turning Live Activities off in Settings › Notifications ends the one in progress.

• The watch app opens on your assignments and moves to an assignment’s own screen a moment after launch if one is in progress. Its toolbar offers Refresh Assignments and Swap Clock
• Start, pause, resume, swap, and stop the Swap Timer from either device, with wheel pickers for the interval and warning time. The phone re-authorises every watch action and stays the source of truth, and Stop on the watch also stops the session on your iPhone
• The Swap Clock screen mirrors a clock started on your iPhone, with a single Swap button
• Directions, on an assignment with a map location, opens a screen that shows the venue on a map and asks Apple Maps for a route from the watch
• Complications: Next Assignment (circular and rectangular), Assignment Countdown (corner), Assignment Inline, Signs Due (circular and corner), and CPD Progress. They update on the next sync from the phone
• Smart Stack cards for Upcoming Assignments and the Swap Timer, and one watch control, Start Swap Timer
• The watch CPD figure excludes carry-over, so with carry-over on it can differ from the app

When App Lock locks SignPrep, the Apple Watch app hides assignment titles and venues once your iPhone updates it. Interpreter names are hidden on the watch while your iPhone is locked, and the countdown is unaffected. Calendar Notes are never sent to the watch.

When a sign gets away from you mid-assignment, capture it without leaving the room. The Mark Term as Missed action in Shortcuts adds a sign you missed to your review queue, or saves a new term to your Review Inbox; a term you type is never read back. The Sign Review widget’s Log missed button and an assignment’s Log Missed Terms row do the same in the app.

A captured term lands in the Review Inbox, which is the same Review sheet the review queue uses: when nothing is due, the sheet shows the inbox, with a field to add a missed term and a Resolve menu on each row offering the closest glossary matches, or Discard.

The Mark as Completed button at the bottom of Assignment Detail, or by voice: “Mark complete my next assignment in SignPrep” marks the assignment in progress or your next one, and updates your widgets and Apple Watch. On iOS 27, Siri AI can take “Mark this complete” with an assignment open. Completed assignments keep their preparation and briefing as read-only history, and the assignment’s After group offers Write a Reflection, Log Missed Terms, and Log CPD Hours.

Write a DC-S reflection

Reflections follow the Demand Control Schema by Dean & Pollard, on one scrolling page titled New Reflection with six headings in order: Link to an Assignment, Assignment Details, What Demands Did You Face?, Controls & Consequences, Learning & Follow-up, and Self-Care Check-in.

• Open it with + on the Reflection tab, or from an assignment’s After group
• Free-text fields for environmental, interpersonal, paralinguistic, and intrapersonal demands, then controls, consequences, what went well, and what to change
• Flag for Mentor Discussion, at the foot of Learning & Follow-up, with a note about exporting the reflection as a PDF for that conversation
• Self-Care Check-in with Physical Fatigue, Emotional Load, and Cognitive Load ratings, shown as colour-coded pills, and a Self-Care Action field
• On Apple Intelligence devices, a Suggest button on the Environmental, Interpersonal, Paralinguistic, Intrapersonal, Controls Used, and Consequences fields, which runs on your device

Reflections by voice

• “Log a reflection in SignPrep”: Siri asks what you want to note and checks with you before saving it in Remarks. The note goes into Remarks only, never the DC-S fields, and the reply is content-free. Asking again with the same note on the same day does not save a second copy. If you give no note, the reflection form opens instead
• The reflection links to the assignment you have open (with Siri AI on iOS 27), then the ongoing one, then the one that most recently ended today
• Flag Reflection for Mentor in Shortcuts, or, with Siri AI on iOS 27, “Flag this for my mentor” with a reflection open. The reflection is never read aloud
• Siri may ask for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode before saving a reflection

Practise identifying demands

On the Reflection tab, Learn About DC-S opens the reference and Identify the Demand Quiz tests your ability to categorise demands in real interpreting scenarios.

Browse your reflections

• Chronological list with colour-coded load level dots, batch selection, and swipe actions
• A stats card with totals, this-month count, flagged entries, and Best Streak, which counts consecutive calendar weeks with at least one reflection
• A prompt to reflect on your most recent un-reflected assignment

After you save

• A personalised encouragement message, and a high-load alert if your last three reflections show sustained load
• One-tap Log CPD to capture the assignment’s hours, and quick links to breathing exercises, stretches, or the Self-Care tab
• When the reflection is flagged for supervision, an Export This Reflection as PDF button

Export

• Settings › Reflection Export: Export All as PDF, Export All as CSV, and Export by Date Range. Each asks for a Full or an Anonymised version. Full includes the assignment title and your written fields; Anonymised uses a generic title and applies local likely-identifier redaction, and is blocked, with no share-anyway, if a possible identifier remains
• Exports from Settings show what they keep and remove before you share them, and sharing asks for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode
• A single reflection exports as a PDF from its own screen with Export to PDF, or from the just-saved screen with Export This Reflection as PDF, always the full version and without that review
• SignPrep never uploads an exported file by itself; you decide what to do with it

Guide: DC-S reflection for interpreters

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development, the ongoing learning interpreters log to keep their certification current. In the US it is usually counted as CEUs (Continuing Education Units), for example through RID. SignPrep lets you log your hours, see your progress, and export your record. The figures are guidance, not a compliance record.

Schemes and targets

Log CPD hours by activity type. Choose RID or NRCPD to see their suggested hours, or set your own target and renewal period. For Auslan, SignPrep names NAATI as the usual CPD body.

Settings

Settings › CPD Tracking: one switch, Track CPD / CEU Hours, then Scheme (a Scheme picker with its guidance summary and an official guidance link), Targets (Target Hours, Renewal Period, Renewal Start Date), Carry-Over (Carry Over Excess Hours and Carry-Over Limit), and Reminders (Quarterly Reminders). CPD tracking starts on for ASL, BSL, and Auslan and off for other sign languages.

Log hours

• The CPD Hours screen: Reflection tab › the graduation-cap button, or the CPD Hours row. + opens Log CPD Hours with activity type, date, hours, title, and notes
• After saving a reflection, a one-tap Log CPD button preloads the assignment’s hours; an assignment’s After group also offers Log CPD Hours
• From the Log CPD control in Control Centre
• The Log CPD Time action in Shortcuts, with duration presets or custom hours and a category. You confirm before anything is saved, and repeating the same request on the same day saves only one entry. CPD has no Siri phrase

Carry-over and the renewal period

• Carry-over is optional, off by default, and capped: extra hours from the last period can count towards the current one, up to a limit you set of 5, 10, or 20 hours, or no limit. Turn it on only if your scheme allows it
• The CPD period rolls forward, so totals move into the new renewal period instead of dropping to zero after the first one ends
• The CPD Progress widget and the Apple Watch show logged hours without carry-over, so with carry-over on they can differ from the in-app CPD card

Progress and renewal alerts

• Dashboard card with a renewal pill: amber inside 30 days, green once you hit your target
• The CPD Progress widget shows the renewal countdown, and the Apple Watch CPD Progress complication shows the hours left to your target
• Quarterly reminder if you are behind pace, plus a 30-day deadline alert

Export your CPD record

• On CPD Hours, the share button opens Export CPD Hours with Export as PDF for your certifying body or Export as CSV for your own tracker. Both show what the file keeps and removes before you share it, and ask for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode

Turn CPD off

If CPD is not part of your practice, turn off Track CPD / CEU Hours. That hides the CPD Hours entry points on the Reflection tab, the dashboard card, and every Log CPD button. The CPD Progress widget stays and shows CPD Tracking Off, the Apple Watch CPD Progress complication shows a plain icon, the Log CPD control in Control Centre stays and explains itself when tapped, and the CPD actions stay in the Shortcuts app and say that CPD tracking is off.

Guide: CPD and CEU hour tracking for interpreters

“How am I doing this week in SignPrep” tells you what you did in the last seven days, such as completed assignments, signs reviewed, and reflections, plus CPD hours when tracking is on, and shows a card with the week’s dates in your region’s order. It counts only; it never reads content. It exists only as a Siri phrase and a Shortcuts action, not as a screen in the app.

Daily mood check-in

The “How are you feeling?” card logs five levels (Great, Good, Okay, Low, Tough) with haptic feedback and a context-sensitive self-care tip after each log. The Wellbeing Check-In action in Shortcuts opens it, for example at the end of your working day.

AI “For You” suggestions

A personalised self-care suggestion based on your recent reflection history, prepared on your device. Tap Regenerate for a fresh take. Hidden on devices without Apple Intelligence, with an enable prompt if you have turned AI off.

Trends

• The Self-Care Trends card summarises the month against the one before it
• A mood-over-time chart for spotting patterns

Guided exercises

• Breathe opens Breathing Exercise: an animated breathing exercise with four cycles, pause and restart controls, and a countdown
• Stretch opens Stretch Break: six guided stretches for common tension areas

Resources for interpreters

• Self-care articles and guides covering supervision, debriefing, vicarious trauma, boundary-setting, physical wellness, and more
• Region-specific support links based on your sign language

The tab’s More menu holds Settings and Reset Mood Log….

Settings › Privacy & Security gathers the controls that decide what appears beyond the app, in this order: Privacy Preview; Lock Screen Privacy; App Lock; Minimise Sensitive Details; Exclude Data from iCloud Backups; and the Security Activity Log.

Privacy Preview

A read-only screen that opens by naming the features that can send something from your device, and notes that tips are paid through the App Store. It then covers Notifications, Live Activity, AI Input, Reflection Export, and Spotlight & Siri. Its wording follows your own settings, and its sample cards are fictional examples run through the app’s real privacy code, so you can see what would be shared where before you rely on it. It also opens during onboarding from the “Open Privacy Preview” button.

Lock Screen Privacy

Show Assignment Title in Notifications and Show Assignment Title in Live Activity. With either off, SignPrep leaves the real title off that surface: reminders say only that an assignment is starting or has ended, and the Live Activity shows “Assignment” in its place. Calendar Notes never appear in notifications or Live Activities.

App Lock

• An optional SignPrep PIN, separate from your device passcode, with Face ID or Touch ID unlock on devices that have it. Set Up App Lock until a PIN is set, then Change PIN, the biometric switch, Auto-Lock (Immediately, After 1 minute, or After 5 minutes), and Turn Off App Lock
• While App Lock is on, SignPrep covers its content in the app switcher, and a cold launch starts locked
• App Lock also covers Siri, Shortcuts, device search, Control Centre, app links, the assignment and glossary widgets, and the assignment Live Activity’s title. Every Siri, Siri AI, and Shortcuts request gets one reply while SignPrep is locked, “SignPrep is locked. Open SignPrep to unlock.”, with a card that shows nothing else; actions that open the app show the unlock screen instead. Device search results, Control Centre controls, and app links open the unlock screen; the assignment Live Activity shows “Assignment” in place of the title; and the Upcoming Assignments, Featured Sign, Sign Review, and Swap Clock widgets show a placeholder
• When App Lock locks SignPrep, the Apple Watch app hides assignment titles and venues once your iPhone updates it
• For Siri, Shortcuts, and the widgets, the lock holds after your Auto-Lock time has passed even if SignPrep is never reopened. Under a timed Auto-Lock, the watch can keep a title until your iPhone next locks, unlocks or opens SignPrep, the Next Assignment control can keep its title until iOS next re-evaluates it, and a widget that iOS is slow to refresh keeps its content until that refresh
• App Lock does not cover the CPD Progress widget, which still shows total hours while SignPrep is locked, or the Swap Timer and Swap Clock Live Activities, which keep showing the running session but carry no assignment title and name the interpreters only as Interpreter A and Interpreter B. Reminder notifications follow Show Assignment Title in Notifications, not App Lock.
• Importing a glossary file waits until SignPrep is unlocked

Minimise Sensitive Details

On by default. For Medical, Legal, Mental Health, and Police assignments, it helps remove likely identifiers from the context you add for AI, so it applies whether a request runs on your device or through Private Cloud Compute.

Exclude Data from iCloud Backups

An opt-in backup boundary. Data excluded from backups is not restored to a new device from that backup.

Security Activity Log

A local record of app opens, locks, unlock attempts, and security-setting changes. Review it and clear it whenever you choose. It is never transmitted to SignPrep.

Read the full privacy policy for how each control is scoped.

AI features use Apple’s general-purpose Foundation Models on a device that supports Apple Intelligence; on other devices the AI features hide or explain why. SignPrep operates no AI servers and cannot remotely access your AI requests or results. Most features run on your device. On iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, the briefing and Research This Topic can use Apple’s Private Cloud Compute when it is available, your device is online, and the Private Cloud Compute switch is on; otherwise, offline or after any failure, they run on your device with no message, so both still work offline. On iOS 26, SignPrep’s AI features run on your device.

• Settings › Apple Intelligence: the AI Features switch; on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, on a device Apple supports, a Private Cloud Compute switch in its own section, on unless you turn it off and dimmed while AI Features is off; About SignPrep’s AI; and Reset AI Suggestions. The status line under AI Features reads “AI is available. Briefings and Research This Topic use Private Cloud Compute.” only while that route is open
• About SignPrep’s AI documents, in order, What AI is used for, When AI runs, Where AI runs (the section that names Private Cloud Compute), What data each feature may use (with separate rows for Briefing, Research This Topic, Checklist suggestions, Glossary suggestions, and Glossary Builder and related words), Storage and retention, Your controls, App Lock and Siri, Limitations, and Accessibility and support
• A request sent to Private Cloud Compute carries what the on-device model would otherwise receive for that one assignment: its title, domain and location name, the context you add and, unless you turn them off, its calendar notes; Research This Topic adds the location’s address. Apple says data sent to Private Cloud Compute is used only for the request and is never stored or made accessible to Apple. A line under each recent briefing and research summary names the model that wrote it
• Briefings, self-care insights, and Monthly Insights prepare automatically; Research This Topic, checklist suggestions, and DC-S prompts run when you tap their button
• What AI is used for: AI briefings, checklist suggestions, Research This Topic, Search the Web queries, domain auto-detection for imported events, glossary definitions, related words, and topic suggestions, glossary suggestions from your assignments, DC-S prompts, post-reflection encouragement, Monthly Insights, self-care suggestions, and the motivational line, which may address you by the first name you gave SignPrep and no other
• The models are not specialist knowledge bases, so treat briefings, research summaries, and suggested terms as a starting point for your own preparation

AI output may be incomplete or inaccurate. Checklist and glossary suggestions are generated on your device; on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, the briefing and Research This Topic can use Private Cloud Compute. Always do your own preparation.

SignPrep’s core actions are available from outside the app: by voice, from the Shortcuts app, and from Control Centre, with the same privacy rules the app itself enforces. There are three ways in, and the in-app guide to all of them is Settings › Siri & Shortcuts.

Ways to use

• Siri. Speak or type a phrase that names SignPrep. Siri understands close variations of the phrases for SignPrep’s ten featured Siri shortcuts, so a phrase does not have to be word for word, and it works without Siri AI. Every phrase names SignPrep, for example “What’s my next assignment in SignPrep”, “Find a sign in SignPrep”, “Start the swap timer in SignPrep”, and “Log a reflection in SignPrep”
• Siri AI. On iOS 27, a request in your own words, including one about the item you have open, can reach SignPrep. Siri AI can search your glossary, add or move an assignment after checking with you, run the Swap Timer like a Clock timer, and act on the sign, assignment, reflection, or list item on your screen. Whether a given request reaches SignPrep is Apple’s decision, so the requests listed in the app are examples
• Shortcuts. SignPrep’s actions appear in the Shortcuts app, where they can be combined into shortcuts and automations of your own. Actions that find things return results the next action can use: Find Assignments returns assignments; Find a Sign, Show a Sign, Show My Featured Sign, and Random Sign return a sign; Next Assignment Start Time returns a time. Open Tab opens any tab or the Dashboard
• Siri Suggestions. iOS may offer SignPrep actions you use often, for example an assignment or a sign you open regularly

Siri AI is Apple’s feature and comes with Apple’s conditions: iOS 27 or iPadOS 27, an Apple Intelligence capable device with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI switched on, a supported language shared by the device and Siri, and an eligible region, with a waitlist in some cases. See Apple’s article How to get Siri AI.

The Siri & Shortcuts page

Its What You Can Do section opens a page per goal: Before an Assignment, During an Assignment, After an Assignment, Glossary & Practice, CPD (shown only when CPD tracking is on), What You Have Open, and Your Own Shortcuts. Each phrase, request, and action is labelled Siri, Siri AI, or Shortcuts, and each of the first four pages starts with a Try This card of two or three phrases in sequence. Refresh Shortcut Suggestions rebuilds the suggestions SignPrep offers from your current data, without changing your shortcuts or phrases; clearing what Siri has learned is done in the Settings app.

What you have open

On iOS 27, SignPrep marks which item is showing on an assignment’s details or preparation screen, the Assignments list, the Live Session, a sign’s details, All Entries, the current review card, a reflection’s details, the Reflections list, and the CPD Hours list, so Siri AI can act on “this” or “the second one”. What is passed is an identifier, not the content, and it exists only while the screen is showing and SignPrep is unlocked. Notifications, preparation checklist items, and an unsaved CPD entry are not shared with Siri AI. The Swap Timer is not shared from the screen either, so a request about it names it. The examples: “Mark this complete” or “Reflect on this” with an assignment open, “Favourite this sign” with a sign open, and “Flag this for my mentor” with a reflection open.

Use With Apple Intelligence

From Your Own Shortcuts, the Use With Apple Intelligence page explains Apple’s Use Model action in the Shortcuts app: SignPrep can pass the assignments, glossary signs, reflections, and CPD entries you add to a shortcut, and the model you choose in that action decides where the request is processed. An assignment carries its title, domain, times, location, your assignment notes, and its briefing. The page suggests a few shortcuts to try, such as passing your upcoming assignments to Use Model for a list of terminology areas to review.

What Siri does not do

• There is no free-form conversation with SignPrep. Siri matches variations of set phrases, and Siri AI reaches SignPrep through set actions. SignPrep receives a resolved request, not a transcript
• Siri does not play a sign video; videos play inside SignPrep. Siri does not claim a sign is verified
• Nothing runs on its own. SignPrep does not schedule or fire a Siri action itself
• Nothing is deleted from Siri. Cancelling an assignment opens the app’s own confirmation
• Checklist items cannot be added, renamed, ticked, or deleted by voice, though preparation progress for your next assignment can be asked for
• While SignPrep is locked, Siri, Siri AI, and Shortcuts get one reply, “SignPrep is locked. Open SignPrep to unlock.”, SignPrep tells Siri AI nothing about what you have open, and Shortcuts actions return nothing new

Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets

Touch and hold your Home Screen, tap Edit, then tap Add Widget and search for SignPrep. For the Lock Screen, touch and hold it, tap Customise, then tap Add Widgets and search for SignPrep. Six widgets ship, five for the Home Screen and one for the Lock Screen only:

• Upcoming Assignments (small, medium, large): countdown, greeting, and the next assignments. It reloads at least every 15 minutes
• CPD Progress: a ring showing hours against target with a renewal countdown. It shows logged hours without carry-over, and with CPD tracking off it shows CPD Tracking Off
• Featured Sign (small, medium, and large, extra-large on iOS 27, and three Lock Screen sizes): a sign from your glossary, with a still from its video on the Home Screen sizes, its category, and variety. Touch and hold it and tap Edit Widget to choose a Collection (all signs, favourites, or a category), a Sign Language, and Refresh Featured Sign: every hour, every 2 hours, every 6 hours, every 12 hours, or every day. Each placed widget keeps its own choices
• Sign Review (small, and every Lock Screen size): how many signs are due for review. The whole widget opens the review queue, and the small size has a Log missed button
• Swap Clock: the running Swap Clock, or its paused state
• Quick Actions, Lock Screen only: New Sign and Reflect

Calendar Notes never appear on widgets. While SignPrep is locked, the Upcoming Assignments, Featured Sign, Sign Review, and Swap Clock widgets show a placeholder; the CPD Progress widget still shows total hours. Apple’s own steps: How to add and edit widgets on your iPhone.

Live Activities

Live Activities start on their own while a session runs, and the switch is Settings › Notifications › Live Activity During Assignments. What each one shows and which buttons it carries is under During the assignment.

Control Centre

Open Control Centre, touch and hold an empty area, then tap Add a Control and search for SignPrep. Six controls ship:

• Start Session and Swap Timer, with generic labels. Each brings SignPrep forward; the app then starts a session, or opens Swap Timer setup when nothing is running and the Live Session when timing is running. Nothing starts from Control Centre itself
• Next Assignment: the assignment title and a countdown; tap to open
• New Sign, Log Reflection, and Log CPD, which open their forms. Log CPD stays available with CPD tracking off and explains itself when tapped

While App Lock protects the app, every control lands on the unlock screen and nothing starts. Settings › Widgets & Controls describes all three surfaces inside the app.

• Signs from imported glossary packs can appear when you search your device. Each one has an Include in device Search switch on its Edit Sign screen, shown for pack signs only, to keep it out. Signs you create are not included; Siri can still find them by name inside SignPrep. Assignments, reflections, and CPD hours no longer appear in device search, though Siri and the Shortcuts app can still find them
• On iOS 27, Siri AI and device search can also match an indexed sign by meaning as well as by name
• Tapping a result while SignPrep is locked shows the unlock screen first
• Inside the app, the magnifying glass at the top left of the Resources tab opens Search, the one place that searches assignments, glossary, reflections, and CPD together. On iPad in a wide window it is also in the sidebar

Glossary tab › the gear at the top left, or Settings › Glossary. The page holds Export Glossary and Import Glossary (.signprep) under Glossary Files; Default Domain and Default Sign Language under Defaults; and Reset Glossary.

• Export packages every entry, with its videos, into a single .signprep file to AirDrop, email, or save to Files, after showing you what the file keeps and removes and asking for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode
• Import accepts .signprep and .zip files. Re-importing a pack updates the entries you already have from it instead of duplicating them, synonyms travel with the file, and importing waits until SignPrep is unlocked
• A glossary file can hold up to 20,000 files inside it (each video and picture counts as one)

On iPhone, Settings is not a tab: open the Assignments tab and tap the gear at the top right. The Resources tab has the same gear, and the Self-Care tab has Settings under its More menu. The Glossary tab’s gear, at the top left, opens the Glossary settings page directly. On iPad in a wide window, Settings is also in the sidebar. Settings opens on thirteen rows in five groups:

• Your Name, edited on the row itself. It personalises greetings, the motivational line, and the encouragement after you save a reflection, and it appears on a CPD PDF export
• Calendar & Sync, Notifications, Glossary, Reflection Export, and CPD Tracking
• Apple Intelligence and Privacy & Security
• Siri & Shortcuts, Widgets & Controls, and Open Shortcuts App, which leaves SignPrep for the Shortcuts app
• Appearance, a picker offering System, Light, or Dark, and Help & About

A sixth group, Support SignPrep, appears at the foot once the App Store has returned its three optional tips, described under Overview. Help & About holds the version, Getting Started, links to this website, Features, Support, Contact Support, Send Feedback, and Follow on X, the privacy policy, and Acknowledgements. Several sections end with a Learn more… link that opens a longer explanation: About Calendar Sync, About Sensitive Details, About Backup Exclusion, and About Siri and App Lock.

The Monthly Insights card on the Assignments tab opens the Dashboard: monthly totals for assignments, hours, and reflections; the CPD progress card with its renewal pill; a domain breakdown chart; and, on Apple Intelligence devices, an AI-generated monthly narrative with patterns and suggestions, prepared on your device. The card is hidden while an assignment is ongoing. On iPad in a wide window, Monthly Insights is also in the sidebar.

Code of Professional Conduct

An interactive reference for the interpreter’s Code of Professional Conduct. Seven tenets, each opening under its own title with a summary, a detailed explanation, and real-world examples relevant to sign language interpreting.

Role & Communication Cards

Pre-loaded cards for explaining your role to hearing clients, organised by domain. Favourite the cards you use often, create your own, and display them full-screen during assignments.

External Resources and Local Resources

• Learn more about DC-S, the WASLI Code of Ethics, and the RID Code of Professional Conduct
• Region-specific national interpreter association and Deaf community organisations. Local Resources follows your default sign language and is hidden when there is nothing for your region