Savings goals got a progress ring this month
The NestBoard team · 2026-06-27
A small change that feels better
We shipped an update to family savings goals last week: a circular progress ring that fills as you add money toward your target. Before, it was just numbers and a linear bar.
The ring wraps around your goal icon—a beach umbrella for vacation, a bike, whatever you picked. As you log contributions, the stroke fills clockwise from the top. When you're halfway there, it's a half-circle. At 80%, it's nearly complete.
Why a ring instead of a bar
Bars are efficient. They fit neatly into rectangular layouts and everyone understands them. But we kept bumping into the same problem: on a tablet sitting upright in the kitchen, horizontal bars felt like progress reports, not invitations.
A ring sits differently. It frames the thing you're saving for, not the percentage. The goal stays centered. The progress wraps around it, literally.
We tested both with five families over two weeks. Four of them mentioned the ring unprompted—usually while adding allowance or birthday money. One parent said it felt "more like we're building something." That stuck with us.
What changed in testing
The first version filled counter-clockwise. It looked fine in static mocks, but on the actual tablet it felt backward—like draining instead of filling. We flipped it.
We also tried showing the dollar amount inside the ring at all times. Too noisy. Now it appears when you tap, along with the percentage and the target date if you set one. The rest of the time, the ring does the talking.
The stroke width took longer than it should have. Too thin and it disappeared from across the room. Too thick and it crowded the icon. We landed on 8 pixels at standard scale, which works on both the 10-inch tablets most families use and smaller screens in kiosk mode.
It's a tiny thing
This isn't a major feature. Savings goals still work exactly the same way—you set a target, log contributions, and everyone in the household can see how close you are. The ring just makes it easier to read at a glance.
But that's the point. A tablet calendar lives in the middle of your kitchen, not in your pocket. You see it a dozen times a day without stopping. If something feels a little more inviting, a little warmer, it compounds.
We're still learning what "warm and tactile" means in practice. Sometimes it's choosing cream over white. Sometimes it's a progress ring instead of a bar.