How Hark users turn Panels into status boards for long jobs

What you can do now: ask Hark to build a Panel that watches something for you and shows the latest state on its Home screen. On Monday, Hark users posted Panels that tracked a 20-hour backup job, their own Hark usage, and weekend sports highlights. Below is how Panels work according to Hark's own docs, what users say they built, the refresh limits they report, and a prompt to start with. These are user reports, not our tests. Hark is Brett Adcock's company; a Business Wire release names him as founder.

What changed#

Panels aren't new. Hark's Using Hark page describes them as "tiny bits of software built by Hark - ranging from exercise trackers to media players - that live right inside the app within Home." What's new is how users are putting them to work:

A status board for a long job (user report). Nic Finn, whose bio says he is a former US Air Force and AFOSI agent, wrote at 1:21 PM ET Monday that he gave Hark "one job that involved some data recovery / backup that I knew would take ~20 hours to complete, so it made a panel and checked every hour for status, then updated the panel." He said it "Kept me from getting pinged with progress updates while still being informed on the latest status." He was replying to Abidur Chowdhury, whose bio says he is "Head of Design @hark_labs". Finn also says he is keeping Grok Bot for now.
A usage meter (user reports). At 12:42 PM ET Monday, a user posting as Dancing Particle asked Adcock whether there is "a way to see limits on free plan," saying "I don't see limits anywhere in the app." Adcock replied at 12:46 PM ET: "We just tell you when you have 20% left". That is Adcock's description, not something we checked. Ezio answered the same user at 12:53 PM ET: "Just ask Hark to create one panel for you!" His screenshot shows a "Hark Usage" Panel with monthly usage left, daily usage left and the daily reset time. Melvin Vivas posted his own at 1:40 PM ET: "Just ask to add it as a panel". His screenshot shows 95% of the day's limit used and the time each limit resets.
A sports feed (user report). Vivas posted a "Sports highlights Panel in Hark Pro" at 11:29 AM ET Monday. His screenshot shows Formula 1 United States Grand Prix highlight videos and a summary line saying highlights from "six NBA games are up."
Updating a Panel by talking to it (user report). At 12:55 PM ET, Vivas posted "Swipe to update a panel in Hark Pro". His screenshot shows a "Race & Game Day" Panel attached to his message "update wrc with schedule". Hark's docs say you can "tap “Reply” on your Panels to redesign them or dig deeper into their data."
Panels over phone widgets (user report). Ara wrote in Korean at 12:42 PM ET that the Panel feature is good enough that he'd want to use it instead of iOS widgets (our translation).

Why it matters#

Our read: most assistants report on a long task by sending messages, or not at all. Finn's example shows a different pattern: Hark keeps checking, and the answer sits on one card you can glance at. The usage Panels fill a gap users raised themselves, since Adcock says the app only warns you near the end of your allowance. Our Oct 22 best builds showcase featured one user's hourly usage-budget Panel; Monday's posts show the idea spreading to new users and other kinds of tracking.

How to use it#

These steps use features from Hark's Using Hark page, plus what users report:

Ask for it in chat. The page says "All you do is ask Hark to build one, and it will construct itself right inside Home." Say what it should show.
Set how often it updates. Ezio says "I’ve asked Hark to update it automatically every three hours, and it works pretty well for me!" Harkman, whose bio says he sells a Hark setup guide (we don't link it), replied: "Hark auto updated panels every three hours" and "They won’t go less than one hour". Hark hasn't published a refresh interval, so treat that as user reports.
Refresh by hand when it matters. Harkman says "If you say refresh the panel it will refresh". He adds that his "wasn’t refreshing and hark itself couldn’t tell what i had left".
Change it by replying. The docs say "Talk to your panels just like you talk to Hark."
Keep pings for the end. Finn's point was fewer progress messages. Asking Hark to message you only when the job finishes or fails is our suggestion.

A prompt for a long-job status Panel (ours, untested):

Build me a Panel called Backup Status. Every hour, check the backup job I just described and update the Panel with the percent done, the time of the last check, and any errors. Don't notify me about progress; message me only if it fails or finishes.

Good to know#

Checks cost usage. Hark's pricing page says "All features are offered in all plans. Upgrading your plan increases usage." Hark hasn't said how much an hourly Panel update uses; our Oct 21 piece on Hark's daily limit covers how limits work.
A usage Panel is only as good as what Hark can read. Harkman's note above says Hark couldn't tell him what he had left when his Panel stalled. Check the numbers against Hark's own limit notice if they look stale.
Not tested by us. We don't have a Hark account, so we haven't built a Panel or timed a refresh ourselves.

What to watch#

Whether Hark documents how often Panels refresh and what each update costs. Adcock says Hark has "plenty more updates coming this week and next"; that is his claim, with no details yet.

Sources#

Last checked: Oct 27, 6:02 to 6:06 AM ET (X posts reopened via the X API with note_tweet and media, Panel screenshots viewed, hark.com/using-hark, /pricing and /articles, status.hark.com, App Store lookup, Google Play listing, Business Wire founder line). What changed: first published Oct 27; no updates since.