Why I made Attimo

I first had the rough idea for Attimo about five years ago. It was much simpler than the app is today, and it started as essentially a Watch-first idea.

Things pop into my head throughout the day that I don't want to forget. Typing them out, or putting them into the “proper” app (whatever that happens to be), often feels strangely burdensome in the moment.

A lot of great writing and notes apps are very good at making what you write look good. But that can also make formatting, structure, and organization feel like part of writing something down. I wanted almost the opposite: the digital equivalent of a thick marker, something I could use to quickly capture an unpolished thought and worry about the rest later.

Most tools ask me to decide too early. Is this a task, a note, a reminder, or an event? Where does it belong? Those are reasonable questions, but they can be enough friction for me not to capture the thought at all.

Some things I want to remember or revisit do not have a date. They are not reminders, and I may not yet know whether they belong in a notes app, a task manager, or somewhere else.

The first version of the idea was much simpler. There were no generated titles, summaries, or Tag suggestions. I mostly wanted a place on my wrist where I could say something before I forgot it.

What changed was realizing that the thought did not need to become a finished note at all. I could say it as it came out, keep the original recording, and let Attimo use the transcript to give the Moment a title, summarize it, and suggest where it might belong.

The transcription and generated text will not always get everything right. That is also why I like keeping the recording itself: the original is still there.

I also care a lot about workflows between apps. Attimo should not become the final destination for everything I capture. Once I know what a Moment actually is, I may want it in the tools I already use.

That is why Tags can connect to Shortcuts. They give me a way to hand a Moment to an existing workflow without having to think about that workflow while I am recording.

But that comes later. The part I care about most is still being able to catch a thought before it slips away, say it however it comes out, and keep going.