Notes & Memory

What a note is

A note is a timestamped piece of text attached to a person. There's no character limit and no required structure. Some notes are one word ("vegan"). Some are a sentence ("started new job at Stripe, moved to NYC"). Some are paragraphs about a long conversation. They all coexist on the same chronological timeline.

How to add a note

1. Open the person's profile.
2. Tap the + next to the Notes heading.
3. Type your note. It's timestamped automatically when you save, and drops onto their timeline.

You can also add a note from Quick Entry by attaching the entry to an existing person instead of creating a new one.

See all of someone's notes

Tap the chevron (›) next to the Notes heading on a person's card to open the full notes view: every note you've written about them, newest first, each stamped with its date. It's the easy way to skim someone's whole history before you see them, and the + in the corner adds a new note without leaving the screen.

@mentions

Inside a note, type @ and start a name to mention another person from your Pals list. A list of matching people appears; pick one and betterpal drops their name into the note as a highlighted @mention.

"Met Riya through @Sam at the conference. They worked together at Stripe."

The mention is a tappable link: tap @Sam in Riya's note and you jump straight to Sam's card. It's a quick way to hop between people who are connected in real life without leaving the note you're reading.

Reminders on notes

Any note can have a reminder attached. Tap the bell when you're writing a note, pick a date, and the note will surface in the Upcoming tab when that date arrives. Useful for the kind of social follow-up that doesn't justify a calendar event:

• "Follow up about her interview in two weeks."
• "Check in next month after his move."
• "He said he'd send the link. Ping in 5 days if not."

You often don't even have to tap the bell. betterpal reads your note as you write it and recognizes dates and times on its own. Type "Call to check in in a week" and it attaches a reminder for a week out - a small alarm icon appears on the note - and that reminder then shows up in the Upcoming tab when it's due. The same goes for birthdays: a note like "Birthday is today" is recognized as a birthday and offered up to save to their profile. Locations work too, so "moved to Denver" can set where they live.

Quick gestures. On any note in a person's list, swipe right to set a reminder, swipe left to delete, and press and hold to edit. The reminder swipe opens the same quick options - End of day, Tomorrow, Next week, Next month, or a custom date - so a follow-up is two taps away. See Birthdays & Reminders for the full swipe demo.

What's worth writing down

The honest answer: anything you'd be embarrassed to forget. Some specific patterns:

• Context. Where you met, who introduced you, what they were doing.
• Concrete details. Job, neighborhood, partner's name, kids' names and ages.
• Preferences. Dietary restrictions, drink of choice, sport, favorite teams or shows.
• Logistics. Address, clothing sizes, allergies, gift ideas you've heard them mention.
• Updates. New job, new city, new partner, new kid. Date them. They're how you reconstruct someone's recent life from the timeline.

For a deeper take with examples, see notes on people you know.

The chronological timeline

Notes on a person stack in date order. This is more useful than it sounds: scrolling someone's notes is a small movie of how the relationship has changed. You'll see when they switched jobs, when they had a kid, when you started a project together. The timestamp is doing real work.

Common questions

References

1. Slamecka, N. J., & Graf, P. (1978). The generation effect: Delineation of a phenomenon. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4(6), 592-604. PsycNet