I have been building simple apps for my own use for some time.
An app I’ve tried (and consistently struggled) to build involves the use of Apple’s SpeechAnalyzer with SpeechTranscriber, a new function in macOS 26 and iOS 26. As I mentioned on Facebook: it is a game changer. I went from what amounted to building an app-within-an-app to transcribe speech with pauses to basically five lines of code that Just Works.
That app is the first one I’m comfortable showing anyone.
I call it Reverie. The goal is a low-friction way to store thoughts for later so the user doesn’t need to keep thinking about them. The primary use case so far has been middle-of-the-night worries. I press and hold the Action button on my iPhone, speak or type out the thought, and tap Save. The thought is then waiting for me in the morning on my phone and in on my Mac.
I’m building it with sensible default behavior, iOS and macOS sync through the user’s own iCloud account, and solid reliability.
If you want to check it out, click through the link and send me a note. I’ll be starting beta testing soon.
My approach is something I’ve been calling joyful computing. Capitalize it if you like; I generally don’t.
Joyful computing means software that:
- Does One Thing. Each app does one job.
- Asks Little. Every click is a tax. Every notification is an interruption. I subtract.
- Leaves the User Lighter. After using the app, do you feel relieved or burdened?
- Always Works. Dependability before delight. A boring app that works is a friend.
- Stays Local. Your data is yours. Local storage first. Cloud sync optional. No accounts. On-device AI.
More on that philosophy later. It is very much a work in progress.
I have several other apps in the works. It is fun to be doing this work again. I’ve been working as a lawyer for 15 or so years, and at this point I think I know what does and doesn’t work for software in a law practice. Who knows, maybe in a few years this will be my day job.