Notes, to-dos, and reminders on a dumb phone

Switching to a flip phone or a Light Phone usually means giving up your notes app. Texting your thoughts somewhere that sorts them is the workaround that holds up.

the problem

The hardest part of leaving a smartphone usually isn't maps or messaging. It's the small stuff: the errand you remember in the car, the book a friend mentions, the question to ask at the next appointment. A notes app is where those used to go, and most dumb phones don't have one worth using.

So people improvise. They text a partner, email themselves from a laptop later, or carry a paper notebook. All three work until they don't: the text gets buried in a conversation, the email never gets sent, the notebook is in the other bag.

text it somewhere that sorts it

Every phone can send a text, so make texting the capture. Register your number with the void and then text it whenever you have something worth remembering. Each text becomes a memo, sorted exactly like one typed on the website.

Nothing texts you back unless you ask. Confirmations are off until you turn them on, so the thread stays quiet and there's nothing to pull you back to the phone.

1. Sign up on a computer and open Settings.
2. Register your phone: Settings gives you a short code, and you text VOID followed by that code from the phone you want to use.
3. From then on, text anything to the same number. Add a #tag if you want it tagged, like #groceries or #work.
4. Review on your own schedule. A summary email, daily or weekly, lists what you sent and what's still to do.

which phones it works with

Any phone that can send a text message from a US number. That includes the phones people most often switch to:

• Light Phone, the minimalist phone with no browser, feed or app store.
• Nokia flip and feature phones, keypad texting included.
• Sunbeam phones, built for families and teens who want a phone without the internet.
• Commodore Callback, and any other basic phone that can text.

Save the void as a contact, so capturing a thought is the same few presses as texting a friend. On a keypad phone, typing a # can mean a trip into the symbols menu, so tags are optional.

dates and reminders

Say when in the text, like "dentist friday at 3", and you can send the memo to your favorite calendar or task tracking app with the click of a button. Or keep it in the void as a task with a due date, and you'll get an email when it's due.

The reviewing happens wherever you read email, which for most dumb phone users is a laptop once or twice a day. That's the point: capture takes a few seconds wherever you are, and the deciding happens at a desk, all at once.

limits worth knowing

Texting only works from US phone numbers, for now. Only the words are saved, so a photo sent as a picture message isn't kept. Your carrier's usual messaging rates apply.

read more

• texting a memo in
• summary emails and task reminders
• sending memos to TickTick and Google Calendar