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A Tot-al Surprise

I don't talk about apps as much as I once did on the blog; that could be considered odd given the fact that I beta test apps for devs all the time; I have very particular tastes in the apps I choose to keep on my phone at any given time; and I am willing to pay for the apps that are most useful to me.1 Enter Tot by The Iconfactory.

Tot is one of those apps that you download and don't think about, but is a lifesaver in most situations. You need to jot something down, but it isn't important enough to save; you want to clear the formatting on a piece of text; or you want a space to hold information for a future blog post. Tot makes text feel at home no matter the purpose.

These all may sound Apple's Notes app could accommodate the use case. True, but Tot has no structure and doesn't pretend to be a place where information goes to live forever. It is intended for transience and transition to more permanent places (if needed). When I first came across Tot, its constraints seemed limiting to me ("Why only 7 panels?") but in use, the constraints lead to action ("I need a new panel, this old information can be...") and the details lead to connection ("That list is in Tot; I know it's safe.")

Much to my surprise, this morning I opened by desktop RSS reader of choice (NetNewsWire2) and Craig Hockenberry had posted to The Iconfactory's Breakroom blog about Version 2.0 of Tot, a huge update to the app. You can read the blog post for all the details, but I am excited about these updates.3

There are only a few app development companies that I follow because I love the work they do and most of them have been around for awhile (read: they predate the iPhone and I fell in love with their work on the Mac or the web); The Iconfactory is one of those companies. They have always identified themselves by their whimsy and delight in the details of the work. Tot is a great example of opinionated, whimsical design that works. Here's to years more of Tot in my life. 🥂

  1. Additional general notes about apps:

    • I definitely prefer single purchase apps to subscriptions, but will keep a subscription for apps that I use at least once a week.
    • I prefer apps that either don't collect any data at all or collect data only to improve the quality of their product.
    • I will admit that I have plenty of apps that I dislike but that serve a needed purpose, like smart home apps, service apps for mobile ticketing, etc.
    ↩

  2. I also love Reeder, but they serve different purposes for me. ↩

  3. The key to the updates is that they are intentionally chosen to enhance the experience of using the app, while keeping it the same simple, well-designed space for text that it has always been. If the updates create friction, they would defeat the app's original intent; this is an aspect of what makes The Iconfactory so good at what they do. ↩