How I Use flomo, Reminders, Notes, and Inks Together

On July 15, 2023, at 2:42 p.m., I carefully mapped out which app I would use for what in flomo. Long-term planning would go in Notion; tasks in Apple's Reminders app; schedules in Calendar; and my knowledge base in Obsidian. I assigned reading notes to MarginNote, everyday thoughts to flomo, saved articles to Cubox, and journaling to yet another app.

The memo named more than a dozen tools. I had assigned an app to almost every part of my life.

I thought a complete system would make me more organized. Instead, I spent a surprising amount of energy deciding where things belonged—but I was not writing or finishing any more than before.

On March 15, 2025, at 6:54 p.m., I was much harsher with myself in another memo. One line read, translated from the original Chinese:

I was obsessed with carefully building what I called a Notion and Lark “personal OKR management system.” It was really just self-deception—surface-level work with no real progress.

That judgment was a little unkind to my earlier self. Notion and Lark had done nothing wrong. I had confused the sense of accomplishment that came from building a system with the work actually moving forward.

I no longer look for a separate app for every part of life. I write something down first, move clear tasks to Reminders, and put longer drafts in Notes.

Just to be clear, this isn’t sponsored. I use flomo’s free plan. It’s not a comparison review either—just how I use these tools.

I start with what happens next

Of course, it is not this tidy in practice.

The note about an older passenger struggling with a transit QR code stayed in flomo. It did not become a task, an article, or a letter. I put a product issue in Reminders only when I truly intend to act on it. Writing I want to develop goes to Notes. Words I clearly want to say to someone may become a letter in Inks.

I usually decide based on whether I need to do anything with it next.

flomo: capture it first

I use flomo for things I have just thought of: an observation, a sentence, a product detail, or an idea I cannot explain clearly yet.

I do not give every memo a title or expect it to become a task or article. Many entries stay there and never go any further.

I have used flomo since 2023 and still write mainly on my phone. I wrote more about that experience in my flomo recording workflow.

If it is only a sentence that has just come to mind, I leave it in flomo. I can sort it out later if I ever need it.

Reminders: I actually need to do it

“Check what happens when a letter fails to export” and “Letter export made me think of something” are not the same kind of entry in my workflow.

The first is a task I need to deal with. The second is still just an idea. If something has a clear next step—check, buy, reply, revise, or test—I put it in Reminders.

Most things I put in Reminders fall into two groups: concrete development tasks and ordinary life reminders I do not want to forget.

I keep using Reminders because an item can return when I need it. Dates, lists, and tags are there, but I rarely add a whole system of categories just to make my task list look more organized.

I do not put every “maybe someday” idea there either. Otherwise the list keeps growing until I no longer want to look at it.

Notes: I need to work it out

If a draft still needs editing, more material, or a different order, I usually put it in Apple’s Notes app.

What I keep there most often now is material developed from loose ideas: topic ideas, early video scripts, and other drafts. Notes can hold headings, lists, images, and links, but I still use it mostly for long stretches of text.

Part of the reason is simply habit. Notes can also be shared, so when someone else needs to see the same topic idea or draft, I can keep using the note I already have.

Long messages prepared for someone else are not my most common use today. Still, on April 16, 2024, at noon, I wrote an observation about Notes in flomo. This is translated from the original Chinese:

I noticed that writing directly in a chat makes me decide faster, but also makes the message rougher. Writing it out in Notes gives me more time to think and organize the words. It feels more like writing a letter: should I send this letter, and do I want to say these things to this person? The writing feels more valuable than a WeChat message that can be sent at any time.

Reading it again now, I still recognize the feeling. When I do not rush to send a message and instead write it out slowly, I think more carefully about whether I want to say it at all.

I mainly use Notes for drafts. I can keep revising a passage until it says what I mean, without keeping track of every change.

Inks: I know who I am writing to

I do not move most memos, tasks, or drafts into Inks.

I usually open Inks after I know who I want to write to. It may be myself today, my future self, or another person. I can keep the finished letter to myself instead of sending it. For a practical method, see How to Keep a Letter Journal.

You can write in Inks without signing in. I save the letter first and share it only if I want to. When I open it again, I see the finished text. If I want to see how I wrote it, I tap Replay. I wrote more about this feature in Why Preserve the Writing Process.

How I roughly divide things now

I do not actually recite four questions every time I write something down. After using these tools for a while, the decisions feel more like this:

1. If it has just appeared and I am afraid I will forget it, it goes in flomo.

2. If I know I need to do it, it goes in Reminders.

3. If it still needs to be developed or rewritten, it goes in Notes or the document where I am working.

4. If I know who I want to speak to, I may turn it into a letter.

Not everything needs another step. A memo can stay where it is, a completed reminder can be deleted, and I may abandon a draft halfway through.

It still gets messy

I used to want one system that could manage everything. Now I do not think it matters if something ends up in the wrong place or never gets organized.

Sometimes I forget to move an idea. Sometimes I finish an entire article in Notes. I still put a clear feature idea in flomo when it is the fastest thing to open. In practice, it never looks as tidy as a diagram.

I used to think the right tools would make the rest of life more organized. I do not think that anymore. I only need to remember what I have to do and be able to find an old idea when I need it.

7 min read · 2026-08-25 · 2026-08-28

By Wenpeng Wang, Developer of Inks.