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

In July 2023, 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.

In 2025, I was much harsher with myself in another memo:

I was obsessed with building what I called a “personal OKR system.” In reality, it was mostly for show.

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.

Today, I no longer look for a dedicated app for every part of life. I ask what a thought needs next: somewhere to capture it before I lose it, a reminder to act, room to develop, or someone I want to speak to.

Decide what comes next, not what category it belongs to

In theory, the same thought can go to different places. My actual workflow is not so tidy.

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.

None of those destinations is inherently better. The difference is what I plan to do next.

flomo: the thought has no clear destination yet

What I keep in flomo is usually half-formed: an observation, a line of my own, a product detail, or a discomfort I do not yet know how to explain.

I do not require every memo to have a title, and I do not expect each one to become a task or an article. Many entries stay where they began. Sometimes their only job is to keep a thought from disappearing as soon as it arrives.

I have used flomo since 2023 and still write mainly on my phone. My fuller experience, along with a disclosure of my relationship to the product, is in my flomo recording workflow. Here, I am only looking at how I distinguish it from the other three tools.

My rule is simple: if a line has no clear action, does not yet need room to become a longer piece, and has no addressee, I will usually leave it here.

Reminders: the thought has become an action

“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 asks me to do something. The second is still only an observation. Once I can give a thought a clear verb—check, buy, reply, revise, test—it is usually ready for Reminders.

Most entries I put in Reminders today fall into two groups: concrete development tasks and ordinary life reminders I do not want to forget at a particular time. They belong to different parts of life, but they answer the same question for me: what needs to happen next?

Reminders is built to track lists and tasks. What matters most to me is that an item can return when I need it and tell me what to do next. Dates, lists, and tags are available, but I no longer add structure simply because the fields exist.

I also try not to turn every “maybe someday” idea into a task. When an idea has no next action, putting it in a to-do list only turns the list into another inbox I am reluctant to open.

Notes: the material needs development

When a note needs more than a reminder—room to rewrite, add context, and find a better order—I use 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 that choice is simply habit. Another practical reason is that Notes supports shared notes. When I need to share the same topic idea or draft, I do not first have to move it into a more elaborate collaboration system.

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

Writing directly in a chat box pushes me to decide faster, but not always as carefully. Organizing the words in Notes first makes me ask: Should I send this? Do I really want to say this to this person? It feels more like writing a letter.

That memo did not directly become a feature in Inks. Looking back, it reminds me of something I kept returning to while building the app: when words are no longer so easy to send and take back, do we think more carefully before saying them?

Notes remains an editing space for me. I can keep changing a passage until it says what I mean. It does not need an addressee, and I do not need to preserve every deletion or pause.

Inks: I know who the words are for

Inks is not the “next level” after the other three tools. Most memos, tasks, and drafts never need to enter it.

I open Inks when I know who the words are for: myself today, my future self, or another person. That person does not have to be in my contacts, and the letter does not have to be sent. The question shifts from “What do I want to record?” to “What do I want to say to you?” For a practical method, see How to Keep a Letter Journal.

In the current version of Inks, you can start writing without signing in. When you finish, the letter is saved for you first; sharing is a separate choice. Open the letter again and you see the finished version. Only when you deliberately start Replay do the pauses, deletions, and rewrites reappear. The reasoning behind that choice is explained in Why Preserve the Writing Process.

When should a thought move?

I now use four questions:

1. Am I simply afraid I will lose the thought? Capture it quickly without deciding what it must become.

2. Does it contain an action I can perform? Put it in Reminders and make the next step clear.

3. Does it need development, evidence, or revision? Move it to Notes or the document where the real work will happen.

4. Does it have an addressee? If I want to keep it as a letter, I may open Inks.

It may not need to move at all. A memo can remain a memo. A completed reminder can disappear. A draft in Notes may be deleted. A letter does not need to become public.

I no longer need one place for everything

I once wanted a system that could manage all of life. Now I accept that some things will end up in the wrong place, and others will never be organized at all.

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. A real workflow is never as tidy as its diagram.

I no longer need the workflow to feel complete. It is enough if I can capture something easily, see a task when it needs my attention, keep revising a passage, and take my time when I truly want to say something to someone.

I develop Inks, use flomo's free plan, and have long used Apple's Reminders and Notes apps. I have no commercial relationship with flomo or Apple. This is simply how I use them today, not a ranking.

8 min read · 2026-08-25 · 2026-08-25

By Wenpeng Wang, Developer of Inks.

The author develops Inks, uses flomo’s free plan, and has long used Apple’s Reminders and Notes apps. There is no sponsorship or commercial relationship with flomo or Apple. Product details were checked on August 25, 2026.