Apps & Software

Reporter

As minimalist, we have inherent interest in tracking our behaviour. And there’s a myriad of tracking apps that prove that there’s market demand. Track which websites you visit, how many steps you took today, or go with a blank page method by diary apps. But too often apps track for tracking’s sake.

Enter Reporter, the personal tracking app by Nicholas Felton and Drew Breunig.

What sets Reporter apart from it’s competition is that it’s tracking by random sampling. There’s no pressure to complete the same questions every time, there’s no gamification like “you’ve completed all questions 5 times in row”. The learning curve is flat, just start with the basic set of default questions – after a few days you will have a better idea what you want to track. How about what you were wearing, eating or drinking and if did your morning workout routine? You set up questions in various ways – answer with a number, yes/no, a location, or just a text string.  and charts each question’s answers according to their type. 

The best feature is probably the automated tracking of things that the phone can do for you, like your location, the local weather and the ambient noise level, how many photos you’ve taken since your last checkin, and more. It feels magical.

Reporter App Screenshots

Another point of difference is that you don’t need to sign up to anything. Reporter stores everything on your phone. If you are scared to loose the data at one point or want to display the data with a specific visualisation tool you are familiar with, then you can sync it with Dropbox of course.

If you are interested in a lightweight means of exploring your behavior, give it a try.

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