Finder Reminder

Developer: Codetent
Price: $1.99
Version: 1.01
App Reviewed on: iPod Touch 4g
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Ever taken a picture of something with your iPhone so you can remember it later, like an item you want to buy, a book you want to look up when you get home, or a URL on a poster on the bus? The problem is, these mnemonic devices get buried in with the photos that you actually want to keep, and by the time you get around to getting them off your smartphone, you can’t remember why they were there in the first place.

I got really excited when I had the opportunity to review Finder Reminder because I have a terrible habit of taking dozens of pictures a day and then, when I need to free up some space, forgetting what they were for and deleting them. Also I had no easy way of turning them into the equivalent of a GTD “next action”, so they never rose to a high enough level in my consciousness to be of much use. Finder Reminder is here to fix all that. Instead of allowing photographic reminders to languish in the Camera Roll, create a “Thing” in Finder Reminder, attach the photo (or one of several generic icons), fill in a description, even store GPS coordinates and optionally send out an email with the photo attached. This is useful for requesting the return of borrowed objects (“Hey, remember this thing you borrowed? I’d like it back now.”)

If this sounds like a lot of work, you’d be right, but the simple act of stopping and entering in a few descriptive words helps to cement the memory association even further. Finder Reminder’s home screen displays the photographs in icon format for quick reference; touch to see a larger view of the picture, or switch to the details pane for more info.

It took a little while to figure out how to use this app, but once I did, I was very pleased. I especially appreciated the fact that once you attached a photo to a Thing it made a separate copy outside the Camera Roll, which meant I could go ahead and delete the original.

My delight increased even further when I realized I could send emails, with Thing details included, directly into my Remember The Milk account, thereby solving my “next action” problem I mentioned earlier (unfortunately RTM doesn’t handle the attached photos). Still, this small feature can make a big difference and I’m sure this would work with any number of popular services that accept incoming messages to delegated email addresses.

Finder Reminder’s interface is a tad rough; there are a few places where the sequence of screens and panels feel a little awkward. For example, I kept trying to swipe the screen to get from the photo enlargement panel to the details panel, but you’re supposed to tap the button at the bottom of the screen. I managed to adjust but this annoyed me for a long while. Also, the default zoom level for the map view is just a hair too close for any data to appear without having to pinch a few times. Finally, I wish the “take a picture” icon and the “delete” icon were not so close to each other.

Still, Finder Reminder is essentially a good little app with some solid features that make it worth keeping around. I look forward to seeing some UI enhancements in future releases.