📖 User Manual

Tome is not a diary app, nor a note-taking app. It solves one problem: lowering the barrier to "recording yourself" — so low you can capture a thought anywhere, anytime, and then assemble the scattered pieces into a complete life trajectory.

1. Install & Launch

Download from the App Store. Tome runs on iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch.

• iPhone: primary recording device, full-featured.
• Mac: deep writing + large-screen browsing, three-column layout (sidebar / list / detail).
• iPad: review & organize, shares the iPhone codebase.
• Apple Watch: ultra-fast voice capture — raise wrist and record.

No sign-in or registration required on first launch. Your data is entirely yours.

2. Core Concept: Dual Timeline

Tome separates "the act of recording" from "the thing itself":

• Recorded at (createdAt): system-written, immutable. When you actually made the entry.
• Occurred at (occurredAt): user-configurable. When the event actually happened — today, yesterday, "around 1993", or "childhood". This is the primary sort dimension of the timeline.

When capturing a past memory, the two can be decades and thousands of kilometers apart. Occurred time supports 6 precision levels: exact → day → month → year → decade → vague era (e.g. "childhood").

Similarly, occurred location supports fuzzy precision: exact coordinates → POI → city → region → vague label (e.g. "my childhood yard").

3. Five Entry Types

Tap the + button at the bottom and choose:

• Voice 🎙️: starts recording immediately with zero latency. Available on iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch. After recording, on-device transcription runs automatically (no network needed). Original audio and transcribed text are both preserved. The audio player supports a draggable progress bar.
• Text ✍️: opens the editor with the keyboard up. Supports long-form writing. Real-time auto-save (writes 600ms after you stop typing). No "save" button. Empty entries are automatically discarded on exit.
• Checklist ☑️: one checkbox per line. Tap to toggle (strikethrough + gray out). Add new items anytime. Switch between text mode and checklist mode.
• Photo 📸: shoot a new photo or pick from your library. Single photos display full-width; multiple photos show in a 2-column grid. Tap to enter the fullscreen viewer (zoom + swipe).
• Video 🎬: shoot or select a video. An inline player plays directly within the entry (16:9 ratio).

One entry can contain text + photos + videos + audio all at once.

4. Editor In-Depth

Inside the editor, you can:

• Change occurred time: tap the time area at the top to open the time editor. Choose from 6 precision levels and set an anchor date.
• Add theme tags: tap the "Themes" button to pick existing themes or create new ones. An entry can have multiple themes. Bound themes display as horizontally-scrolling chips.
• Write body text: multi-line text input that grows with your content. Placeholder reads "Body".
• Add attachments: tap the 📷 button at the bottom to shoot a photo / pick a photo from library / pick a video from library.
• Switch format: tap the Aa button at the bottom to toggle between "Body" and "Checklist" modes.

5. Voice Transcription

After recording, Tome automatically transcribes using the Apple Speech framework — fully on-device (no network, no audio upload).

• Transcription status: pending → in progress → done / failed.
• On failure, you can manually retry. The original audio is always preserved.
• The pending transcription queue is consumed each time the app comes to the foreground.
• Recording format: AAC 44.1kHz mono (high quality); Apple Watch uses AAC 16kHz mono.

Apple Watch recording flow: Watch records → transfers the file to iPhone via WatchConnectivity → iPhone creates the entry and queues transcription. The Watch does not transcribe (saves battery; keeps the pipeline stable).

6. Timeline Browsing

The home screen is a timeline sorted by occurred time, newest first:

• Two views: list view / gallery view (2-column card grid). Toggle via the nav bar button.
• Pinned section: pinned entries appear in a dedicated "Pinned" section. The rest are grouped by year.
• Swipe gestures: swipe right to pin/unpin; swipe left to delete (soft delete, 30-day retention).
• Pull to refresh: sync the latest data.
• Mac three-column layout: left sidebar (all entries + theme list), middle list, right detail. Drag entries onto themes in the sidebar.

7. Themes & Tags

Use themes to track the evolution of a train of thought:

• Create / rename / delete themes.
• Bind multiple themes to one entry (many-to-many).
• Tap a theme to see all entries under it.
• Hierarchical themes supported (e.g. "Worldview > Freedom").
• Mac sidebar shows the theme list with entry counts; supports drag & drop.

8. Search & Filter

The top search bar supports full-text search (case-insensitive). Advanced filters can be combined:

• Entry type: voice / text / checklist / photo / video (multi-select)
• Has photos: filter entries with photo attachments
• Has location: filter entries with an occurred or captured location
• Pinned: filter pinned entries
• Date range: from a date to a date

9. Insights

On Mac, the sidebar footer provides an Insights view showing:

• Current streak (consecutive days counting back from today/yesterday)
• Longest streak ever
• Total entries, active days, total word count
• Top 5 most-visited places

10. Footprint Map

On Mac, a map view plots all entries with coordinates. Tap a pin to open the entry detail. Coordinates are sourced from: occurred location → capture location at recording time.

11. iCloud Sync

Tome syncs through your private iCloud account (CloudKit private database), not through any developer server:

• All data lives in the iCloud.com.tipshot.self container.
• iPhone / Mac / Watch / iPad stay in sync automatically.
• Encrypted in transit, end-to-end protected by your Apple ID.
• Tome has no server of its own and holds no user data.
• The UI auto-refreshes when remote changes are detected.

12. Data Export

Trigger export in Settings. Two formats are produced simultaneously:

• JSON (machine-readable): self-export.json, containing all entries, themes, and metadata. Versioned and structurally stable — can be re-imported. Media files are placed in a sibling media/ directory.
• Markdown (human-readable): organized by occurred time, one chapter per year. Each entry includes its type icon, time, location, body text, attachment references, and theme tags. Readable with no software at all.

13. Apple Watch

The Apple Watch app is an ultra-fast voice capture tool:

• Black background, large red circular mic button at center.
• Tap to start recording: timer (MM:SS) + waveform animation + red stop button.
• Recordings shorter than 1 second are filtered out.
• Below the mic: a list of recent entries (latest 10 summaries) pushed from iPhone.
• Siri shortcut support for starting a recording.

14. Settings

In Settings, you can configure:

• Record location: when on, the device location is captured automatically at recording time. Can be globally turned off. On by default.
• App lock: when on, the app locks when you leave it. Returning requires Face ID / Touch ID / passcode. Off by default.
• Daily reminder: a local notification at 21:00 by default (time adjustable). Content: "Jot something down — take a minute to capture your thoughts."
• Recently deleted: recover or permanently delete entries soft-deleted within the last 30 days.
• App language: follows the system; can jump to System Settings to set a per-app language for Tome.
• Data export: export both JSON and Markdown formats.

15. Recently Deleted

Deleted entries go to "Recently Deleted" and are permanently purged after 30 days. During the retention period, you can recover them anytime, or manually permanently delete (with a confirmation dialog). Expired entries are cleaned up automatically on app launch.

16. Siri Shortcuts

Siri can start a voice recording: "Tome record", "Record Tome", "Tome" — opens the app and immediately enters the recording screen. Supported on both iOS and Watch.

17. Reflection Prompts

When creating a new entry, you can choose "Prompt me". A random prompt is drawn from 15 built-in Chinese prompts. Categories include gratitude, mood, relationships, perspective shifts, self-reflection, childhood memories, physical sensations, goal review, and more — helping you overcome the "what should I write" block.

18. FAQ

Q: Is my data uploaded?
No. Data lives only on your devices and in your private iCloud account. Tome has no server.

Q: Will my data survive a new phone?
As long as you use the same Apple ID with iCloud enabled, your data syncs to the new device automatically.

Q: Does voice transcription need the internet?
No. Transcription uses Apple's on-device speech recognition — fully offline.

Q: How do I capture a past memory?
Create a new entry, then tap the time area at the top to change the occurred time. Supports exact minute precision, as well as fuzzy times like "2020", "the 1990s", or "childhood".

Q: Can deleted entries be recovered?
Yes. Deleted entries go to "Recently Deleted" and can be recovered within 30 days. After that, they're permanently removed.

Q: Is the export format stable long-term?
Yes. The JSON format is versioned and structurally stable. Even decades from now, anything that parses JSON can read it.

19. Feedback

This app is maintained by an indie developer. Every comment, bug report, and feature idea is taken seriously. Reach out anytime at selfren@163.com.

When reporting an issue, please include your app version (visible in Settings) and OS version so it can be tracked down faster.