Snag list
In 2024, I was returning to school for a masters degree in AI and Medicine, a decision that, like so much in my life, grew out of a long-standing fascination with health data and what we can do with it. I happened to read about a new wearable being developed by Limitless. To me it sounded like such an obvious productivity boost, and I ordered one immediately. While I waited for my pendant I became very aware of scenarios where I wanted it:
- Forgot someone's name immediately
- Was unclear on a follow-up with someone
- When did my child's cough start, yesterday or the day before?
- What was that company my professor mentioned that was doing something interesting I wanted to look at?
- What was the name of that documentary mentioned in the podcast I listened to on my bike ride yesterday?
The pendant arrived and immediately became something I relied on to help me in many facets of my life. I looked forward to the summaries of my day that would get emailed to me. My behaviour changed. I started to speak out loud things I wanted to remember, because I had one "catch all" place that reliably stored it. I could quickly scan the transcripts and find the grocery items we had run out of, the book I wanted to request from the library, the random gift idea I had for a family member, the idea I wanted to explore as a side project that popped into my head while out for a walk.
Rather than stopping what I was doing to open a grocery list or a notes app or my email, I could simply say things knowing they would be returned to me at a time that I was ready to process them.
So of course when Limitless was acquired by Meta in December 2025, the device was shut down for me as a user in Ireland. I was crushed. Every day I noticed something that I wished I could have used it for. I missed my summary emails and reminders. I felt a bit lost and quite disappointed. After a few months of thinking about it, I realised that even with very little Xcode experience, I could rebuild the system I wanted and missed for myself. I sat down with Claude Code & worked through what an MVP of my personal limitless would require.
I called my app "Snag" because the list was like a list of gaps I had identified that I needed to address, and also because it worked nicely as a verb - I could "snag an idea" to save it to deal with later.
While it took a bit of time to get my Apple developer account approved so I could deploy to my watch, the app grew in scope. I could push items to my grocery list or my daily to-do list. I created a health log so I could remember when my child's cough started or how often I experienced a symptom. I created a contacts system in Apple Notes so I could remember details about people that I so often forget because I never made a place to put them. I built a listening function for transcribing longer thoughts or for when I don't want to type something long and detailed. Each day I think of other ways I would like to improve or streamline or expand the app, and I can do that just because I want to.
Building the app just for me was exhilarating because I didn't have to sell anyone else on the value of a given feature or convince anyone else that a workflow was the correct way to use the app. Things work in a particular way because that is how I like them. It's both freeing and addictive. I've built a lot of software in my professional life but rarely something just for me with no other stakeholders.
I started school last year to study how AI might transform medicine and health. I didn't expect to spend part of it using Xcode and talking to my watch. But maybe that's the point: the most useful applications of any technology tend to be the ones that fit so neatly into your life that you can't quite imagine how you managed without them. I don't know if Snag will ever be more than something I use. But for the first time in a long time, I built something and felt no pressure to find out.