Ten Everyday Ways to Use Minima Do

Minima Do has one record button with four options behind it: To-do, Meeting, Journal and Live. That's the whole idea, and it's meant to be simple. It turns out a lot of ordinary moments fit one of the four.

Here are ten that work well. None of them need a system. Pick one or two that match your week and start there.

Ten Ways In

1. Errands on the way out.

You're at the door with your keys and four things in your head. Tap record, pick To-do, and say them as they come. For example: "Drop the parcel at the post office, pick up the dry cleaning, buy dog food, and book the car in for Thursday." Minima Do splits that into four separate to-dos, and Thursday becomes the due date on the last one. Tick them off as you go.

2. A lecture or study group recap.

Meeting works for more than meetings. Record a lecture or a study session (up to two hours) and you get a title, a summary and the action items, which in a class tend to be readings and deadlines. Ask before you record, as you would anywhere else. Later, you start from the summary instead of a page of scribbles.

On iPhone, to-dos from a meeting stay out of your main list unless you turn on Show meeting to-dos. That keeps a lecture's reading list from crowding your errands, and you can switch it on when you want everything in one place.

3. A weekly review in a few minutes.

Once a week, sit down with a coffee and do one to-do dump of everything still floating around. A to-do recording can run up to 3.5 minutes, which is plenty if you keep moving. Something like: "Renew the passport. Email Priya about the invoice on Monday. Return the library books by Saturday. Look into a new bike lock." You get a clean list, with due dates on the ones where you named a day.

4. Interview prep, two ways.

A few days before an interview, use Journal to think it through out loud. Talk about why you want the job, the project you're proudest of, the question you're dreading. You get back a clean, titled entry that only you can see, and reading it back is a quick way to find the answers you actually believe.

Then do a practice run with a friend playing the interviewer, and turn on Live while you talk. Cards drop in as the questions come: a point you could make, a question to ask back, a follow-up to note. It's a low-pressure way to find out which answers hold up before it counts.

5. Ideas on a walk.

Walks are good for thinking and bad for typing. Open Journal and ramble. Something like: "Okay, so, the garden. Maybe move the herbs by the kitchen door. And I keep thinking about a bench under the tree, honestly." When you get home there's a tidy, titled entry waiting, and half-thoughts are easier to judge once they're written down. A journal entry can run up to two hours, so a long walk is fine.

6. A meeting recap for your team.

Record the meeting with Meeting and open it when it ends. The summary text is selectable, so you can copy it and paste it into an email or a team chat. Add a line of your own at the top and the recap is sent before everyone has found their next room. Tell people at the start that you're recording.

7. The to-do you'd rather type.

Sometimes talking isn't right, on a quiet train or in a library. The to-do list has a row where you type a to-do straight in. "Buy milk" doesn't need a recording.

8. A reminder for anything with a time.

When a to-do has a time, Minima Do sends you a reminder notification, as long as notifications are allowed. If you haven't given it a separate reminder, it arrives an hour before the time. Tap a to-do to edit it and you can set a time on its due date, so "call the pharmacy" at 4pm gets a nudge at 3.

9. Your list on the Home Screen.

On iPhone, Minima Do has widgets for your open to-dos, your latest meetings and journal entries, and a quick record button. Put the to-do widget on your first Home Screen and what's still open is the first thing you see when you pick up your phone. Widgets come with Pro.

10. A hard conversation.

Live listens during a conversation or a call and drops in short cards: something to say, something to ask, something to capture. When you stop, you keep the cards you want, and the action cards become to-dos. It's useful for the talks where you know you'll freeze a little, like a rate negotiation or a tense client call. The phone needs to be able to hear the conversation, so keep it on the table.

Known Words, So Names Come Out Right

If you work with people called Siobhan and Aoife, or on a product with an unusual name, speech to text can stumble. Known words fixes that. Add names, products and jargon in Profile on iPhone, or from the sidebar, and transcripts and summaries spell them your way.

It works from your next recording on. Old recordings aren't rewritten, so add a word before the meeting where it will come up. A good habit is to add a new client's name the day you first hear it.

Privacy, Briefly

Meeting audio is deleted once it's transcribed. To-do, journal and Live audio is never stored. There are no ads and no tracking, your data is never sold, and the app asks for your permission before any AI processing.

Start With One

You don't need all ten. Pick the one that fits a moment you already have, maybe the minute at the front door or the Monday meeting, and try it for a week.

Minima Do is on iPhone and iPad. Download it on the App Store. Minima Do Pro is $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the US (the App Store shows your local price), and new subscribers can start with a free week when their Apple Account is eligible.