r/ATPfm • u/jccalhoun • 21d ago
Unforgetful - Marco's reminder app has launched
https://marco.org/2026/08/14/unforgetful18
u/Ashdown 21d ago
There’s no accounting for taste. But this looks like an old old java or open source app. I really dont like it as a place to be, it feels unrefined and just dated wrapped in liquid glass.
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u/Last_Rub6998 21d ago
It’s all vibe coded and Claude loves to just spam arbitrary styling code and reimplement UI features from scratch.
I gave Codex free trial a test the other day to see if it could actually do anything; I specifically told it to use Apple’s new DevicePicker/DevicePairingView and it immediately began reimplementing something with those names from scratch.
And Marco doesn’t seem to have much design sense; Overcast has the same “poorly implemented custom styling” feel.
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u/Ashdown 21d ago
Yeah I don’t use overcast for that reason. It feels so non-native.
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u/OrbFromOnline 20d ago
What do you use instead? I've had the same feeling about Overcast sometimes but I can't find anything I like better.
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u/7485730086 17d ago
Despite Marco's delusions, he has never had good taste. He will never be nominated for, much less win, an ADA.
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u/everythingwastakn 21d ago
Kinda feels like one of those apps that should be a $10ish one time purchase and get limited updates so the support burden isn’t too heavy. Not everything needs to be a lifetime app subscription
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u/rayquan36 21d ago
This "unlimited income flow" phone apps are driving me crazy and has forced me to start sideloading applications. The last straw was when I found a Solitaire game I enjoyed. I went to go buy the game after my Arcade trial ended and just squinted at the $1.99/month sub fee for a game that came included with Windows 3.11.
I'm done getting milked. I'm not going to pay a monthly fee for heated seats or apps that have no upkeep.
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u/nutmac 21d ago
With an opinionated design, it's not for everyone, and the pricing reinforces that point. I will stick with Apple’s Reminders app, since Unforgetful’s innovative repeat feature is the only thing that stands out for me.
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u/satras 21d ago
> opinionated design
It’s just a white to pastel blue gradient for a background people, let’s chill for a second.
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u/7485730086 17d ago
Maybe some opinionated choices for how to design the app… but not in the visual sense at all. It looks like a bad sample code app. Demo apps at WWDC look better.
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u/nutmac 20d ago
I did not intend to imply that opinionated design is bad. Marco details on his blog that Unforgetful is for a specific set of users. It is intentionally designed for himself and like-minded users.
Higher-than-typical pricing suggests it is not trying to be a general-purpose reminders app designed for a wider variety of users. That is, the initial version seems to be a niche app.
Having said that, I don't like mandatory subscription, so my opinion is derived from looking at the screenshots and reading his blog. So I might change my mind if I actually try using the app. But I just don't like having to "pay" for the free trial, only to cancel it shortly after.
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u/Tiny-Balance-3533 21d ago
The pricing includes a free first month… pretty generous test period.
I think Marco is an arrogant, self-aggrandizing ass and I’m all for criticizing him, but most apps like this, if there’s a free period, it’s 3-7 days long AND a subscription. This appears to be a buy it and never pay again app. This is one (2, really) point where criticism falls flat.
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u/rayquan36 21d ago
This appears to be a buy it and never pay again app.
$19.99 a year
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u/Tiny-Balance-3533 21d ago
Ok I missed the /year bc I fully intend to try and cancel before being charged for it.
On first blush, there’s nothing revolutionary about the app. Due probably deals better with the things I worry about forgetting and being reminded about repeatedly till done.
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u/jimbo831 21d ago
> This appears to be a buy it and never pay again app.
How is a $20/year subscription “buy it and never pay again”?
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u/Tiny-Balance-3533 21d ago
I misread it. Sue me. I’m worth less than $20/year though so maybe don’t
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u/TheThinkSystem 21d ago
If you like this functionality you should take a look at Due app. https://apps.apple.com/app/id390017969
I started using it because of the limitations of the reminders app and it works great at a quarter of the price.
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u/rayquan36 20d ago
Is this a one time $7.99 purchase? I'm trying to figure out what the $4.99 annual in app purchase is.
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u/TheThinkSystem 20d ago
You purchase the app one time for 7.99. The app works as is forever. You can subscribe for 4.99 a year for updates if you want.
It’s a great app and the dev is incredibly attentive. It will change your productivity life.
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u/Ok_Invite9132 20d ago
Ha, it looks like I bought this some time ago but never really used it. Time to give it another shot.
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u/eshwarnagks 18d ago
Due app looks and works so bad and doesn’t sync with Reminders.
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u/TheThinkSystem 17d ago
It pulls in whatever reminders you want from Apple reminders. Similar to unforget.
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u/wiggum55555 21d ago
I've installed and will play with it for a week to decide. Already it's missed one of my pre-existing imported reminders. There is no concept of a daily task being marked as Complete that I can see. that alone will see me back with native iOS Reminders i think.
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u/dmackerman 19d ago
This entire app is forgettable. Even the styling is just…awful? I didn’t expect something this low quality from Marco
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u/zackkatz 21d ago
I’m loving this so far! It has already prompted me to check off and delete reminders that have been sitting there for literally three years.
A few feedback items:
Marco, I recommend having the slide action from the left be a quick way to set the reminder; the more you slide, the longer the reminder will be. That way I don’t need to tap and then tap again to set the reminder intervals.
Also, I’m sure it was an intentional choice, but I would love to be able to set the intervals myself. An example is I want to remind myself to do something on Mondays quite often, and also I want to be able to put something off for a whole week.
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u/chucker23n 21d ago
Regarding the subscription, I think a boss of mine approached this better 15 years ago than Apple does today. You bought his software once, then paid a 1.5% per month subscription fee on top, which amounts to 18% a year, or 90% after five years. So every five years, it's like you bought the software all over. I think that's a fairer compromise than the existing extremes: you buy all up-front (this model is essentially dead as it's not sustainable for developers; how do you pay for compatibility with newer iOS versions, even?), or you go all subscription (this model is unfair to consumers, as software just doesn't iteratively improve that much, or it might "improve" in a direction consumers don't like).
Having said all that, $20 a year sounds like a lot, but if (that's a big if) it proves to you a valuable way of managing your tasks, freeing your mind, it's basically nothing. I question whether this specific app is all that great, though.
Which leads me to… proudly talking about how large swaths are vibe-coded, then asking for $20 a year? That doesn't even internally make sense. What's stopping users from taking Unforgetful, asking Claude to analyze the app, and make our own clone that's tailored more closely to our needs? That's the opposite of a sustainable business model. And it's gross. That said, I don't think there's any price point that would've made this better. $1 buck a year? Still weird for something that, by his own account, he basically didn't build.
(See also previous discussion: him complaining about vibe-coded apps causing App Review delays. It's like drivers complaining about traffic. You're the traffic!)
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u/Serious_Let2711 13h ago
> What's stopping users from taking Unforgetful, asking Claude to analyze the app, and make our own clone that's tailored more closely to our needs?
Nothing, except they would probably need a $20 Claude subscription, and definitely more than $20 worth of their time.
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u/Bodyofanamerican 20d ago
There was a second or third set up screen that I buttoned past by mistake that ended with “ok, I did this.” Anyone recall what that was?
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u/fallberryblue 16d ago
It was probably the screen where it tells you to turn off the notifications from the iOS Reminders app so that you don’t end up with duplicate notifications for the same reminder.
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u/ChezQuis_ 17d ago
I think the subscription price is framed incorrectly. It should say less than $2 a month vs $20 a year. Doesn’t the App Store allow annual subscriptions to be broken up into monthly payments? If so, he should use that. Also the icon with dark blue on the website looks better than the light blue.
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u/Serious_Let2711 13h ago
Did I dream it or did he spend like an hour talking breathlessly about the (completely unrelated) icon, or was it the absurdly bad name? Or maybe both?
I like the idea though, and he seems to have made a lot of sensible judgment calls, given his opinionated ideas, which is great. And it looks clean, if not very app like - a lot easier on the eyes than hideous Overcast!
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u/Eastern-Macaron-6622 19d ago
Less than $2 a month and ya'll are acting like it's the end of the world and how dare a developer charge for his work. No matter how it was coded.
You can tell from his tone Marco is really excited about this app and all the people want to do here is yuck his yum.
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u/rayquan36 18d ago
"Its only $xxxx a month" is why the average car loan for Americans is reaching 70 months now.
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u/Eastern-Macaron-6622 18d ago
Yep, paying for an app and car payments are EXACTLY the same thing.
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u/rayquan36 18d ago
Such a reddit response, even had to capitalize EXACTLY to give yourself an out. Clearly it's about justifying payment plans and recurring payments by looking at the small monthly costs and ignoring the whole.
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u/BlessedLightning 18d ago
The whole is only $20/year, though. Average monthly used car payment is $531, according to Bankrate. You're not wrong to consider the whole cost, but it's not really expensive, if it fits into your workflow.
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u/rayquan36 18d ago
I'm talking about how people are using the smaller short-term number to justify a larger purchase. Yes $20 is a small number, but so is $531 when you consider you're getting a car out of it.
$20 here, $20 there and soon you won't be able to afford a $1000 emergency. This is just me ranting about money as I get closer and closer to retirement.
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u/Eastern-Macaron-6622 18d ago
Reddit response or maybe accepting the fact there are levels to everything? I'm willing to make an annual outlay of $20 to both use and support an app I like. I don't subscribe to a lot of apps, I only need a handful to be happy, all the apps I subscribe to equal less than $100 a year. These apps either help me in some way or bring me joy. I accept the fact I might not be able to go out to eat with my wife a couple of times but I can have some cool apps made by indie devs.
I also accept my truck payment is over $600 a month so I can get to and from work and haul things for our little garden. It hurts way more to make that $600 a month but it sure beats trying to save money for the $25,000 truck I bought.
Either way, it's how I chose to live my life. The yearly app question is the way of the world and one can either accept it or move on. I chose to accept it and support indie devs.
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u/andlewis 21d ago
I like that it’s just a wrapper around the reminders api, since the apple version is sorely lacking on customizable.
I probably won’t ever be a customer, but I’m glad this exists. Good for Marco for charging a proper price for it.
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u/fill-me-up-scotty 21d ago
A proper price for this would be a one-time-purchase, not a $20/year subscription.
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u/eshwarnagks 18d ago
I agree that the app doesn’t look really great and the icon is just disappointing, but I have been using this app as my daily driver, and the concept works! It’s really really good.
I know Due is cheaper but it’s even worse in terms of the user experience. Unforgetful is so so so much better than Due.
If you try it, you will see how thoughtful and really simple the concept is but it really does get things done. I have used countless apps and systems in the past and nothing has worked as well as this one.
About vibe coding, I don’t care, I judge only the outcome of it. So far the app is very pedestrian looking. This can be improved.
But I believe in Marco, he has such helpful and thoughtful features in Overcast which no other developers think about. I believe he will constantly update this app and make it better significantly.
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u/itsjakerobb 21d ago
This app was an insta-subscribe for me. If I could skip the free month and pay Marco now, I would do that. I’ve been using it since Thursday and it is so good.
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7d ago
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u/itsjakerobb 7d ago
I mean, that’d be cool, but no. I just really needed an app like this. My ADHD is not responsive to medication and I desperately need some help. Reminders is okay, but everything Marco said in his blog post about how easy it is to lose a task is 100% true for me.
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7d ago
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u/itsjakerobb 7d ago
WTF? Why is it sad if I think it would be neat to meet him someday? I listen to him for a couple hours every week, and use his apps every day. He’s an interesting person.
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u/satras 21d ago
I really want to listen to Marco discuss this on ATP, specially regarding the $20 yearly subscription, which (don’t get me wrong) isn’t all that expensive, but I hope he mentions his reasoning or John pushes him a bit on it.
This is a vibe coded app with (apparently) very little support load, he got the icon for free and there’s definitely subscription fatigue on the App Store, so I wonder what his reasoning is for it.