Reflect - a Roam Research knockoff with a few nice features
Started by Stephen Zeoli
on 10/3/2021
Stephen Zeoli
10/3/2021 12:10 pm
I just was invited to try this new information manager called Reflect:
https://reflect.app
(There isn't much info on the website yet.)
I gave it a quick inspection. It has many of the features of Roam, including daily notes, backlinks and a graph. However, I find it looks much more inviting than Roam. It integrates with Google Calendar and Contacts, and gives you some nice functionality if you integrate.
It has a web app and a Mac app (it seems strange that it is Mac oriented, but doesn't integrate with Apple's calendar or contacts).
It costs $160 per year, which is even more than Roam's high cost, though there is a two week free trial.
An iOS app is in the works... I think it is accessible through TestFlight now.
I already cancelled my subscription because I don't use Google Calendar and Contacts, and I'd really, really think I will use it to pay that price. But I want to mention it so we have the app on our record, and it might be the right choice for some.
Steve
https://reflect.app
(There isn't much info on the website yet.)
I gave it a quick inspection. It has many of the features of Roam, including daily notes, backlinks and a graph. However, I find it looks much more inviting than Roam. It integrates with Google Calendar and Contacts, and gives you some nice functionality if you integrate.
It has a web app and a Mac app (it seems strange that it is Mac oriented, but doesn't integrate with Apple's calendar or contacts).
It costs $160 per year, which is even more than Roam's high cost, though there is a two week free trial.
An iOS app is in the works... I think it is accessible through TestFlight now.
I already cancelled my subscription because I don't use Google Calendar and Contacts, and I'd really, really think I will use it to pay that price. But I want to mention it so we have the app on our record, and it might be the right choice for some.
Steve
Stephen Zeoli
10/3/2021 12:17 pm
One other note: Reflect integrates with Kindle... I'm not sure exactly how. And there is a Chrome extension that allows you to highlight text on any website and pull that text into a new note annotated with source information.
Sarah
10/3/2021 8:50 pm
Stephen.
What a very nice surprise this is.
Thank you! I've signed up.
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
What a very nice surprise this is.
Thank you! I've signed up.
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
One other note: Reflect integrates with Kindle... I'm not sure exactly
how. And there is a Chrome extension that allows you to highlight text
on any website and pull that text into a new note annotated with source
information.
Stephen Zeoli
10/4/2021 6:02 pm
Hi, Sarah,
Please report your experience with Reflect. Thank you.
Steve
Please report your experience with Reflect. Thank you.
Steve
Sarah
10/6/2021 1:56 am
Hi Steve,
I couldn't get in, I don't have a Mac. I thought with an iPad, I'd be able to try it out. So disappointing, but maybe in time, this will change.
Sarah
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
I couldn't get in, I don't have a Mac. I thought with an iPad, I'd be able to try it out. So disappointing, but maybe in time, this will change.
Sarah
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
Hi, Sarah,
Please report your experience with Reflect. Thank you.
Steve
Sarah
10/12/2021 9:12 am
Accounts are created on web or, not on, a Mac.
Sorry about that, Apple is now back to save me from my poor choice of attractive font styles and very small type that this Galaxy allowed, and while it's dull, I kind of wonder how many mistakes like this I've made.
Anyway, I set up my account and played with it on an old iPhone.
It's user friendly, fast and very smooth. It was effortless to create links, start notes, outlines, create a task and a tag. It comes with instructions, but they're not needed. I get the feeling that this is only a small part of what it's made for, though.
The outlines indent and outdent with a swipe, and expand and collapse at the bullet on the left.
They also posted their values, also succinct and plainly worded, and it includes a couple of phrases that have come to mean a lot to me over this past year:
"We will end to end encrypt your notes." and
"We will value simplicity and a beautiful user experience."
It looks like they're off to a busy start, so who knows how things could change over the next 6 months or so. But I think their direction is clear, I think they're working hard. I definitely appreciate their approach and their effort.
They're very responsive, and haven't swamped me with automated emails, which is also different. I really prefer support over discord, but most people probably don't have that as a priority and that could change too.
I'll probably take another look at it in a month or so. I just wanted to make that correction and thanks again Steven, for mentioning it. This isn't something I would have found for some time.
Thank you,
Sarah
Sorry about that, Apple is now back to save me from my poor choice of attractive font styles and very small type that this Galaxy allowed, and while it's dull, I kind of wonder how many mistakes like this I've made.
Anyway, I set up my account and played with it on an old iPhone.
It's user friendly, fast and very smooth. It was effortless to create links, start notes, outlines, create a task and a tag. It comes with instructions, but they're not needed. I get the feeling that this is only a small part of what it's made for, though.
The outlines indent and outdent with a swipe, and expand and collapse at the bullet on the left.
They also posted their values, also succinct and plainly worded, and it includes a couple of phrases that have come to mean a lot to me over this past year:
"We will end to end encrypt your notes." and
"We will value simplicity and a beautiful user experience."
It looks like they're off to a busy start, so who knows how things could change over the next 6 months or so. But I think their direction is clear, I think they're working hard. I definitely appreciate their approach and their effort.
They're very responsive, and haven't swamped me with automated emails, which is also different. I really prefer support over discord, but most people probably don't have that as a priority and that could change too.
I'll probably take another look at it in a month or so. I just wanted to make that correction and thanks again Steven, for mentioning it. This isn't something I would have found for some time.
Thank you,
Sarah
Sarah
10/12/2021 9:12 am
Accounts are created on web or, not on, a Mac.
Sorry about that, Apple is now back to save me from my poor choice of attractive font styles and very small type that this Galaxy allowed, and while it's dull, I kind of wonder how many mistakes like this I've made.
Anyway, I set up my account and played with it on an old iPhone.
It's user friendly, fast and very smooth. It was effortless to create links, start notes, outlines, create a task and a tag. It comes with instructions, but they're not needed. I get the feeling that this is only a small part of what it's made for, though.
The outlines indent and outdent with a swipe, and expand and collapse at the bullet on the left.
They also posted their values, also succinct and plainly worded, and it includes a couple of phrases that have come to mean a lot to me over this past year:
"We will end to end encrypt your notes." and
"We will value simplicity and a beautiful user experience."
It looks like they're off to a busy start, so who knows how things could change over the next 6 months or so. But I think their direction is clear, I think they're working hard. I definitely appreciate their approach and their effort.
They're very responsive, and haven't swamped me with automated emails, which is also different. I really prefer support over discord, but most people probably don't have that as a priority and that could change too.
I'll probably take another look at it in a month or so. I just wanted to make that correction and thanks again Steven, for mentioning it. This isn't something I would have found for some time.
Thank you,
Sarah
Sorry about that, Apple is now back to save me from my poor choice of attractive font styles and very small type that this Galaxy allowed, and while it's dull, I kind of wonder how many mistakes like this I've made.
Anyway, I set up my account and played with it on an old iPhone.
It's user friendly, fast and very smooth. It was effortless to create links, start notes, outlines, create a task and a tag. It comes with instructions, but they're not needed. I get the feeling that this is only a small part of what it's made for, though.
The outlines indent and outdent with a swipe, and expand and collapse at the bullet on the left.
They also posted their values, also succinct and plainly worded, and it includes a couple of phrases that have come to mean a lot to me over this past year:
"We will end to end encrypt your notes." and
"We will value simplicity and a beautiful user experience."
It looks like they're off to a busy start, so who knows how things could change over the next 6 months or so. But I think their direction is clear, I think they're working hard. I definitely appreciate their approach and their effort.
They're very responsive, and haven't swamped me with automated emails, which is also different. I really prefer support over discord, but most people probably don't have that as a priority and that could change too.
I'll probably take another look at it in a month or so. I just wanted to make that correction and thanks again Steven, for mentioning it. This isn't something I would have found for some time.
Thank you,
Sarah
Stephen Zeoli
10/12/2021 12:44 pm
Thank you for the update, Sarah!
Steve
Steve
steve-rogers
10/13/2021 1:21 pm
As a Mac-centric user, Reflect looks very interesting. Based on the (very) limited amount of information on the web site, it seems to compete in a niche with Roam/Craft/Logseq. The visual design looks very appealing. However, I won't be exploring this software for the time being for a few reasons.
1. The developer requires credit card information just to activate a 14 day trial period. I am unwilling to risk this information for an unknown developer or for a piece of software that I have greater familiarity with.
2. Their roadmap page indicates that Reflect has yet to reach feature parity with it's major competitors, making it difficult to justify the high cost (in my mind).
2. The software is pricey at $160/year (no apparent option for monthly billing). I am perfectly willing to purchase software or pay for subscriptions for quality software (e.g. Tinderbox, Curio, DevonThink) but this price point places Reflect in a top-tier category. As an academic user, I have access to Roam and Craft at $7 and $0 per month, respectively.
It seems to me the developer of Reflect is making a tactical error by making it difficult to onboard new users with the credit card policy and will also be challenged by competing with established competitors with a full suite of features at that premium price. All the same, I'll keep an eye on Reflect to see how it progresses over time.
1. The developer requires credit card information just to activate a 14 day trial period. I am unwilling to risk this information for an unknown developer or for a piece of software that I have greater familiarity with.
2. Their roadmap page indicates that Reflect has yet to reach feature parity with it's major competitors, making it difficult to justify the high cost (in my mind).
2. The software is pricey at $160/year (no apparent option for monthly billing). I am perfectly willing to purchase software or pay for subscriptions for quality software (e.g. Tinderbox, Curio, DevonThink) but this price point places Reflect in a top-tier category. As an academic user, I have access to Roam and Craft at $7 and $0 per month, respectively.
It seems to me the developer of Reflect is making a tactical error by making it difficult to onboard new users with the credit card policy and will also be challenged by competing with established competitors with a full suite of features at that premium price. All the same, I'll keep an eye on Reflect to see how it progresses over time.
satis
10/13/2021 1:30 pm
Steve I came to give my impressions but you succinctly said everything I was prepared to mention.
Lucas
10/13/2021 4:27 pm
I agree with comments above, but I recommend, in such situations, using https://privacy.com/ (which has a free tier) to create disposable temporary credit cards. Using that approach, I went ahead and tried Reflect, but I found that, while very slick, it doesn't have enough features yet. (No unlinked mentions, not obvious how to expand and collapse...) Will keep an eye on it
MadaboutDana
10/14/2021 9:06 am
Ha! Neat trick! I haven’t met that idea before – clever.
Lucas wrote:
Lucas wrote:
I agree with comments above, but I recommend, in such situations, using
https://privacy.com/ (which has a free tier) to create disposable
temporary credit cards. Using that approach, I went ahead and tried
Reflect, but I found that, while very slick, it doesn't have enough
features yet. (No unlinked mentions, not obvious how to expand and
collapse...) Will keep an eye on it
Sarah
10/15/2021 3:01 am
Lucas wrote:
Thank you for this, Lucas!
I agree with comments above, but I recommend, in such situations, using
https://privacy.com/ (which has a free tier) to create disposable
temporary credit cards.
Thank you for this, Lucas!
satis
5/5/2023 1:18 pm
Is anyone using Reflect?
Apparently they are actuating a social marketing push as I am seeing a number of Producivity YouTubers making videos on the service like this one today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBryjpj1ut0
I visited the service at https://site.reflect.app/home/ and was struck by how many buzzwords and checkoff-features it offers - everything from integations with Zapier/Readwise/Google Calendar, to AI assistant and e2e encryption.
Apparently they are actuating a social marketing push as I am seeing a number of Producivity YouTubers making videos on the service like this one today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBryjpj1ut0
I visited the service at https://site.reflect.app/home/ and was struck by how many buzzwords and checkoff-features it offers - everything from integations with Zapier/Readwise/Google Calendar, to AI assistant and e2e encryption.
Stephen Zeoli
5/6/2023 11:02 am
I have been using Reflect for a few months now. It is NOT as fulll featured as many of these apps, such as Capacities or Tana. But that's one of its strengths, for me. It is much simpler. I've found it the closest thing to frictionless for jotting daily notes. It does have some nice extra features. I used its sophisticated AI to make an outline of a book manuscript I was reviewing -- it should be said, however, that they impose daily limits on the number of words you can process through their AI, so it took me three days to make the outline. Still, their AI did a much better job than the AI in Craft, which was a mess.
Reflect has a decent iOS app for capturing notes on the fly.
What they don't have yet, but are working on is a real task management system. And the only way I've found for getting notes out of Reflect is cut and paste.
Still, I enjoy using Reflect.
Steve
satis wrote:
Reflect has a decent iOS app for capturing notes on the fly.
What they don't have yet, but are working on is a real task management system. And the only way I've found for getting notes out of Reflect is cut and paste.
Still, I enjoy using Reflect.
Steve
satis wrote:
Is anyone using Reflect?
Apparently they are actuating a social marketing push as I am seeing a
number of Producivity YouTubers making videos on the service like this
one today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBryjpj1ut0
I visited the service at https://site.reflect.app/home/ and was struck
by how many buzzwords and checkoff-features it offers - everything from
integations with Zapier/Readwise/Google Calendar, to AI assistant and
e2e encryption.