Reflect

Picture your Monday: three meetings, a podcast you half-listened to, and a few articles you meant to come back to. With Reflect, you start the day on today's daily note, jot meeting notes as they happen, backlink the people and projects you mention, and clip the article with the Chrome extension on Mac so the source link sits right next to the quote you saved. At the end of the day you ask the AI assistant to list key takeaways and action items from your meeting notes, and the answers link back to the notes they came from. That loop is what Reflect is built for, and it's the reason it's worth a look.

The current version is a different animal from the Reflect many people remember. It's now an open-source note-taking app that stores your notes as local Markdown files in a folder you choose. Sync runs through iCloud Drive or Git rather than a proprietary cloud, and the code is on GitHub. The Mac app is free with no subscription required, while the iPhone and iPad app needs a paid subscription, with local pricing shown on the App Store. The AI features are optional and bring-your-own-key: requests go directly to your provider, and that usage is billed by them, not by Reflect. Notes you mark private are excluded from AI access, which is a thoughtful touch if your journal and your work notes share a folder.

The tradeoff is reach. Everything on the site points to Apple hardware: Mac, iPhone and iPad. There's no mention of Windows, Linux, Android or a web client, and the Chrome clipper is Mac-only. If you live entirely in Apple's world and want a fast, simple daily-notes habit with backlinks and files you actually own, Reflect is a strong pick. If you need cross-platform access or team collaboration, you'll hit walls quickly. Existing users should also note that Reflect Classic is still maintained alongside the new app, and paid Classic subscribers get one year of the iPhone and iPad app free.