# Capture a thought before you forget it

Build a native Android application for recording a spoken thought quickly and finding it later. Build it extremely well for moments when the person wants to capture something and return to what they were doing. Follow the [shared launch](../shared/launch.md).

Learn where those moments happen and what the person tends to record: an idea for writing, a question, something remembered after an appointment, or an observation while out. Make the first recording convenient on their actual phone.

## Record first

Give the person a direct way to begin and end a recording, with clear feedback about whether the microphone is active and whether the audio has been saved. Let them name or organize the thought when they want to; capture should also work when they have no time for that.

Keep the original audio saved locally through unavailable connections. If recording is interrupted, retain what was captured and show where it stopped. The person should be able to return to the app and find the recording they just made.

Make listening back and adding a short note straightforward. Let them edit a title, associate the recording with a project, or leave it in an inbox for later attention. Keep the date and useful context with it.

## Make the recording findable

Provide transcription through a suitable capability for the person's languages and device. Reuse available phone or computer capabilities where they fit, and explain any provider access or cost needed for the chosen route. Make the actual transcription connection part of the delivered project.

Keep recording usable while transcription is pending or unavailable. Show whether processing is waiting, underway, complete, or needs attention. The person can listen to the original throughout.

Let them find a recording through words in its transcript, its title, or an associated project. Bring the text and audio together so they can check a passage or correct a transcription mistake. Preserve the original recording alongside their edited text.

Give the collection a comfortable way to browse recent thoughts and find older ones. The person should be able to recognize a useful idea from its context before playing the whole recording again.

## Organize when there is time

Let the person work through the inbox, add notes, assign projects, and keep the recordings they want. Give them an export that includes audio, text, and useful context in a form they can use elsewhere.

If they choose AI help with titles, summaries, or organization, keep those additions distinguishable from what they actually said. Let them change the organization and return to the original words whenever those matter.

Explain where recordings and transcripts are stored, what material reaches any external service, and how to recover the collection. Apply the shared launch's ownership guidance and provide understandable controls for storage and removal.

## Use it through an interruption

Handle the Android build and installation, including the microphone access the app needs. Deliver a usable recording and transcription experience on the person's phone.

Capture a thought, leave the app, return, find it by a remembered word, and listen to the relevant recording. Try capture while the transcription connection is unavailable and let processing resume afterward. Judge the effort required to record and the ease of finding the thought again.

Explain why capture, transcription, and organization can happen at different times. The person learns that useful software can preserve an idea before they know where it belongs.

The [synchronized agent-readable notes project](agent-readable-notes.md) can extend this collection later. If that workspace already exists, integrate these recordings with it. Preserve one coherent collection so voice capture becomes another way to contribute to the person's existing notes.