Highlights · Reflection · HourLife Premium
Keep what was good. Meet it again on its date.
Save the wins, moments, gratitudes, and insights worth remembering, then see them again on this day in later years.
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Four kinds of goodA highlight is a Win, a Gratitude, a Moment or an Insight, each with its own colour and a question to start you writing.
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It comes backThe Recent page opens on what you kept on this date a year ago, and on the same day last month.
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Suggestions worth keepingA finished goal, a completed project or a long journal entry turns up under "Worth keeping?". One tap keeps it.
Your first highlight
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Open Highlights and tap "+"
The "New Highlight" sheet opens on a Win, or on whichever "Default type" you choose in "Settings".
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Pick a kind and write
Choose "Win", "Gratitude", "Moment" or "Insight" under "WHAT KIND?". The question under the chips changes with it, such as "What did you accomplish that deserves to be remembered?".
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Save it, and star the best
Tap "Save". Later, press and hold a highlight and choose "Star" for the ones you would want to reread.
Every step, in detail
- 1 Open Highlights and tap "+" to start a "New Highlight".
- 2 Under "WHAT KIND?", pick "Win", "Gratitude", "Moment", or "Insight", then write the note and tap "Save".
- 3 Switch between "Recent", "Reel", and "By Type" with the chips under the search field.
- 4 Tap a highlight to open it, then tap "+" next to "REFLECTIONS" to add a thought about it later.
Four kinds of good
Every highlight is one of four kinds. Each has its own colour and a question that appears under the chips while you write, if “Show writing prompts” is on.
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Win
The prompt
“What did you accomplish that deserves to be remembered?”
Ran 5k without stopping for the first time since my twenties.
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Gratitude
The prompt
“What are you grateful for right now?”
Dad called just to read me a paragraph from the book he’s on.
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Moment
The prompt
“What do you want to remember from today?”
Rain on the tent all night, and nobody wanted to get up.
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Insight
The prompt
“What shifted in how you see something?”
I don’t need a free day to rest. I need an hour nobody can book.
Three ways to read them
The chips under the search field change the view, and “Default view” in Settings picks the one Highlights opens on.
- Recent
- Each month on a dated spine, newest first. A filled dot marks a starred highlight.
- Reel
- Each month as a strip of film, three frames to a screen. It holds your starred highlights, or all of them while none is starred.
- By Type
- Wins, Gratitudes, Moments and Insights, each under its own heading with a count.
A highlight comes back on its date
You write a highlight once and meet it again later. Each morning, the top of the Recent page reaches back to the same date in earlier years, and to the same day last month.
Sample data · 246 days kept over three years
- Win
- Gratitude
- Moment
- Insight
- Starred
On October 20, Highlights looks down that date’s column for the two nearest years that kept something, then at September 20. That makes up to three highlights, under “Looking back”.
The best of them shows first, and the rest wait behind “+2 more”. A starred highlight always comes first. A highlight from February 29 comes back on February 28 in the years that have no 29th.
Today’s “On this day” card brings back the same highlights, so you can meet them without opening the module.
A year ago today
Finished the first draft of the talk a week early, and read it aloud to an empty kitchen.
Oct 20, 2025 · Win ★+2 more
What you forgot to keep
Good things happen in other modules too, and few of them get written down twice. When HourLife opens, it looks over the last month for moments like these and offers them under “Worth keeping?”.
- GoalsA goal you completed.Suggested as “Completed: Run a half marathon”
- ProjectsA project you finished.Suggested as “Finished: Kitchen shelves”
- JournalAn entry you pinned, or one longer than 1,000 characters.Suggested as “Deep reflection”
- LearningA book or course you marked finished.Suggested as “Learned: The Overstory”
- Life TimelineAn event you added to your timeline.Suggested as The event’s own title
Worth keeping? 3 Review
Learning completed
Learned: The Overstory
Oct 14
“Keep” saves it on the day it happened, linked to where it came from. “Not now” hides it for good. “Review” goes through them one at a time, with a field for why it mattered.
Not every source fits everyone. “Candidate Sources” in Settings turns Goals, Journal and Learning off, and a source whose module you have turned off suggests nothing.
When you notice the good
“Insights” in the “⋯” menu counts what you have kept. It has no streaks and no score, only counts.
- Capture · 14 days
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A bar for each of the last fourteen days, today at the far right.
Helps you notice Whether keeping highlights has become a habit, or slipped.
- Weekly rhythm
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Seven bars, Monday to Sunday, with the busiest day in colour: “You notice the most on Sundays.”
Helps you notice The days you have room to notice, and the ones you rush through.
- Lately
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How many this week, this month and all time.
Helps you notice A plain count, for when you wonder whether it adds up.
- What you capture
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Your kinds, ranked by how many of each you keep.
Helps you notice A year of Wins and no Gratitudes says something too.
- Favourites
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How many highlights you have starred.
Helps you notice How much of it you would want to reread.
Questions
About Highlights day to day.
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Does Highlights show me old memories?
Yes. The top of the Recent page, "Looking back", shows what you kept on this date in the two nearest earlier years that have one, and on the same day last month, up to three cards with the best first. Today's "On this day" card shows the same. A highlight from February 29 comes back on February 28 in other years.
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Where do the "Worth keeping?" suggestions come from?
When HourLife opens, it looks over the last month for completed goals and projects, finished learning items, life timeline events, and journal entries that are pinned or longer than 1,000 characters. "Keep" saves one on the day it happened; "Not now" hides it for good. "Candidate Sources" in "Settings" turns sources off.
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What does the Reel show?
Your starred highlights, one strip of film per month, three frames to a screen. If nothing is starred yet, it shows every highlight.
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Can I add a thought to an old highlight?
Yes. Open it and tap "+" next to "REFLECTIONS". Each reflection keeps its own date, so you can see how a moment reads a year on. Tap one to edit or delete it.
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Is a Gratitude highlight the same as the Gratitude module?
No. Gratitude is its own module with its own entries. A Gratitude highlight is a single moment you chose to keep, filed beside your Wins, Moments and Insights.
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Where are my highlights kept?
On your iPhone. If you turn on iCloud sync, they sync through your own private iCloud with the rest of HourLife.
Works with
Where Highlights hands off to the rest of HourLife.
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Today
Today can show "Highlight candidates" to review and an "On this day" card with a highlight from an earlier year. In Evening mode, what you write under "What went well today?" becomes a Moment when you tap "Close day".
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Goals
Completed goals become highlight candidates, and a highlight linked to a goal shows the goal's name on its card.
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Journal
Starred journal entries and long entries from the last month are suggested as highlight candidates.
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Learning
Books and courses you mark finished in Learning are suggested as highlight candidates.
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Projects
Completed projects are suggested as highlight candidates.
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Mood
With "Also save as a Highlight" on, the note on a Good or Great mood entry is kept as a Moment.
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Timeline
Life timeline events from the last month are suggested as highlight candidates.
Read and try
Books from the library that Highlights puts into practice, and something to try on paper or in the browser.
Already have HourLife?
Highlights fills from the rest of HourLife too. In Evening mode on Today, "What went well today?" becomes a Moment when you close the day, and a Good or Great mood note can be saved as one with "Also save as a Highlight".
Highlights is in the Library, under Reflection. If it isn’t there, turn it on in Settings → Look & Feel → Modules. It needs HourLife Premium.
What would you like to know?
Ask a question about this feature or tell us what’s missing.
Try Highlights in HourLife.
HourLife is free to download. Highlights comes with HourLife Premium.
