You may know Nicholas Felton best as the creator of the Facebook Timeline . But the reason he even got that job was his cultishly popular Feltron Report , an annual, infographical dive into his own life. These reports–which are gorgeous, limited edition prints on fine stock paper–track both intimate and silly details of his life, from where he’s been, to what he’s been drinking, to whom he’s hung around the most.

Reporter is, at its heart, a survey tool.

For the better part of a decade, that meant Felton kept meticulous notes through each and every day. As of 2013, he and a friend Drew Breuning created a private app called Reporter to make the process easier. Now, you can buy Reporter on iPhone for $4, a polished version of the homegrown app by Felton, Beuning, and Friends of the Web. And it’s good for a lot more than rendering nifty visualizations. Reporter can create a truer self portrait of your otherwise intangible human metrics–nuanced ideas like your mood, your real friends, and your diet–that modern sensors just can’t track very well.





“This is one of those passion projects,” Felton tells Co.Design. “This is a product I want to see in the world. I have no idea if people will pay for it. I have no idea if people want it. I have no idea how big the market is for this.”

Reporter is, at its heart, a survey tool. Six randomized times a day (or more, or less), the app will send you a notification to answer a series of questions. Defaults are things like, “how many cups of coffee have you had today?” or “who are you with?” But it’s possible to program any question you want to ask yourself, with a variety of easy responses including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and yes/no, among others.





If the surveys sound like a pain, then honestly, Reporter just might not be for you. But Felton has designed the app to be incredibly streamlined, by minimizing the UI (there’s no endless feed to monopolize your attention like Twitter); leveraging sensors to track data automatically (GPS measures location, while your microphone can track ambient noise levels); and deploying smart, learning code that autofills common answers for you (meaning you won’t have to type your significant other’s full name more than once). All of these features combine to create an extremely practical experience, tailored to get you off your phone rather than reel you in–the exact opposite of the “constant engagement” model behind most apps.

“We want you to record as quickly as possible–in 10 seconds or less–what’s important to you,” Felton says, “then get back to walking, talking, hanging out, and living your life.”