Support

For Arrow of Time 1.0 · iOS 17 and later

Getting started

The app opens empty on purpose — it's your journal, not a demo. Tap the round button with the pencil in the bottom-right corner to write your first entry. It lands on today.

Once you have a few entries, the spiral fills in. Every point is one entry. Drag to rotate it, pinch to zoom, and tap any point to open that day.

The buttons

Two sit under the time ruler at the top left:

• ▶︎ Play — turns your whole timeline into a short melody. Each entry becomes a note; warm entries and cool entries sound different, and the pitch follows where the entry sits on the spiral.
• ↔ Frame — switches between a close view around today and a view of the entire span.

Two more sit in the bottom-right corner:

• ⤢ Fullscreen — hides everything except the spiral. You can still tap a point to read that day. Tap the arrows at the bottom to come back.
• ✎ Write — a new entry on whatever day the marker is sitting on.

Scrapbook and Diary

Two books, so that a day of photos and a day of thinking don't have to sit in the same pile. Scrapbook entries are warm-coloured, Diary entries are cool-coloured, and you can switch an entry between them at any time from the row above the note.

Series

A series groups entries that belong together across months — a trip, a habit, a long project. Open the coloured circle at the top-right to see every series and how many entries are in each, and to start a new one.

Removing the background from a photo

Tap the scissors on a photo's thumbnail. The subject is cut out on your device, and you can drop it onto a new background. Built in: plain paper, warm gray, grid paper, ruled paper, two colours of punched loose-leaf, ink, and sky — or leave it transparent. You can also add any image of your own; those are kept for next time, you can add several, and you can delete the ones you don't want.

This needs iOS 17 or later and a device with the neural engine. On an older device the button reports that cutout isn't available; everything else works normally.

Reading text out of a photo

Open a photo large, then tap Read text. Text found in the image is appended to that entry's note, so you can keep what a sign or a page said without retyping it. Recognises English and Simplified Chinese.

Where your entries live, and how to keep them safe

Everything is stored on this iPhone only. There is no cloud account, so the app's data is only as safe as your iPhone backup. If you back up to iCloud or to a computer, your journal is included and will come back when you restore or move to a new phone. If you have backups turned off and you delete the app, the entries are gone.

Switching the language

Settings — the slider icon at the top right — has English and 中文. The change applies immediately; it doesn't affect what you've already written.

Known limits in 1.0

• iPhone only. iPad is not supported in this version.
• No iCloud sync between devices.
• Cutout needs iOS 17 or later.
• The melody is generated live; it can't be exported as an audio file yet.

Something's wrong

Write to fair.creative@gmail.com. Bug reports are genuinely welcome, and so are requests — this is a small app and it's still moving.

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技术支持

适用于 Arrow of Time 1.0 · iOS 17 及以上

怎么开始

App 第一次打开是空的，这是故意的——它是你的手帐，不是样品间。点右下角那个带笔的圆钮写下第一篇，它会落在今天。

记录多起来之后，螺旋就长出来了。每一个点就是一篇。拖动可以转，双指可以缩放，点任意一个点就能打开那一天。

那几个按钮

两个在左上角、时间尺下方：

• ▶︎ 播放——把你的整条时间线变成一小段旋律。每篇记录是一个音，暖色和冷色的音色不一样，音高跟着它在螺旋上的位置走。
• ↔ 取景——在「今天附近」和「看全整条时间线」之间切换。

另外两个在右下角：

• ⤢ 全屏——把除了螺旋以外的东西都收起来。全屏状态下照样能点开某一天来读。点底部那个箭头退出。
• ✎ 写——在游标所在的那一天新建一篇。

手帐本和日记本

分成两本，是为了让「拍了一堆照片的一天」和「想了很多事的一天」不用堆在一起。手帐本是暖色，日记本是冷色，在正文上方那一行随时可以互相切换。

系列

系列用来把跨月份的记录归到一起——一趟旅行、一个习惯、一件做很久的事。点右上角那个彩色圆圈，能看到所有系列各有多少篇，也能在那里新建。

给照片去背景

点缩略图上的剪刀。主体会在你的设备上被抠出来，然后换一个底。内置的有：米白纸、暖灰、方格纸、横线纸、两色打孔活页、深空、淡天蓝，也可以留透明。你也可以传自己的图当背景，传过的会一直留着，可以传多张，也可以删掉不要的。

这个功能需要 iOS 17 及以上、并且设备带神经网络引擎。老设备上按钮会提示抠图不可用，其余功能不受影响。

识别照片里的文字

把照片点开成大图，再点识别文字。图里认出来的文字会接到这篇的正文后面，路牌上、书页上写了什么就不用再敲一遍。支持中文简体和英文。

记录存在哪，怎么才不会丢

所有东西只存在这台 iPhone 上。没有云端账号，所以数据的安全程度完全取决于你的 iPhone 备份。如果你有 iCloud 备份或者用电脑备份，手帐会一起被备份，恢复或换新手机时会回来。如果你关掉了备份又删了 App，记录就真的没了。

切换语言

设置——右上角那个推杆图标——里有 English 和中文。切换立即生效，不影响你已经写好的内容。

1.0 已知的限制

• 仅支持 iPhone，这一版没有 iPad。
• 没有跨设备的 iCloud 同步。
• 抠图需要 iOS 17 及以上。
• 旋律是实时生成的，暂时不能导出成音频文件。

出问题了

写信到 fair.creative@gmail.com。欢迎报 bug，也欢迎提需求——这是个小 App，还在往前走。