On this day: past years

Past years shows what you wrote on this same date in previous years, at the top of Today.

Why you'd care#

This is the reason to write down the small stuff. A to-do list has no value a year later, but a line about what the weather was doing or what someone said at dinner absolutely does, and you cannot know in advance which line it will be.

The feature costs you nothing to use. It only requires that you wrote something a year ago.

The 60-second version#

Turn it on in Settings → Appearance & Accessibility → Show past years. Once you have a year of history, a row appears above Today with what you wrote on this date before.

Going further#

It needs a year to work. In your first year the row is empty most days, which is normal and not a bug. It is the one feature that gets better purely by waiting.

It is dates, not relevance. This is a calendar coincidence rather than a recommendation. For a system that deliberately resurfaces the right thing, see memories and the Remember chapter.

Some things can be kept out. A day you would rather not have handed back can be hidden from memories.

Settings that change this#

• Settings → Appearance & Accessibility → Show past years turns the row on and off.

Tips#

• If you want this to be good in a year, write one ordinary line a day now. Not a to-do, a line about the day.
• Photos are the strongest memory trigger of anything you can write down.

Related#

• Today
• Days view, for going back deliberately rather than waiting
• Today's prompt, which produces exactly the kind of line worth getting back