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THE USEFUL TECH
🔍 THE USEFUL FIND · MONDAY DISCOVERY · ISSUE #017
👋 HEY, IT'S RAJA
Somewhere in your Messages there's a show a friend swore you'd love, a book your sister keeps bringing up, and a restaurant someone sent you 2 years ago. You replied "adding it to my list." You didn't have a list.
This week's find builds that list for you, out of chats you've already had.
🔍 The find: your friends' recommendations, finally in 1 place
Full disclosure: I made this one.
A Recs tab built from your real chats
Textlore is a Mac app that reads your iMessage and WhatsApp history right on your Mac and pulls out every book, show, restaurant, song and app a friend told you to try. Each one keeps who sent it, when, and the exact words they used, so "you HAVE to watch this" stays attached to the person who said it.
When 2 or 3 friends recommended the same thing, it rises to the top. That's usually the one to try first.
The promises you forgot you made
The Promises tab finds the things you told people you'd do: "I'll send you those photos," "let me check and get back to you," "we should grab dinner next week." Each one shows who you said it to and how many days late it is, so you can close the loop before it gets awkward.
2 details I like
Everything runs on your Mac. Your chats never go to a server, and there's no account to make. It also turns your history into shareable cards, like your yearly texting stats, sized for Instagram and X.
💡 Open the Recs tab and look at the top 3. Pick 1 for this weekend, then text the friend who recommended it once you've tried it. That message lands better than any "happy birthday" you'll send this year.
📍 Where: textlore.app
💻 Works on: Recs and Promises need a Mac with Apple Intelligence. Search, archiving and export work on any Mac running macOS 26 or later.
🎁 Try it: free for 14 days with every feature, and 30% off with code PH30 until 12 November
ALSO WORTH A LOOK
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Helumi sponsored this mention.
What's the best thing a friend ever recommended to you over text? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
On Wednesday, I'm sending every new Mac app worth installing from October, in 1 issue.
Keep it useful,
Raja · The Useful Tech
P.S. Know someone with 400 unread "you have to try this" texts? Forward this to them.
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