Tot
Your tiny text companion.
Only for Mac
Free · In-App Purchases
Tot is an elegant, simple way to collect & edit text across your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. It’s your tiny text companion!
⁕ Less Is More
Tot’s single window design and simple formatting controls mean no more hunting for that chunk of text. Seven color-coded dots let you organize your notes while keeping them from getting out of hand.
⁕ Dark / Light Mode
Designed to look stunning both day and night, Tot takes full advantage of iOS and macOS themes.
⁕ Small Footprint
Stays out of the way on the desktop with minimal chrome and can even be controlled via the Menu bar. On mobile, each dot is just a swipe away.
⁕ iCloud Sync
Seamlessly syncs your text across iOS and macOS using iCloud so you can capture thoughts wherever you are.
⁕ Markdown Support
Full support for rich or plain text and even automatically translates text to Markdown for handy use on the web. Have an RTF file you need marked up? No problem!
⁕ Killer Keyboard
Tot puts common text operations on the keyboard and keeps track of word and character counts as you type.
Available for macOS, iOS, and watchOS.
more Love having this to supplament my big bloated "permanent notes" taking app. Great to always have this simple and responsive set of notes in the menu bar, i tried it like a virtual set of post it notes. Often times in a meeting it is too cumbersome and clunky to use anything else other than Tot!Keeping it always ontop is a nice feature too for being able to easily reference your notes as you expand upon them in other apps.
Developer Response Thanks for the kind words!You can keep the window always on top by selecting "Display as Floating Window" in the Window menu.
Love having this to supplament my big bloated "permanent notes" taking app. Great to always have this simple and responsive set of notes in the menu bar, i tried it like a virtual set of post it notes. Often times in a meeting it is too cumbersome and clunky to use anything else other than Tot!Keeping it always ontop is a nice feature too for being able to easily reference your notes as you expand upon them in other apps.
Thanks for the kind words!You can keep the window always on top by selecting "Display as Floating Window" in the Window menu.
This is a "dark horse" app. On the face of it, it appears objectionably expensive for such a simple concept. However the developers have actually identified and filled a real user-need with a solution that's as good as it is because of its simplicity. Well done. Five stars.
Developer Response Thanks for your review, we really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy using Tot.
This is a "dark horse" app. On the face of it, it appears objectionably expensive for such a simple concept. However the developers have actually identified and filled a real user-need with a solution that's as good as it is because of its simplicity. Well done. Five stars.
Thanks for your review, we really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy using Tot.
no matter how many times I try to upgrade to fancy new apps. I keep coming back to tot! I really hope the developers keep it updated.
no matter how many times I try to upgrade to fancy new apps. I keep coming back to tot! I really hope the developers keep it updated.
Simple but one of the must useful work/study companions you can have. It works great and the design is so suttle that it doesn't distract your work flow. Thanks! Great app.
Simple but one of the must useful work/study companions you can have. It works great and the design is so suttle that it doesn't distract your work flow. Thanks! Great app.
Action to toggle the formatting bar on/off, added a new rich text font choice, fixed What’s New appearing when it shouldn’t plus fixed some Tahoe bugs.
All:
• Tot’s What’s New view no longer appears when there’s nothing new
• Added "System (Monospaced)" as a rich text font choice
iOS:
• Added a toggle to turn Tot’s formatting bar on/off:
- Tap the Actions Menu (⋯) and toggle Format Bar
- Increases editing area on smaller devices
• Fixed an issue with Compact Dots button not working
macOS:
• Added “Display as Floating Window” back to menu bar:
- Shift-Command-F is default keyboard shortcut
- You can override shortcut in System Settings
• Added a partial workaround for bug on macOS Tahoe:
- Happens when presenting the popover window and the menu bar is hidden
- Fixed window that was too small and placed incorrectly
- There is still a nub that we can't fix: it's arrows displaying incorrectly
2.1.1 07/10/2025
All:
• Added the classic “Tot 1.0” app icon
• Tab and Shift-Tab can now be used to indent or outdent selected text (on iOS this only works with hardware keyboard attached)
• Fixed issues with typing attributes, like bold and italic, being set incorrectly
• A number followed by a period is no longer recognized as a bullet
• Clarified wording for premium features on purchase screens
macOS:
• The Show Window keyboard shortcut control is accessible via VoiceOver
• Improved VoiceOver accessibility of various Settings screens
• Added support for incremental text search
iOS:
• Added support for Liquid Glass
• Settings > Advanced Settings > Reset Theme will clear custom dot colors set on Mac
• Fixed issues with the iOS widgets when using colored/clear tints
• The Done button in Settings is now more visually prominent
watchOS:
• Added support for Liquid Glass
• Tapping Clear All Text now syncs the dot’s text changes correctly
2.1 17/09/2025
Tot 2 adds fun, customizable smart bullets, new text dividers, improved text handling, automatic iOS data backup, a re-designed UI, improved settings, bug fixes, and much more.
App-Wide Improvements:
• Custom Smart Bullets:
- Assign symbols or standard emoji to act as Smart Bullets
- Create up to five(?) custom smart bullets via Settings > Behavior
- Assign Custom Smart Bullets to Quick Key slots for instant access
• Text dividers:
- Eight divider styles to choose from via the symbol picker
- Assign text dividers to Quick Key slots for easy use
- Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl-Minus to add a new divider
- Dividers can be cut/copy/pasted at will
- Uses Markdown horizontal rules
- [Yay Funk_Shui & Stragen!]
• Automatic indents:
- Lines that begin with a bullet or Smart Bullet will automatically indent text that's wider than the window
- The Cmd-[ and Cmd-] keyboard shortcuts can be used to indent any selection
- Lines that begin with a space will use that for indentation, otherwise tabs are used
- Works with plain text: great for writing in Markdown [Yay Gruber!]
• Improved text handling & bug fixes:
- Paste as Plain Text can now strip Markdown and works better with rich text
- Fixed a bug where bold stuck around after creating newlines [Yay Nathan!]
- Improved handling of styling information while using drag & drop
- Fixed a styling bug when pasting Smart Bullets in plain text mode
- Fixed a big bug when opening links beginning with “HTTP”
- New "Selected Dot" action for Shortcuts [Yay pseudometa!]
• Updated User Manual
- Removed Twitter links because screw those guys
- Updated for new features and settings
- Added information and links for advanced users
macOS Improvements:
• Updated Settings:
- Settings now open in their own popover / window
- Settings re-designed for improved clarity and feature discoverability
- Control: New option – invoke Tot via Both the Menu Bar and Dock Icons
- Appearance: New vibrant background option, dot configuration, app icons
- Behavior: Floating window, follow mouse, disable escape key
- Links to download for iOS and watchOS
- Better help links and support site access
• Improved Editing:
- Typing completions: Turn on Edit > Spelling & Grammar > Check Spelling While Typing + Correct Spelling Automatically
- Smart Copy/Paste now stays disabled across launches [Yay Dustin!]
- Added menu item for Remapping Keyboard Shortcuts
• Window, Dock, and menu bar:
- Added support for using both the Dock and menu bar icons at the same time
- Added a setting to show selected dot color in menubar [Yay Tom!]
- Better handling of smart icons (now works with all app windows)
- Improved restoring window state when using menu bar and smart icons
- Tot will only enter full screen mode when using Dock or Both icons
- Tot can now appear over full screen windows
- Fixed issues with icons stuck in Dock [Yay Ilia!]
• Fixed issues using Cmd-1 to 7 on Czech keyboards [Yay Roman!]
• Improved handling of page margins when printing [Yay Dan!]
• What’s New video no longer shows in Now Playing (on macOS)
• Updated iOS and watchOS to match improvements above
2.0 25/08/2025
All:
• Fixed crashes caused by Windows CRLF line endings in plain text [Yay Tim!]
macOS:
• Added “Hotkey Window Follows Mouse” to Window menu: repositions window under mouse when Show Window hotkey is used [Yay Alex!]
iOS:
• Fixed new “Dot” icons on iPad
• Empty plain text dots are now initialized correctly [Yay Adrian!]
watchOS:
• The text input help is only shown once [Yay Vatsal!]
1.5.1 26/10/2022
Greater control when creating and editing Smart Bullets, find and print text, improved layout control, and a new watch app to put Tot on your wrist!
All:
• Added keyboard shortcuts for Smart Bullets [Yay MrStaggs!]
- Control-8 to create a Smart Bullet on the current line
- Command-8 to toggle Smart Bullet on current line
- The last Smart Bullet you picked will be used
- Use the keyboard combo to create a normal bullet (Option-8) as a reminder
• Added printing support
- On macOS, use the File menu
- On iOS, use Print at the end of the Edit menu
• Added setting to adjust line height [Yay David!]
- macOS: Format menu > Line Spacing > Standard → 30% increase
- iOS: Settings > Text & Layout > Standard → 30% increase
• New “Dot” app icon choice in Settings to match new watchOS app (see below)
iOS:
• Added support for standard Find behavior in iOS 16
- In Edit menu, use Find or Find Selection
- To replace text, tap on magnifying glass and select Find & Replace
• Added key clicks and haptic feedback on keyboard controls and Quick Keys
- To turn on haptics, use Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback
• Improved Edit menu layout and behavior
• Fixed a bug where text wouldn't save properly when Tot was launched from a widget [Yay Harrie!]
macOS:
• Added a command-line option to disable automatic backups:
% defaults write com.iconfactory.Tot disableAutomaticBackups 1
• Using Cmd-0 to select an empty dot is now disabled if no dots are available [Yay Gruber!]
• Updated status bar icon to be more consistent in size and spacing
• The Settings icon now indicates its state more clearly
watchOS:
• New app that takes Tot’s mobility to a new level!
- Available as a separate purchase on your watch’s App Store
- Shows the contents of all your dots
- Add text with dictation, Scribble, and other text input
- Changes sync between macOS, iOS, and watchOS
- NO general editing of text due to watch limitations
1.5 04/10/2022
All:
• Smart Bullets:
- Perfect for creating TODOs and checklists
- Click or tap on a Smart Bullet to toggle its state ON/OFF
- Bullets are normal text that you can copy & paste into other documents
- Easy to share Smart Bullet lists as plain text
- Optimized for both platforms:
macOS: Pick Smart Bullet using * button in status bar
iOS: Set which Smart Bullet to use via Quick Keys in Settings
- Check out What’s New in Help for a video overview and more info
macOS:
• Fixed a crash when viewing plain text in Help [Yay Terry!]
• Fixed a problem with popover window not appearing over a full screen window [Yay Adrian!]
• Added “Paste and Match Style” [Yay sharprichnorth!]
• Fixed an issue displaying links on the most recent version of macOS
iOS:
• Support for Widgets:
- Multi-dot for viewing a summary of all of your dots [Yay Everyone!]
- Single dot for viewing a snippet of a configured dot [Yay and their dog!]
- Widget content can be updated via iOS Shortcuts
• Links now open directly in Tot:
- Use Settings to turn this feature off and open links in Safari instead
• Improved pointer interactions on iPadOS when using a trackpad
• Fixed current selection in character picker
1.4 28/06/2022
All:
• Added support for Shortcuts:
- Commands to get, set, or show text from any dot
- Query a dot to get text counts, modification date, JSON dictionary, and more
- Works great as scratchpad to collect input for a Shortcut
- Also a convenient way to save text that has been processed
- Same actions on macOS and iOS, allowing shared workflows
macOS:
• New “Control With” setting – Smart Icons:
- Use Tot's menu bar icon to display a popover window
- Detaching the popover window shows Tot's app icon in the Dock
- Select Tot with Command-Tab keys and access menu bar options [Yay Elsie!]
- Tot's Dock icon disappears when its window is closed
• Improved window behavior when changing Dock and menu bar settings
• Added caching to speed up Font menu (both in menu bar and context menu) [Yay Allen!]
• Reminder about the iOS app isn’t shown on first few runs
• Hovering over a dot now displays its number as a helpful tooltip
iOS:
• Increased contrast of unused dots in dark mode [Yay Mark!]
1.3 25/03/2022
• Local backups of iCloud data are now done automatically:
- View latest backups with File > Show Automatic Backups
- Backups are JSON files encoded in UTF-8
- Restore a backup with File > Restore Backup…
- Backups are updated as needed every hour
• Increased contrast of unused dots in dark mode [Yay Mark!]
• Keyboard shortcuts like ⌘G now work correctly while Find panel is displayed [Yay Ben!]
• Improved compatibility with Bartender [Yay Michal!]
1.2.4 12/01/2022
All:
• Fixed a crash during iCloud updates - often seen at launch
• Fixed a typo in help: there are no longer limitions in this app
• Hash marks for Markdown headers are no longer used for AutoList [Yay TJ!]
• Fixed issues with some bullet characters not automatically starting a list
macOS:
• Fixed a problem with spell check settings not saving correctly
• Improved rendering of dots on the flat title bar
• Fixed placement of popover window in menu bar
iOS:
• Fixed a problem with text undo not working
• Changed shortcut action names to be more explicit by adding “Text”
• Fixed a problem with RTL text being displayed incorrectly when returning to foreground [Yay Moshik!]
1.2.3 02/11/2021
• Updated all icons, including dynamic ones, to Big Sur style
• Added purple tint color on controls to match iOS
1.2.2 06/05/2021
All:
• Dot defragger: compacts dots to keep things clean and organized:
- Cleans up dots by moving full ones to the left and empty ones to the right
- iOS: Use “Compact Dots” in share sheet (or tap & hold on share icon)
- macOS: Use Window > Compact Dots… (or ⇧⌘D)
• AutoList will only remove bullets if they are in the middle of a list [Thanks Ian!]
• Fixed check for 100,000 characters: deleting text no longer triggers the alert
• If the first paragraph of a dot is mostly Arabic or Hebrew, the text will automatically switch to using a Right-to-Left writing direction [Thanks Ezra!]
• In plain text, ⌘B and ⌘I inserts a single Markdown character without a selection (this previously only worked with selected text)
macOS:
• New symbol picker added to status bar:
- Click on the asterisk to get a popover with symbols
- Pick a bullet to start a new list, Emoji to add status, or any other symbol
- A quick alternative to ⌃⌘Spacebar
iOS:
• Fixed sample text at first launch
1.2.1 12/01/2021
• Compatibility with latest operating systems and hardware
macOS:
• Fixed an issue where the center dot wasn’t clickable. [Yay Chris!]
• Fixed titlebar appearance.
1.2 12/11/2020
All:
• Improved Markdown support:
- Text should not lose characters when switching edit modes, and literal escapes are only added as needed.
- Fixed issues with escaped Markdown characters not being removed from rich text. [Yay Marvin!]
- Underscores and asterisks in rich text are now escaped when converted to Markdown.
- Text for inline links is handled correctly now.
- Improved handling of horizontal rulers.
macOS:
• The icon picker in Settings is a lot simpler now. We’re not afraid to make mistakes, we’re afraid of bad decisions that don’t get corrected. :-)
• Added icons that look better on future versions of macOS.
• Titlebar appearance was adapted for future versions of macOS.
• Pasting relative URLs now treats them as plain text. [Yay Marvin!]
• Fixed selecting fixed width fonts by not using a localized name. [Yay Carles!]
• Fixed issues with substitutions and text checking getting stored and synced correctly. [Yay Dom!]
iOS:
• Added entitlement for “user installed fonts” so Adobe CC fonts can be used.
• Change sharing extension button from “Done” to “Save”.
• Fixed issues with keys when reduced transparency was turned on. [Yay Oli!]
• Typing whitespace at the end of a link will remove link formatting and allow normal text to be entered. [Yay Gruber!]
1.1.1 11/08/2020
All:
• Added Share extension and widget
- On macOS, enable in System Preferences > Extensions
- On iOS, use ⋯ in Share sheet app icons to add Tot
- On iOS, use Edit at bottom of widget view to add Tot
• New Mobius icon. [Yay Ged!]
• Added a limit of 100,000 characters per dot. [Yay Garrett!]
macOS:
• Help text is displayed using the font size setting of the current dot. [Yay zax!]
• Fixed styling for links dragged in from Chrome.
• URLs pasted into rich text are now linked automatically.
• Scrollbar is now tinted using dot theme [Yay Frank!]
• Fixed drawing issues with status bar.
• Improved VoiceOver labels for statistics and text mode toggle. [Yay Alex!]
• Improved VoiceOver for dot header, status bar, and settings. [Yay Robin!]
iOS:
• Default font is now selected correctly in settings (both variable and fixed).
• Fixed a bug where tapping a link while editing didn’t select the entire URL.
• Fixed VoiceOver for switching edit modes. [Yay Alex!]
• Improvements when navigating header using VoiceOver. [Yay Alex!]
1.1 28/05/2020
macOS:
• Fixed a crash when dragging or quitting from menu bar (yes, really).
iOS:
• Fixed VoiceOver when switching edit modes. [Yay Alex!]
• Improvements when navigating header using VoiceOver. [Yay Alex!]
• Disabled text size changes using keyboard commands (Cmd + and -). [Yay Gruber!]
• Text statistics are no longer abbreviated if there’s enough space (e.g. iPad).
1.0.6 05/05/2020
• Improved Accessibility:
- Dots in header are now treated as an ordered list of tab buttons in VoiceOver.
- The text view’s label is now read as “Dot #” followed by its contents.
- Fixed many items so they read correctly in VoiceOver.
- Dots now use numbers for "differentiate without color" in Accessibility settings. [Yay Jason!]
- Updated help and default content for color blindness accessibility.
- Added Grayscale icons to app settings.
• Lines that begin with a brace or bracket are no longer used for AutoList [Yay huckncatch!]
macOS:
• Moved Dock icon configuration to Settings:
- Pick your favorite icon style using the heart icon.
- Use the contrast icon to pick between Dark & Light themes.
• Dots can be numbered using “defaults write com.iconfactory.Tot showIndex true” then quit and relaunch. [Yay Kelvin!]
• Added tooltip on menu bar icon that shows app name and keyboard shortcut. [Yay stiegjon!]
iOS:
• Fixed a potential crash if a custom font was no longer available [Yay Ged!]
• Cleaned up presentation of bulk actions (when tapping and holding on share button). [Yay Gruber!]
1.0.5 05/05/2020
macOS:
• AutoList improvements:
- Items without any text are automatically removed when you press return. [Yay Ben, Gus, Ged, and Ian!]
- A new item will be inserted before the current line if the cursor is at or before the symbol. [Yay Ian!]
- Text now scrolls into view after inserting a new symbol. [Yay Ian!]
• Hiding the window with the hotkey will restore the application that was open when the window was activated.
• Updated help with settings for menu bar items: configuring text view quotes and spelling, floating window support, and modifying keyboard shortcuts. [Yay @tot_app followers!]
• Removed an unneeded submenu from text view context menu.
iOS:
• AutoList improvements:
- Items without any text are automatically removed when you press return. [Yay Ben, Gus, Ged, and Ian!]
- A new item will be inserted before the current line if the cursor is at or before the symbol. [Yay Ian!]
- Text now scrolls into view after inserting a new symbol. [Yay Ian!]
• Font improvements:
- Tot now supports custom fonts.
- Added setting for fixed width font. [Yay Gruber!]
- Added sliders in Settings to fine tune text size. [Yay Ged!]
• Updated tab button icon (so it no longer looks like indent).
• Fixed name of dark green icon [Yay Karan!]
• Fixed a problem with pasting URLs as plain text.
1.0.4 15/04/2020
• Tot can now customize the dot color theme:
- Use Option key in Tot menu or Cmd-Option-, to open Theme Preferences.
- Select the dot you want to change in the main window.
- Changes to color well are displayed immediately.
- New colors are synced to all devices, including iOS.
- Share your theme as .tot file with save/load in Theme Preferences.
- Theme file is JSON with hex colors: easy to modify in text editor, too.
• Added Share to File menu. [Yay DW!]
- Allows you to create custom keyboard shortcuts.
- See https://support.iconfactory.com/kb/tot/keyboard-shortcuts-in-tot
• Updated Help to match changes with Cmd-S.
1.0.3 09/04/2020
• AutoList™: lines with leading tabs or a symbol and a space are automatically replicated to make maintaining lists easier. [Yay Ben!]
• Cmd-S no longer beeps when saving text, immediately syncs instead. [Yay Nick!]
• New “Extra Extra Large” font size setting. [Yay Justin!]
• Added check for plain text mode to prevent issues with style attributes in fonts like Fira Code. [Yay Jed!]
• Added a new Window > Column Layout option to set column width (wide, narrow or full) for wider windows [Yay Ben!]
• Spelling, grammar, and substitution settings are now synced for each dot. Use Edit or the contextual menu within a dot to turn on spell check or turn off substitutions. [Yay Andre!]
1.0.2 19/03/2020
• Text mode is now synced across devices: if you switch to plain text on your phone, your desktop will also switch.
• Updated Settings to match Apple Style Guide. [Yay John!]
• Fixed a problem with the dynamic dock icon's drop shadow. [Yay Anthony!]
• Increased contrast of help text for better readability. [Yay John!]
• Cleaned up help text – its great now. [Yay John, Dan, and TJ!]
• Straight quote obliteration. [Fricken’ Gruber!]
• Selecting Tot with Cmd-Tab will now reopen its window if needed.
• Popover window no longer animates from menu bar. Snappy. [Yay Fredrik!]
• A detached popover window’s size is saved and used the next time you click on the menu bar icon. [Yay Jordan!]
• Added a “Display as Floating Window” option in Window menu. [Yay Kevin!]
• New Edit > Add Link… (Cmd-K) can used to create or edit links in rich text mode.
• Arrow keys can now navigate in Help.
1.0.1 04/03/2020
Action to toggle the formatting bar on/off, added a new rich text font choice, fixed What’s New appearing when it shouldn’t plus fixed some Tahoe bugs.
All:
• Tot’s What’s New view no longer appears when there’s nothing new
• Added "System (Monospaced)" as a rich text font choice
iOS:
• Added a toggle to turn Tot’s formatting bar on/off:
- Tap the Actions Menu (⋯) and toggle Format Bar
- Increases editing area on smaller devices
• Fixed an issue with Compact Dots button not working
macOS:
• Added “Display as Floating Window” back to menu bar:
- Shift-Command-F is default keyboard shortcut
- You can override shortcut in System Settings
• Added a partial workaround for bug on macOS Tahoe:
- Happens when presenting the popover window and the menu bar is hidden
- Fixed window that was too small and placed incorrectly
- There is still a nub that we can't fix: it's arrows displaying incorrectly
more Version 2.1.1 07/10/2025
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.