An app to save quotes: how to build a collection you will actually reread
Why most saved quotes disappear, the three habits that fix it (source, category, rotation), and the exact steps in Kandou, free on iPhone.
The short answer. An app to save quotes has one job beyond storage: bringing the quote back. Screenshots and notes fail because nothing resurfaces them. Kandou is a free quotes app for iPhone that saves each line with its source and a category, then shows it again on a rotation you set, on a Home Screen widget, or as a wallpaper. Up to 15 quotes of your own are free; Pro is a one-time $4.99 USD purchase for unlimited quotes and the full curated library.
Why the quotes you save disappear
You read a line that stops you. You screenshot it, or paste it into Notes, and you mean to come back to it. Six months later it is buried under four thousand photos or a wall of untitled notes, and the collecting impulse, which was good, has produced nothing.
The storage was never the problem. Screenshots and notes store text perfectly. What they lack is a way back: nothing in your phone will show you that line again unless you go looking, and you will not go looking, because you have forgotten it exists. I wrote a longer piece about the screenshot graveyard; this guide is the practical fix.
A quote collection that works has three parts: the quote with its source, a place it belongs, and a mechanism that resurfaces it without you doing anything.
The three habits
- Save the source with the line. “Who said it” is half the meaning, and a quote without a source becomes an anonymous poster. Book, author, film, podcast, the friend who said it at dinner: write it down at the moment of saving, because you will not remember later.
- File it where it belongs. A handful of categories is enough: Books, Work, Life, Love, Stoic. Categories are what let you pull up the right quote for the moment instead of scrolling.
- Let something resurface it. This is the part notes apps cannot do. A daily rotation, a widget, a wallpaper: some surface you look at anyway, showing one saved quote at a time.
Setting it up in Kandou
In Kandou
- Download Kandou from the App Store and open it. There is no account. A 25-quote Starter collection is already in place so the app is not empty on day one.
- Save your first quote. Tap the plus button. Paste or type the quote, add the author or source, and pick a category. Tap Add New Category to create one on the spot with a name, an icon or emoji, and a color.
- Make three to five categories that match how you think, not how a library would. Books, Work, and Life cover most people. Kandou has 15 colors and 20 icons, or any emoji.
- Set the rotation in Settings: Standard (daily, every other day, or weekly, at a time you choose) or Personalized (up to four custom times a day). The Home tab shows the current quote; filter it to one category from the grid below.
- Add the widget. Press and hold the Home Screen, tap the plus button, search for Kandou, and add the small widget. It follows the same rotation.
- Find anything later from the Browse tab: search matches the quote text, the author, and the category. Press and hold a quote to copy it or share it as an image.
Where to get the quotes from
The best sources are the ones you already read and hear:
- Books. Kindle highlights, dog-eared pages, library books you have to return. The book quotes guide covers each source.
- Podcasts and talks. Pause, type the line, name the show and the guest.
- Conversations. The things people you love say are the quotes you will value most in ten years, and nobody saves them. Add “said by” as the source.
- Your own sentences. A journal line worth keeping is a quote. Put your name as the source.
- The library. Kandou includes a curated set of public-domain quotes: 25 free, and with Pro the Stoic Wisdom, Motivation, and Love collections, more than 100 in total from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, Emerson, Thoreau, and Dickinson. Add a whole collection to your rotation with one tap.
Keeping the collection alive
A collection that grows but never gets read is a graveyard with better handwriting. Two habits keep it alive:
- Fewer, better. Fifteen quotes you reread beat two hundred you scroll past. The free limit of 15 of your own quotes is, honestly, a decent editing constraint; Pro removes it when you are sure you want more.
- Let the rotation do the work. Do not reorganize. Set the schedule once, keep the widget on your first Home Screen page, and let the app hand you one line at a time.
What Kandou does not do (so you can decide quickly)
- No cloud sync and no account. Everything is stored on your iPhone. That is the privacy promise, and it also means deleting the app deletes the collection, so keep it installed.
- No camera scanning. You type or paste quotes. Apps that scan book pages exist; Kandou is built for keeping and rereading, not capture at volume.
- iPhone only, iOS 18 or later. No iPad or Mac version.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app to save quotes on iPhone?
The best app is one that brings quotes back to you instead of only storing them. Kandou saves each quote with its source and category and resurfaces it on a rotation you set, on a Home Screen widget, or as a wallpaper. It is free on iPhone with no account, and Pro is a one-time $4.99 USD purchase.
How many quotes can I save for free in Kandou?
Up to 15 quotes of your own, plus the 25-quote Starter collection, which does not count against the limit. Kandou Pro removes the limit and adds the Stoic Wisdom, Motivation, and Love collections.
Can I add my own quotes with the author or source?
Yes. Every quote has an author-or-source field, and you can file it under a category with its own color, icon, or emoji. Search covers the quote text, the author, and the category.
Does Kandou back up my quotes?
Not to the cloud. Kandou stores your collection on your iPhone only, with no account and no sync. Keep the app installed to keep your collection; iPhone backups made through iCloud or a Mac include app data.
Can I save a quote from another app into Kandou?
Copy the text in the other app, open Kandou, tap the plus button, and paste it into the quote field, then add the source. There is no share-sheet extension yet.