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Intelligence

Smart Reflections

Discover hidden patterns in your emotional journey. Eristotle uses on-device AI to surface meaningful insights from your journal entries, helping you understand yourself better.

📖 6 min read 🤖 On-Device AI
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Weekly Theme

Analyzes your last 7 days to identify the dominant emotional tone of your week.

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Emotional Pattern

Detects long-term trends in your mood, showing if your sentiment is improving or shifting.

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Growth Moment

Surfaces breakthroughs and milestones where you’ve learned or overcome challenges.

Connection Insight

Focuses on your social wellbeing and the impact of relationships on your emotional state.

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Chat Insights

Integrates findings from your AI Voice Chats and text conversations for deeper self-reflection.

What is Smart Reflection?

Writing is only half of the journaling journey. The other half is reflection. However, it can be difficult to see the "big picture" when you're caught in the day-to-day. Smart Reflections are intelligent, contextual insights that appear right on your Home View. They act as an AI companion that reads between the lines to show you how you're growing, what triggers your stress, and where you're finding joy.

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Pattern Detection: Smart Reflections don't just look at your last entry. They analyze up to 50 recent entries to find recurring themes that you might have missed.
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How It Works: Semantic RAG

Smart Reflections are powered by a technology called Semantic RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). Unlike standard search that looks for exact keywords, Eristotle understands the meaning behind your words.

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Semantic Retrieval: When you open the app, Eristotle performs a semantic search across your journal for specific themes like "growth" or "relationships."
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Local AI Analysis: The most relevant entries are analyzed by Eristotle's AI to identify connections and summarize the findings into a clear insight.
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Evidence-Based: Every reflection includes "Related Entries" that you can expand to see exactly which parts of your journal informed the insight.
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The Five Types of Insights

Each time you refresh your Home View, Eristotle cycles through different types of reflections to provide a holistic view of your wellbeing:

  • Weekly Theme: Uses temporal filtering to analyze the last 7 days. Example: "You've been feeling mostly joyful this week (67% of 12 entries). Savor these moments!"
  • Emotional Pattern: Compares your mood trajectory over the last 20 entries. Example: "Your mood has been trending upward recently! You show 23% more positive sentiment than last week."
  • Growth Moment: Searches for breakthroughs and achievements. Example: "You noted a growth moment 3 days ago: 'Finally figured out how to manage my anxiety better...'"
  • Connection Insight: Surfaces the impact of your social circle. Example: "Connections have been on your mind this week—4 entries mention relationships."
  • Chat Insights: Reflects on themes from your AI Voice Chats and text chats. Example: "In 5 recent conversations, you've explored work-life balance. Speaking your thoughts is unlocking new perspectives."
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Privacy-First, Local Retrieval

Unlike traditional AI apps that index your private journal on their servers, Eristotle is built with a local-first philosophy. Your thoughts remain under your control.

  • On-Device Retrieval: All searching, indexing, and pattern detection happens entirely on your phone using on-device embeddings. Your full journal is never uploaded for training or analysis.
  • Your Choice of AI: Eristotle gives you total control over the AI provider. You can use on-device models like Apple Intelligence for complete privacy, or your own API keys for advanced analysis.
  • Zero Knowledge: We don't have a "master key" to your journal. Even when using an AI provider, only the specific context needed for your reflection is sent, and it's never stored by us.
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The Architecture of Smart Search

The same custom Journal RAG Index that powers Smart Reflections enables other powerful tools in Eristotle. This architecture uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to index your personal journal entries as a structured knowledge base, enabling intelligent, AI-powered semantic search and analysis:

Smart Search Your personal journal librarian. Ask any question and get an AI-generated answer based on your entries, with the top 5 most relevant sources listed for deeper exploration.
Smart Export Generate thematic summaries for therapy or personal review, curated by AI.
Chat Insights Reflections that combine your written entries with insights from your AI Voice Chats.

Start reflecting smarter today.

Experience the power of on-device AI journaling.

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