What it is
Doodles is a shared canvas for the two of you. You both can draw on the same doodle, at the same time or hours apart, and you see each other's lines as they appear. It's a drawing app for couples that needs no talent. A heart, a bad cat or a map of your weekend all count.
How it works in Phorb
- On the Today tab, open the Doodles card. Your shared gallery opens.
- Tap the add button to create a shared doodle, or open one you already started.
- Draw with the brush. Change the stroke size and color, use the eyedropper to reuse a color, keep favorite colors as saved colors, and switch to the eraser when you need it. Undo and Redo step through your last strokes.
- Tap the invite button, which reads "Invite" and your partner's name. Your partner gets a notification: "Come draw together".
- When your partner opens the same canvas, you see "Sam is on this canvas", and their strokes show up on your screen as they draw.
- Tap Pin doodle to pin it to today. The pinned doodle appears in the center of your Today screen, in that day's square in the Story calendar, and in the Pinned Doodle widget.
- Tap Save to keep a copy in your photo library.
Each day can have one pinned doodle, and a doodle can be pinned to one day. If you already used a doodle on another day, start a fresh one for today.
Why it helps
Couples often stay in touch through logistics: who's buying milk, what time the train gets in. A doodle gives you something to do together that has no purpose except fun. The Gottman Institute writes that "it's the little things that keep love strong", meaning the small, repeated moments of connection (The Little Things That Keep Love Strong). Adding a hat to the cat your partner drew this morning is one of those moments.
Drawing also works when words don't. If you're tired, or you don't know what to say, you can still draw a sun over your partner's rainy sketch.
Ideas to try
- Long distance. Start a doodle in the morning and leave it half done. Your partner adds to it on their lunch break, in their time zone.
- Busy weeknights. Draw what you're having for dinner, badly, and invite your partner to guess.
- After a disagreement. Draw a white flag and pin it to the day. It's a light way to say you want to make up.
- A running picture. Keep one doodle going for a whole week. Each of you adds one thing a day, then pin the finished picture.
- A home screen surprise. Pin a doodle in the morning. Your partner sees it in the Pinned Doodle widget the next time they unlock their phone.
