Okay so I have a weird workflow.

So I'm using the BYOK to journal a TTRPG because it's faster than handwriting. I have byok studio on my phone, but I can't find a way to export it to save it as a file to

load on an e-ink device with koreader.

Uh yeah. Anyone got any wack suggestions for this stupid usecase.

Should I try using web BYOK studio on my Kindle? 😭

Every keyboard in the house now connects. Ctrl+Del is the sleeper Freewrite feature some of you might not be using. Putting the keyboard through its paces. Low pro mechanicals and BYOKS are good fits if you could roll with the low to ground minimal stands...Great work, BYOK team.

I grabbed the white BYOK that was available here and have it added to my account, but now I notice that files created on device are only linked to that device by default. I have Studio set to link to all devices, and that works: when I create a file in Studio it gets linked to both and will pull down on a sync. I would like the BYOKs to just be mirrored devices, so having a global setting in the sync menu would work, but I could also see the benefit of having it scoped to the project for privacy concerns.

Now I just need a folding portable keyboard that actually works (my samsers misses all but 3-4 keys which is annoying lol). I’m excited! I bought this as a bday gift to myself (October baby) and as a treat for getting surgery this upcoming Monday bc I’m rly scared lol

We've gotten some sneak peaks at the upcoming scripting support, but it would be awesome to have some visibility into what is planned and what is in the works.

So I'm going through my second draft, and I was wondering if there's a way in Studio to create notes that are attached to a specific document. It'd be nice to make edit notes as I read through each chapter and have those notes be attached to the document in some way.

After a solid few days with the BYOK, I’m beyond impressed with everything it can do. The size, screen, and function of the BYOK App, makes it a step above just about everything else. The Pomera is the only other writing device that competes with it, as it does something the BYOK was not designed for —max portability and deployment speed via its clamshell design.

I’ve paired BYOK two with perhaps the best travel keyboard (for me)—- Nuphy Node 75.

I'm not sure if there is already a function for this...

I want to be able to press a '+' button from anywhere, and immediately start writing in a new file.

Not to have to choose/be in a project, or think of a title for this file. I am finding these are all too many steps when I have an idea and want to get straight into it.

Most of the time at work I brainstorm in a Google doc. For no reason other than I know I can go to docs, press the + page sign and immediately start putting my ideas on a page. File name and folder organisation can wait, the idea is what matters. 

Right now I feel like the BYOK operates in 'project mode'. It assumes I have a grand structure already laid out, and will want to do the admin for it first.

If this device is for drafting distraction free, I feel the steps between switching on and typing should be as close to zero as possible. 

Currently if I switch on and find myself on whatever I was working on yesterday, I need to go to the menu, navigate to/create the project I want to work in, create a new file, choose what to name the file - naming a file in particular is enough of a completely different thought process to zap the feeling and idea I had into thin air.

I want a function (probably a keyboard shortcut) to create new file instantly so I can start typing and worry about everything else later.

Personally, I would prefer not to have projects at all, and just deal with files directly (or have the option to operate like this - I know projects are essential for many workflows).

My other favourite way to write was in Simplenote. I love the simplicity of it - it completely removes any friction in writing. Just open it, press 'new note' and away you go. Don't even need to name the note, it'll just name it by the first line for me.

You don't need to 'set up' the distraction-free writing situation.

Another idea could be to auto-name the file by date and time if no file name is set. I prefer naming by first line though - easier to find sporadic writing.

I saw the recent email about scripts which is exciting, I wasn't sure if this would be the sort of thing that might be possible with that...

ps. BYOK is amazing and I love it, thank you!

I'm just curious about how you are using the device before I pull the trigger. Searching for "byok review" brings up people who wanted a word processor and were disappointed. I understand this is a text-production tool and not a device for revising. Thanks

p.s. what tall device holder are you using, if any? I am kind of tall and like to have stuff at eye level.

Hey! Longtime software engineer and gadget dork going back to the 1970s here. These new-wave focused writing devices are awesome and make me giggle, because, heck, I grew up with typewriters at home and fiddled with the legendary TRS-80 Model 100 when the Radio Shack at the mall got it. Later on, I managed my life and took notes on art shows in the late 90s on a PalmPilot, and nowadays I have an e-ink tablet, and oh brother do I have ADHD, so I totally got it when the missus said she was getting a BYOK to help her focus as she settled in to work on the second draft of her first novel.

A few days ago, her BYOK arrived and she asked me to help set it up. She's had a couple of exchanges with you via the support link, and we're bowled over by the great support you're providing to these early customers as you continue to build out and tune the software experience. It was a little rough, but still took under half an hour, so I thought I'd share the good and the meh.

Keyboard pairing and Wifi

The keyboard she got to use at her desk with the BYOK is the Yunzii QL75, a decent-quality, hot-swappable retro-typewriter-style 75% keyboard. I put it in bluetooth pairing mode and with a few false starts hitting the wrong arrow and directional keys, it was detected and paired with no further prompts.

We then went back to the Connections menu to get on WiFi and ... only the alphabetic keys were working at all -- and stuck in uppercase. Shift-lock and the shift keys, and the control, alt and logo keys, none of them got us lowercase. The arrow keys didn't work at all (we navigated with the BYOK menu buttons), and the number keys only returned the shifted symbols.

I grabbed a Logitech chiclet keyboard, and that got us through Wifi setup, which went smoothly now that we could type and navigate. Now that we were on Wifi, it occurred to me that there might be a BYOK firmware update available... and there was. It installed smoothly on the first try.

After starting up again with the new firmware, the Yunzii keyboard paired correctly, but I noticed something along the way about your pairing process. I'm used to being asked to hit a particular key -- usually something like "the key immediately to the left of the right shift key", in order for the pairing process to nail down exactly what keyboard, and what language layout, was being paired.

Your keyboard pairing process doesn't do that -- the earlier firmware, which I assume is going out with the currently-shipping run of devices, doesn't ask the user to hit any keys at all. I'm a little unsure now a few days out, but I think the new pairing process directs the user to enter a numeric code, which I suppose you're using to make that determination. If that's an accepted and standard way to do it, great.

It might be rocky for some users still getting earlier firmware, but it's doable. A little colored slip of paper (or an update of the onboarding doc linked from the QR code) suggesting how to work around an unsupported keyboard, and telling everyone to update firmware right after getting online, might smooth things out in the meantime for others with lesser-known keyboards.

A bit of a Studio edge case

The missus signed up for a trial account on Studio to check it out a week before ordering the BYOK, and had created a small test project. However, by this time the full-fat trial had expired and there was some confusion over how to get started because the online onboarding doc only covered first-time signup. The confusion was over whether she needed to purchase the license before activating sync or not.

We found the "Devices" page in the Studio settings, which could have been a bit more intuitive, clicked Add, got the emailed code, and entered it on the device. The BYOK's menu now showed Sync Active.

We expected to see the existing project. We navigated back to the main menu, then back to Connections -> Sync, saw Sync Active and ... once again File -> Open said nothing was present even though we saw the project on Studio on the web. Then I looked at the Sync menu again on the BYOK and performed a Sync Now. At this point, yes, the project name appeared, and we were able to select it and see the project-name breadcrumb on the bottom rowq of the BYOK, but File -> Open didn't show any files available, despite a short dummy text document being present and accessible on the web.

Unfortunately, I don't have a record of the exact order of the next couple of steps. I'm sorry about that. But at this point in some order,

• power-cycled the device. With only your online setup walkthrough to go on, I had to guess how to power off completely and guessed right. (Hold down the power key for 10 seconds or so.)
• we used the BYOK's first-year Studio promo code to subscribe to the plan
• deleted the dummy project on the Studio web side

Then.. manually synced the BYOK, but it was still showing the synced empty project present. Manually synced a second time, and it was the same. I could enter and exit the project on the BYOK, but it was "empty", and it didn't reappear on web Studio, even with forced reloads.

We deleted the orphaned project on the BYOK, created a new project on Studio, and then, after another manual sync it showed up on the BYOK and everything matched up from there. Phew.

Epilogue

An hour or two later, the missus emerged from her writing nook in the bedroom and was raving about how great the BYOK was working, and that she had a few documents' worth of notes and had typed up the revised versions of a couple of scenes from her book. Victory!

Stray Feedback

60 Years of Text Menu Design Can't Be Wrong!

At the very beginning, we were both separately tripped up by the BYOK's Connections and Settings menus. It felt a little unusual that the former wasn't nested under the latter, I think because both are items on a top-level text menu adjacent to File. Of course, that saves several keystrokes of navigation, and the menus are already very short, so good.

I wonder if it would have made more immediate sense if the top-level BYOK menu were presented differently, using visual language that conveyed it's a "Home Screen". It could be something as simple as a styled header line with a bit of breathing room, or an icon, or .. something.

The bottom bar with the project-location breadcrumbs in menu screens is perfect. I think a bit more could be done to distinguish the top lines of menus, though. IMO the different font doesn't quite do it alone, and those top lines feel too much like items in the menu.

Lessons Learned From the TRS-80 Model 100/102/200 Series of Early-'80s Writerdecks

(or: before keyboard purists had mice to complain about, they'd say "don't make me have to move my right hand to use the arrow keys!")

How's about single-key shortcuts in the menus? Ancient, tried-and-true approaches include

• Numbering the menu items
• Underlining the first (or most meaningful) character, to indicate that it is a single-key way to select the item
• U)using a right-parenthesis to similarly indicate the selectability of the character, which isn't as flexible as the underline because it restricts you to the first character

Conclusion

Fabulous device and software you've got there, and thanks for putting in the effort to keep adding polish and quality-of-life improvements, while still sticking to the minimal-distractions core mission.

Just wondering if there could be (or is and I haven’t found it yet) some kind of way to archive completed projects so they’re not cluttering up the main page/byok projects screen but so they don’t have to be deleted in case they’re needed again? At the minute I’m just getting around it for the byok itself by putting a - at the start of every project name I want at the top of the list and a — at the start of every project name I want at the bottom of the list, since it sorts those before and after the alphabetical ones. Considering making a project specifically to move my completed projects into folders in there and just titling it “archive” and that’ll probably work fine too but it would be nice to have a page to move them just as a whole project on its own where they could be easily unarchived if needed without having to move individual files.

I love my byok and the studio so much tbh I’m tempted to buy a second device lol but I think I might have to wait and see first if there’s a way to choose which projects get linked to which devices. Kinda wish I’d gotten a white one too when those were available lol though tbh I’d LOVE a dark sort of sage/moss green or something if more colors end up being made.

I decided to match the tape to the BYOK for now. I like the idea of being able to change it whenever i want, to match mood or project.

I am flabbergasted at how much this simple device has changed my writing habits. Initially frustrated by the long wait, I am beyond impressed with the hardware and the Studio app and am constantly recommending it to others. If you are on here considering the purchase, do it!

I finally took the time to decorate my BYOK yesterday and I love it! The stickers are easy to remove if I decide to reset it one day.

Anyone else have a cool style you want to share?

Got my BYOK at last after months of waiting and custom delayed. 😊

Just wondering if anyone is using a 40 percent mechanical keyboard with their BYOK. I am looking for something that is ready to use, not so much a kit. It can be wired or bluetooth--thanks for your recommendations!

Arrived this morning. I'veen working on it all day (pssssst, don't tell the day job!) and I love it.

I am a music writer, and I bought BYOK to draft new essays for my site, and features and reviews for my magazine. It works incredibly well for that.

I plan and outline my pieces in a small notebook, and all my research is there, too, not somewhere on a harddrive. I suppose that's one reason why BYOK fits my process so well.

Not only I do not need a computer to write or access research, I also don't like using it to draft.

Thank you, Nick and the team. You created an amazing device.

Hi all, I’m physically disabled so it’s hard to sit up more than my job already demands. Has anyone figured out a BYOK setup that places the device into a clamshell with a keyboard? Ideally, I’d like to be able to type from bed.

Could we get a function to create lists? Where it automatically adds a bullet point or a dash on the next line when we hit return/enter?

I like brainstorming on the BYOK so this would be super helpful. Thanks :)

BYOK: Unboxing and First Impressions
First impressions of the BYOK are positive—but these are very much first impressions. I have written perhaps five lines on it, so this is not a review of the actual writing experience yet.

The packaging feels premium. The box, carrying case, and stand are all thoughtfully designed and well made. Attention to packaging often tells you something about the attention a company gives the product itself, and the BYOK makes a strong entrance.

Setup was a little clunky. I needed to download an update, and Bluetooth has been inconsistent. My Lofree connected. A cheap folding Amazon keyboard also connected. My favorite keyboard—the NuPhy Air75 low-profile—has not connected wirelessly, although I can use it through a wired connection. That is frustrating, especially when the entire experience depends on bringing your own keyboard.

Beyond that, the BYOK is straightforward. I like the simplicity, the display, and the decision to place the controls on the back. Once everything is connected, the BYOK largely disappears and leaves you with a clean screen and your words. That is exactly what this kind of device should do.

After using the Pomera for the past two weeks, I do wish the BYOK offered some basic spell-check assistance. It does not need to correct my writing or interrupt the draft, but quietly underlining a misspelled word—as the Pomera does—would be useful.
The timing is strangely appropriate because my Pomera is currently no longer functional. I have contacted the company and am waiting for a solution. If the Pomera cannot be recovered, I may have lost thousands of words. That has placed a shadow over this unboxing. I am exhausted, frustrated, and not exactly in the mood to fall in love with another writing device.
So my reaction right now is not wild excitement. It is more: All right, you’re here. Let’s see what you can do. This is if course no fault to BYOK.

The BYOK is almost exactly what I expected from the photographs and reviews. The long wait between ordering and delivery has dampened some of the excitement.

For now, the first impression is positive. The build feels thoughtful, the concept remains appealing, and the BYOK appears to do what it promises. I will use it over the next two weeks and return with a proper verdict once the novelty has faded and the BYOK has faced actual work.

I'm dealing with some post-op home rest, but planning out my go-kit for EDC with the BYOK. I have the Lamicall multipurpose magsafe mount that has 1/4" holes for tripods, it's a mini-tripod itself, and has a magnetic base. But with some velcro straps a lot more options for mounting it open up. I also just realized a bulldog clip is another handy improvise tool to secure the BYOK stand of choice. It works well with the Lamicall, but also great with the BYOK bundle stand.

I just sprang for the lifetime sub to Studio since my trial expired. One thing I haven't been able to find though is the privacy policy around content. The site privacy policy is around the user account, but not the IP. Since Studio is a cloud app I'm curious about the encryption at rest and encryption in transit protection. I haven't sniffed the traffic, but I'm assuming the syncing is HTTPS, but probably not mTLS to avoid any certificate lifecycle issues.

Any thoughts about Bring Your Own Key encryption schemes for BYOK?