Why Dùn

As humans, we're a complex bunch. We contain multitudes as John Green said when talking about the Paper Towns movie. We can be day programmers and singers and dancers on the side. We can have white-collar jobs and do drag when off the clock. The backgrounds that make us are varied, and we often compartmentalize because context matters. Mixing them up can lead to misunderstandings, awkwardness, or worse.

That's what made me wish for an app that would let me separate my personal interests from my work life.

The Problem

Back when I used Safari as my daily driver, I saved a bunch of links on my phone and iPad's Reading List. It was convenient, synced across all my devices, easy to pick up anywhere.

But not all links are created equal.

As Apple constantly tweaked the UI in iOS and macOS, some of these personal links started surfacing in unexpected places. Siri Suggestions would show them. iCloud Tabs would suggest them when I opened Safari on my work laptop. Safari's new tab page would display them front and center.

It became a source of constant anxiety. Not because I was doing anything wrong, but because contexts were collapsing in ways I couldn't control.

I tried the obvious fixes. Private browsing meant losing everything when I closed the tab. Saving links in Notes felt clunky. Third-party bookmark managers wanted to sync everything to the cloud, analyze my browsing, and "intelligently surface" content I might like.

I didn't want intelligence. I didn't want suggestions. I just wanted separation.

The Solution

Face ID changed how I think about security on my phone. I use 1Password daily, and it makes me feel both convenient and secure. That's when I started wondering: why couldn't a separate, Face ID-protected space exist just for links?

Not hidden. Not shameful. Just separate.

That's when Dùn started taking form in my head.

dùn: fort, castle, or fortified hill

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word dùn (pronounced "doon") comes from Scottish Gaelic and means fort, castle, or fortified hill.

ChatGPT helped me find it, and I think it perfectly captures what the app is: a private, secured place to keep your things. Plus, the ù makes for a pretty cool icon. 🤓

Why I Built This

I'm not new to building apps. My first app, Medo e Delírio, has 5,000 monthly active users in Brazil. It's a companion app for a political podcast, and the feedback loop is addictive. Ship a feature, watch people use it, repeat.

But Medo e Delírio is deeply tied to Brazilian politics, which makes it hard to talk about internationally or showcase to employers outside Brasil. I wanted to build something universal, something I could show anyone, anywhere.

I had other ideas, but while talking to friends (and AI), I kept coming back to this: a private place for links that don't belong everywhere.

The more I talked about it, the more people said, "Oh, I need that."

Not for the same reasons I did, necessarily. But everyone has something they want to keep separate. Medical research they're not ready to discuss. Job listings while still employed. Gift ideas for a surprise. Resources for a side project they haven't told anyone about yet. Subscriptions they track privately.

Separation isn't about hiding. It's about boundaries.

What Dùn Is (and Isn't)

Dùn isn't trying to be a better Pocket or Raindrop. It's not trying to organize your entire digital life. It's not trying to guess what you want to read next.

It's a container. That's it.

You save links. You tag them if you want. You search when you need to find something. Everything stays on your device, protected by Face ID, separate from your browser history and suggestions.

No cloud sync (yet). No sharing. No feeds. No algorithms. No notifications. No noise.

It's intentionally boring. Calm. Predictable.

In a world where every app wants to be a platform, where everything is trying to engage you, surface content, and keep you coming back, Dùn is designed to get out of your way.

The Bigger Picture

Even if you never download Dùn, I think we can all appreciate wanting some separation between the different parts of our lives. Between the personas that make us who we are.

We're not one-dimensional. We're multifaceted, complex, contradictory. And sometimes, we just need a quiet place where one part of our life can exist without bleeding into everything else.

That's what Dùn is for.

Dùn is currently in beta and available on TestFlight.
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Thank you for reading.