I built Video Tagger in 2011.
The premise was simple. You're filming a sport — a game, a training session, a kid trying something for the tenth time. You tap a button on the screen the moment something happens. Goal. Mark. PB attempt. Save. Whatever mattered.
Later, you don't scrub back through forty minutes of grainy footage looking for the bit you actually wanted. The app jumps you straight to it.
That was the whole point. A timestamp that knew what to be a timestamp for.
It launched into a PE-and-coaching market that was just getting comfortable with iPads in the gym. Coaches used it for skill analysis. PE teachers used it for video feedback on movement. The app shipped, it found its audience, it kept running. I went on to build other things.
Fourteen years later
My kids are old enough to play weekend sport.
And now I'm the parent on the sideline — using my own app.
It's a funny moment. I built Video Tagger for teachers and coaches. I'm using it for grandparents. Tap a button when my son scores a goal. Tap again when his teammate makes a screamer of a mark. Twenty minutes after the final whistle, I've already pulled the highlights into a little reel and messaged them home before bedtime.
The app I built for skill analysis turned out to be perfect for a job I didn't think to name in 2011 — capturing the moments your phone's camera roll will lose in a week, while there's still a chance to actually find them.
The original premise still holds
You can't scrub through forty minutes of weekend footage looking for the catch. You can tap a button when it happens.
The use case has shifted — from PE coaches diagnosing a student's run-up, to a dad on a folding chair trying to make sure the highlight gets to Nan before she goes to bed. But the core idea is the same one I had in 2011: video is only useful if you can find the bit that matters.
We just shipped a big update
Refreshed interface. Faster export. Better sharing for the parent-on-the-sideline use case I never originally designed for but now use it for every Saturday morning.
It's still free on iOS.
Funny how the project you build half a lifetime ago swings back into focus with a new perspective.