One Last Second1 Second Everyday
Both apps bet that your ordinary days are worth keeping. They just keep them differently.
Join the waitlist→Where 1SE shines
1 Second Everyday more or less invented this category. Cesar Kuriyama filmed one second of every day for a year, gave a TED talk about it in 2012, ran one of the most-backed app campaigns in Kickstarter history, and turned the idea into an app that has kept more than a decade of people’s seconds. That matters — an archive is only as good as the company that keeps the tool alive, and 1SE has kept it alive since 2013.
It’s a genuinely good product from a genuinely good company — a Public Benefit Corporation, a two-time Webby winner for Best Use of a Mobile Camera, featured by Apple, TED, the BBC, and CNN. iPhone and Android, polished mashups that stitch months or years into one film, and a community that has stuck with it for years. If you want the most established app in this space, that’s 1SE, and we’d rather you journal with them than not at all.
Where we part ways
It starts from a different question
Most daily-video apps start from "build the habit, keep the streak." One Last Second starts from memento mori — remember you will die — not as a warning, but as a way of seeing. Every day opens with a quote in that tradition, your life renders as 4,420 weeks, and the question is never "did you post?" It’s "what was worth keeping?"
The Life tab — your life in weeks, in the app.
The day seals at midnight
In 1SE you can fill any past day from your camera roll — Smart Fill will even do it for you, and for a highlight reel that’s genuinely useful. We made the opposite promise: at midnight, the day seals. No backfilling, no do-overs, on any tier (Plus holds a day open for 48 hours, then it seals like everything else). You can’t curate your past into existence. What’s in the archive is what you actually noticed, on the day it happened.
A constraint, not a setting
1SE gives free users a second and a half, and Pro members up to ten seconds — length is a feature you can turn up. We went the other way and fixed it: three seconds, every day, for everyone (Plus stretches a moment to eight). Not because more would be worse — because the constraint is the point. One short moment, short enough that you’ll actually do it, adding up to eighteen minutes of your actual life per year.
No streaks, on purpose
Streaks work — that’s why almost every habit app uses them. We left them out anyway. Some days you’ll forget, the dot stays empty, and the practice keeps going. It’s not a streak to protect; it’s a practice to return to.
Your circle sees today
Friends in One Last Second are part of the daily practice: a small circle of people whose three seconds you see, and who see yours — only what each of you chooses to share. Your first circle is free; Plus widens it. No audience to grow, no one to perform for — just your people, showing up in each other’s days.
The Friends tab — your circle’s three seconds, too.
Local-first, by architecture
To be fair: 1SE is private too — nothing you film is shared unless you choose. Ours is a difference of architecture, not intent. One Last Second is local-first: your moments live on your phone and never leave it unless you share or export them, and there’s no feed or likes anywhere to perform for. You are not performing your life — you are keeping it.
nothing to perform for
Side by side
| 1 Second Everyday | ||
|---|---|---|
| Daily clip | 3 seconds, fixed (Plus: up to 8) | 1.5 seconds free, up to 10 with Pro |
| Framing | A memento mori practice | A video journal and highlight reel |
| Missed a day? | Sealed at midnight — the dot stays empty (Plus: 48-hour grace) | Fill any past day from your camera roll (Smart Fill) |
| Motivation | No streaks — a practice to return to | Friendly reminders and Smart Fill |
| Capture types | Video only — it has to move | Video, photos, and live photos |
| Compilations | Monthly films that stitch themselves (Plus) | Mashups you assemble, spanning any range |
| Life in weeks | 4,420 weeks, one dot each — built in | — |
| Daily quote | Every day opens with one | — |
| Where clips live | Local-first; opt-in cloud backup (Plus) | On device; cloud backup with Pro |
| Platforms | iPhone first | iPhone and Android |
| Track record | Launching now — the waitlist hears first | Keeping people’s seconds since 2013 |
| Price | Free, with Plus — pricing lands at launch | Free, with a Pro subscription |
Reflects our best understanding as of July 2026 — check 1SE’s own site for their current features and pricing.
Questions
Is One Last Second a 1 Second Everyday alternative?
It’s in the same family — one short video a day, kept for good — built on a different philosophy. 1SE is a daily video journal; One Last Second is a memento mori practice: a fixed three seconds, sealed at midnight, no streaks, a daily quote, and your life rendered in weeks. If the journal fits you, 1SE is excellent. If the philosophy pulls at you, that’s us.
Can I use both?
Of course. Plenty of people will. Nothing about One Last Second asks for exclusivity — the practice is three seconds a day, whatever else your camera does.
Why would I switch from 1SE?
Maybe you wouldn’t — years of seconds in one place is worth a lot, and we’d never tell you to abandon an archive. People who come to us usually aren’t leaving a tool; they’re looking for the framing: mortality as a lens, not a deadline. Read the manifesto and see if it lands.
When can I try One Last Second?
Soon — we’re in the last stretch of building. The waitlist hears first, before the App Store listing goes public. One email at launch; nothing before it, nothing after.
The waitlist hears first
If this way of seeing resonates — one email at launch, nothing before it, nothing after.
Join the waitlist→