I began my first diary while in grade school, and have kept a paper journal off and on since then. Even in the era of blogs, putting pen to paper can be immensely satisfying and intimate for journal keepers. Diary from aims to recreate the journaling experience for iPhone and iPod touch users, with mixed results. Dear Diary: Diary has a distinct look, with yellowed pages and frayed edges.
“This superb journaling app remains pleasant to behold, easy to use, and a tough act for any rival to follow. Various events and milestones of your life, then by far and away the best pick is Day One. Sync to all Day One apps, iPad, Mac. Write on-the-go with Journey's mobile app and web, or settle down comfortably at home and type on Mac desktop. # Grow your journaling habit Journey's simple and beautiful diary interface encourages you to write more. # Effortless journaling Keeping a diary is easy with Journey; add photos or video and pen your thoughts.
While Zapfino is the default font, you can switch it to something more legible. Diary is lovely to look at—the design mimics that of a well used journal, with yellowed pages and frayed edges. The default font of Zapfino enhances the romantic feel, though the developers included more legible text options as well. Adding and editing entries is as comfortable as typing on the iPhone can be, and new entries are saved automatically.
For those of us who want some additional security for our innermost thoughts, Diary offers passcode protection; you can enter a numerical key, which is certainly a better security option than the cheap “locks” on many real journals. Diary’s interface is elegant and straightforward, but limited compared to the real thing. Diaries often contain much more than words; the ability to add photos to entries would be a welcome feature—Frontier Code says that’s planned as part of a future update. The app took a step in the right direction with a recent update that lets you compose entries in both portrait and landscape mode.
While Diary is off to a good start, it needs more flexibility if it hopes to persuade diarists to abandon their pens and journals. Diary is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.2.1 software update. Kate Dohe is a graduate student in library and information science at the University of Hawai’i in Honolulu; she works with the Laboratory for Interactive Learning Technologies as a designer and site administrator.
By. 9:00 am, August 13, 2018. Day One makes it easy to create a vibrant and modern journal documenting and archiving your life. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac Research shows that keeping a journal is great for your mind. It allows you to clear your thoughts or think through problems in different ways.
Finding a good way to journal is easy with the Day One app. Designed to provide a feature-rich, modern journaling experience, Day One gives you the ability to keep track of, write about, or create a virtual archive of almost anything you want. What is Day One? Day One is a journaling app for iOS (and macOS), focused on creating media-rich archives of your life.
The app can also integrate with your social media accounts, photo library, calendar, and more to add additional context to your journal. Why it’s great Day One’s support for including weather information, daily step count, location data, and media make it a vibrant way to journal your life.
Instead of Apple Notes packed with plain text or paper journals that don’t give context to the day, Day One brings your journal to life. Day One’s design is another great feature. By using bright colors, bold fonts, and allowing for rich text formatting, your journal feels modern. To make it even better, you can create multiple journals, allowing you to organize things based on a topic or theme. Each journal can be set a different color, allowing you to differentiate each one. This is useful for journaling about family, work, or projects and vacations without mixing your content.
With Day One, you can create multiple journals, add text, links, songs, and images to entries, and enjoy an on-going log of your life. Screenshots: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac Day One’s support for importing from your “activity feed” (photos, social services, locations, etc.) allows you to quickly add journal entries without needing to write a word.
This also adds to the depth your journals, making them more enjoyable to look back on. A final great feature is the app’s share sheet action. From any website, image, or highlighted text, you can quickly create journal entries. This is useful when you want to add something to your journal without spending time crafting more in-depth thoughts, or without needing to switch tasks to add a new entry.
Who it’s for If you keep a paper journal, but are ready to go digital, Day One is for you. It is also excellent if you want to create a multimedia-rich archive of your life. Bottom line: Day One is the best journaling app If you’re looking for a way to go digital with your journaling, give Day One a try. It packs excellent, modern features and is simple to use, making it the best journaling app on iOS. Price: Free (upgrade to Pro for $24.99/year). Download from: See more of our 50 Essential iOS Apps Want more essential iOS app reviews?