Day One Diary: Daily Journal

Automattic, Inc

In-app purchases

About this app

Day One is the journal app that reinvented journaling. Completely private, cross-platform, and designed to never fill up, Day One makes it easy to capture your life as you live it. Whether you’re keeping a daily journal, a private journal, a digital journal, a gratitude journal, or a simple diary, Day One gives you a beautifully designed space for every thought. Use it as your journaling app for notes, memories, travel, photos, or even as a video diary, video journal, or AI journal that helps you reflect on each day.
“Day One creates something so rare it feels almost sacred: A completely private digital space.” – New York Times
“Day One makes keeping a journal delightfully easy.” – Wired
“It’s perfect! Does what it says on the box. I was able to import my stuff from another (pricey) journal so that I didn’t lose those entries. It’s easy to add multiple entries to a day and to keep pictures. And it’s lockable, keeping private thoughts protected. I will happily use Day One for years.” – Day One user
PRESERVE EVERY MEMORY
Day One gives you unlimited text entries, unlimited photos*, and the ability to create different journals for every part of your life. You can build a daily journal free routine, save long-term memories in a digital diary, or keep your most important moments in a day one journal private diary. IFTTT integrations also let you bring in data from Spotify, YouTube, Strava, Fitbit, Facebook, Twitter, and more, making the app one of the best free journal apps for capturing your entire day.
PRIVATE AND SECURE
Privacy has always been at the heart of Day One. End-to-end encryption protects every entry, and your private journal stays secure with a passcode or Fingerprint lock. Automatic backups, export options (PDF, JSON), and seamless sync across devices ensure your digital journal always remains yours. Day One also works smoothly alongside Apple One on supported devices for users with mixed ecosystems.
FORM A HABIT & STAY CONSISTENT
Day One helps you make journaling a natural part of your day. Programmable reminders encourage you to write regularly, while unique daily journal prompts help you stay consistent without worrying about what to say. Whether you’re writing a diary entry, updating your gratitude journal, or adding something to your video diary, Day One makes capturing each day feel effortless.
SIMPLE TO USE, EASY TO LOVE
A beautiful, award-winning design makes Day One feel warm and welcoming from the moment you open it. Rich text formatting gives your entries personality, and starring your favorites makes them easy to revisit. It’s a journal app free of clutter, crafted for anyone who wants a journaling app that feels simple, personal, and enjoyable to use.
DELIGHT IN THE DETAILS
Day One automatically records the time, date, weather, and location of every entry, letting you revisit your life with surprising clarity. On This Day resurfaces memories from past years. Tags, favorites, and powerful search tools make your diary or digital diary easy to browse. Map View shows all the places you’ve journaled from, helping your travel memories shine.
Day One is free to use forever with unlimited entries, making it one of the best free journal apps for anyone looking to start a diary or journaling habit. To get more out of Day One, including unlimited photos, videos, and more advanced features, try Premium free for one month.
Privacy Policy: https://dayoneapp.com/privacy-policy/
Terms of Use: https://dayoneapp.com/terms-of-use/
For technical assistance or other inquiries: https://dayoneapp.com/contact/



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Ratings and reviews

$50 a year is absolutely bonkers for a journaling app. Day One is functional as a free app, but they don't offer any customization options (colors, fonts etc.) even with the paid version. If you want a bare bones journal this is a fine app, but if you're used to apps with more aesthetic options, moods, trackers this isn't the one for you. I can't rate it any higher because even if you pay for it, the Windows app doesn't have the ability to lock. Anyone on your computer can open it right up.

Excellent with one exception: you cannot search inside a particular note. Here's how Day One search works - it returns a list of notes that contain your search term. You cannot search INSIDE a note using the Day One app. This is a huge deficiency. To get around this, use your PC to open Day One on the web. However, this does not work from your mobile device. If you try to use a web browser to access the Day One website you are redirected to the app. Bummer.

wish there was a tab option to start a new paragraph. instead it just skips to options at the bottom on desktop. otherwise fantastic, makes me feel safe writing with a lock on a journal. grew up in a house where someone would always go through my stuff, and this is reassuring even though that isn't the case anymore!