Apple's Journal App

[FireFish]

I think Apple just wanted to offer a basic app for the mental wellbeing aspect .

No sir, that was not the intention nor the impression that Apple gave us at the Keynote.
Their Journal app was to have access to certain very personal otherwise unavailable APIs that DayOne or any other Journaling app couldn't since it's not Apple branded.

I still have yet to see these benefits, nor have I seen any of the promised integration with the Apple Shortcuts app.

 

[FireFish]

I like that it suggests a new entry based on my last workout. I like that I can add an image to a new entry. And I like that it gives me a reflection topic to write about when I don’t have anything else going on.

Just to be clear: You do know that Day One also will prompt you how ever often you want with a prompt to stimulate a journal post. You can very easily attach images, or videos, and even integrate the image metadata into your entry. It also can connect with your workouts via Health app, and include pedometer steps in your entry's metadata, and what's most annoying is that Journal doesn't allow anything near what Day One does when it comes to EXPORT functions. So if you want to quickly export certain notes, or PDF them to share with someone, Day One makes that simple whereas Apple's Journal app makes that impossible as far as I can tell.

Let's also not forget that DayOne actually has Command Line Tools for advanced Mac users who want to automate entries via Terminal.

 

[FireFish]

I haven’t used the beta but, it is my understanding, that at this point in time there is only the phone app with no import function. Hopefully, that changes.

How can Apple expect anyone to commit any amount of time or trust to an app that can't import or export?

 

[twdawson]

I have been so impatient to try this out that I installed the PB of 17. I have been using Day One but now I have switched to this, its a simple journaling app but that’s exactly what I like about it plus it means I can cancel that yearly subscription and my data is not on a third party server.

Loving it so far.

 

[Apple_Robert]

How can Apple expect anyone to commit any amount of time or trust to an app that can't import or export?

Maybe Apple will eventually offer an import option.

 

[twdawson]

I think they will and offer an iPad and mac app as well.

 

[H_D]

I just checked, and boy, my oldest DayOne entries seem to be from 2005, probably imported... about 10K of entries all in all. I use DayOne and Stoic and despite still thinking that D1 could improve in many small ways (Find/Replace, compressing images, indexing on the iPhone and mostly the way «on this day» is handled on various devices), it is the best app for just writing down your thoughts, organizing them, adding images etc. It could be better, but it is a very good solution so far. Stoic offers a more prompted approach and I like the app and the way the developer works on it quite a lot, but not as a diary, more as a mood tracker. It will be neat to see where Apple takes its own journal, which with deeper integration could really become amazing, but probably will not... because Apple almost always develops software that sticks at about 80%. They often do not go the last mile or leave software development when it feels baked. And it is the free developers who come up with solutions that give you the last 20% you need. Like Fantastical vs Calendar, it will be interesting to see if DayOne can survive this ( I have no idea about the user base and health of the company as it has been bought by Automattic) or will use this to offer a better solution and make people jump from the Apple standard software to something more tailor-made.

 

[twdawson]

Time will tell how this goes but I know one thing for certain, I hate subscription services because if you are not careful they can mount up so Easy.

day one is not cheap.

 

[twdawson]

After using this for a while it comes down to what is the right way for you, full featured journaling app which costs £32.99 per year or a free version which is limited in what you can do.

i am now undecided.

 

[ManuCH]

I haven't really used a journaling app so far, but I might get into it when I upgrade to iOS 17.2. I would never pay money for such an app as that's such a minor thing for me, but if Apple makes smart suggestions as to what I should add to my journal entries, I might give it a shot.

My only worry: not being able to export my journals. What if in 10 years I wanna switch to Android? (🤯)

 

[twdawson]

I have found another problem with this. There is no search option in the app, that’s going to be a deal breaker once you have hundreds of entry’s.

But I am sticking to apples free option as I am hoping it will get better.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Just to be clear: You do know that Day One also will prompt you how ever often you want with a prompt to stimulate a journal post. You can very easily attach images, or videos, and even integrate the image metadata into your entry. It also can connect with your workouts via Health app, and include pedometer steps in your entry's metadata, and what's most annoying is that Journal doesn't allow anything near what Day One does when it comes to EXPORT functions. So if you want to quickly export certain notes, or PDF them to share with someone, Day One makes that simple whereas Apple's Journal app makes that impossible as far as I can tell.

Let's also not forget that DayOne actually has Command Line Tools for advanced Mac users who want to automate entries via Terminal.

It's been years since I've used day one, even then it was a very rare occurrence. So, I'm sure the prompt existed back then, but I just couldn't remember it.

I see Apple's Journal app more of a replacement for the physical journal I've been keeping on and off. I've never been able to import or export from that nor do I personally have any reason to share it with anyone other than myself. But, I could definitely dee both importing and exporting would be useful if I did ever want to switch to another journaling app in the future. I don’t need anything much, Apple’s journal app fits my needs perfectly.

 

[H_D]

While I generally really recommend DayOne, the prompts are nowhere near what Stoic offers, what Apple (might) offer if they use their own ecosphere in a smart way or what AI-driven journaling tools might give you – smart reactive, (mostly) changing questions you did not come up with yourself & that hopefully go beyond «What are you grateful for today?» ;-). A good journaling app has to get a lot, a LOT of stuff right: Search/Index/Calendar, Editing old posts effectively, storing and acquiring different media and inputs, UI/UX (it should be fun to use), psychological aspects and so on. As with ToDo-Apps I have yet to see an application that gets it all right (mostly because «right» is so super subjective), so it is always great to have one more option in the field. Usually Apple is NOT the company to get it ALL right anyway, all of their apps, while great, have their very own Achilles heels, even for a company of that size and the sheer diversity of Apps they're startlingly good. Apple offers much more range from Logic to Keynote etc than Microsoft does, and none of their products is as bad as every single MS application seems to be :-D.

 

[applepotato666]

I think it's going to be great unless they abandon it like they tend to do with such stuff. If they offer really contextual and specific prompts and resurface memories to journal about properly (which it seems to be doing for me currently) it can be better than Day One. Regardless I will use Apple's solution because I really do not like subscriptions and actively avoid them.

 

[twdawson]

Day one say they can’t read any of our data as it is encrypted but offer a book printing service..

how is that possible.

 

[matrix07]

Day one say they can’t read any of our data as it is encrypted but offer a book printing service..

They can't read it as long as they don't decrypted it 😀

 

[i4k20c]

I have found another problem with this. There is no search option in the app, that’s going to be a deal breaker once you have hundreds of entry’s.

But I am sticking to apples free option as I am hoping it will get better.

that makes sense. i wish there was a web app for either day1 or apple. my workflow is so difficult since i use windows for work and mac for personal. would love to write snippets at lunch or something on the web. but i assume a web app means it's not as secure.

 

[i4k20c]

if you subscribe to dayone, looks like they are offering 40% off through 11/28/23. now the question is if i should do it or not!

 

[twdawson]

if you subscribe to dayone, looks like they are offering 40% off through 11/28/23. now the question is if i should do it or not!

Where is that 40% offer at as I can’t find it.

 

[i4k20c]

Where is that 40% offer at as I can’t find it.

it was part of their newsletter for black friday .the code is JOURNALBF40 but you have to login on the website and checkout through there. it doesn't work on the app itself.

do you think with the discount, it's worth getting over the apple journal app?

 

[AlmightyKang]

What's the longevity and data export capability of these platforms? That's the killer important bit.

Still using paper and scanning it after 35 years.

 

[twdawson]

it was part of their newsletter for black friday .the code is JOURNALBF40 but you have to login on the website and checkout through there. it doesn't work on the app itself.

do you think with the discount, it's worth getting over the apple journal app?

I have had a change of plan, I have subscribed to Day One for 1 year as I can put it on all of my devices and not just using Apples journal app on the iPhone.

By the time my subscription runs out then I will see how the iOS version has come along.

i think Apple are just testing the water to see if there is much demand for it, I think it will come to iPadOS at some point.

 

[FireFish]

It's been years since I've used day one, even then it was a very rare occurrence. So, I'm sure the prompt existed back then, but I just couldn't remember it.

I see Apple's Journal app more of a replacement for the physical journal I've been keeping on and off. I've never been able to import or export from that nor do I personally have any reason to share it with anyone other than myself. But, I could definitely dee both importing and exporting would be useful if I did ever want to switch to another journaling app in the future. I don’t need anything much, Apple’s journal app fits my needs perfectly.

With all due respect, saying you used Day One years ago is equivalent to not have used it at all.
How can you weigh in on a conversation debating two different products without having having used either?

 

[Isamilis]

I think they will and offer an iPad and mac app as well.

I will just wait until this happened. It’s not easy decision as I have ~2k of entries in D1 already.

 

[twdawson]

I will just wait until this happened. It’s not easy decision as I have ~2k of entries in D1 already.

So you must of been using day one for years then. How have you found it, has it been good or a buggy experience.