Daily Journaling App Day One Acquired by Wordpress.com Owner Automattic

[BigMcGuire]

Ugh. I’ve tried as many alternatives as I can find - D1 is the top of the pile for a reason. I’ve kept journals for decades - used to be pen and paper (how quaint!) but most of those didn’t survive multiple moves and the wear and tear factor. Digital since the mid 90’s and I’ve had to go through several different apps when the companies went belly up or just lost interest in supporting their apps. D1 has been reliable for several years. Yes, I hate the subscription thing too, but my journals are the most important digital asset I have, so… Going to watch this one carefully. I’ve read the positive spin from D1. Right. I also remember reading the same happy words from the Evernote CEO of the month, back before I finally got fed up with their constantly rising prices and empty promises. We’ll see. I’m leaning toward making some sort of homebrew setup using Pages if D1 goes sour. Big PITA to neatly migrate and organize my 7000+ entries, videos and photos, but at least I can have a reasonable expectation of privacy, no annual bill and (maybe) won’t be obligated to go through this all again down the road a bit.

I too share worry about D1 going away. I've got thousands of entries in D1 and it has been absolutely amazing. I don't like my data on their AWS instance cloud but I do realize that it has had a massive impact on their business and D1's stability shows it. Just the idea that D1 requires an AWS bill pay for it to function is unsettling so if D1 ever went away, it wouldn't function.

I've tried all the other journaling applications recently. Some actually imported a D1 database fairly successfully. Some even have features I want badly - showing my photos from my Mac Photos album for that day in the application. But... none of them have the stability, refinement, and features of D1 - the painfree syncing of data between all my devices...

I would prefer to have my journaling locally (via Pages/Notes) but ... I'd lose my ability to see X journal entries on X dates in the past, the ability to look at a map view and see my entries for a location, etc.

I'm considering just keeping D1 locally on my MacBook only and using the Mac OS app only... but ... my iPad, my iPhone, my Watch, my MacBook all have my journal entries - I can journal from any device - I don't think I can give that up.

Day One has my business for now. Hopefully it doesn't change too much. Every now and then I back up everything via PDF and JSON just in case.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I still "analog" journal as well in small 3x5 Moleskines, and have for the past two decades. One thing DayOne / digital journaling does for me is tell me how many entries I may have had on that particular date over the years, bring back cool memories and photos, and help me remember trips / journeys / adventures.

I can't do that with my Moleskine, although I don't write in it every day. The Moleskine for me becomes where I rant/rehash, sort thoughts, and my Day One journal is more of a private "life memory catalog" of cool stuff I've done over the years. I don't generally share that kind of stuff on social media, so it's a nice reminder.

Let's hope it doesn't change too much -- if the sub model goes much higher than what I'm paying now, I'll probably export and move on, though.

Hah, yeah, I use Moleskine/Leuchtturm for thought jotting/notes and then end of day write that into a Day One "daily log" summary.

 

[Left0verture]

I too share worry about D1 going away. I've got thousands of entries in D1 and it has been absolutely amazing. I don't like my data on their AWS instance cloud but I do realize that it has had a massive impact on their business and D1's stability shows it. Just the idea that D1 requires an AWS bill pay for it to function is unsettling so if D1 ever went away, it wouldn't function.

I've tried all the other journaling applications recently. Some actually imported a D1 database fairly successfully. Some even have features I want badly - showing my photos from my Mac Photos album for that day in the application. But... none of them have the stability, refinement, and features of D1 - the painfree syncing of data between all my devices...

I would prefer to have my journaling locally (via Pages/Notes) but ... I'd lose my ability to see X journal entries on X dates in the past, the ability to look at a map view and see my entries for a location, etc.

I'm considering just keeping D1 locally on my MacBook only and using the Mac OS app only... but ... my iPad, my iPhone, my Watch, my MacBook all have my journal entries - I can journal from any device - I don't think I can give that up.

Day One has my business for now. Hopefully it doesn't change too much. Every now and then I back up everything via PDF and JSON just in case.

Same here on all counts. Keeping my bony fingers crossed for now, watching for alternatives and keeping everything backed up. Maybe somebody will weigh in here with a great alternative…? Maybe D1 will continue with no hiccups…?

 

[AppleInLVX]

Just being curious I would like to know how you use the app, DayOne, and how it has worked for you? Do you use multiple journals or what keeps you in the app?

Well, I use it to write. I actually bought it on a lark 9 years ago, and somehow it just worked for me. Initially, it was pretty bare bones—they had *just* added the ability to add *a* photo to an entry, so I took a photo, wrote a couple words, and to my astonishment, I’ve added an entry every day since. I guess you could say it really clicked with me. So that’s my primary use-case. I use to to record a photo each day and my thoughts about the day. This makes my “on this day” function pretty incredible, and it’s a terrific way to look back every now and again to find out when something happened where and the circumstances. It’s great.

I didn’t use the multiple journals until a year or two after they were implemented, and my first one was a garden journal, as my wife and I are avid gardeners. That journal tracks what we plant, where, and when and the success rates, and features pictures of some of our best successes, and the various changes we’ve made to the garden throughout the years.

And, my wife and I welcomed our daughter nearly three years ago, and I’ve been keeping a journal on her behalf as well, in which I outline her milestones and whenever she does anything super cute. I also attach photos and audio of her babbling and funny things she’s just starting to tell us. She began day care this year, and the school sends us daily reports and photos each day about what she’s up to, and I capture those in Day One as well. I also include some short video. These are really awesome used in conjunction with the ‘on this day’ feature, too.

I also have a misc journal that I’ve just called ‘external brain’ where I sometimes toss random things I want to capture, like good quotations I happen upon, web comics I thought were great, PDF captures of news articles I wanted to keep for reference. I don’t use it a lot, but it’s there.

I used to keep a dream journal, but I have totally run out of time for it the last few years.

All of the content is archived into PDFs annually, which is fine for archive, but the information when in day one is better searchable, and I love the way it allows for effortless rediscovery. I’d lose all the audio and video, too. :/

 

[hatchettjack]

s

"The Day One app has been downloaded over 15 million times in 225 different countries/territories." - https://dayoneapp.com/blog/day-one-at-automattic

o if it was only 1$ for the app they made about 10 million$ poor devs going hungry and need more $

 

[AppleInLVX]

All the people complaining here about <x> thousand of entries and how they're in a panic over this, all I can say is, have you ever considered a physical journal? I would never in a million years depend on an app to record years/lifetime of memories. Companies get bought, go out of business, etc. What about a giant power failure? What if a comet hits and the power is out for 5 years? Things happen, you know.

I'm sorry but I just have no sympathy, and that's why I would never use one of these journaling apps. Aside from the privacy factor (you really think any company actually abides by their privacy policies?) I can't imagine entrusting all my 'memories' to an app.

I get that there are limitations to a physical journal. But, try it - and maybe scan that and store it digitally outside the home, somehow. Or upload your photos/videos to a separate cloud storage service. I honestly cannot fathom taking the risk of 2000, 3000 journal entries entrusted to an app developer.

Teehee, you have no idea who you‘re talking to, do you? I started my handwritten journals in 1986 as part of a primary school journaling project. I kept handwritten journals from then until the early 2000’s when I finally thought to try writing using my computer. I did this with *much* trepidation. I was worried I’d lose the ambiance, the feeling of pen to paper. To this day, I *love* fine paper, I love to use my fountain pen, and I love to try different inks while I put down my thoughts. All of this is to say, I’m very well aware of the fact that one can keep a physical journal. Been there.

Moving to digital was initially an experiment for me, and I didn’t expect it to take. But then I found all the benefits, which someone’s already outlined later in the thread, so I won’t say those again. But I will say that for me at least, the most surprizing thing was how much *more* I wrote. I found that being able to type wherever, whenever was convenient, and also I can type far faster than I can write. There was also a lot less overhead. I was totally right in the thinking that I lost the romanticism and ritual aspect of writing, and I may write differently as a result. For me though, the point of a journal is to *write*. And the fact that I was suddenly writing 5 times as much as I used to was enough to push me fully digital. I also totally love the ability to add photos… I could live without video or audio, but photos add *so* much to a personal journal.

I go back and forth a *lot* with concerns of privacy and developer trust, not gonna lie. In this case though, so far, the benefits outweigh the risks, especially when it’s all apparently encrypted. And I keep local backups and PDF files as well as annual printed books of the content in the event of a comet hit, although I think I’d probably have bigger fish to fry in that event than what was happening to my journal. The disappointment comes from the thought that what I fear most, and hope won’t happen, seems to happen anyway.

I hold out hope that it will be as they say and all will be well. If not, all the writing I have done is still worth the time spent Investing in the app.

 

[AppleInLVX]

So nothing changed but the company ownership but you still feel disappointed?

I’m disappointed thinking about what *could* happen, which is probably unfair at this point. I don’t *know* anything about how it will be at this time. But I have rarely seen an acquisition that resulted in a better product. usually they go away entirely. The only one I can think of when Nike bought Converse. The Chucks actually got better. Aside from that though…🤷‍♂️

 

[zapmymac]

D1 user as well ~7500 entries

I just want to buy once and use. New management could allow for a new purchase model, this would be nice.

Infuse USED to offer a decent upgrade buy option for about 20-40$, now it’s a single lifetime 75$ …this is a whopper of a price difference…so I’ll just stick to my v.5 fully paid for option, which does all I need to do.

I don’t understand what the issue is about offering a buy option for v.1, v.2,v.3 etc.

monthly/yearly only subs seem to just milk the user, and since everyone is going that route, something has to give…

 

[Left0verture]

FWIW - I'm staying with D1 unless/until they give me a good reason to jump ship, but I'm also looking for decent alternatives. Dunno how I missed this one - Diarium (nasty name, but...) It's affordable (currently $5 one-time on iOS and $9 one-time on Mac) NO recurring subscriptions. The dev only collects diagnostic data and it's not linked to you (no Google/Fecebook data scrounging). It imported my D1 JSON export flawlessly in under 2 minutes on an M1 MacBook Air (~7500 entries with photos and videos). It syncs via a few popular services (NOT iCloud, though it looks like the dev is planning to add that) and backs up/restores insanely fast to an external SSD (backed up from my M1 MBA to a samsung T5 SSD and restored from same to a 2018 iPad Pro. YMMV) Maps, tags, locations, photos, audio, "on this day", weather, links to Twitter, FB, IG and several other services (Fitbit, anyone?), does templates and has a decent, clean UI. I'm not affiliated in any way, just passing on some info that I hope will ease the nervousness of those of us with a lot invested in D1.

 

[BigMcGuire]

FWIW - I'm staying with D1 unless/until they give me a good reason to jump ship, but I'm also looking for decent alternatives. Dunno how I missed this one - Diarium (nasty name, but...) It's affordable (currently $5 one-time on iOS and $9 one-time on Mac) NO recurring subscriptions. The dev only collects diagnostic data and it's not linked to you (no Google/Fecebook data scrounging). It imported my D1 JSON export flawlessly in under 2 minutes on an M1 MacBook Air (~7500 entries with photos and videos). It syncs via a few popular services (NOT iCloud, though it looks like the dev is planning to add that) and backs up/restores insanely fast to an external SSD (backed up from my M1 MBA to a samsung T5 SSD and restored from same to a 2018 iPad Pro. YMMV) Maps, tags, locations, photos, audio, "on this day", weather, links to Twitter, FB, IG and several other services (Fitbit, anyone?), does templates and has a decent, clean UI. I'm not affiliated in any way, just passing on some info that I hope will ease the nervousness of those of us with a lot invested in D1.

Yep, I was able to get Diarium to import my D1 data with ease. Albeit, the last 6 months had a \ before every period - wonder if it's still doing that - but, it was quick, used OneDrive very well, and integrated with Photos on my Mac and iPhone to show all the photos I took for that day without me needing to add them to Diarium. (I have requested Day One add this feature many months ago).

The developer is extremely responsive - I bought all versions (even on Windows App Store) lol. Great application. I just wish it used iCloud and last I tried the last 6 months of my Day One import had a \ before every period. I may give it another look (it's been almost a year?). It was nice to have at least for a backup in a way.

The name is definitely an eyebrow raiser. It also has a Windows App feel to it - not quite as refined as Day One but for the price and features, absolutely amazing.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I just reinstalled Diarium and re-imported my 4.6+GB JSON Day One export and ... looks like MOST of the \ inserts have been fixed. I noticed for +, (, and - characters, there's a \ in front of them, but the \ in front of the . was fixed! Nice!

I really really like how it accesses my photos and shows all the photos I took for the day from my Mac's Photo App in the Diarium app. But it is definitely nowhere near as pretty and refined as Day One. Feels like a 90s notepad in a way <cough>.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Apologies for the spam, but I just found out that Day One can pull photos from your photo library on a specific view.

Click on the Day icon

(in this case FRI 11) - and from there it goes to a special view where it can pull in Events and Photos from your photo library!!!).

While I wish it would show on the day itself without having to go to this view, wow that's a feature I didn't know existed in Day One!

 

[wallaby]

DayOne used to have this back years ago, it was called DayOne Publish and you could publish entries to a site and then direct people to those URLs. Not sure why it never came back.

That would be amazing to have again! Just a journal app with an optional “publish to web” checkbox that pushes the update to your website. Automattic tends to keep things like that sequestered to WordPress.com (not the self-hosted .org version) but it would be a feature to lure people to WordPress. Though honestly I’m not sure where people go for blogging anymore.

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

D1 user as well ~7500 entries

I just want to buy once and use. New management could allow for a new purchase model, this would be nice.

Infuse USED to offer a decent upgrade buy option for about 20-40$, now it’s a single lifetime 75$ …this is a whopper of a price difference…so I’ll just stick to my v.5 fully paid for option, which does all I need to do.

I don’t understand what the issue is about offering a buy option for v.1, v.2,v.3 etc.

monthly/yearly only subs seem to just milk the user, and since everyone is going that route, something has to give…

I agree it's annoying, but the logic of a subscription model is that you're basically paying for updates. So instead of the developer waiting to release an update that feel substantial enough to justify repurchasing the whole thing, they can continually release fixes and improvements. I don't know how Day 1 handles their subscriptions, but I think the subscription model that Sketch has used in the past is fair. Basically once it expires you may continue using the app with all features that don't require their servers to operate, and if you want to resume updates then you resubscribe.

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

That would be amazing to have again! Just a journal app with an optional “publish to web” checkbox that pushes the update to your website. Automattic tends to keep things like that sequestered to WordPress.com (not the self-hosted .org version) but it would be a feature to lure people to WordPress. Though honestly I’m not sure where people go for blogging anymore.

What you've described is a static site generator. e.g., Hugo or Jekyll. Nowadays developers mostly seem to use static site generators, but WordPress is probably still king of content management overall.

 

[macintoshmac]

@BigMcGuire when was the last time you contacted Day One support? I sent an email on January 29, 2021 and I still have not received a response. I am posting my email here, let's see if others are facing this as well.

~~~~~

Hello,

I write this email to you to offer some feedback regarding the macOS app on a MacBook Air 2017. It is possible that what I am going to write below is not applicable to newer models with better contrast ratios or something, so just bringing this to your notice in hope of some love for how the app looks on older screens.

img1: This is when DayOne is not in focus. It is difficult to see the number of entries in Journal 2021 (active journal) as well as make out the tiny cloud icon that denotes sync status.

img2: This screenshot is when I have clicked Journal 2021 and the app is in focus. Now, it is difficult to make out the number of entries against On This Day and All Entries, along with the tiny cloud icon as always.

img3: This is when I am actively typing in the editor. Now, it is difficult to make out the numbers against On This Day, All Entries, Journal 2021 (generic active journal), and the cloud icon.

This has been the case for a few revisions now, so I am thinking this has been escaping your attention and no one has brought this to your notice. I hope you will take appropriate measures. Also, I would really like to see the sync status more prominently all the time, so that I can be rest assured that there is a check mark inside the cloud. If you could do something about that - make it larger? I couldn't possibly comment on how you want to design your app, so just offering my thoughts on the difficulties I am facing as a user. I would be thrilled if the next revision/ update to the macOS app takes care of these issues.

I hope the you, your team and families are safe in these unprecedented times. Stay safe, and God bless! Thank you for creating a great piece of software. I look forward to how you improve upon what is and how you make the experience better this year. Oh, and a happy New Year 2021 to you!

~~~~~~

If you have recently contacted the developer and have received a response, I would be thankful and grateful if you could get me a response for this. Maybe something in the above mail offended them and they decided to ignore. Maybe it went to spam. No clue.

 

[BigMcGuire]

@BigMcGuire when was the last time you contacted Day One support? I sent an email on January 29, 2021 and I still have not received a response. I am posting my email here, let's see if others are facing this as well.

~~~~~

Hello,

I write this email to you to offer some feedback regarding the macOS app on a MacBook Air 2017. It is possible that what I am going to write below is not applicable to newer models with better contrast ratios or something, so just bringing this to your notice in hope of some love for how the app looks on older screens.

img1: This is when DayOne is not in focus. It is difficult to see the number of entries in Journal 2021 (active journal) as well as make out the tiny cloud icon that denotes sync status.

img2: This screenshot is when I have clicked Journal 2021 and the app is in focus. Now, it is difficult to make out the number of entries against On This Day and All Entries, along with the tiny cloud icon as always.

img3: This is when I am actively typing in the editor. Now, it is difficult to make out the numbers against On This Day, All Entries, Journal 2021 (generic active journal), and the cloud icon.

This has been the case for a few revisions now, so I am thinking this has been escaping your attention and no one has brought this to your notice. I hope you will take appropriate measures. Also, I would really like to see the sync status more prominently all the time, so that I can be rest assured that there is a check mark inside the cloud. If you could do something about that - make it larger? I couldn't possibly comment on how you want to design your app, so just offering my thoughts on the difficulties I am facing as a user. I would be thrilled if the next revision/ update to the macOS app takes care of these issues.

I hope the you, your team and families are safe in these unprecedented times. Stay safe, and God bless! Thank you for creating a great piece of software. I look forward to how you improve upon what is and how you make the experience better this year. Oh, and a happy New Year 2021 to you!

~~~~~~

If you have recently contacted the developer and have received a response, I would be thankful and grateful if you could get me a response for this. Maybe something in the above mail offended them and they decided to ignore. Maybe it went to spam. No clue.

I haven't contacted them for awhile now . But when I did I got a fast response. Them not responding is worrisome to me because it shows change from what I'm used to.

I see nothing in your email that is offensive. In fact, it goes out of its way to be nice. lol.

 

[macintoshmac]

I haven't contacted them for awhile now . But when I did I got a fast response. Them not responding is worrisome to me because it shows change from what I'm used to.

I see nothing in your email that is offensive. In fact, it goes out of its way to be nice. lol.

I have forwarded the mail to the developer again, with a small note. Will update if I get a response.

I checked out Diarly. The app is reminiscent of Dyrii in aesthetics. Quite nice. Imported DayOne flawlessly - entries, tags, images, weather, location and audio recordings. Have a week to toy with it. Exports individual markdown files so we aren’t tied up with it as such. Subscription price is roughly USD 20 for a year.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have forwarded the mail to the developer again, with a small note. Will update if I get a response.

I checked out Diarly. The app is reminiscent of Dyrii in aesthetics. Quite nice. Imported DayOne flawlessly - entries, tags, images, weather, location and audio recordings. Have a week to toy with it. Exports individual markdown files so we aren’t tied up with it as such. Subscription price is roughly USD 20 for a year.

WOW that app has really gone places since I last used it. I have to give this another look - thanks!

 

[macintoshmac]

WOW that app has really gone places since I last used it. I have to give this another look - thanks!

I don't think I remember that app, I have never used it before. If I had come across it in its current form last year, I would have jumped on it to try it out!

Do post your thoughts when you play with it.

 

[AppleInLVX]

WOW that app has really gone places since I last used it. I have to give this another look - thanks!

Thank you for pointing me at this app. I looked everywhere for anything that could hold a candle to Day One, and this is the very first time I can say that this… actually looks like it might work. I’m cautiously quite optimistic. I’ll definitely play around and see how it compares to my daily workflows. Only thing about it that makes me uncomfortable so far is that it looks like a one man shop, and I’ve been burned on apps like that before.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Thank you for pointing me at this app. I looked everywhere for anything that could hold a candle to Day One, and this is the very first time I can say that this… actually looks like it might work. I’m cautiously quite optimistic. I’ll definitely play around and see how it compares to my daily workflows. Only thing about it that makes me uncomfortable so far is that it looks like a one man shop, and I’ve been burned on apps like that before.

Thanks to @macintoshmac !

Agreed, I've been burned by these apps too - the devs abandon them when they find out they don't make anywhere near what they thought they would. Dyrii is one of those applications.

@macintoshmac - I've been using Diarly now since you told me about it and wow, it's good. The tags didn't get imported fully (but I use a lot of 2 word tags (Daily Logs for example) and the tag was imported as #daily) --- but outside of that it was a PERFECT import. I love how it's 100% iCloud. It's a little slow on Mac OS - I get spinning beach balls (5 seconds?) adding images (but I do have 8GB of data and many thousands of entries).

I'm optimistic but not sure if I'm ready to leave Day One yet. I continue to use both for the foreseeable future.

 

[macintoshmac]

Thanks to @macintoshmac !

Agreed, I've been burned by these apps too - the devs abandon them when they find out they don't make anywhere near what they thought they would. Dyrii is one of those applications.

@macintoshmac - I've been using Diarly now since you told me about it and wow, it's good. The tags didn't get imported fully (but I use a lot of 2 word tags (Daily Logs for example) and the tag was imported as #daily) --- but outside of that it was a PERFECT import. I love how it's 100% iCloud. It's a little slow on Mac OS - I get spinning beach balls (5 seconds?) adding images (but I do have 8GB of data and many thousands of entries).

I'm optimistic but not sure if I'm ready to leave Day One yet. I continue to use both for the foreseeable future.

Do write to the developer and see what he has to say about what’s causing the slowdown.

Yes, one-man shows are notorious for getting abandoned and Dyrii is one example of the several we’ve been burned with. It is what makes me little cautious too, but considering that Diarly exports in markdown even if I might not be able to import it anywhere still feels relieving. At least entries are exported in individual markdown files. So down the line I may not have my 10 years in one app, but that is okay. It’s a cost I gotta pay.

Now that DayOne has been sold, I don’t know what’s in future for it - will it be made better, will it stagnate? I had mailed the developer again that day when I posted last. I forwarded my 6-month old mail to him and still no response till date. I don’t feel too good about using their software when developers don’t respond even after repeated mails. I may tolerate this for an app I once paid for 2 years ago, but certainly not for an app I am renting on a monthly/ annual prepayment.

Then the behaviour becomes unprofessional by all accounts.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Do write to the developer and see what he has to say about what’s causing the slowdown.

Yes, one-man shows are notorious for getting abandoned and Dyrii is one example of the several we’ve been burned with. It is what makes me little cautious too, but considering that Diarly exports in markdown even if I might not be able to import it anywhere still feels good.

Now that DayOne has been sold, I don’t know what’s in future for it. I had mailed the developer again that day when I posted last, still no response till date. I don’t feel too good about using their software when developers don’t respond even after repeated mails. I may tolerate this for an app I once paid for 2 years ago, but certainly not for an app I am renting on a monthly/ annual prepayment.

Then the behaviour becomes unprofessional by all accounts.

Will do - I am going to be asking if the developer can also implement a hookup to iCloud photos - so I can see what photos I took during that day (like some of the others do).

EXACTLY - I wrote down a list of pros and cons for each application to me (Day One vs Diarly).

Day One was faster, cleaner, looks a lot nicer, deals with images a lot better, and grabs data from more sources (activity, steps, music, photo locations, weather, etc). Diarly does have some of this but not to the extent that Day One does.

The negatives of Day One was - if the company ever does go under, they'll stop paying their AWS bill and there goes our syncing. Company cloud - I have to trust their "security" and companies have done a lot to make sure I don't trust their security.


The advantages of Diarly is that it imports Day One perfectly (minus tags - but that doesn't really bother me). Syncing with iCloud is a HUGE benefit for me - I know my data is in my iCloud, not some other "company cloud" that who knows who has access to. Being able to set my own key was awesome.

The disadvantages of Diarly is one developer, a little slow when adding images, didn't import tags with spaces, photo import is on one line, whereas Day One can bunch them together. Can't make text bigger (zoom) - could be I just haven't found it. Other than that, it is great.


I'm leaning towards moving to Diarly ... or at least use both for backup purposes for the foreseeable futures. I can't quite get myself to give up the beauty and simplicity of Day One. It just works really well.

 

[macintoshmac]

Will do - I am going to be asking if the developer can also implement a hookup to iCloud photos - so I can see what photos I took during that day (like some of the others do).

EXACTLY - I wrote down a list of pros and cons for each application to me (Day One vs Diarly).

Day One was faster, cleaner, looks a lot nicer, deals with images a lot better, and grabs data from more sources (activity, steps, music, photo locations, weather, etc). Diarly does have some of this but not to the extent that Day One does.

The negatives of Day One was - if the company ever does go under, they'll stop paying their AWS bill and there goes our syncing. Company cloud - I have to trust their "security" and companies have done a lot to make sure I don't trust their security.


The advantages of Diarly is that it imports Day One perfectly (minus tags - but that doesn't really bother me). Syncing with iCloud is a HUGE benefit for me - I know my data is in my iCloud, not some other "company cloud" that who knows who has access to. Being able to set my own key was awesome.

The disadvantages of Diarly is one developer, a little slow when adding images, didn't import tags with spaces, photo import is on one line, whereas Day One can bunch them together. Can't make text bigger (zoom) - could be I just haven't found it. Other than that, it is great.


I'm leaning towards moving to Diarly ... or at least use both for backup purposes for the foreseeable futures. I can't quite get myself to give up the beauty and simplicity of Day One. It just works really well.

Oh I hear you on all counts!

Day One is the more polished one out there, beyond any doubt. But Diarly comes close. We just wish it goes that extra mile and incorporates the things you mentioned such as activity, photos, steps. But weather and location is available to be added to the template in Settings (Diarly).

The extent that Day One is stagnant may be understood from the fact that while we have steps added to entries created from iOS/ iPadOS, we do not have one simple integration wherein if we create an entry using the macOS app (obviously without Health data and steps and such), Day One should automatically attach that data from the i-Device that the Day One app is connected to and syncing with anyway.

That automatic pulling would be great to have, far better than sending entries to Day One via SMS! If Day One developer had resolved clear and obvious issues with UI that I was facing, like I mentioned in my post previously, I would likely have been okay with Day One, considering I am grandfathered into the Plus plan anyway, so I have a reasonable amount of functionality for as long as Day One exists.