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

macintoshmac said:
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.
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Just an FYI, after a reboot the beach balling went away - probably had something to do with the 8GB export file from Day One that I had imported. The app is lightning fast even when pasting images now (after the reboot). I just love that my data is on iCloud.

I am really liking Diarly more and more the more I use it. The cost really doesn't bother me but the fact that my data is on my iCloud.... I'll take a loss of a few features.
 
BigMcGuire said:
Just an FYI, after a reboot the beach balling went away - probably had something to do with the 8GB export file from Day One that I had imported. The app is lightning fast even when pasting images now (after the reboot). I just love that my data is on iCloud.

I am really liking Diarly more and more the more I use it. The cost really doesn't bother me but the fact that my data is on my iCloud.... I'll take a loss of a few features.
Click to expand...

There are thoughtful features such as retaining the same date till 2 AM the next day. That is a small thing, but a very meaningful thing. Glad you were able to resolve that issue. I am also realising something else - sync speed. I typed a few words in Diarly on macOS. Closed and opened Diarly on iOS. It's there. Not even a sync before my eyes, but it was there after unlock. Now I know this is iCloud sync and likely not going be lightning fast like this always, but sure feels great to have.

Cost is beyond reasonable at USD 15. That is what I pay for Bear Notes, the excellent note-taking app I love since 2017 I believe.
 
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An update:

I had contacted Day One again via email on July 8, 2021, and to date, there is zero response. This developer is either gone from the scene or enjoying the newfound money and will hopefully get back whenever he does. 😂

Meanwhile, I had sent a mail to Diarly developer on the same day, too. No response till date. So I forwarded the same email to the dev again today, and have received a response now, in just under two hours.

To paraphrase the developer’s response: He is unsure if my mail landed in spam or he accidentally deleted it, and apologized for it. Then proceeded to thank me for “the reminder” and writing again. Then started off with responding to the queries I had written about in the mail.

Actions speak volumes indeed. :)
 
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macintoshmac said:
An update:

I had contacted Day One again via email on July 8, 2021, and to date, there is zero response. This developer is either gone from the scene or enjoying the newfound money and will hopefully get back whenever he does. 😂

Meanwhile, I had sent a mail to Diarly developer on the same day, too. No response till date. So I forwarded the same email to the dev again today, and have received a response now, in just under two hours.

To paraphrase the developer’s response: He is unsure if my mail landed in spam or he accidentally deleted it, and apologized for it. Then proceeded to thank me for “the reminder” and writing again. Then started off with responding to the queries I had written about in the mail.

Actions speak volumes indeed. :)
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How interesting. Sad to see these companies get swallowed up and changed.

While I've mostly gone back to Day One for journaling, I have paid for and am keeping Diarly. It is the first Day One replacement that I could actually use if I really wanted to. I'm running both side by side because the export from one to the other works so well - and I really like having my data on iCloud not Day One's AWS. I think eventually I'll move over.

Agreed.

Thanks for the update.
 
BigMcGuire said:
How interesting. Sad to see these companies get swallowed up and changed.

While I've mostly gone back to Day One for journaling, I have paid for and am keeping Diarly. It is the first Day One replacement that I could actually use if I really wanted to. I'm running both side by side because the export from one to the other works so well - and I really like having my data on iCloud not Day One's AWS. I think eventually I'll move over.

Agreed.

Thanks for the update.
Click to expand...

How did you manage to crash Diarly, and not once but several times? I hope there was no data loss.

I found it to be near-instant and flawless, at least for now. Yes, the internet is flooded with 'sync' issues with iCloud, it is a known fact.

On another note, my Bear app does not sync as fast as it used to. I thought it might have been a database issue, so I backed up and deleted the entire database and started fresh - nah, sync speed did not change, so I restored my backup and called it a day. Bear notes used to sync as instantly as I am currently finding Diarly.

Oh and no, I do not have a lot of attachments in the app. The backup is just 4.3 MB on disk.
 
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macintoshmac said:
How did you manage to crash Diarly, and not once but several times? I hope there was no data loss.

I found it to be near-instant and flawless, at least for now. Yes, the internet is flooded with 'sync' issues with iCloud, it is a known fact.

On another note, my Bear app does not sync as fast as it used to. I thought it might have been a database issue, so I backed up and deleted the entire database and started fresh - nah, sync speed did not change, so I restored my backup and called it a day. Bear notes used to sync as instantly as I am currently finding Diarly.

Oh and no, I do not have a lot of attachments in the app. The backup is just 4.3 MB on disk.
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I blame my now 7GB Day One database mostly. That said, what I was doing for the last few months was doing data entry in Day One, then every week exporting those days out and importing into Diarly. Then, when I turn on iCloud something goes south and the app just starts crashing over and over - and eventually refused to sync. Last night I found that Diarly was using almost 30GB - so something went wildly wrong after those crashes and iCloud refused to sync it.

That said, very important - if I just import my Day One into Diarly - it imports PERFECTLY and very quickly - no problems. All 7GB imports (2600 entries, 3700 photos) and are accessible. But the moment I turn on iCloud sync things go south fast.

No data loss as everything is in Day One for now (I have my Day One subscription till mid next year).

I imagine for most people it will work perfectly (my case is outlier due to masses of data I have in Day One (voice recording, 3700+ photos, PDF files, sketches, etc)).

I am going to give it another try after I let iCloud settle for a few days (after deleting Diarly data) since I paid for Diarly anyway.
 
BigMcGuire said:
I blame my now 7GB Day One database mostly. That said, what I was doing for the last few months was doing data entry in Day One, then every week exporting those days out and importing into Diarly. Then, when I turn on iCloud something goes south and the app just starts crashing over and over - and eventually refused to sync. Last night I found that Diarly was using almost 30GB - so something went wildly wrong after those crashes and iCloud refused to sync it.

That said, very important - if I just import my Day One into Diarly - it imports PERFECTLY and very quickly - no problems. All 7GB imports (2600 entries, 3700 photos) and are accessible. But the moment I turn on iCloud sync things go south fast.

No data loss as everything is in Day One for now (I have my Day One subscription till mid next year).

I imagine for most people it will work perfectly (my case is outlier due to masses of data I have in Day One (voice recording, 3700+ photos, PDF files, sketches, etc)).

I am going to give it another try after I let iCloud settle for a few days (after deleting Diarly data) since I paid for Diarly anyway.
Click to expand...

If I may, let me make two suggestions.

1. Email the developer and see what he has to say about this. I have emailed him twice and he has been pretty responsive and understanding, and helpful as well.

2. Try this.

- Clear out all your Diarly data from everywhere.
- Then, enable iCloud Sync first.
- If you have multiple Day One journals, export them individually, and import them one by one into Diarly.

See if the crashes reduce.

- If you have just a single journal going on, no issues, just import it (with sync enabled previously).
- Do nothing with the app, just let it stay there overnight (we are playing a little blindly here, hoping that 7 GB will get uploaded in the background overnight and you would likely have a stable Diarly experience afterwards).

Now, if everything seems stable, then you can do your weekly imports and see if that crashes Diarly again or if it is able to handle all this now.

Key point, if I understood correctly, do not switch off/ switch on sync whenever you are using the app. Let sync be On first, then import data, let it stay overnight and let's see how this little exercise works.

Report everything to the developer too!

I have my Day One sub till December this year.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
l 7GB import. But
Click to expand...
macintoshmac said:
If I may, let me make two suggestions.

1. Email the developer and see what he has to say about this. I have emailed him twice and he has been pretty responsive and understanding, and helpful as well.

2. Try this.

- Clear out all your Diarly data from everywhere.
- Then, enable iCloud Sync first.
- If you have multiple Day One journals, export them individually, and import them one by one into Diarly.

See if the crashes reduce.

- If you have just a single journal going on, no issues, just import it (with sync enabled previously).
- Do nothing with the app, just let it stay there overnight (we are playing a little blindly here, hoping that 7 GB will get uploaded in the background overnight and you would likely have a stable Diarly experience afterwards).

Now, if everything seems stable, then you can do your weekly imports and see if that crashes Diarly again or if it is able to handle all this now.

Key point, if I understood correctly, do not switch off/ switch on sync whenever you are using the app. Let sync be On first, then import data, let it stay overnight and let's see how this little exercise works.

Report everything to the developer too!
Click to expand...
You're spot on, I'm planning on giving this very thing a try this weekend. :D And will do! Thanks for taking the time to outline this for me.
 
macintoshmac said:
If I may, let me make two suggestions.

1. Email the developer and see what he has to say about this. I have emailed him twice and he has been pretty responsive and understanding, and helpful as well.

2. Try this.

- Clear out all your Diarly data from everywhere.
- Then, enable iCloud Sync first.
- If you have multiple Day One journals, export them individually, and import them one by one into Diarly.

See if the crashes reduce.

- If you have just a single journal going on, no issues, just import it (with sync enabled previously).
- Do nothing with the app, just let it stay there overnight (we are playing a little blindly here, hoping that 7 GB will get uploaded in the background overnight and you would likely have a stable Diarly experience afterwards).

Now, if everything seems stable, then you can do your weekly imports and see if that crashes Diarly again or if it is able to handle all this now.

Key point, if I understood correctly, do not switch off/ switch on sync whenever you are using the app. Let sync be On first, then import data, let it stay overnight and let's see how this little exercise works.

Report everything to the developer too!

I have my Day One sub till December this year.
Click to expand...

That did it.


Cleared out all the data from iCloud, Mac OS, and iPhone.

Started on Mac OS.
Enabled iCloud sync first.
Imported Day One.
Waited for that to finish uploading to iCloud.

Then installed on iOS.
Downloaded from iCloud.
Bam... everything set up and working perfectly.

Only took <10 mins from start to end.


Very certain my fault was turning on/off iCloud repeatedly, uploading data, then turning on iCloud - not letting it finish.

Thanks for your help!
 
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BigMcGuire said:
That did it.


Cleared out all the data from iCloud, Mac OS, and iPhone.

Started on Mac OS.
Enabled iCloud sync first.
Imported Day One.
Waited for that to finish uploading to iCloud.

Then installed on iOS.
Downloaded from iCloud.
Bam... everything set up and working perfectly.

Only took <10 mins from start to end.


Very certain my fault was turning on/off iCloud repeatedly, uploading data, then turning on iCloud - not letting it finish.

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

I suspected that toggling it was the likely culprit. I am glad things worked out, now waiting for next week’s import to see if things hold up! 😁
 
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macintoshmac said:
I suspected that toggling it was the likely culprit. I am glad things worked out, now waiting for next week’s import to see if things hold up! 😁
Click to expand...
I ended up using Diarly exclusively the last week. I've manually copied those entries over to Day One just to keep it up to date.

Diarly had no crashes, no issues, and handled loads of text/pictures - and synced them perfectly between my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.
I REALLY like Diarly's typewriter edit mode, so I'm not constantly staring at the bottom of a window while typing text in.
I miss Day One's UI. Day One's UI is far prettier and ... after years and years of using it, it is second nature to me. Helps I know all the keyboard shortcuts.


I already paid for 1 year Diarly (love supporting apps like this) - but I am still split 50/50 between Diarly and Day One.

Things that stand out for me:
Day One: More features, prettier UI, USA company, nicer photo/video attachments, nicer export options, and easier to see stats/entries on this day in the past.
Diarly: Lighter application, uses iCloud to sync, typewriter mode, $20/year cheaper, typing goal with celebration confetti, and small developer in Poland?

I like Diarly, however for a tiny amount more, I get a bit more and something I'm familiar with. Day One's end to end encryption - I've trusted and used it for many years. It's easy to go from Day One to Diarly, but not the other way around. Constant importing causes issues.

I'm finding I prefer Day One but Diarly is a very strong contender. Still haven't made up my mind.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
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.
Click to expand...
Diarium uses iCloud sync.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
I'm finding I prefer Day One but Diarly is a very strong contender. Still haven't made up my mind.
Click to expand...

Did you come to a decision yet on which one to go with?

For me the E2E functionality is paramount - anything less concerns me.
 
TiggrToo said:
Did you come to a decision yet on which one to go with?

For me the E2E functionality is paramount - anything less concerns me.
Click to expand...
I went with Diarly. Day One is a nice product but I wanted my data on iCloud. It has been working nicely on my iPhone iPad and Macbook. Day One is more refined and I had no problems with it. Diarly is cheaper but iCloud and the simplicity had me.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
Awesome. Back when I bought it it was one drive centric. The developer was extremely responsive too. Thanks for the info!
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One thing I quickly noticed is there is no native M1 support. I asked the developer a few ago on the forum if he has plans on offering native M1 Mac support. I rather not have to install (the temporary fix) Rosetta. None of my installed apps require it. I hope he does.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
I went with Diarly. Day One is a nice product but I wanted my data on iCloud. It has been working nicely on my iPhone iPad and Macbook. Day One is more refined and I had no problems with it. Diarly is cheaper but iCloud and the simplicity had me.
Click to expand...

You nailed the scene as of today. Day One is certainly more polished. But, Diarly just feels better somehow.
 
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Has anyone gotten the Day One classic app to work on iOS 15? It seems to work on iOS 14.8.1 but, it tells me the app needs to be updated by the developer to work on iOS 15. I was looking through past purchases on my other account and saw Day One classic I had purchased in 2013. I had forgotten all about it. The only device I have running iOS 14.8.1 is my old SE. I was hoping to use Day One classic on my 13 mini. It works in iPadOS 15.1.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
FYI: The Dyrii app works on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. :D It needs Rosetta to run on the M1.
Click to expand...

Dyrii was another amazing product that was relegated to oblivion by the developers. I am trying to not install Rosetta. This also means no Enpass on the Mac right now (which is another discussion altogether).
 
@BigMcGuire Re: Diarly When dictating a note using the Diarly watch app, are you able to save the note to any subject journal you wish? In my testing, it seems to only go to the default even though the watch app allows you to select which journal you want? Day One doesn't even give you the option to select a specific journal when dictating with the Apple Watch (that I can see).
 
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Apple_Robert said:
@BigMcGuire Re: Diarly When dictating a note using the Diarly watch app, are you able to save the note to any subject journal you wish? In my testing, it seems to only go to the default even though the watch app allows you to select which journal you want? Day One doesn't even give you the option to select a specific journal when dictating with the Apple Watch (that I can see).
Click to expand...
I just installed it and I have 2 options: New Note or New Recording. New Recording just does the mic icon and blinks it, then you click done and you go back to the 2 buttons.

Diarly doesn't have multiple entries per day so if you do 2-3 entries on the same day it puts it in 1 entry but separates them with lines.

I did another recording, and now Friday Nov 19 2021 has 2 voice entries.

Yeah seems to go to the default.
 
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