Day One 3.0 Update Adds Audio Recording, Dark Mode, and New Editor Interface

[ignatius345]

People complaining about the subscription: how the hell else are they going to pay their tech support people or keep maintaining and developing the app? You know those things cost money, right?

Not every app needs to be "developed" forever. For example, pre-subscription Ulysses is a feature-mature writing app with great design, iCloud syncing and honestly everything you need. All it needed was updates to keep it running on newer MacOS and iOS releases. But the devs got it in their head that they deserved a monthly subscription and revenue stream to keep "developing" it. In the year since they went that route, they've done nothing but noodle around with non-essential features that wouldn't add up to a full paid release in the normal "buy it and own it" model.

I get the idea of paying for something that actually needs ongoing maintenance -- I subscribe to 1Password for example because they keep responding to threats and changes to websites, and that's worth it to me. I pay for iCloud because it's a storage and sync resource which I keep using. Fine.

But a writing app? I just today fired up the last non-subscription of Day One ("Classic") which I bought and guess what? It works great, even on the iOS 12 beta and in High Sierra on the Mac side. I'm sure they've added some bells and whistles, but I'm happy with the deal I struck with them: I saw the version they had at the time, liked it, bought it and now I own it.

Here's an idea: if your app is good and feature-mature, develop another app! If the people behind Ulysses came out with something else, I trust their design sense enough to take a good look at it and maybe buy it. Same with Day One.

But otherwise, I don't need to live in some developer playground where they just have a blank check to just keep noodling around while I give them "a cup of coffee a month" forever to keep them in business.

 

[RedDeliciousPinkLady]

I'm still on V1 of D1.

 

[Tilli85]

Sadly the abandoned their once good security approach with 2.9.1 when the decided to upload your PRIVATE encryption key to the cloud by default. The app no longer complies with the trust no one (TNO) security concept and their support team was no help either. I'm now looking into buying an alternative app and recommend every security cautious user to do the same.

Can you elaborate on this please?
And as far as I can see, there was no v2.9.1

https://help.dayoneapp.com/release-notes/ios-release-notes

 

[syntax]

Not every app needs to be "developed" forever. For example, pre-subscription Ulysses is a feature-mature writing app with great design, iCloud syncing and honestly everything you need. All it needed was updates to keep it running on newer MacOS and iOS releases. But the devs got it in their head that they deserved a monthly subscription and revenue stream to keep "developing" it. In the year since they went that route, they've done nothing but noodle around with non-essential features that wouldn't add up to a full paid release in the normal "buy it and own it" model.

I get the idea of paying for something that actually needs ongoing maintenance -- I subscribe to 1Password for example because they keep responding to threats and changes to websites, and that's worth it to me. I pay for iCloud because it's a storage and sync resource which I keep using. Fine.

But a writing app? I just today fired up the last non-subscription of Day One ("Classic") which I bought and guess what? It works great, even on the iOS 12 beta and in High Sierra on the Mac side. I'm sure they've added some bells and whistles, but I'm happy with the deal I struck with them: I saw the version they had at the time, liked it, bought it and now I own it.

Here's an idea: if your app is good and feature-mature, develop another app! If the people behind Ulysses came out with something else, I trust their design sense enough to take a good look at it and maybe buy it. Same with Day One.

But otherwise, I don't need to live in some developer playground where they just have a blank check to just keep noodling around while I give them "a cup of coffee a month" forever to keep them in business.

Here’s an idea: use a different app. Day One isn’t "just" a writing app, but if you do want "just" a writing app, no one’s stopping you from seeking one out. You can misunderstand and denigrate the app development process all you want. The fact stands: updating an app across multiple OS updates still requires paid software engineers. Or perhaps you think updating an app to accommodate operating system changes and new screen geometries is a task worthy only of slave labor.

 

[terrapinjess]

I use this app everyday so this is great news for me. Looking forward to testing this out later!

 

[reiichiroh]

Ugh. My Plus status got restored but they want $31.99 just for Dark Mode. Wish it was unlockable separately.

 

[Lioness~]

Wonder how long we plus owners will be acknowledged?
Will 4.0 be free for us, or with even less of the updates available to us.

Don’t care much for the dark mode though.
Neither audio rec. But html and better Edit interface, ah well.
I use MacJournal for the more advanced writing anyway.

Considering it was Apple that wanted/pushed app devs to go all in on subscriptions.
They gets percents of it.
How will future look concerning that?

 

[jchap]

No dark mode in the new version without a paid subscription, even for Plus users...

Wonder how they will handle this on the Day One macOS version (as yet to be updated) in Mojave. As I recall, Mojave offers a system-wide dark mode, at least for standard macOS apps. It seems bizarre to consider dark mode as a “premium” feature in any case.
[doublepost=1534979348][/doublepost]

Ugh. My Plus status got restored but they want $31.99 just for Dark Mode. Wish it was unlockable separately.

From what I can see, you need to do the yearly subscription thing to get Dark Mode.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

>subscription for a diary app

hard pass, thank you.

I actually prefer a subscription model as long as the price is not too outrageous (Looking at you Adobe). It means that the app is pretty much promised to be sustainable from the get go, which is what I expect from a diary app.

 

[BigMcGuire]

No dark mode in the new version without a paid subscription, even for Plus users...

Wonder how they will handle this on the Day One macOS version (as yet to be updated) in Mojave. As I recall, Mojave offers a system-wide dark mode, at least for standard macOS apps. It seems bizarre to consider dark mode as a “premium” feature in any case.
[doublepost=1534979348][/doublepost]
From what I can see, you need to do the yearly subscription thing to get Dark Mode.

I mainly use Day One on my MacBook. Disappointed to see the Mac Version not updated yet. I guess I have to be patient. I'm not a fan of subscriptions but I like Day One. I've been with it since the Classic days. No one I know journals like I do though. I started as a kid mirroring Star Trek's "Star Date/Log Entry" tv episodes. I find seeing entries on this day in past years to be most interesting. Love reading my past entries. Emptying my thoughts on paper (now digital pages) is incredibly stress relieving and helps me think.

 

[jchap]

I started as a kid mirroring Star Trek's "Star Date/Log Entry" tv episodes. I find seeing entries on this day in past years to be most interesting. Love reading my past entries. Emptying my thoughts on paper (now digital pages) is incredibly stress relieving and helps me think.

Ha! I'm with you on the "stardate" thing... yes, every day is like a "Captain's Log"...

I also agree that it's useful to be able to see entries from past years on the same date. Day One is fairly good at that, even though they need to work on their UI a bit (the latest iOS version hasn't improved much with selecting entries on previous years for the same day). The calendar layout is visually useful. It is good to read what you've written a year or more ago around the same time, to see how things have changed... or not.

 

[ignatius345]

Here’s an idea: use a different app. Day One isn’t "just" a writing app, but if you do want "just" a writing app, no one’s stopping you from seeking one out.

You're entirely missing my point, which was that Ulysses had a full set of features and (in my opinion) couldn't come up with enough new ones to justify a big new paid release -- so they just went subscription and now they can fiddle with it endlessly. And as for Day One, I was happy with the features it had when I got it and, while I see all the stuff that's been added since, I don't need it for a journalling app. In fact, the only way they've really been able to try to justify the subscription is by abandoning iCloud and making you sync via their own proprietary sync service. Cute.

And to your point, I've already got a replacement for Ulysses figured out. Scrivener's developer is somehow managing to sell a pretty popular writing app with no subscription involved. In fact, they just released a big new version. I guess they've got a big old galley full of slaves?

You can misunderstand and denigrate the app development process all you want. The fact stands: updating an app across multiple OS updates still requires paid software engineers. Or perhaps you think updating an app to accommodate operating system changes and new screen geometries is a task worthy only of slave labor.

I'm not misunderstanding anything. That's why paid versions exist. For example, Omni Group comes up with a new version of OmniFocus for Mac and iOS every couple years and I (and a lot of other people) happily plunk the money down. It keeps my life running and they keep refining it, adding useful features, keeping it current with Apple devices, so I'm happy to pay up. Omni seems to be making it work without "slave labor", don't they? Same with Rogue Amoeba, and the people behind ScreenFlow, and Final Draft, and tons of other software I use.

When did it suddenly become impossible to develop a version of software, sell it, provide updates for a reasonable amount of time, and then [gasp] release a new version for sale and stop working on the old version? I'm not expecting eternal support, but I am expecting that when I pay, I OWN the software and stop paying for it until a new version I want or need comes out. Radical, I know! In fact, several years after I bought it, I was able to fire up Day One and use it and sync it just fine. It may break at some point, but I got what I paid for.

This narrative that somehow people who don't want to rent software want everything for free, well that just doesn't hold water. You want to bleed out a dozen "it's just cup of coffee a month!" subscriptions, that's your business but don't go lecturing people who don't buy into that crap.

 

[jb-net]

Can you elaborate on this please?
And as far as I can see, there was no v2.9.1

https://help.dayoneapp.com/release-notes/ios-release-notes

Sorry, I meant 2.7.1.

 

[Tilli85]

Sorry, I meant 2.7.1.

Ah, yes. I also wondered that I didn't have to enter my private key when I set up a new device. Then I saw that there was a checkbox "Save key in iCloud" which was enabled by default. I don't think that this is a huge problem, because iCloud and the DayOne cloud are not the same but it should definitely disabled by default.

 

[Traverse]

I use a Scrivener project in Dropbox for my journal. Not as slick or seamless, but I like it.

 

[Lioness~]

Horribly buggy update.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Horribly buggy update.

Agreed. It has had 3? or 2 updates since the initial 3.0 release fixing those bugs. I'm still bugged that it hasn't come out yet for Mac OS as that's where I do most of my entries. lol. I guess most people use it on their phone?

My workflow was to Command E an entry, then put stuff in it. Now it doesn't have that so I have to learn a whole new workflow process on the Mac with 2.8. They did fix the location problem of previous versions in Mac - it now correctly lets me set a place (in 2.8).

I love the black theme on the iOS version. Wish I had it on the Mac OS version NOW!!!

It handles images better.

 

[IscariotJ]

Horribly buggy update.

Each release since the initial v3, each update has come with a new set of bugs, though the biggest are intentional; the removal of the ability to edit markdown, and the removal of the quick access toolbar. The support guys keep saying that markdown is fully supported, but what they actually mean, is that it’s converted to rich text ( or supposed to, it doesn’t do it very well ), and fail to mention it’s a one way thing. Burying the things from the toolbar behind Clippy is something that people will just have to get used to ( their words ), just like a number of changes in the new editor ( embedable videos now only “work” if the url’s are followed by a space ), that are far from intuitive.

 

[leon.guan]

Subscription is fine, and I did purchased the subscription. But I just cancelled my subscription after this update. Greedy is fine, if you can just keep the app getting better. But they are really slow on new features, even slow on bugs fixing. Every time they response on an ETA, it's always "We don't have a timeline or ETA". The sync service sucked, and they still claim they moved to their own sync service. I think even iCloud works better than their service.

Even more, with this v3 updates. They just ruined markdown support, which they used to be proud of. Their CEO claimed that most of peaple don't use markdown and they brought in new editor for audio supports. After this update, I just cancelled my subscription. Pretty sad, it used to be a really good app.