Day One alternatives

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 92 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R7] Day One 1/5 · GB Broken!: I have used this app for over ten years but recently I’ve found it to be almost unusable. It is very slow to respond to my typing and often crashes mid diary entry so I lose everything I have written. I have updated to the latest version and the issues persist. I’m very disappointed and may look into alternative journal apps if this isn’t fixed.
2. [R13] Day One 1/5 · GB New update slow!: The latest update has slowed the app down to the point it’s virtually unusable! The app lags behind the typing In the screen considerably. Please sort it out! Been using this app for about 11 years!
3. [R16] Day One 1/5 · GB Unusable: App is slow to the point of being unusable. It cannot keep up with typing, and causes the entire phone to lag until it’s closed. Just utterly ruined. I’m VERY frustrated at losing years of journaling that I can no longer access.
4. [R19] Day One 1/5 · GB FIX THE BUGS!: This app is great for nostalgia fans, type something, then wait 30 seconds for your words to appear on screen. Very 90’s
5. [R3] Day One 3/5 · GB Good but bit bloated: Somehow the app has lost the joy of simplicity - started to get bloated with stuff I don’t want or need and functions like the inane chat function in the today view which cannot be hidden even when ai is turned off iPad (mini) app feels like a right mess .. cluttered/cramped/ bad use of space & frankly unpleasant ! Please make it so I can have the simplest clearest UI wit
6. [R4] Day One 2/5 · GB Dayone - what have you done?: My beloved DayOne has broken my heart. The one sanctuary I have each day is now infiltrated with AI. Why? What possible need was there? If people want prompts or to discuss their problems - they can use Claude or ChatGPT. I’ve now lost total trust in the company… who knows how my data is going to be used in the future. After so many years, I won’t be renewing… time to
7. [R6] Day One 3/5 · GB My most-used app: … but it is losing its way. Building in AI that is not exactly being clamoured for, and neglecting basic things such as hierarchical tags, full screen maps, print support for tables (once supported) and so on. Focus on the basics, please Day One.
8. [R10] Day One 2/5 · GB Photo upload not working: I’ve been using the free version of this app and uploading a single photo to diary entries since 2021 - the app is now not allowing me to do this and prompting me to buy a subscription? App is perfect otherwise
9. [R15] Day One 3/5 · GB Price increase?: The last time I subscribed to this service, several moons ago, it was £32.99 a year. Now it’s £49.99. When did that happen?
10. [R36] Day One 1/5 · GB How difficult can it be to write an app for a diary that doesn’t want to charge you £50 a year?: ?
11. [R42] Day One 2/5 · GB Disgraceful forcing upgrades: I’ve been using this app since 2013, now it’s 2025, twelve years later, and it won’t let me add any more photos unless I upgrade to the “Premium” version. I think it’s disgraceful. I already paid for the “Plus” version to begin with, and now I have to go Premium? These companies are so greedy. I understand they need to make money, but their only idea seems to be to m
12. [R1] Day One 2/5 · GB Very Dissapointed: The last update, despite the Day one Team claiming that nothing has been removed, have removed the step count feature! This is one of the most important parts of the app. The team say they may consider reintegration of this feature at a later date, but you can bet we will all pay for that. I have Gold membership and if a stealthy reduction in features is a thing they think is a
13. [R24] Day One 2/5 · GB Book printing: Have been trying to get journal printed but it’s a nightmare. Have ordered in the past with no problem. Help centre isn’t that helpful. Had this app for years but doubt I will renew. Anyone recommend another app?
14. [R26] Day One 1/5 · GB Photos fill the printed journal: This app is great - but only you want a digital record. If you ever want to print your journal, the least relevant pictures can get turned into full page prints and the pics you want to be large are too small. There is no way to edit or set the photo sizes. For that reason, I am exploring other diary / journal apps.
15. [R34] Day One 2/5 · GB No More Markdown Support….: It seems that Markdown support in the app, is now completely removed, I’m instead, directed to use the web version. It isn’t even that i can’t paste in markdown ( which I used to previously, and it would be rendered mostly correctly ), I’m prevented from editing the entire entry! I appreciate that the use of markdown isn’t popular, but this used to work. If I wanted t
16. [R12] Day One 3/5 · GB iPad: Major issues on my iPad. For the last week it’s been sticking and crashing. I’ve done all of the usual stuff but it continues to cause problems. I’ve removed the app and the iPad now functions perfectly. Is this a known issue? iPhone is absolutely fine.
17. [R29] Day One 4/5 · GB One of my core apps: Day One makes it easy to record dreams, feelings, snippets of perception. The interface is beautifully uncluttered and easy to use, just what you need in waking up. The only issue (hence a missing star) has been with syncing across devices. I'd like to use seamlessly it on my phone as well as my iPad, but abandoned trying after reading up how, which just didn't seem possible w
18. [R55] Journal 5/5 · US Awesome Journal: I have been trying to get into journaling. This app has really helped me. I love the security of the app. I feel like I can keep it private. If I may the only suggestion that I have is that I can create sub journal folders. That way I can create a journal for 2026 and have another journal for each month inside that journal. Or I can create a Books journal and have a journal for ea
19. [R57] Journal 1/5 · US Security: I love Apple products. Been using them since ‘91. I just wish you would allow this app to have a different PIN than my phone’s. IF someone gained entry to my phone the first PIN they’d try to gain entry to Journal would be the same PIN as my phone. Please allow different PINs for unlocking the device and Journal. You already allow separate password access to Notes that is different from
20. [R61] Journal 5/5 · US Enjoying digital journaling: Keeping track of what my days are like is easier than recording in an actual notebook.
21. [R63] Journal 5/5 · US Great!!!: I love writing about my day. It is super fun!!! I have a bunch of entries. I just think it is really good. No problem’s at all! Love it allot!!! 🤩🤩🤩 SO MUCH FUN!!!
22. [R66] Reflectly 5/5 · US Best journaling app: This is the best journaling app for free I have ever seen. It’s super interactive very clean and simple. Good expression options and knowing how you truly felt in a moment being able to get it out and have it saved the good and the bad
23. [R69] Reflectly 5/5 · US Fantastic Journal App: I have used Reflectly for years. The free version is very good and I highly recommend it to people I know! I love the daily reflections, and how the check ins track your mood and what’s going on in life. It’s super easy to use and also somehow I like it better than journaling in a notebook nowadays. Highly recommend!
24. [R72] Reflectly 4/5 · US Using it for years now: This app has been my diary off&on for years now. This app has really helped me recognize my mental health patterns and become more self-aware. Admittedly I use it inconsistently but the daily check-ins & reading my old ones help me become more stable whenever I’m in an unstable time. The tags you can use on each entry is super helpful. Sometimes I’m not sure what else to sa
25. [R78] Reflectly 5/5 · US User Friendly: Simple to learn and assess the features that may work for you. It’s a very easily navigable app and user - friendly for all. I also love the motivational quotes throughout the day!
26. [R80] 1 Second Everyday 5/5 · US It only takes a second!: My daughter told me about this app in 2014. I did it for a year then stopped for a few years. Then I realized how impactful these seconds are. Truly you don’t need hours of movies to remember the essence of a wonderful experience. So I picked it up again in 2018, and have been doing it ever since. It get so many people telling me how they love these videos. One day, prob
27. [R83] 1 Second Everyday 5/5 · US 5 years going strong!!: I started using 1 second everyday as a way to record one season of my life and 5 years later I am still using it! It is fun to look back and see what life was like over the years. It is also an easy way to keep people updated on your life!
28. [R86] 1 Second Everyday 5/5 · US 11 years in: I can not recommend an app more highly than this one. I started in 2015 and I’ve watched my kids grow up, my life develop and change and my memories forever held. I’ve used this to figure out when someone important happened because I can link it to something else going on. It helps me to stay grateful in life and see how absolutely fantastic even the most mundane daily events are in r
29. [R87] 1 Second Everyday 3/5 · US 9 years in…: I have been using this app for over 9 years daily as it suggests. I love the idea of creating one long video project of my life. This app has been around long enough to see me go through living in multiple countries, having different relationships and capture final moments of family members. I’ve loved using it. Until the developers of the app have over complicated it. Forcing you t
30. [R51] Journal 1/5 · US Doesn’t work with pencil: The app will delete anything you write with the Apple Pencil beyond a certain length. As it is now, it is completely unusable on iPad.
31. [R53] Journal 3/5 · US Potential, but: Writing on iPad w Apple Pencil randomly deletes paragraphs of written text. Should be same tech to write in Notes app which works much better. Have lost pages and pages of written text with no way to recover
32. [R62] Journal 1/5 · US I'm devastated: My 100,000-word diary... it's all gone, and I can't get it back. I can't breathe right now... · translated
33. [R64] Journal 1/5 · US Doesn’t save full entry: I had high hopes for this app but it continuously doesn’t save my full entry. Very annoying. I’ve decided to stop using it entirely