I then spent some time exploring the settings, testing the daily reminders, and ensuring that syncing and exporting worked as described. Other features for a digital journal that might be important to you include password protection, Markdown support, the ability to add more than one photo, location and weather tags, and journaling prompts.įor each diary app, I started by creating a handful of new entries, complete with images. Syncing: Syncing will make sure your journal's up to date no matter what device you're using.Īffordability: We eliminated some apps because of the high price.

Automatic reminders help you keep up the habit.Įxporting: In case the app stops being developed or you want to move to a different journaling platform, you'll want to be able to export your entries in a format other programs can read, such as PDF or RTF. Reminders: Perhaps the biggest challenge to journaling is remembering to do it. Pleasant interface: A minimalist, uncluttered interface helps you focus on your thoughts and makes journaling a pleasant experience. In my experience, the best apps for keeping a journal have a few things in common:Įasy entry: If it takes more than a couple of clicks or taps to add a journal entry, chances are you're not going to do it. It's an important ritual for me, personally, and it's also where a lot of the best ideas in my writing originate. I've also journaled every day for the past three years. I've been testing and writing about software professionally for over a decade. Add in reminders and the ability to search your journal entries, and digital journaling is almost a no-brainer. They also let you include photos from your phone or posts from your social media feeds to make the journaling experience more rewarding. They give you more context on what you've accomplished and where you might want to go. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog.Ī paper notebook and pen are fine for journaling, but apps offer more. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site-we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software.

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