When Day One, a Mac and iOS journaling app, first launched I gave it a go for a while and quickly dropped it. I was contacted a while ago from the developer to test out a new version of the app (just launched the day of this posting) and I have been using and loving the app quite a bit lately.
[Shawn Blanc has an excellent review of the suite of apps](http://shawnblanc.net/2012/08/day-one-review/), so be sure to check that out if you are interested in it.
What I have to say about the app is this:
– It is damned clever. In Shawn’s review he mentions that if you add a photo to your journal after the fact, the app will ask if you want to back date the entry to the time and location the photo was taken. This is so perfect for me, I don’t want to interrupt an experience as it is happening, but I love logging that experience after the fact. I never did this before because I didn’t want to have to remember dates and locations — now I don’t.
– The app is gorgeous, even for how blue it is.
– The power of the app is in the simplicity of the app. It is just about journalling, not any other social muckery.
– It’s on my home screen. I had used it for about a week before I had to clear off another app from my home screen to get Day One on there. This is big for me, because it really does take a lot to get on my home screen. ((Fun note: since taking this site behind a paywall I ditched having Ego on my home screen and replaced it with the WordPress app for fixing my typos.))
I have never been a person that keeps a journal. I always thought it would be great to be that kind of a person, but I never enjoyed doing it. With Day One I am really enjoying journaling.
One wish: I wish that the app had some sort of analytics that could look for keywords in all my entries and then graph my happiness v. sadness over time — that would be pretty neat.