This free app makes journaling so easy that I managed to do it for 3 months

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ZDNET Key Takeaways

• Diarly is the best journaling app I’ve ever used.
• It makes journaling easy and really enjoyable.
• The app is available for all Apple devices.

It’s been a tough year for me. So much so that I felt I needed to do something I thought I would never do… journal.

Journaling, for someone who writes for a living, is like an auto mechanic working on their car: They know they need to, but the idea of ​​doing it after a long day of working on other people’s cars, isn’t exactly their idea of ​​entertainment.

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But my therapist said journaling would be good for me, so I decided to try it.

In the beginning, I struggled to do this, mostly because the journaling apps I tried could only offer glorified notepads or to-do lists. I wanted something that wasn’t just dedicated to the art of journaling and included only the features I wanted.

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It took me a few weeks to find the right app for this task: Diaryly.

daily There is an app that is available for Mac devices, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watches. There is a free version, or you can pay $2/month for the premium version, which includes AI, passwords/encryption, cross-device sync, unlimited journals, and advanced themes.

If you don’t need those features, the free version is good enough. In fact, I’ve been using the free version of Diaryly for the past three months, and it’s all I need.

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Both versions include the following features:

• List/Calendar/Map/Gallery/Data views
• image support
• basic formatting
• symbols and moods
• tag
• templates
• Notifications
• audio recording
• Season
• file/link support

Diarly has a great collection of features, so you won’t feel like it’s missing anything. Nor is the feature list overwhelming. You can install Diaryly and start journaling right away, which is what I did.

Why is Diaryly my favorite?

First of all, Diarly makes it very easy to create a journal. Yes, I know many journaling apps can probably make this claim, but Diary really does it better than other apps. Journaling with Diary is so easy that I still don’t realize it’s a chore.

I open the app, click the +, give the entry a title (I usually use date), and start writing.

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Although these steps seem basic to Diary, they are not. For example, the first thing you can do when adding an entry is set your current mood. To do this, type / and then adjust the mood settings to reflect how you currently feel.

You can then also add tags to your listings by typing # and then the tag you want to add.

Both moods and tags make it easy for you to find journal entries. For example, if you’re in the midst of a life-changing event, and you regularly journal about it, add a tag for that event so you can easily find all related entries.

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Ultimately, the primary reason I immediately adopted Diaryly was that it is so easy to use. There’s no learning curve, so you can install the app and start writing your first listing right away. One of the reasons the learning curve in Diary is so short is the well-designed user interface. It’s as clean and user-friendly as any app I’ve used so far.

Yes, it may take you a while to find some of the features (I found Tags by accident), but you can jump in right away and start doing basic journaling without having to read the documentation or go searching for how to use the app.

Because diary is so easy and pleasant to use, I can jump in, write a quick blog and get out. Whenever something important comes to mind I can go back and add to that blog entry.

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Another feature I appreciate with Diaryly is the ability to add icons on a per-entry basis. For example, whenever I write an entry I’d like to go back and read later, I’ll add a target icon. Those icons appear in the calendar, so all I have to do is click on that entry and read the post.

To add an icon for an entry, click the Start icon in the top center and select the icon you want from the dropdown.

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In short, Diarly is the best journaling app I’ve ever used. I only wish the developer would make a Linux version. Should the developer do this, you can bet I’ll pay for the premium version to sync my magazines across all platforms.

You can find Diarly in the Apple App Store. Install it, use it and get on with it.