Still looking for a New Year’s resolution for self-improvement? Consider keeping a journal, which studies have shown might help with one’s mental well-being and anxiety issues, while also providing a creative outlet for personal expression.
Handsome paper-based diaries and notebooks are available if you want to go the screen-free sensory route, but if you prefer a more multimedia approach to journaling, wake up your phone. Free apps that come with Apple’s iOS software and Google’s Android system allow you to add photos, audio clips and more to corral your thoughts — and set up electronic reminders to write regularly.
Here’s an overview.
Getting Started
Keeping a digital diary requires a few basic steps: picking an app, writing an entry and adding new posts on a regular basis. And don’t let the fear of typing long contemplative dispatches on a small screen dissuade you. Just dictate your thoughts to your iPhone or Android phone with its transcription tools, although check its privacy policy if you’re nervous about your data.
Using Apple’s Journal
Apple released its Journal app in December 2023 and added new features last year in its iOS 18 update, including the ability to print entries. (The app is not yet available for the iPad.) To set it up, just find the Journal icon on your home screen or in the App Library, open it and follow the onscreen instructions.
To compose a journal entry, tap the plus icon (+) at the bottom of the screen and select the New Entry button at the top of the next screen or under a suggested topic. Go to the text field to title your entry and start writing — or tap the microphone icon at the bottom corner of the keyboard to dictate.
In the row of icons above the keyboard, you can format the text with bold, italic or other styles; get more topic suggestions; add photos from the library or the camera; add an audio recording; and note your location. You can describe your current mood with the State of Mind screen, which can be shared with the Health app (if you allow it).
With your permission, the app shows you a list of topic suggestions drawn from your photos, locations and activities. You can turn off the suggestions by opening the iPhone’s Settings icon, selecting Apps, choosing Journal and tapping the button next to Skip Journaling Suggestions.
You can bookmark and edit your compositions by tapping the three-dot menu icon in each entry’s lower-right corner. The Journal app has a search function for looking up older entries if you don’t feel like scrolling back in time.
Using Google Keep
Google has yet to release a similar dedicated journaling app, but its 12-year-old Google Keep can do the job, organizing notes, audio clips, web pages, photos and drawings. To use it, you need a Google account and the Keep app. The app is available for Android and iOS (including the iPad), and Keep content is backed up online, where it can be viewed in a web browser.
Once you’ve installed the Keep app, open it and tap the plus button (+) in the bottom-right corner to start an entry. Using the icons at the bottom of the text-entry screen allows you to do things like add a photo or give the entry a background color.
Creating and adding a “journal” label filters your posts from other notes or lists you may use within the app. And while Keep, unlike Apple’s Journal, can’t pepper you with suggestions, you can ask Google’s Gemini or your favorite artificial intelligence assistant for topic ideas.
Other Options
Samsung Galaxy users have the Samsung Notes app as another diary option, and keeping a journal on one of the company’s pen-based tablets recreates the pen-to-paper vibe for the electronic age.
If you want a journal app with additional features (like automatically adding the day’s weather conditions), you have plenty of other choices, but you’ll probably need to pay for the premium product. Among the many apps that work on most platforms are Day One (about $3 a month), Diarium ($10 to buy) and the ambitious, A.I.-powered Reflectary (about $7 a month).
Journal apps make it easier to write about your life without the performative aspect of social media. And paying less attention to what everyone else is doing gives you more time to spend on yourself.
