Day One is a handsome little app that encourages you to record all of your daily dealings inside of its cool blue interface. Granted, plenty of other apps already offer a similar digital journaling experience, but Day One takes it a step further by providing a standalone Mac app ($10) and a universal app for the iPhone and iPad ($2) so that you really can record your thoughts wherever and whenever the mood strikes you.
Drop It Like It’s Box
Dropbox synchronization makes Day One’s multi-platform support even sweeter by letting you keep all of your thoughts flowing seamlessly. Entries tend to sync right as the app loads, as well as right after you finish editing an entry, so you never have to worry about the thoughts that you recorded on your iPhone not being available on your Mac.
As far as I know, Day One is the first app of its kind that really understands that I don’t just want an interface to record my thoughts, but also a consistent interface to track my thoughts, regardless of what device I am using. I simply cannot stress how cool this is and how right Day One has it.
Hit Record
Actually sitting down to record your thoughts is dead simple , since typing on the plus button in Day One will create an entry with metadata for the day’s date, as well as the current time of day. This means that you can create multiple entries for particularly productive days, which could prove useful for those times when you buy a puppy, fight a dragon, and get the girl all on the same day (woohoo!).
Entries are organized in a chronological list in all three versions of the app, although the Mac version of Day One just received an update with a monthly calendar, which makes it easier to add older entries and see how often you’ve been journaling. Recent tweets from the Day One Twitter account seems to hint that this functionality is coming to the iPhone and iPad in the near future, and this would be very welcome, since scrolling through months of entries simply isn’t very efficient.
Star = Born
All current versions of Day One do support starring entries, though, so you can easily bookmark particularly productive or awesome moments.
Extras
While the great design, multi-platform support, and Dropbox sync should be enough to convince most people that Day One is the best journaling app out there, there are also a couple extra features that are worth noting:
- Just like that little black book that you kept locked away in the drawer nobody knew about, you can lock Day One and all of the entries within it, with a 4-digit password. The only caveat here is that, should someone find your Day One file in your Dropbox folder, they’ll be able to view it as a (very strangely formatted) text file.
- For those of you who feel that plain text is simply not enough to express the depth and colour of your thoughts, Day One also supports Markdown syntax, so that you can embolden some of your braver moments and italicize your Italian adventures with just your keyboard and a few unobtrusive text tags.
- Finally, Day One also recognizes that one of the challenges of keeping a good journal is actually remembering to keep a good journal. That’s why all three versions of the Day One app feature reminders that you can set to ring throughout the day. The Mac version also features a quick entry box, so that users who are busy juggling a number of windows don’t need to worry about how to bring their journal app up.
Conclusion
Simply put, Day One is the best journal app you are going to find out there on the App Store. If you are at all interested in an interface that has been designed from the ground up to help you record and review your thoughts on a daily basis, your search starts and ends at Day One.
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Day One for Mac was provided by Bloom Built for review on iSource. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page. The iOS app was purchased by the reviewer.
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