Journal Diary 4+

This app is user friendly with everything I was looking for in a journal, and the best thing about it is that it’s free! Do you know how many apps I had to search through to find on that didn’t say in app purchases on it? A lot. And you can video journal and dictate your journal too. It has the ability for you to track your moods and to record your achievements. I read some reviews that said they were having trouble backing up to the cloud but I found it so easy to do the first time I tried so that must have been people having device issues. If you want a new app to journal with and improve yourself then give this one a try. I believe you’ll find it gets the job done!

This app might have potential but I cannot honestly determine it’s potential as I encountered multiple issues. But the potential for potential is the reason I gave it the second star. One problem was trying to backup to iCloud. I received an error repeatedly. “Error saving record… Cannot create new type backUpList in production schema”. I attempted to use the voice recording or transcription option (within an entry started as a written entry the voice option did not record audio instead attempted to transcribe what I was saying). However, the apps ability to transcribe is practically non-existent. Although it asked and was granted access to send data to Apple and to access the microphone, I only ever got a single word to save into the journal entry. And it was a word I didn’t even say. A few times it recognized and correctly transcribed what I was saying only to delete that text and not reappear even after closing the recording using the check mark in the top right of the box. The app crashed when I went to add a link to a photo via the link icon at the very top right. That’s when I restarted the app and wrote this review. Additionally, I did not know it was possible to disable spell check or auto correct but the app was highly capable of both. Though I don’t always appreciate apple’s auto correct feature I apparently utilize it often and it’s presence is sorely missed in the app. iPhone 11 Pro iOS 15.3.1 App version 6.2

But it has a ways to go to get to five stars and a op ed in the Times. Mostly I respect it for it’s potential; I hate, hate, hate (maybe only two hates) journaling but this app makes it kind of fun.

First, I like the idea of the moods. But most of the icons, including the “custom” set don’t really visually fit my moods. The developer(s) created their own, which is cool, but a lot of them don’t convey much to me. I’m recovering from PTSD and I’m not really sure I know what “happy” is, so mostly I describe my mood as “static” (in the sense of “stuck” and of interference) . With standard emojies that would be 😐. I’m irritated a lot and that would be 🫤,🤨, or maybe 😤. Anxious would be 🫣. The current menu of emojies, while kind of cute, don’t give me much to work with.

I like the idea of the analytics — mostly mood tracking — despite not really thinking I would use them. If I’ve been angry the last ten days, I don’t really need a graph to know that. And the mood options that can be graphed (ie. not the custom ones I’d have to use) are too few to provide gradients. The graphing seems to be based on color, which is weird, especially the color assignments to the standard moods. “Happy” is red? Maybe it’s a cultural thing? Regardless, those colors need to be assignable in a useful way.

That’s plenty to work on for the next couple releases…

Oh, PLEASE include spell check!

Thanks! (What’s the icon for “grateful”?)