Day One

Journalling app for iOS, Android and Mac now sold as a subscription after years as a one-time purchase

As of 1 September 2026, Day One is free to use. A private journalling app with photo, location and audio entries, end-to-end encrypted sync across devices. Softwr lists it under Productivity. Day One is made by Automattic Inc., available on iOS, Android, macOS, Web.

Visit siteVisit Day One

Overview

What Day One does

Day One is a journalling app that stores dated entries with text, photos, location, weather and audio, syncs them across iOS, Android, Mac and web, and supports multiple separate journals with per-journal locking. Entries can be end-to-end encrypted, and the app can prompt with on-this-day reminders of past entries. What matters commercially is the pricing history. Day One was originally a paid-up-front app, then Automattic acquired it in 2021 and moved it to a subscription, Day One Premium, currently priced at roughly 34.99 USD a year or 3.99 USD a month, with a free tier capped at one journal and 25 photo entries. Existing pre-acquisition lifetime purchasers were grandfathered with their entitlements, but anyone installing it today is buying a subscription, not the app outright. Buyers are individuals wanting private long-form or photo journalling with reliable cross-device sync. The trade-off is recurring cost for what used to be a one-time purchase, and that the free tier is restrictive enough that serious daily use requires paying.

What people use it for

Someone wanting a private daily journal with photos that syncs between phone and laptop
A person keeping a travel journal that auto-attaches location and weather to each entry
Someone who wants encrypted entries kept separate from an unencrypted general journal
A user who wants automated daily writing prompts and On This Day nostalgia review

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Day One.

It moved from a one-time purchase to a subscription after the Automattic acquisition, so long-term cost is materially higher than the original pricing implied.
The free tier caps at one journal and 25 photo entries, which is restrictive enough that anyone journalling seriously for more than a few weeks needs to pay.
End-to-end encryption is opt-in per journal rather than on by default, so users have to actively choose it and understand which journals are protected.
Cancelling Premium after using multiple journals or heavy photo storage can leave content viewable but with sync and some features disabled, so people should export before cancelling.
As an Automattic product, its roadmap sits behind a company whose primary focus is WordPress and Tumblr, not journalling specifically.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Day One

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Day Onevs
Streaks
Streaks: If you want habit tracking rather than free-form journalling

Pricing

What Day One costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Free

One journal
Up to 25 photo entries
Basic sync

Day One Premium

$3.99 /mo

Unlimited journals and photos
End-to-end encryption
On This Day and audio transcription

Day One Premium Annual

$34.99 /yr

Same as monthly Premium at a lower effective rate

Capabilities

Features

Multiple journals
Separate journals per topic, each individually lockable with Face ID, Touch ID or PIN
Rich entries
Text, multiple photos, video, audio and drawing attached to a dated entry
End-to-end encryption
Optional on-device encryption for synced entries
On This Day
Surfaces past entries from the same date in previous years
Cross-platform sync
Syncs journals across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Android and the web app
PDF and Day One export
Export entries and journals for backup or printing

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is Day One still a one-time purchase?

No. Since the 2021 Automattic acquisition it is sold as Day One Premium, a subscription. Older lifetime purchasers were grandfathered but new users pay a subscription.

Is encryption on by default?

No, end-to-end encryption is an option users turn on per journal, not a default for all entries.

Can I export my entries if I cancel?

Yes, PDF and native Day One export formats are available regardless of subscription status, though some sync and premium features stop working.

Keep looking

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Day One, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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