Still looking for a New Year’s resolution for self-improvement? Consider keeping a journal, which studies have shown can help with one’s mental well-being and anxiety issues, while also providing a creative outlet for personal expression.
Beautiful paper-based journals and notebooks are available if you want to go the sensory route without a screen, but if you prefer a more multimedia approach to journaling, whip out your phone. Free apps that come with Apple’s iOS software and Google’s Android system let you add photos, audio clips and more to correct your thoughts — and set electronic reminders to write regularly.
Here is an overview.
starting
Keeping a digital journal requires a few basic steps: choosing an app, writing an entry, and adding new posts regularly. And don’t let the fear of typing long meditative messages on a small screen put you off. Simply dictate your thoughts to your iPhone or Android phone with its transcription tools, though check its privacy policy if you’re nervous about your data.
Using the Apple log
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 isn’t yet available for 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 create 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 typing — or tap the microphone icon in the bottom corner of the keyboard to dictate.
In the row of icons above the keyboard, you can format text with bold, italics, or other styles; get more topic suggestions; add photos from library or camera; add an audio recording; and mark 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 suggestions by opening your iPhone’s Settings icon, choosing Apps, choosing Diary, and tapping the button next to Skip Diary Suggestions.
You can bookmark and edit your compositions by pressing the three-dot menu icon in the lower right corner of each entry. The Journal app has a search function for looking up old 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 iPad), and Keep’s 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 lower-right corner to start a login. 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 “diary” tag filters your posts from notes or other lists you can use within the app. And while Keep, unlike Apple’s Journal, can’t shower you with suggestions, you can ask Google’s Gemini or your favorite AI assistant for topic ideas.
Other options
Samsung Galaxy users have the Samsung Notes app as another journaling option, and keeping a journal on one of the company’s pen tablets recreates the pen-on-paper vibe for the electronic age.
If you want a diary app with extra features (like automatically adding the day’s weather conditions), you have plenty of other choices, but you’ll probably have 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, AI-powered Reflectary (about $7 a month).
Journaling 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.
