If you want to keep a journal on your Mac, there are several free options available for users, depending on the extent of features you want, and how you plan to use your journal.
Three of the best free Mac journal software apps offer very different experiences when it comes to the journaling experience.
viJournal Lite is an elaborate app, with features including text formatting, adding images, and multiple journals. Thoughtback is a microblogging app with both local and online support. MotoDiary is a minimalist app whose primary focus is on the writing itself rather than features.
Each of the apps address essential features needed when keeping a journal, such as password protecting your diary, because let’s face it, who wants your family or friends rifling through your personal thoughts?
Contacts Journal CRM Transform your business and professional relationships The iPhone, iPad and Mac App that let’s you keep records of past conversations, set followups for upcoming meetings, link important documents to your contacts, plot your contacts on a map, and extend your contacts information with customizable fields. In turn, we’d be remiss not to update our review of the best journaling app for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.Our review for the best journaling app now includes coverage on a range of Day One’s latest features, like the Activity Feed, book printing, and a discussion about the app’s sync and security features.
viJournal Lite
viJournal Lite is a simple, no frills app which allows you to create two separate journals. This feature is particularly useful if you want to keep, for example a spending and an athletic diary, or any two kinds of journals. The paid version of the app allows you create as many separate journals as you want, post directly to Blogger or LiveJournal, amongst other features.
The free version serves as a private local diary, and entries themselves can consist of text, where you can change the font, font size and color, add images, tables and even checkboxes if you want to keep a to-do list in your diary.
Another interesting feature is the ability to add side-notes to your journal in a slide out drawer, if there are extra items of information that you want to keep separate from your main journal entry.
You can add a password to your journal in viJournal’s preferences, that makes it necessary for a password to be entered when the app is first launched.
iPad owners can also sync the Mac app with a mobile version and update their journal on the go, but the app will set you back $7.99
Thoughtback
Available in the Mac App Store, Thoughtback [App store link] takes a slightly different approach to keeping a journal. To use the app, you have to sign up for a free Thoughtback account, which you can do upon launching the app for the first time.
Once you’ve logged in, you can create small journal entries by clicking on the Thoughtback icon in your menubar. These thoughts are then saved in your online account, and cannot be accessed on your computer at all.
Using the Mac app isn’t the only way to add thoughts to your private online journal. You can also do so directly through the web interface, so Windows and Linux users can use the site if they want.
Using hashtags in your entries is a convenient way to keep yourself organised, but if you’re looking for a date-oriented journal app, Thoughtback isn’t the right choice for you.
iPhone users can download the free app [iTunes link] and save their micro-journal entries on the go.
MotoDiary
MotoDiary is free Mac journal software that will appeal to minimalist fans. The distraction free app consists of a simple, plain white window where you can write the entry for that day, and scroll back and forth between your entries.
Signing up for a free account allows you to access your journal from anywhere using the web interface, including on iOS and Android devices, as well as allowing you to sync your entries between the app and the web.
Like viJournal Lite, you can password protect your journal, and lock it, even when leaving the app open. Be sure to lock it before you quit the app, otherwise it will not be password protected when next opened.
If we had any requests to make of MotoDiary, it would be to include a calendar, making it easy to jump to specific diary dates.
What’s your favorite free Mac journal software? Let us know in the comments.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Explore more about: Note-Taking Apps, Writing Tips.
- viJournal Lite and MotoDiary are not an option in the App Store when searching from my MacBook.
- all good
- all good!! thanks
- I would like to use vijournal lite on my macbook but my macbook won't open it up because of the developer???Any suggestions?
- looking for app for iPhone to easy voice record to journal
- I don't like the floating email link to the left of the content. Just because you know how to do something doesn't make it cool. Just put a single link at the top or bottom of the page.
- Thanks for the feedback. Those floating links were removed.
No matter who we are and the kinds of lives that we live, we all have memories, whether they're good or bad. Regardless, these memories are always worth remembering at some point, because who knows what will happen? What if we lost all of our memories one day and can't remember a thing? That's why keeping a journal is so important, even if you think it's silly, it's one way to recall all of the great events and milestones that occurred in your life.
In days old, people kept analog journals written in pen and paper. But now we're equipped with smartphones, and these are an even better way of keeping our memories intact since we probably have hundreds, or even thousands, of photos and videos to relive moments with.
These are the best apps for keeping a digital journal of your life as it happens.
Day One Journal
Day One Journal is my absolute favorite way to keep a journal. This beautiful app lets you create multiple journals and color code them for easy organization. All of your journal entries can be formatted with rich text options, have photos, include activity, location, and even weather data of your location, and more. The latest update added audio recording capabilities, a new intuitive editor, a gorgeous Dark Mode, and other slick features.
Day One Journal is free to download, but you have a few limitations on the number of journals you can keep and how many photos you can upload. If you go for a Premium subscription, which starts at $3.99 a month or $34.99 a year, unlocks unlimited journals, up to 30 photos per entry, audio recording, Dark Mode, 25 percent off of printed books, and more.
Momento
Momento is similar to Day One, except it's more about automation with your social network feeds. With Momento, you can manually create journal entries with some rich text formatting, multiple photos, tags, locations, and other bits of data that you want to remember. But the real magic lies within the ability to link up your social media accounts, which then populate each day's entries as you go. All of your updates and posts are fetched and pulled into Momento, so it's like a digital record of your private and online lives.
Momento is free to download and use, but you'll be limited to three social accounts. You can add three more through in-app purchases, or subscribe to Premium to get unlimited accounts. Premium starts at $3.99 a month.
Moodnotes
Keeping track of how you feel is just as important as remembering memories. Because some of us don't mind keeping track of our own mental health and well-being. Moodnotes is a sleek app that helps you track your moods and the reasons behind how you feel. The colorful interface is warm and welcoming, and it'll ask you how you're feeling. Pick a mood that reflects how you are doing, and each one of these is represented with an emote and color. You can choose to add more details to the entry, or just leave it as is.
If you opt for more details, the app asks you why you feel the way you do. Doing this makes you think and reflect on why you're feeling that way. For the negative moods, Moodnotes helps you identify traps that you've fallen into, and even give some tips on avoiding doing the same thing in the future.
Over time, Moodnotes keeps track of patterns in your moods and helps you get into the mindset of developing healthier perspectives. This app is most effective when used daily.
Journey
If you want something that's like Day One, but is available on pretty much every platform, then Journey is for you. Journey lets you create journal entries with text, photos and video, location, activity, and more. Journey is cross-platform and accessible on all platforms because it syncs seamlessly with Google Drive, and you can import Day One entries into Journey if you want to switch.
Journey, like the other journaling apps, is free to download and use, but you'll get the most out of the app by becoming a Premium subscriber. This starts at $3.99 a month or $29.99 per year.
Daylio
Free App For Mac
Like the idea of journaling but just don't have time? Then Daylio's micro-journaling method may be best for your needs. Daylio simply asks you to pick your mood for the day, and then add an activity to go along with it, presumably the one that makes you feel the way you do. This counts as an entry, and optionally, you can add some notes to it if needed, just like a traditional diary. But the core focus with Daylio is fast and simple micro journaling. As you use it more, it keeps track of your mood by showing the data in simple charts and graphs, and you'll see what your average mood is.
Grid Diary
If you tend to be someone who has trouble getting started with writing a journal entry from scratch, then Grid Diary is a good option. It uses journaling templates of inspiring questions to answer and has them all lined up in a grid. Pick the one you want to answer for the day and then write your answer as a journal entry. It's a good way to get some inspiration for your writing, and you can always use your answer as a lead-in to writing about your entire day.
Journaling App For Mac
For many, it's just hard to write, so having journaling templates is more effective in getting the juices flowing. You can also add photos to your entries, search for specific keywords, and sync your data. Grid Diary is free to download and use, but you can upgrade to Pro ($4.99 one-time purchase or $1.99 monthly) for passcode lock, multiple export formats, multiple reminders, custom font styles, and more.
Five Minute Journal
Journaling App For Mac
Do you have five minutes to spare each day? If so, then grab Five Minute Journal, because that's all you need. Five Minute Journal has writing prompts and questions that you answer quickly and easily. You can even add photos if you'd like, and there are also daily quotes to help inspire you, as well as weekly challenges. All of your entries get displayed in a beautiful timeline, where you can go back and reflect on memories with ease. There are also reminders, passcode lock, and backup/export to PDF options available.
Penzu
Penzu is a journaling app that focuses on your privacy. With Penzu, you're able to create rich text entries with photos and sync your journal to access on the web for free. All you have to do is create a free Penzu account. However, to get the most out of Penzu, you'll need Penzu Pro, which you can get for $4.99 a month, $19.99 a year.
Penzu Pro unlocks all of the available features, such as passcode lock for your journals, unlimited journals and photos, customize journal covers, and more.
What are your favorites?
These are some of the best journaling apps we've come across in the App Store at the moment. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Day One and have been using it as my journal for years now.
What are your favorite apps for journaling? Or do you prefer to stick with pen and paper? Let us know in the comments!
Journaling App For Mac Free
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.