Day One Journaling App Gains End-to-End Encryption Feature

Tuesday June 13, 2017 2:06 AM PDT by Tim Hardwick
Popular journaling app Day One received an update yesterday that introduces end-to-end encryption to its cloud server for the first time, as well as a handful of other improvements.

Rather than using iCloud, Day One synchronizes data between devices using its own servers, something that has opened it up to criticism in the past because of security concerns regarding private journal data.


Version 2.2 of the app should allay those worries, since Day One now encrypts journal data from client to server via a user-generated private key. However it's important to note that the new end-to-end encryption feature is enabled on a journal-by-journal basis, so users need to go to Journals in Day One's Settings and select the journals they want to encrypt from there.

If users do not enable end-to-end encryption, Day One defaults to standard encryption, which encrypts journal data "at rest" on the company's servers. This less secure method requires that Day One staff hold the keys to decrypt journal data.

In addition to the enhanced security feature, the in-app camera has been improved to make it easier to take photos and quickly add multiple square-cropped shots to entries. Journal metadata now also includes the device name on which an entry was created.

Elsewhere, recent searches are now saved in a list for convenient re-use, while an app-wide state restoration system has been implemented so that users can pick up where they left off in the event of a crash or a force quit. The update also includes several fixes that should improve the user experience.

End-to-end encryption is included in the 2.2 update for both iOS and Mac. Day One is a $4.99 app on the iOS App Store and costs $39.99 on the Mac App Store.

Tag: Day One
30 comments

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miknos
31 months ago
This is how encryption should be! Only YOU should have access to YOUR data!
Rating: 6 Votes
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AppleInLVX
31 months ago

Out of interest what benefit do you find in looking back at what you were doing a year ok this day


There's a couple things I'd consider benefits. I can see where I was a year or more ago with regard to what I was doing and see if I've moved the needle in any way, see which of my great ideas were just ideas and which had legs. I'm a hobby gardener, and so I can see when the plants are out this year vs. previous years and thereby track how the seasons are going. More surprizingly, I've noticed patterns in the wheel of the year that keep repeating year over year and it's just plain neat to see how precise the seasons are. A particular flower or bud will appear on *exactly* the same day. Sometimes I'll find I do yearly tasks like road trips on exactly the same days without thinking or planning, things I think are spontaneous are in fact running on feelings that get triggered by the time of year. It's hard to explain, but very cool. Also, the photos I take show the evolution of the world around me and document what I've been up to, how I've felt, etc. I've found it to be a really nifty sort of exercise. Whether these things are "benefits" are probably down to what you value personally, but it's been good for me.
Rating: 2 Votes
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iDento
31 months ago

If they ever go out of business or stop making this app, is there any way to move all of your entries to something else?

The last time I attempted to keep anything like a journal was a notebook in college. Electronically I used a Word document but got tired of that after a week's worth of entries. Facebook was fun but obviously I can't write anything too private on there.

I'm 50 and while I don't need to pour my heart out into a diary I do need some way of remembering what happened last week. I meet a lot of people and forget who they are fifteen minutes later. It would be nice to have a journal to help refresh my memory about such things. I kind of survive off of post it notes. Or worse, I email myself. Doh.

I export my entires as PDF files each month, then use an app to hide it, I use Hider 2 for that.

The PDF files exported by DayOne looks gorgeous and frankly, I think they look even better than viewing my journal in the app interface!

Also, you can order prints of your data but I'm not quite familiar with that.
Rating: 2 Votes
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DocPenguin
31 months ago
Most excellent. Day One is awesome, but now my tinfoil hat will glow a little less brighter when I use it.
Rating: 2 Votes
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iDento
31 months ago
I've been using this app for 7 years and it's really useful, although when they released ver 2.0 I bought the iOS app only, partly because I don't use my Mac for this kind of apps anymore and partly because it is expensive, I got version 1 for 19.99$ if I am not mistaken.

End to end encryption and a solid sync are major features and they're nailing it.
Rating: 2 Votes
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BigMcGuire
31 months ago

There's a couple things I'd consider benefits. I can see where I was a year or more ago with regard to what I was doing and see if I've moved the needle in any way, see which of my great ideas were just ideas and which had legs. I'm a hobby gardener, and so I can see when the plants are out this year vs. previous years and thereby track how the seasons are going. More surprizingly, I've noticed patterns in the wheel of the year that keep repeating year over year and it's just plain neat to see how precise the seasons are. A particular flower or bud will appear on *exactly* the same day. Sometimes I'll find I do yearly tasks like road trips on exactly the same days without thinking or planning, things I think are spontaneous are in fact running on feelings that get triggered by the time of year. It's hard to explain, but very cool. Also, the photos I take show the evolution of the world around me and document what I've been up to, how I've felt, etc. I've found it to be a really nifty sort of exercise. Whether these things are "benefits" are probably down to what you value personally, but it's been good for me.


What an awesome write up! Really great!

I was shocked to see that for my "goals" part of my daily logs - I was saying almost the IDENTICAL stuff years ago. Like wait a minute, I've been trying to do this for 2 years now? Really? lol. What am I not doing to make this happen? It was incredibly shocking.

I take a lot of photos of my surroundings just so I can remember what I did during the day - to make it easier to write a "daily log" when I get back home. This helps me with the self improvement process - noticing small things, habits, etc...

The biggest benefit that I've found writing these logs is the act of de-stressing. The world, my job, etc... is incredibly stressful. It's an incredibly de-stressing exercise to write my thoughts down, talk about my day, and recording information.

Many many years ago, while watching Star Trek episodes, I thought how cool it was - the Captain's log - daily logs of the crew. That's what started my whole "daily log" routine.

I've found that the quality of my "logs" go up if I don't do one every day because it's not every day I feel like spending 10-15 mins writing about my day. When I was writing every day it became a monotonous chore where I was listing off the things I did. When I write once or twice a week, I remember more, talk about thoughts, state of mind, etc...

I figure for the cost of 30 mins a few times a week - the relaxing (anti-stress) action is incredibly beneficial.
Rating: 1 Votes
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unobtainium
31 months ago
I highly recommend this app. They've done a really nice job with it.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Rigby
31 months ago

Who manages the private key in that case?

The private keys are generated on the users' devices and are never sent to Apple (that's how it works today). The potential risk in iMessage is just that Apple could in theory surrepititiously insert their own public keys into a conversation and use the corresponding private keys to decrypt the messages.
Rating: 1 Votes
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GrumpyMom
31 months ago

I export my entires as PDF files each month, then use an app to hide it, I use Hider 2 for that.

The PDF files exported by DayOne looks gorgeous and frankly, I think they look even better than viewing my journal in the app interface!

Also, you can order prints of your data but I'm not quite familiar with that.

Thank you! Well this app sounds like a good possibility for me.
Rating: 1 Votes
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triton100
31 months ago

There's a couple things I'd consider benefits. I can see where I was a year or more ago with regard to what I was doing and see if I've moved the needle in any way, see which of my great ideas were just ideas and which had legs. I'm a hobby gardener, and so I can see when the plants are out this year vs. previous years and thereby track how the seasons are going. More surprizingly, I've noticed patterns in the wheel of the year that keep repeating year over year and it's just plain neat to see how precise the seasons are. A particular flower or bud will appear on *exactly* the same day. Sometimes I'll find I do yearly tasks like road trips on exactly the same days without thinking or planning, things I think are spontaneous are in fact running on feelings that get triggered by the time of year. It's hard to explain, but very cool. Also, the photos I take show the evolution of the world around me and document what I've been up to, how I've felt, etc. I've found it to be a really nifty sort of exercise. Whether these things are "benefits" are probably down to what you value personally, but it's been good for me.

That's very interesting. I never use that function on the app. Maybe I should
Rating: 1 Votes
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